Undercutting

[Archeron]

Buy and sell at whatever prices you want. It doesn't matter. The marketboard is PvP, and you are free to do whatever it takes to sell items. If it costs you money, then so be it you do so at your own risk, and other people can snipe it if they think they can do better.

I sell at whatever the going rate is. I do not care about the servers inflated prices. If a server has nothing but inflated items, people will not purchase items on that world. This is the case for most worlds on Dynamis. Are you going to spend 20k+ more gil per item you need out of laziness? Some people will. I wager most won't. I don't sell at inflated rates. If it makes people angry, they're free to buy my items off the market and repost them.

[dspguy]

If a server has nothing but inflated items, people will not purchase items on that world.

Likely incorrect. Play the MB "PvP minigame" more. If you look at the bigger picture, you'll find that most players make the decision to buy something before they see the price. Barring something ridiculous like a level 10 weapon selling for 1M gil, most purchases are decided when they approach the marketboard. And whomever has the lowest price at that moment, "wins."

It isn't like lowering your price 50% creates two sales. It just cuts your profits by 50% IF you even sell your item at all. If it is items that sell fast, like say... Claro Walnut Logs. Undercut the going rate of 500 gil down to 400 gil. The market will follow you down unless your items sells immediately. Cut it further to 200 gil, and maybe you get your sale. But people buy those in stacks of 99. They'd likely buy the lowest price... and the second lowest. And the third lowest, etc. Meaning, you could have NOT undercut by 100+ gil and still sold your item in that case. And if you saturate the market while undercutting by 50%, you might sell your stuff, but the next time you go to list, chances are... the prices will still be BELOW that 50% discount you introduced.

Or - if it is an item that sells 2-3 per day or 2-3 per week... you could undercut, but if someone doesn't check the marketboard to buy it before the next undercutter undercuts you by 1 gil, then all you did was drop the market and produce no sales in the meantime. And if you do eventually sell afterwards, you likely just cost yourself profit by doing so. Unless someone is dropping the price of a 7-8 digit item by a 0, undercutting does not produce sales the way people think it does. However, try explaining that to the entire community.

[Archeron]

Likely incorrect. Play the MB "PvP minigame" more. If you look at the bigger picture, you'll find that most players make the decision to buy something before they see the price. Barring something ridiculous like a level 10 weapon selling for 1M gil, most purchases are decided when they approach the marketboard. And whomever has the lowest price at that moment, "wins."

It isn't like lowering your price 50% creates two sales. It just cuts your profits by 50% IF you even sell your item at all. If it is items that sell fast, like say... Claro Walnut Logs. Undercut the going rate of 500 gil down to 400 gil. The market will follow you down unless your items sells immediately. Cut it further to 200 gil, and maybe you get your sale. But people buy those in stacks of 99. They'd likely buy the lowest price... and the second lowest. And the third lowest, etc. Meaning, you could have NOT undercut by 100+ gil and still sold your item in that case. And if you saturate the market while undercutting by 50%, you might sell your stuff, but the next time you go to list, chances are... the prices will still be BELOW that 50% discount you introduced.

Or - if it is an item that sells 2-3 per day or 2-3 per week... you could undercut, but if someone doesn't check the marketboard to buy it before the next undercutter undercuts you by 1 gil, then all you did was drop the market and produce no sales in the meantime. And if you do eventually sell afterwards, you likely just cost yourself profit by doing so. Unless someone is dropping the price of a 7-8 digit item by a 0, undercutting does not produce sales the way people think it does. However, try explaining that to the entire community.

Citations needed.

[dspguy]

Citations needed.

A few posts up, there are more details about what I'm talking about. However, if you are a "POIDH" type person, you will be let down. If I was preparing a dissertation for academic purposes, then I'd have recorded all of this in pictures and a document. And besides, even if I did that, many closed-minded people would just draw whatever conclusions that fit their narrative anyway. I recommend you try looking into it yourself. Look beyond just the one sale where you undercut by 50% and something sold quick.

