Undercutting

[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.

[Tiramu]

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.

I'd point out that when these undercutters come along, a lot of the time what happens is that other crafters/sellers snap them up and relist at normal price. There are several of us on our FC who do this on higher demand items all the time when the lazy start undercutting stuff to oblivion. Im sure the same calls of "plebs have tanked this market, buy em while their stupid cheap and make a profit" happens in every FC with crafters in it.


That the stocks sell same to next day or two shows these people arent engaging in supply / demand but more don't understand the market.

[PlanNeun]

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.

Why do you concern yourself if a player choose to loose gillies or not, don't you believe in a free market?
If I want so sell things for 33999 in my anti bot war, then I should be allowed to do so!

[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!

[Upirlikhyi]

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.

How would it be a reportable offense for me to undercut people? If I want to sell my stuff I'm not going to undercut by 1gil. There is no way this could be reportable imho

[SweetestLily]

I dislike people who want to report people over nonsense more than undercutters.

[Payadopa]

I wonder if people who ask for that have bought anything in any given store like ever.

Also, if people reward others by buying stuff that's one Gil cheaper they only have themselves to blame if that catches on. I only buy rounded up prices out of principle. lol

[Jojoya]

I wonder if people who ask for that have bought anything in any given store like ever.

Also, if people reward others by buying stuff that's one Gil cheaper they only have themselves to blame if that catches on. I only buy rounded up prices out of principle. lol

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.