Undercutting

[TStryker]

I know this is a *huge* first world problem.

But really, we need to make it a reportable offense if someone undercuts massively. I'm seeing items that were previously going for over a million gil go to less than 200k in a day because people undercut by 200k each.

This is making it nearly impossible to make *any* money on the MB.

[Doozer]

It should also be illegal for irl sales. Hate when that happens.

[Ransu]

Supply vs Demand. Its a thing.

[Ryvaku]

Competitive market. I ain't gonna deal with people who undercut by 1gil.

[Alltair]

As another poster already put it: It's all about supply and demand.
If the demand for a product doesn't support/warrant the price then guess what: The price goes down.
If me undercutting a product causes the market for said product to immediately "crash" as you put it then it means the initial price was inflated to begin with.

[Jojoya]

I know this is a *huge* first world problem.

But really, we need to make it a reportable offense if someone undercuts massively. I'm seeing items that were previously going for over a million gil go to less than 200k in a day because people undercut by 200k each.

This is making it nearly impossible to make *any* money on the MB.

Sorry, you don't get to decide what prices I use for my listings. It's a free market.

Obviously there are players making gil off the marketboard. What you need to figure out is what you're doing wrong so you can become one of them. Complaining about others who sell for less isn't going to get you what you want.

Hint: prices on items don't drop from 1 million to 200,000 overnight unless there aren't enough players willing to buy the item at all, let alone at the higher prices. Are they not buying the item because the price is too high, or are they not buying the item because no one wants it regardless of price? Figuring that out then adjusting to it is how you start making gil.

If you truly feel that there are a lot of players willing to buy the item for 1 million, then buy up those items listed for less and resell for profit.

[Liam_Harper]

I'm seeing items that were previously going for over a million gil go to less than 200k in a day because people undercut by 200k each.

This is making it nearly impossible to make *any* money on the MB.

Then your item isn't worth a million. Players are able to produce enough supply of that item at 200k to outpace demand and still profit. If it sold for a million previously, you got lucky.

Undercuts are never the issue with making money on the mb. Bots, crafters and gathers being really easy to gear and level, and items being to easy to craft and obtain are reasons it's difficult to make money on the mb.

[IckeDerTyp]

Free Market pup.

I'll support you once we get rid of monopolitism IRL tho!

[dspguy]

As another poster already put it: It's all about supply and demand.
If the demand for a product doesn't support/warrant the price then guess what: The price goes down.
If me undercutting a product causes the market for said product to immediately "crash" as you put it then it means the initial price was inflated to begin with.

Yes and no.

Many sales in this game are not decided by price, but simply by a player wanting that item. They don't care if the item costs 500k or 100k. They will buy it. Then it all comes down to who has the lowest price at that time. So, you can either sell it for 100,000... or 499,999. But it will sell all the same.

While I know supply and demand makes sense to a lot of people, in this MMO, that's not always the case.

Let me put it this way. Let's say I list a piece of gear for 250k. All the recent sales are for around 250k. And another player comes in and lists it for 200k. It isn't like this "deal" is announced serverwide that "Soandso is selling the Body Piece of Pwning for 50k less than the going rate!" Nope. What actually happens is that another player sees the price drop to 200k and then lists theirs for 150k. And the next person lists it for 100k - and so on and so on.

It has very little to do with the price (when it comes to commonly available items like crafted/gathered items). It has everything to do with who has the lowest price.

So either rob yourself of 100k by undercutting by 100k, or undercut by a few gil like the rest of players on the server. Players are fooling themselves if they think their items sell faster because of how much more they undercut by. They don't. And in the cases where someone undercuts by enough to warrant another player buying them out - all you did was hand a bigger profit to a competitor.

[Jojoya]

Yes and no.

Many sales in this game are not decided by price, but simply by a player wanting that item. They don't care if the item costs 500k or 100k. They will buy it. Then it all comes down to who has the lowest price at that time. So, you can either sell it for 100,000... or 499,999. But it will sell all the same.

But yes and no applies to that as well. Some players do care about the price. Not everyone is rich.

That's why things like Universalis are becoming popular. It's also why so many players were demanding that SE make crafting and gathering easier. They felt like they couldn't afford to get many of the things they wanted because the few who were bothering to craft had a stranglehold on the market and thus prices.

By pricing high, you're chancing that there will be some player on your home world willing to buy at the higher price. The higher the price goes, the smaller the chance of scoring a sale. The smaller the pool of potential buyers, the smaller the chance that one will bite.

So it's not necessarily foolish at all. It's about understanding the item you're trying to sell. How many others are likely to be selling it, who is likely to buy it, what wealth do they have access to, and if buyers are likely to data center travel to get a better price. More and more buyers are using things like Universalis to get an idea of where they can find the best price. If you've priced the item of out of range for some of the interested buyers or far above what it's selling for elsewhere, you have slowed down how quickly your item is likely to sell.

Not everyone plays to get as rich as possible and so they won't care that they "robbed themselves" of 100k if they already have the things they currently want.