Why are we letting greed get the best of us?

[tresfroid]

I know inflation is a necessary part of gaian and real life economy, but the recent inflation of some items have made me believe that we're going crazy with greed.

For instance, fuzzy penguin slippers, and baby seal slippers have just recently gone up 15k gold, 15 thousand! And the once 200k and something nm scarves have doubled in price!

Why are we letting ourselves do this? Does no one else think that this has gone a little far?

I'm not complaining about any part of gaia, but rather the gaian community who has come to believe that selling something twice the price it was yesterday is acceptable. This to me is outrageous, like paying 1 thousand dollars for a beanie baby with it's nose sewed upside down.
Granted, most of the things on gaia [even though they don't really exist, though neither does the gold] are more practical than a deformed beanie baby, my point is never the less we, as buyers, shouldn't let seller greed influence us.

I have seen many gaians trying to do their part in setting the record straight that just because people in the market place are selling seal slippers for 50k does not mean that any of the price guides have changed. The price guides are there for us to get a general idea of what something is worth. If we allow these greedy sellers to convince us that something that was, say 30k yesterday is now worth double that, then the price guides are going to change, and the only ones happy are going to be the sellers.

I don't believe that this is anyway to set up an economy, blindingly accepting anything the sellers say without doing your homework like you're supposed to do before you do anything concerning money [real or otherwise].

My advice to the buyers of gaia...

set the sellers straight, direct them to the price guides and tell them that what you want to buy is supposed to be that price. Not double that, not some other insane asking price.

My advice to the sellers of gaia...

don't try to bend inflation prices so that you can make a few extra gold, it's selfish and decieving and wrong. If you want what your selling to go up in price, do what fair sellers do and wait. If it's a letter item, then it will go up, no doubt about that.

[p.s. Please do not be so rude to assume that just because I am questing for seal slippers I have made this thread to influence my buy. I have more than enough to buy them, and do not need any lip from you saying that I want the prices to go down just so I can buy what I want. I would never be so selfish.]

[Harris]

Sellers are what makes the inflation go up. They dont go up by themselves.

[tresfroid]

I realize that, my point is that it is crazy to allow sellers to make inflation go up so much.

I just read my post over again, and I can see where you're going, I might fix some things if other people misunderstand what I mean.

[NekoTalim]

thank you for this thread. its impossible to get anything from these greedy bastards. at one point i was questing for a Ninja Headband back when it was only like 6K by the time I earned enough it was somewhere like 20K

[Lucrecia Sapphire]

I totally agree with you! Some people put stuff up there for an outstanding price! They just think that someone will pay that silly price, what the hell? I'm a fair person, and I'll sell my stuff at fair prices. Honestly, if you sell something at a lesser price, people will buy from you and the others who are selling for insane amounts will hopefully get the drift and come down in pricing. Or, that's just my thought.

[High Templar Doomshot]

Inflation can only stop if the people of gaia stop wanting more gold for items they don't need but others want. When they see how much one would pay for something they increase it nextime in order to get more money. It's sad but it's the truth and nothing can stop it short of getting rid of avaters or market place.

[plan|face]

this is nothing new, it's been going on since i got here. like days after i got my Panda hat for over a million gold it doubled in price then doubled again. but you know the prices wouldn't go up so high if there weren't people out there able to afford these large jumps in prices. it's easier to get gold on Gaia than most people think and a lot of people are just stockpiling just so they can smack down huge sacks of it on items they want. the prices don't spike because of sellers, they get spiked because one person saw the high bid for an auction and said, "that's the new standard for this item" and in the next auction someone will outbid it. i see it happen all the time.

just live with it, find a way to keep up because no matter how many of these threads i see get made over the years it never changes.

[Airez]

Aye, but that's not the marking of a good Exchanger. A person in the exchange would listen to the sob story, buy the item for a low price, and then sell it for as hgih as they possibly can.

I'll admit that I too was surprised to see the prices go up. My value went up by 20 million without me even knowing it. o_-; It was kind of scary, to tell you the truth. And from what I've seen, they're still rising higher and higher, preventing people from obtaining their quests and glories. It's kind of sad but that's how the market works. GCG's item price guide is the one I use, and it was astonishing at what was happening with all the new prices. I didn't expect it to happen, though I personally can't really complain about it.

Greed is human nature. The more money a person gets, the more powerful they tend to feel.

[Blaze-kun]

I don't quest for anything more than 15k or any old donation/event items so it doesn't really matter to me. That way I don't have to stress over inflation. And I think I have a decent avatar.. so yeah.

[tresfroid]

I see your point, and I'm not really trying to change anything, it's just my opinion.

Like what's going on in the world, happens over and over and over again, no one really learning anything, but that's just what happens. I appreciate your input, usually when I make this point, I get whiney naked people who can't afford a corsage or something crazy expensive. [not that I am saying any of you are like that].

If you could post some tips on getting gold, I'm sure everyone would appreciate it.

[Dragon Plushie]

Its a market place and the things that are being sold become more and more rare. Rare = higher price. Its like this in real life and everywhere. Its how it is.

[tresfroid]

once again I realize that. I'm not saying anything beyond the fact that, sellers have become greed stricken what with prices in the market place tens of thousands of dollars more than they should be, thinking that is the way it is and selling it to buyers who don't look at the price guides. My point being that doing your homework on an item you want can save you thousands and avoid seller greed.

[Airez]

Actually, it's more along the lines of supply and demand. You could make one of the prettiest pictures in the world, though if people don't want to buy it there will be little value to its name.

Since so many people want to have those rare donation items, they're willing to pay an arm and a leg to get them. ^^;

[plan|face]

ways to get gold:

post a lot, fish a lot, play the letter market, sell art commissions, sell pets. get creative, i saw some webcam-whore selling her own photographs in the Chatterbox, the girl had a two day old account with all sorts of '04 donation items from profits. make interesting threads, the ones people want to come and post in. get in a guild, guilds are on seperate servers than the forums, you can get away with mass posting if you switch between a guild and a forum. make sigs, do avatar contests, lottos, marketplace whoring, wait for the Casino to come out and play that.

there's lots of ways to get gold on Gaia, it's real easy when you find something you're good at.

[Bilby from Tentt Lake]

*aplauds* Great speech. I usually buy my stuff at the shops (I mean, not at the marketplace), so I won't be surprised about the prices. I met lots of Gaians who are on quests, and I think it's unfair to raise the prices for donation items, even if it's to make more gold. I usually sell my items at the lowest price suggested by the price guides, just to be fair with the economy.