And I'd love to see the "citations provided" for any of the "undercutting by thousands of gil is better" posts. Since the only thing lacking more than those citations are the thought processes that arrived at such conclusions.

[Archeron]

A few posts up, there are more details about what I'm talking about. However, if you are a "POIDH" type person, you will be let down. If I was preparing a dissertation for academic purposes, then I'd have recorded all of this in pictures and a document. And besides, even if I did that, many closed-minded people would just draw whatever conclusions that fit their narrative anyway. I recommend you try looking into it yourself. Look beyond just the one sale where you undercut by 50% and something sold quick.

And I'd love to see the "citations provided" for any of the "undercutting by thousands of gil is better" posts. Since the only thing lacking more than those citations are the thought processes that arrived at such conclusions.

I just love your passive aggressive attitude, followed up by no sources. I gave my opinion on how I see peoples spending habits, based upon my experience in the sales I've made over 4 years and being gil capped twice over. But I'm sure I clearly have no experience or knowledge! It must have been luck! But no, I won't be discussing my thought process with you. You're clearly emotionally invested in the markets, and my undercutting will continue at my discretion. Buy my items or plan on selling elsewhere.

[Burmecia]

If there two of the things i need, for 999 gil and 1000 gil... I always try yo pick the 1000 gil one. I see what the 999 seller is trying. I dont really care either way, but supporting the speed seller just feels like unfairness.

[Jovakim]

It's crazy how some of you get big mad about 1 gil undercutting. I wonder how much is a "fair amount" of undercutting for you guys not to throw a tantrum... 50 gil? Maybe 1000 gil?

When you see 10 items on top of the list, all with the same price, why would you prefer to be 11th instead of 1st? Out of kindness? It won't matter, for every kind person there will be ten more ready to undercut you.

The MB is called "PVP" for a reason, if you want to be the shiny #1 on the list, either fight for it or let it stay there and wait for an eventual buyer. Hell, there will be petty enough people to buy your items instead, like this one here:

If there two of the things i need, for 999 gil and 1000 gil... I always try yo pick the 1000 gil one. I see what the 999 seller is trying. I dont really care either way, but supporting the speed seller just feels like unfairness.

[ForteNightshade]

So I had a conversation today with someone in my hunt party, and he brought up undercutting. When he said that you should undercut by only one gil, I told him that if someone does that to me, I drop my price by 1k. And he didn't like that. He said, that if you do that, the price drops, and all sellers lose money, but if you only undercut by 1 gil, then the price remains high for everyone.

No it doesn't. It remains high for you! Not for me, mine doesn't sell. If you like my price, then match it, don't undercut it. If you undercut by 1 gil, you're saying, "Hey, I like you're price, so I'm going to steal your sale." And I get screwed cause mine doesn't sell.

Yes, it will. If you're in a highly competitive market like say, the crafted battle gear when it's current. It will sell regardless if you undercut by 1 or 1,000. All that matters is your own availability to engage in an undercut war. For slower moving items, it's generally the same premise, but people may have a higher benchmark they aren't willing to go under. You usually see this for things like Unreal mounts or other highly expensive items.

The point is, that person is correct and he isn't stealing your sale. Think about it. By your own admission, you wouldn't be upset with a 1k undercut yet that person undercutting you is trying to sell their item ahead of yours. It's quite literally the same premise, except you added some zeros. Which does lower the market because if other people also join the undercut war, the item will just stay at a lower amount.

Undercutting by 1 gil isn't some great insult. It's basic efficiency. Everyone wants their item to be listed first because it sells faster. Dropping the price by more doesn't increase the speed it'll sell unless the item was overpriced to begin with.

[YumieYumiki]

It amazes me sometimes the lengths people go to find something to be angry about.

[Infindox]

I just like having my price look even before the taxes get put on it, so I won't undercut by just one.