How do you deal with constant undercutting?

[Nixxe]

Loss of potential profit is not the same as cost.

There's no functional difference. You spent a resource to acquire your materials.

[Remyogic]

Whether he cares about them or not is immaterial.

It actually is very relevant. The value of the lost time is Subjective to how Driskus chooses to spend their time and what value THEY place on that time. If Driskus, sees their time gathering mats as "free time", then the value of said time is "basically zero" as they stated.

Yes, time has value, but the value of said time is inherently subjective to the individual. i.e. The value of the fry guy at McDonald's time is not the same as the value of the time of the best Cardiac Surgeon in the world..........

[Remyogic]

On topic:

I gather my own mats, either myself or via retainer, and craft all my own pre-crafts. So I don't mind the undercutters, it is very rare that they can afford to go as low as I can.

Most heavy undercutters are relying on volume sales to make their gil and to achieve that they almost always need to be buying mats and pre-crafts. There is a certain point they will not be willing to cross.

[QueenSophie]

It's just the way the game is played. i can tell you from alot of experience those who constantly check the Mb benefit alot more, this is why they do it. If I am a hawk on the MB I will make 2-6 million a day. If I am lazy on the MB, I will only make 500k -2 mil a day. Over the course of a few days or week, that certainly adds up. There is no rule against undercutting, it's part of the MB game. It requires time and effort, so you get out of it what you put in. What I don't like is when people undercut by 10%-30% each time, what's the point? You're hurting yourself as much as anyone else. I always undercut by 1 or 100 gil, no matter the item, no matter the city-state.

[Nixxe]

It actually is very relevant. The value of the lost time is Subjective to how Driskus chooses to spend their time and what value THEY place on that time. If Driskus, sees their time gathering mats as "free time", then the value of said time is "basically zero" as they stated.

Yes, time has value, but the value of said time is inherently subjective to the individual. i.e. The value of the fry guy at McDonald's time is not the same as the value of the time of the best Cardiac Surgeon in the world..........

Subjectivity is a different issue than failing to recognize time as an expended resource in the first place.

[Remyogic]

Subjectivity is a different issue than failing to recognize time as an expended resource in the first place.

Driskus never failed to recognize that they were expending the resource of time. You failed in trying to mandate they equate a high value to that time. If they value their time at $0, then even a million hours = $0. The expended resource of time and it's impact on profits is ENTIRELY a subjective matter.

Driskus never stated that their cost was absolute zero, either, they stated "basically zero". You are the one who tried to force a different value onto their time.

[Nixxe]

Driskus never failed to recognize that they were expending the resource of time. You failed in trying to mandate they equate a high value to that time. If they value their time at $0, then even a million hours = $0. The expended resource of time and it's impact on profits is ENTIRELY a subjective matter.

Driskus never stated that their cost was absolute zero, either, they stated "basically zero". You are the one who tried to force a different value onto their time.

Believe whatever you want, I guess. Sorry for trying to help people make better economic decisions.

[Remyogic]

Believe whatever you want, I guess. Sorry for trying to help people make better economic decisions.

I'm not "believing whatever I want". My statements are facts of economics and the monetary value of time.

I understand where you were going with your original statement, but you made it in a confrontational manner and not in a helpful, informative manner.

Time is intrinsically valuable. Your cost is not zero just because you gathered it. You lost out on whatever gil you could have spent that time making.

If you truly wanted to be helpful and were not just trying to stupify the OP, it could have been said this way:

"It takes quite a bit of time to gather your own mats, be sure to check the market board regularly for those mats. Often, the price of the mats you need will temporarily drop to a level where it is more time/cost efficient to buy the mats and use the time you normally gather to earn gil in other ways."

However, dropping vague one-liners and trying to pass it off as infinite wisdom, isn't helpful in any way.

[Nixxe]

I'm not "believing whatever I want". My statements are facts of economics and the monetary value of time.

I understand where you were going with your original statement, but you made it in a confrontational manner and not in a helpful, informative manner.



If you truly wanted to be helpful and were not just trying to stupify the OP, it could have been said this way:

"It takes quite a bit of time to gather your own mats, be sure to check the market board regularly for those mats. Often, the price of the mats you need will temporarily drop to a level where it is more time/cost efficient to buy the mats and use the time you normally gather to earn gil in other ways."

However, dropping vague one-liners and trying to pass it off as infinite wisdom, isn't helpful in any way.

Your version is three times as long and does not capture the original meaning. My original statement also wasn't vague. Like I said though, believe whatever you want. Your "facts" are wrong, but I guess we practice feelonomics in this forum.

[Fytayn]

Undercutting by 1g is just childish... I can see that they're just trying to keep theirs at the top of the board but when things don't sell very often it means my incidental items never sell. I'll usually check the history and put an item up for what it seemed to sell for in the past. If someone keeps 1g undercutting me I start lowering the price by about 2% each time. Usually others will follow suit, adjusting a bit, so mine is never so low as to be attractive for resale. If they match my price, even if their listing is above mine due to Retainer name, I don't undercut at all.

The fact is that I am the worst monster when it comes to the board.

Have you ever bought out an item that was confirmed for Fashion Report to put it up for over ten times its original price? Then someone puts 3-5 of them up all weekend, adding more when they sell, and regularly undercutting by 5-10% until they're selling for near what you paid.
Perhaps you found something people like for glamour that uses very cheap mats and listed it for nearly one-hundred times what it cost you? One day ten of them are listed for half what you're charging, driving the price down, with more following until your price looks ridiculous compared to the sale history.
Or perhaps even buying vendor items and listing them for double or triple their cost? It seems good until they start being listed for vendor price plus market tax and an additional 1000g.

That's what I do.

I see people in this thread complaining about listings being under the regular price, that it annoys them, and it annoys me just as much to see listings trying to take advantage of situations to charge way more than the item is really worth or previously sold for. I attempt to correct this. It's not completely altruistic: seeing prices shift and change over the course of time, desperately squeezing as much profit as possible from the situation, while I make steady returns is pretty funny.