Undercutting

[Payadopa]

For some, a gil saved is a gil earned. I'm not going to get on someone's case about their buying habits unless they're constantly complaining how expensive things are. In which case... things are expensive because they and others buy high instead of waiting for prices to drop so sellers don't fell a need to price lower.

All you do is enforce bad habits. Saving one Gil is not changing anything. It's just your brain saying 9.99 I'd better than 10.00. Unfortunately, history has proven that it works. Guess I'm the exception.

[Jojoya]

All you do is enforce bad habits. Saving one Gil is not changing anything. It's just your brain saying 9.99 I'd better than 10.00. Unfortunately, history has proven that it works. Guess I'm the exception.

You're not the only one. Note I didn't say I do it myself. I just know those who do. To them it doesn't matter because in most cases they don't know the sellers so they might as well go with the lower price. Or it's because they also do the 1 gil undercutting when they're selling themselves.

[LevKresnik]

My partner in Halone, have you considered gathering? Anything over the cost of gear repairs is profit.

[Curisu]

When I buy different items worth of 100k, craft them into something new and sell that for 200k then I don't care about the 2nd highest price is 1mil.
I made 100k gil for 2 min of work and that's good for me.

[Elevin]

Supply and demand... you need to study economics.

[dspguy]

Supply and demand... you need to study economics.

Sure. But you also don't see prices slashed by 90% either. Remember, this is a video game, not real-life. Some concepts from the real world do apply, but not all.

For example, in the real world, the average consumer sees jars of peanut butter for $4.99, $4.89 and $4.79 and goes with the $4.79 one... especially if the $4.79 is the same volume of product. However, when the shelves are filled with peanut butter, it isn't like one brand drops the price by 75% either. Nor do people commonly buy up the 75% off peanut butter and then relist it back for $4.99. We don't own stores. And if we resell through eBay, Amazon, etc - they take a substantial cut.

Imagine Lowes selling 2x4s for $8 each and seeing their competitor selling them for $6 each and buying them out. In FFXIV, that transfer of lumber from their retainer to your retainer is instantaneous and costs a negligible amount (retainer/MB tax). But Lowes would have to physically move all that lumber from one warehouse to the other, possibly lose some due to damage and wind up at a loss.

It isn't apples to apples and pretending it is is just plain silly.

[Jojoya]

Sure. But you also don't see prices slashed by 90% either. Remember, this is a video game, not real-life. Some concepts from the real world do apply, but not all.

For example, in the real world, the average consumer sees jars of peanut butter for $4.99, $4.89 and $4.79 and goes with the $4.79 one... especially if the $4.79 is the same volume of product. However, when the shelves are filled with peanut butter, it isn't like one brand drops the price by 75% either. Nor do people commonly buy up the 75% off peanut butter and then relist it back for $4.99. We don't own stores. And if we resell through eBay, Amazon, etc - they take a substantial cut.

Imagine Lowes selling 2x4s for $8 each and seeing their competitor selling them for $6 each and buying them out. In FFXIV, that transfer of lumber from their retainer to your retainer is instantaneous and costs a negligible amount (retainer/MB tax). But Lowes would have to physically move all that lumber from one warehouse to the other, possibly lose some due to damage and wind up at a loss.

It isn't apples to apples and pretending it is is just plain silly.

Yet supply and demand still have an impact on the marketboard prices.

Why does the Suzusaurus that was selling for 12 million gil 3 weeks ago now go for just over a million? Because supply increased while the number of players who are willing to pay 12 million gil for it has not. Sellers kept undercutting each other trying to stay at the top of the list while buyers continued to pass on the opportunity. The price seems to be stable for the near future but it will soon be taking another dip as the players willing to buy at 1-1.5 million get theirs and move on.

Real world manufacturers will also slash their prices on some items by 75-90% just as the retailers do. They too have to worry about transport of items and storage, not to mention flaws created in the manufacturing process. There was a dessert factory near where I used to live that supplied upscale restaurants and also sold under a retail brand. Twelve slice moussecakes would typically run $20-25 retail and $15 to the restaurants (while the restaurants would sell those slices at $5-$7 each) . But the factory seconds would sell for $4-5 in their outlet shop attached to the factory. More badly damaged ones could be priced at $1. It was a great price for a quality dessert that had the whipped cream decoration slightly off center or a small section of crust chipped off.

You're right that it's not directly apples to apples but there are definitely points where real life versus game are comparable.

So when this is a game and players aren't concerned with the overhead and logistics in the real life manufacturing to retail process, when there is no variation in quality beyond it's either HQ or NQ, why are so many obsessed with making massive profits on items that are neither rare nor difficult to produce then throwing hissy fits when someone decides to undercut them by a large amount so the prices are more reasonable for the buyer?

I'm going to undercut as I feel appropriate. One gil isn't appropriate, it's a coward's game. If you think the current lowest seller's price is fair, then price match. Take your chances that the next buyer is going to pick your item and not the other seller's. If it truly is a fair price for an item in demand, both items will end up selling and you get to keep that one gil.

[Canadane]

I am currently undercutting a few people by hundreds of thousands. I don't sell big ticket items often, and I price matched the lowest and kept matching for a while but they just kept going lower.
I don't particularly need the gil, so if I sell them at a loss...oh well. Shoulda played nice, other people!

[boopadoop]

oh. i do that bc i'm not a marketplace fella and i just want my things to sell. is it that bad if it's just one entry of an item? cuz i imagine someone's like "oo, good deal! imma snatch it!" or "ha look at this idiot imma re-sell it for higher" and honestly idc which one gets it

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

me tho
if someone does that to me when i check what i have still on sale after a while i'm dropping it significantly bc even if i'm not trying to sell i can't stand people who undercut by 1gil and when i'm buying i buy the next highest one

[dspguy]

Yet supply and demand still have an impact on the marketboard prices.

Why does the Suzusaurus that was selling for 12 million gil 3 weeks ago now go for just over a million? Because supply increased while the number of players who are willing to pay 12 million gil for it has not. Sellers kept undercutting each other trying to stay at the top of the list while buyers continued to pass on the opportunity. The price seems to be stable for the near future but it will soon be taking another dip as the players willing to buy at 1-1.5 million get theirs and move on.

You talk about how sometimes retailers have to slash prices. Of course that happens, and we see that in FFXIV. But it is usually something along the lines of old items becoming obsolete, like the classical gear when rinascita came out. Or if some item becomes available by some other means for less effort. However, you don't see retailers cutting prices if the "sale history" is healthy - lots of sales per day at a certain price. They don't cut it by 50% just out of spite. You will see retailers undercut others - of course they can't do it 1 penny at a time - the effort to relist and advertise those prices just isn't worth it.

As for the items where cutting prices makes sense - there are going to be items that fit that bill - mounts and minions and stuff that sells a few times per week for 7-to-8 digit gil where the lower price does matter. For those items, the decision to buy is made when they punch in the item name and see the price.

The other 99% of the stuff on the marketboard - the decision is made when they walk up to the marketboard. Not when they see the price. It doesn't matter what the price is. If you play the 1 gil game on the rest of the economy, that is the way to win.