A Quester's Guide to Buying Inks

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[Reed Meroe]

A Quester's Guide to Buying Inks



Have you ever tried to collect inks for a quest? Possibly to make those hard-earned gray or white body dyes? I had to, and while doing it, I realized something important enough to share: people pay too much for their inks. So I decided to make this guide, to help those who are trying to buy inks, specifically for black, white, and gray body dye quests (though the principles can be readily applied to the other ink colors, as well as to buying for other tattoos).

September 1, 2012 - Ranted about alchemy's effect on ink prices. Read post here. Eventually I'll update the whole guide.
July 28, 2011 - Been watching ink prices shift lately; parts roughly equal whole on white ink now - but green ink's way up. If market shift maintains itself, I'll do a revision update.
January 29, 2011 - Current ABP for Red, Green, and Blue inks are low. Buy now!
January 5, 2011 - Added Bug Comparison (post 6) to guide.
January 3, 2011 - Created guide. Statistics reflect market at time of creation.


Contents

1. Parts versus Whole: Is it better to buy the finished product or buy the parts?
2. Understanding the Market: What is really the best deal?
3. Buying from the Market: When and how do I buy?
4. Tips and Warnings: Why is that such a bad idea?
5. Other Helps: Is this quest really possible?
6. Addendum: Bug Comparison: Should I buy bugs instead?

[Reed Meroe]

Parts versus Whole
Is it better to buy the finished product or buy the parts?

Scenario: You need a full-body dye job. A white one. (For whatever reason.) So you head to the marketplace to check out white body dye.



The lowest current buy price is 3,500,000 gold. That seems reasonable, doesn't it? After all, the next lowest price is almost 250,000 gold above that. So you move to click the 'Buy Now' button...

STOP! Let's look again, shall we?

The Lowest Buy Now Price is 3,500,000 gold. The Average Buy Price is 3,256,790 gold—almost 250,000 lower. The Average Buy Price reflects the average gold that is spent on an item. It is different from the Average Market Price (found under the graph and on an inventory listing), which is merely an average price gained from all of the current listings. You want some good advice?

Do not buy above the average buy price. Ever.

But you really want the item? Well, learn to wait. Or check the Gaia Exchange. Or PM a seller to haggle an offer. Because when you buy above the Average Buy Price, not only are you paying too much for an item, but you're raising the Average Buy Price. Which means that now sellers will think it's okay to list their item 30,000 gold higher. After all, you're willing to pay it. (If you have a desire to waste gold needlessly, however, you're completely welcome to buy overpriced items.)

Now that you've saved some gold, let's take a look at the real question: Is it better to buy the finished product or buy the parts? White body dye is made from 500 white inks. Yeah, that's a lot. Let's head over to the MP again, this time to check the price of white ink.



Looks good, right? There are several inks listed for cheaper than the Average Buy Price. So let's start buying!

STOP! Let's look again, shall we?

The Average Buy Price of white ink is 6,649 gold. And you need 500 of them to make body dye (which you could just buy for 3,500,000 gold). So now it's time for some math. 500 white inks x 6,649 per ink = 3,324, 500 gold. Current lowest white body dye price = 3,500,000 gold. So, which would you buy? With a little bit of effort on your part (and a little more time), you could save 175,000 gold by buying the inks to make the dye yourself. Now, you might have noticed that the Average Buy Price of the white body dye is lower than it would cost to make the dye yourself. That's because smart buyers knew when to not waste their money.

Do not buy the whole when the parts are cheaper.

In the next post, we'll look at why it is almost always cheaper to buy the parts over the whole.

Contents

1. Parts versus Whole: Is it better to buy the finished product or buy the parts?
2. Understanding the Market: What is really the best deal?
3. Buying from the Market: When and how do I buy?
4. Tips and Warnings: Why is that such a bad idea?
5. Other Helps: Is this quest really possible?
6. Addendum: Bug Comparison: Should I buy bugs instead?

[Reed Meroe]

Understanding the Market
What is really the best deal?

Now that you know how to compare prices with the Average Buy Price, let's work on saving more money by finding good deals.



