Welcome to Gaia! ::

Luci, I think you invited me here for a good reason. You know I like to mess around with people. ninja xd

Anyhoo, inflation. Also known as "bad".
So we're the Planeteers, and we're gonna summon Captian Planet Anti-inflation to change the system. Maybe even get our own TV show about it after.
If you want something to work, you have to plan and build on it. You've gotta have a big, strong base and foundation. Look at the situation from all angles. I guess I'll just break it down to the basics:

Who:
We/us. People that want (or would prefer) a "better" Gaia, which is largely reliant on the economy. How many people are there that are against inflation (currently in the guild, not yet in the guild, not interested in the guild)? Dunno. Looks like we might reach at least 100 soon in here, but I'm sure there are a few hundred more.

People who "support" inflation, artificial or natural. Those number...lots. The cellphone poll on the main page says 100,000 votes. Ian's trial has just under 60,000. I'm going with the assumption that about half would rather overprice items than underprice them. It is a lot of people.

What:
Inflation. Ewwwww!
n. The limiting of an items' availability, thus rising the price.
Less items = a seller having less competition from other sellers, so they can basically charge what they want.
Less items = less to go around for people wanting to buy. Solution? Whoever's willing to go the farthest will get it. And if the buyer's desperate or unknowing, the seller can twist that person's arm as hard as they want.

Basically, all one needs to do is to buy some of the cheapest of a certain item, raising the "price floor". Once a new standard is set, ther person can sell at that new point and make a profit from the difference.

Where:
The Exchange and it's subforums, and the Marketplace. That's where all this inflation happens.
Although...some people might have "Private" Exchange guilds where they follow different standards and rules. Therefore, a black market separate of those two instances might help undercut inflation.

When:
All the time, any time. Prices are always changing, so it's impossible to place a definite price on anything except commons.
Brief inflations are also caused when the items in Sealed Letters are released, though it's usually temporary.

Why:
Why do people inflate items? Practically everyone is questing for something. People want an item that they don't already have, or can't get quite yet. So they would charge more in an attempt to make up for what they don't have. Unlimited wants, limited resources and items.
Some of the people are greedy and selfish. They don't care about what happens to others and the system as long as they're happy.
Some people even go out of their way to attempt to "control" the prices of ceratain items by inflating them.
So in short, nobody wants to be poor. People want to be rich. And in some cases, they're willing to do whatever they can think of to reach their neverending goal.

How:
...
...
>_______>
How do you "stop" inflation? Or at least, counter or slow it down?
I don't think you can, at least not in the long term. Short term, yes. It's possible. But eventually prices will naturally rise again, like always.
The thing is, there are two factors, items and gold. You can have one or the other, or a combination of both. Lately I've seen a lot of users offering hundreds of thousands of gold for items. They meet the requirements for whatever item they're after, but they have to find a seller.
If they can't find a one, they increase offers to bring a seller out.
The thing is...is there a limit to how much someone would pay for an item? If people are willing and able to work their way up to X gold to get something, why not charge 2X?
In general, all (donation) items are related and rely on each other to some extent. If the price of 1 item goes up, it leaves a gap for the ones after to fill in. If I remember correctly, when the June 04 items were released (8k?)they were worth about 1/5 of the price of December 03 items (I think they were 40k). They're still around that ratio in terms of price.
People can "create" gold by posting, polling and all that. They can't "create" non-common items. There's a set amount, but the number of users is always growing.
So then...what would happen if gold had less of an influence on the economy? If it was only an item-for-item system, there wouldn't be inflation. The items depend on a number which relates to their value in gold. For example, at the moment Anklets are worth about 4 Guitars. It doesn't matter if you can get a Guitar for 1k or Anklets for 50k, you can pretty much trade one set for the other. If the numeric value is eliminated somewhat, there would be no inflation. "Prices" of items would not rise, they'd stay constant in relation to other items.

...Enough of my crap. I've got some ideas on how to counter--not stop--inflation. I'll post them soon.

Sorry for the wall of text. sweatdrop

Somone donated 4000 US dollars to gaia. they had a BIG influence on sealed sales for that month ^^