Quote Originally Posted by Elevin View Post
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.