You're checking out white ink, right? It seems like the lowest buy price is 6,998 gold—way over the Average Buy Price. But are you sure that's the lowest price?

When buying things that are sold in units, always sort them by 'Unit Price'.

See the blue link? Let's resort the listings to show the lowest unit price first. (This is especially helpful when you're trying to buy lots of an item, such as, say, 500 white inks. It's well worth it to buy 30 at one time, if it saves you 5,000 gold.)



This is the same market listing screen, resorted. Now there are two items (both bulk) listed below the 6,998 gold item. Sorting by Unit Price will always help you find the better deals. After all, though the first bulk listing is the cheapest, the overall Buy Price would make it appear somewhere near the end of the list.

Let's get back to that white body dye. You've seen that it's cheaper to buy the inks and make the dye yourself. But have you really saved enough money? This is the part where I see too many Gaians overpaying on their inks, especially on white ink. Why? Because white ink is overpriced.

No, I'm not just talking about the inks that fall above the Average Buy Price. I'm talking about almost all white inks. Why?

Do not buy the whole when the parts are cheaper.

Remember that? But we looked at the white inks! We resorted them! And we didn't buy any that weren't below the Average Buy Price!



White ink is created by combining 5 red, 5 blue, and 5 green inks. (Devin sure does seem to waste a lot of ink there, doesn't he?) So, in effect, the cost of 1 white ink is the same as the cost of 5 red, 5 blue, and 5 green inks. And buying these separately to make your own white ink will (currently, and probably always) certainly save you gold. So let's check out the Average Buy Prices of those inks.



Red is 321 gold, Blue is 432 gold, and Green is 267 gold. Time for some more math. If you only buy inks at the Average Buy Price or below, and you need 5 five of each color...

321 x 5 = 1,605 ... 432 x 5 = 2,160 ... 267 x 5 = 1,335 ... total = 5,100 gold

So, if you bought red, blue, and green inks to make your white ink, it would cost 5,100 gold for 1 white ink. What was our Average Buy Price for white ink? Oh, yeah. 6,649 gold. Why are we paying an extra 1,500 gold? The best deal (now, and probably forever) is to buy the parts and make the whole yourself.

In the next post, we'll look at ways to save even more money (yes, it's possible) by using the market wisely.

Contents

1. Parts versus Whole: Is it better to buy the finished product or buy the parts?
2. Understanding the Market: What is really the best deal?
3. Buying from the Market: When and how do I buy?
4. Tips and Warnings: Why is that such a bad idea?
5. Other Helps: Is this quest really possible?
6. Addendum: Bug Comparison: Should I buy bugs instead?

[Reed Meroe]

Buying from the Market
When and how do I buy?

Now we know the basics of figuring out what we need to buy. Just because we need white body dye, doesn't mean we should go buy white body dye. We've decided to save money and buy red, blue, and green inks to make white body dye. We know all about finding the true lowest prices, and when not to buy. Or do we? For this example, let's follow some red ink in the marketplace.



This is the red ink listing, sorted by Unit Price. (Ignore that first one. I think the Gaia MP is as confused by these people as I am.) The current lowest price is 345 gold. But the Average Buy Price is 321 gold. What do I do?

Do not buy above the average buy price. Ever.

Have patience. Lower listings will come. Inks are a very quick turnaround item. That means that many of them go through the marketplace in a day. To be specific, check the graphs.



This graph shows us how many units of an item were sold on any given day in the MP. On a good day, red ink sells about 2200 units. On a bad day, it sells about 1000 units. That's a lot of units. (To put it another way, if you needed 500 white inks to make white body dye, you would have to buy 2,500 red inks. If you had endless amounts of gold to spend, you could buy every red ink that came through the MP—and it would take you a little over a day to buy enough. That's a lot of inks.) But you only want the inks that are a great deal. So don't buy inks that aren't.

What about when you've found inks that are a good deal? You should buy them, right? Not necessarily. Have you ever heard of 'playing the marketplace'? Yeah, this is it.

Buy inks that are a great deal.

