Undercutting

[Misutoraru]

I recently read a thread where someone was denouncing people who undercut on the Market Board, which is something that took me by surprise. I figured that it was something that was normal in every MMO auction house-esque system, or at the very least that's the experience I got since it was prevalent in every MMO I've played up to this point... and in real-life...

But since I'm still relatively new and only just now getting the opportunity to participate in an early expansion economy, I just want to ask, because I've been absolutely vomiting materials onto the Market Board at undercut prices and smiling with greedy glee when they all sell before the person whom I have undercut.

Is this behaviour 'normal' or 'acceptable' in FFXIV?

Free market, price whatever price you want. If anyone get annoyed by your undercut, they are free to buy it and priced at their desired price.

I am evil if getting less profit is the price to pay to see those get mad. I am enjoying it more than you think

[technole]

As an end game crafter myself whom also undercuts and ensures fair value, undercutting subject comes up usually by first time crafters getting involved in savage drop day with crafted gear. They don't understand the market won't pay 3.5 million for a i580 chest, it's not even worth 25% of that in material costs. People who are in the club know how much material costs are and what a reasonable profit is, not something like 500%

[Risvertasashi]

As an end game crafter myself whom also undercuts and ensures fair value, undercutting subject comes up usually by first time crafters getting involved in savage drop day with crafted gear. They don't understand the market won't pay 3.5 million for a i580 chest, it's not even worth 25% of that in material costs. People who are in the club know how much material costs are and what a reasonable profit is, not something like 500%

I also see it come up a lot when some newbie gatherer or crafter has one thing they gather/make. It's a good money until someone else or several someone elses notice and then come in and drop the price.

So, I endlessly emphasize that diversity is key. Stings much less if a market crashes when you're selling 60 different items instead of 1, maybe 2.

[Shialan]

As an end game crafter myself whom also undercuts and ensures fair value, undercutting subject comes up usually by first time crafters getting involved in savage drop day with crafted gear. They don't understand the market won't pay 3.5 million for a i580 chest, it's not even worth 25% of that in material costs. People who are in the club know how much material costs are and what a reasonable profit is, not something like 500%

Or from someone like me who didn't want to no live the market board because people were undercutting you as soon as you posted something. You couldn't update your prices for 8 hours? Enjoy being undercut by 50k gil. On every single item.

[Eriane_Elis]

As an end game crafter myself whom also undercuts and ensures fair value, undercutting subject comes up usually by first time crafters getting involved in savage drop day with crafted gear. They don't understand the market won't pay 3.5 million for a i580 chest, it's not even worth 25% of that in material costs. People who are in the club know how much material costs are and what a reasonable profit is, not something like 500%

People pay that just fine and it should cost that much considering how much time, cost and effort it takes to reach that point as a omni gatherer / crafter plus the material expenses etc... Look at overmelding, it cost me like 15mil+ just for gathering. I don't remember how much it was for crafting and I didn't fully overmeld but it was about the same. There are those that just want to rule the MB and crash it on day 1, every time. Even though people are gladly paying millions for each piece of armor, they bring it down to 100k in a matter of hours. I don't understand their logic, maybe it's market bots gone wild, one-upping each other every few minutes? It happens every time and it's always the same people competing with each other. This is the perfect time to make everything overpriced because server hopping is problematic during peak-hours, but some people think a quick gil is a quick gil and nothing more. It's something we all learn to accept despite the real cost of gathering and crafting things should be much, much higher in reality. But as long as people are willing to sell at a cheap price, the market will always be against omni-gatherers and omni-crafters.

[Risvertasashi]

People pay that just fine and it should cost that much considering how much time, cost and effort it takes to reach that point as a omni gatherer / crafter plus the material expenses etc... Look at overmelding, it cost me like 15mil+ just for gathering. I don't remember how much it was for crafting and I didn't fully overmeld but it was about the same. There are those that just want to rule the MB and crash it on day 1, every time. Even though people are gladly paying millions for each piece of armor, they bring it down to 100k in a matter of hours. I don't understand their logic, maybe it's market bots gone wild, one-upping each other every few minutes? It happens every time and it's always the same people competing with each other. This is the perfect time to make everything overpriced because server hopping is problematic during peak-hours, but some people think a quick gil is a quick gil and nothing more. It's something we all learn to accept despite the real cost of gathering and crafting things should be much, much higher in reality. But as long as people are willing to sell at a cheap price, the market will always be against omni-gatherers and omni-crafters.

There's actually an economic term for this. It's known as "market correction." Google/your favorite search engine can cover the subject in depth.

[IdowhatIwant]

People pay that just fine and it should cost that much considering how much time, cost and effort it takes to reach that point as a omni gatherer / crafter plus the material expenses etc... Look at overmelding, it cost me like 15mil+ just for gathering. I don't remember how much it was for crafting and I didn't fully overmeld but it was about the same. There are those that just want to rule the MB and crash it on day 1, every time. Even though people are gladly paying millions for each piece of armor, they bring it down to 100k in a matter of hours. I don't understand their logic, maybe it's market bots gone wild, one-upping each other every few minutes? It happens every time and it's always the same people competing with each other. This is the perfect time to make everything overpriced because server hopping is problematic during peak-hours, but some people think a quick gil is a quick gil and nothing more. It's something we all learn to accept despite the real cost of gathering and crafting things should be much, much higher in reality. But as long as people are willing to sell at a cheap price, the market will always be against omni-gatherers and omni-crafters.

How much time, cost and effort it took***
You can level all that stuff very fast with little effort now.

[FoxyAreku]

There's nothing wrong with undercutting.

There is something wrong with undercutting by thousands or even hundreds of thousands.

It doesn't make your item sell much faster, all it does is hurt your own profits and everyone else's. Undercut by 1 to 100 for the sake of keeping things profitable for everyone and the economy healthy.
Sometimes we can save it by buying the item and re-selling it for the proper price, and this is something I encourage people to do if they see a ridiculous undercut, but when multiple people do outrageous undercuts even this becomes a lost cause.
Undercut small!

Thanks for coming to my ted talk.