Everyone has made some valid comments. Here are my observations.

1. While there are lower numbers of people currently playing I see a larger percentage of people crafting than I did on FFXI. I believe this is due to the gear degradation feature and people wanting to be able to repair their own items. Therefore there should be plenty of items to buy as more are being made. But there is not.
2. I believe less people feel like dealing with the complexities of the retainer market system we currently have. Face it, on FFXI I could run to the AH and buy/sell very quickly and efficiently. Now I have to search for each item, one at a time, and then transport myself there to buy it. Takes way to long if I want to purchase several items. Less people buying = less people selling.
3. A lot of the craftables are not worth buying. Food effects are very poorly handled and therefore not really used. You cannot easily tell what food does for you, so people do not buy it, so people do not craft it.
4. There are way to few options for gear. You want to upgrade a certain piece (i.e. hands, body, legs) and there are only a total of 2-3 options available at your lvl and most of the time not in stock. The ones that are in stock are somewhat pricey and new players cannot afford them.
5. The retainers "disappear" all the time if you do not play regularly and therefore items are not available to be sold.

I do not wish to have to deal with RMTs or BOTs but I believe an AH system would work much better than what is in place now.