Notice I said 'great'. What's great? Inks that are 2 gold below the Average Buy Price are not great. Sure, you can buy them, but you're not saving much money. (I will not deny, however, that you are saving money. But read on.) Inks that are 20, 50, 100, 150, 200 (yes, it happens) gold below the Average Buy Price—those are great buys. And because they're such great buys, they'll go fast. As in, ten seconds kind of fast. So, when you're buying inks, you've got to stalk the MP listings like some kind of large, swift bird of prey, ready to swoop in at a moment's notice.





See here? The top five listings are below the Average Buy Price. The first one is almost 75 gold below. That's a great buy. So go for it! You can even go for the next two—you're saving 21 gold, after all, and that's not too shabby. But what about the two that are 310 gold?

I wouldn't buy them.

Why? They're cheaper, aren't they? Yes, they are, and at the end of the day, maybe you will buy them. They still save you money; they still get you your inks. But what about the rest of the inks you need to buy?

Remember what I said about buying above the Average Buy Price? (Of course you do.) The Average Buy Price is just that: an average of the prices people pay for their inks. And the more you buy below (and well below), the more effect you have on that average. Do you remember the Average Buy Price images? Red and Green Ink had a 0% by their price—but Blue Ink had a +1%.



That's because Gaians have been buying above the Average Buy Price and driving it higher. Not a good idea. But when you buy lower, it helps to drive the average down, and that means smart sellers will list below that—saving you more money.

In addition, many sellers list their items based upon the Lowest Buy Now Price. That means they look at the lowest price listed, and they list below that. After all, they want to sell. That means that, the lower you can keep the Lowest Buy Price, the lower others will list their items for. And when sellers want to make money just as much as you want to save it, they're not (usually) going to be jumping down in large quantities. So, if you constantly buy every ink listed cheaper than the Average Buy Price, you will mostly be saving 2, 5, maybe 10 gold here and there, because most people (like the 310 gold listings) will only lower their prices a bit. But, if you leave the 310 gold listing there, the next person wanting to make sure they sell will list lower—perhaps 305 gold, or 300 gold (which is what they did).

When I buy, I usually set a price for myself, and I only buy inks at or below that price. For example, a great deal to me would be 300 gold for red ink, 400 gold for blue ink, and 250 gold for green ink. So I won't buy unless they're at or below that price. And when I do that, guess what happens: The cost of 1 white ink becomes 4,750 gold. The max cost. (And the cost of white body dye becomes 2,375,000 gold. Who knew it was actually worth that?)

So, to summarize how best to use the marketplace and make the most of your gold:

Buy low. Buy fast. Leave some listings as bait.

It sounds like something the S.W.A.T. team would tell you.

In the next post, we'll go over a few tips and tricks (some of which you've already heard).

Contents

1. Parts versus Whole: Is it better to buy the finished product or buy the parts?
2. Understanding the Market: What is really the best deal?
3. Buying from the Market: When and how do I buy?
4. Tips and Warnings: Why is that such a bad idea?
5. Other Helps: Is this quest really possible?
6. Addendum: Bug Comparison: Should I buy bugs instead?

[Reed Meroe]

Tips and Warnings
Why is that such a bad idea?

So here are the things we've learned so far:

~ Decide what is the better value: to buy parts or the whole.
~ Check out the marketplace statistics (Average Buy Price, Lowest Buy Price, Unit Price) before buying anything.
~ Wait for great deals—and catch them when they come.
~Set a price for yourself and stick to it. This will save you the most money in the long run.

(Did we really just summarize all of that so easily?)

And here are a few more tips to help you:

~ Watch the marketplace effectively: reload the item window frequently, and use multiple windows/tabs if watching multiple items. (And provide some background music or something if you're going to be there awhile. It can does get boring.)
~ Save time when having to type in your password to purchase: copy and paste it. (When a listing only lasts 10 seconds, you'll regret it if you don't do this. Every second counts.)
~ Though we've mostly been talking about white body dye, the above principles can be applied to questing for any kind of ink—or even for any item on the marketplace.
~ If a listing is going to be there for awhile (not common on inks, but common on higher-end dyes), consider PMing the seller with an offer. The MP has a 2% tax for every vend; by trading with the seller—for a price below what they listed, but above what they would make after the tax deduction—you can both profit. (When doing this, I PM them with the offer, including my price and how much they would be saving.)
~ Be courteous to your fellow Gaians: Many sellers often thank buyers for purchasing—respond in kind. If you get a good deal from someone, thank them for it. Sometimes they might have more items they would be willing to sell to you at a discount.
~ When buying from a seller, check their store for other items they may have listed. Those who sell at good prices often do so across the board.
~ Look for good auctions, but don't necessarily bid on them right away, especially if they have several days until close.

And now to recap the things you shouldn't do:

~ Do not buy over the Average Buy Price. Likewise, don't drive up the Average Buy Price.
~ Don't let your impatience dictate your purchases. You can get what you want immediately, or you can get it at a good deal. But they don't usually go together.
~ Don't buy every listing, just because it's lower than the Average Buy Price.

The final section of this guide contains some helpful links and words of encouragement to get you through your quest (and any other quest you might undertake). So, read one. (It's really almost done.)

Contents

1. Parts versus Whole: Is it better to buy the finished product or buy the parts?
2. Understanding the Market: What is really the best deal?
3. Buying from the Market: When and how do I buy?
4. Tips and Warnings: Why is that such a bad idea?
5. Other Helps: Is this quest really possible?
6. Addendum: Bug Comparison: Should I buy bugs instead?

[Reed Meroe]

Other Helps
Is this quest really possible?

Yes, your quest is possible. Collecting inks can be one of the hardest things to do on Gaia. But if you use your gold wisely, it won't take nearly as long. In addition to purchasing inks on the marketplace, you can ask for helpful donations or search for bugs in Gaia Towns. Here are some helpful guides and threads to give you more information on inks:

Converting Bugs to Ink: A Guide

Tattoo and Ink Guide (Older)

An Idiot's Guide to Selling Inks (In case you might need to sell...)

Contents

1. Parts versus Whole: Is it better to buy the finished product or buy the parts?
2. Understanding the Market: What is really the best deal?
3. Buying from the Market: When and how do I buy?
4. Tips and Warnings: Why is that such a bad idea?
5. Other Helps: Is this quest really possible?
6. Addendum: Bug Comparison: Should I buy bugs instead?

[Reed Meroe]

Addendum 1/5/2011

*Note: In addition to thanking TheUnaffected for inspiration for this addendum, I would like to thank xnozomi-chanx for the use of her bug guide, found in the Other Helps post.

Bug Comparison:
Should I buy bugs instead?

No. The answer is simply that. No. (Except in two potential cases.) In response to TheUnaffected's comments, I did research to see if going a step farther—by buying bugs to create inks yourself—would be the best deal. So, read on to see what I discovered. Keep in mind that, as this guide focuses on the more commonly quested inks, I left out any bugs not relating to green, red, blue, white, or black ink (though, again, these principles can easily be applied to the other inks and bugs).

Firstly, let's take a look at the bug list, with the Average Buy Price of each bug listed. Do be aware that I noticed a trend while gathering this data: all but one or two of the Lowest Buy Now prices were well above the Average Buy Price for the bugs. Thus, I assume it would be more difficult to find bugs at these prices.

Bug List w/ Average Buy Price

Blue Beetle - 42g
Blue Butterfly - 42g
Blue Dragonfly - 40g
Cicada - 8g
Demonfly - 7,921g
Firefly - 16g
Golden Legs - 6,144g
Grasshopper - 10g
Great Monarch - 16,193g
Green Dragonfly - 13g
House Fly - 5g
Purple Fly - 3,546g
Red Beetle - 13g
Red Butterfly - 13g
Red Dragonfly - 13g
Red Fly - 23g
Rhino Beetle - 4,589g
The Whistler - 1,326g

Now let's apply those prices and look at what it would cost to make a bottle of ink. Here's the list again, sorted by ink color.

Ink Conversion List w/ Cost @ Average Buy Price

Green Ink
50 Grasshopper - 500g
50 Green Dragonfly - 650g
1 Golden Legs - 6,144g

Red Ink
50 Red Fly - 1,150g
50 Red Beetle - 650g
50 Red Butterfly - 650g
50 Red Dragonfly - 650g
1 Purple Fly - 3,546g
1 Demonfly - 7,921g

Blue Ink
50 Blue Beetle - 2,100g
50 Blue Butterfly - 2,100g
50 Blue Dragonfly - 2,000g

White Ink
1 Great Monarch - 16,193g

Black Ink
50 House Fly - 250g
50 Firefly - 800g
50 Cicada - 400g
1 Rhino Beetle - 4,589g
1 Great Monarch - 16,193g
1 Demonfly - 7,921g
1 The Whistler - 1,326g


What does it all mean?

Do not buy bugs. Ever.

Unless, of course, you just like collecting them. Or you want to sell them to other people for more than they're worth.

But what about rare bugs? Some of them give you more than one ink, after all. Well, even getting multiple inks from one bug, it's not worth the cost. With only two possible exceptions, you will always lose money if you purchase bugs to make inks.

So what are those two exceptions?

Black Ink
50 House Fly - 250g
50 Cicada - 400g



The Average Buy Price of black ink is just below 450 gold. That means, if you could buy 50 house flies for 5 gold apiece, then you could save 200 gold per ink. Likewise, finding cicadas at the Average Buy Price would save you 50 gold. However, it is often easy to find black inks listed below the Average Buy Price—and often hard to find bugs listed at the Average Buy Price.

So let's take our hypothetical situations a step further, just so we have all the information we can. In case the marketplace is one day overloaded by super-cheap bugs, here are the maximum bug prices which would save you money on inks (as compared to that ink's Average Buy Price—which, if you'll recall, I told you never to buy at). Also note that, while I did not calculate for rare bugs giving you more than one color of ink, they still would not equal out to be worth their cost.

Maximum Bug Price Comparison by Ink

Green Ink (ABP: 267 gold)
50 Grasshopper - 5.34 per bug
50 Green Dragonfly - 5.34 per bug
1 Golden Legs - 267 gold per bug

Red Ink (ABP: 321 gold)
50 Red Fly - 6.42 per bug
50 Red Beetle - 6.42 per bug
50 Red Butterfly - 6.42 per bug
50 Red Dragonfly - 6.42 per bug
1 Purple Fly - 321 per bug
1 Demonfly - 321 per bug

Blue Ink (ABP: 432 gold)
50 Blue Beetle - 8.64 per bug
50 Blue Butterfly - 8.64 per bug
50 Blue Dragonfly - 8.64 per bug

White Ink (ABP: 6,649 gold)
1 Great Monarch - 6,649 per bug

Black Ink (ABP: 446 gold)
50 House Fly - 8.92 per bug
50 Firefly - 8.92 per bug
50 Cicada - 8.92 per bug
1 Rhino Beetle - 446 per bug
1 Great Monarch - 446 per bug
1 Demonfly - 446 per bug
1 The Whistler - 446 per bug


In conclusion, it should be clear that buying a bug for anything even near its average buy price just isn't worth it. On a related note, nor do I think questing for bugs in towns would be worth your time. If you do collect bugs, however, selling them would be a much better investment than turning them into inks. (After all, for the price of fifty blue beetles, you could buy four bottles of blue ink.)

Thank you for reading my guide. (It was a lot, wasn't it?) Any comments, corrections, or additions would be appreciated. I will try to update it to reflect dramatic market changes (if and when there are any). If you would like to link to my guide, send me a PM. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to buying inks...

Contents

1. Parts versus Whole: Is it better to buy the finished product or buy the parts?
2. Understanding the Market: What is really the best deal?
3. Buying from the Market: When and how do I buy?
4. Tips and Warnings: Why is that such a bad idea?
5. Other Helps: Is this quest really possible?
6. Addendum: Bug Comparison: Should I buy bugs instead?

[Reed Meroe]

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[Reed Meroe]

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[Reed Meroe]

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