Welcome to Gaia! ::

I answered the invitation to join this guild because it seems to have a lot of activity. That's good. Because I need to vent this to a lot of vendors:

FOR CRIPE'S SAKE, DON'T PUT FOUR OF THE SAME ITEM AT THE LOWEST BUY PRICE AT THE SAME TIME!

Please excuse my shouting. It's just that I notice that when something is about to start rising, like rebellion face masks, some genius comes along using 3 mule accounts to list 12 of them at the lowest buy price. Genius thinks he's going to sell all 12 right away. And sure, maybe he'll sell some quickly or maybe he'll have to wait or MAYBE this will freak out other sellers into pricing even lower. Inevitably, another genius comes along and floods the market at an even lower price than genius #1.

You can literally watch the price plummet before your eyes.

I humbly suggest that you invite people who do this. Maybe they'll learn. I don't think they figure it out, even when their 12 "lowest" priced items drop to page 2, that the very reason they're on page 2 is because they listed so many. They figure it's just the market and it's beyond their control, not realizing THEY initiated the price drop.

Do ONE - for a short period of time. When that sells, do another. NEVER ALL AT ONCE.

Something else they don't realize is that maybe someone like me has just come along and wiped out the first page to boost the price and the very reason their "low" price is as high as it is was because of people like me, and now they're screwing us over.

Am I just a witch, or are you following me?

I got so pissed one day, I totally knocked the price of 2k6 scarves down. I flooded the market with my own account and four mules just to prove how easy it is to make the price deflate. It's actually much easier than trying to cause "inflation."

I know there's little I can do, but maybe a little education would go far. Meanwhile, I hold onto my items until the vending geniuses run out and can't interfere with my goals.

I've done that lately (I've only been here since August, so I'm still trying things out and learning.)

It's amazing what happens. One day there was only ONE page of rebellion face masks because I had chewed my way through them. The price was nice and high. Next thing you know, everyone and their mothers have masks to sell and they do it the way I described. And the price goes down.

It is MUCH easier to cause deflation than inflation. The only trouble I had the day I deflated the scarves was keeping up with the demand for my low price. I had to vend fast, until I had more stock than buyers. I did it until people began pricing lower, then pulled mine out. To cause deflation, all you have to do is have enough of something to lower the price (I had about 200 scarves.) To cause inflation, you have to compete with the people who go lower than you. You can price yours in the millions, but they won't sell as long as there are people who are willing to sell for less. And there usually are.

This happened recently with Oct. 06 letters. I noticed someone had bought out the lowest priced ones, leaving just a handful. I ended up buying a few for about 33K each, because the next highest price was even higher. With one page of 'em, it was looking like 55K sales for these were not out of the question. But no. People noticed and a billion other Oct. 06 letters came out of the woodwork, flooded the market and lowered the price by tens of thousands.

At least it's an item which WILL eventually inflate, so I'll just sit on them.

Heh...I have also had low-price wars with people. They go one below me, so I go one below them. Eventually, they get down to a price where it's more than worth it for me to buy theirs and sell it for more. I got a congratulatory PM from a seller for outsmarting them at their own game. wink

Anyway, I make sure not to fall into this trap with things that are still available - like blue magical gift boxes. Just because the price is high one day doesn't mean 100 people aren't going to have more tomorrow. I try to stick to things that are finite, so if I can't profit now, I can at least profit later.

i feel offended by genius #1 lets hang him

I see this all the time. it really makes me mad... especially if I just bought it for a higher price and it temporarily plumets. so I have to wait till I can sell mine. evil

what are we talking about?

Oh God, I find that to be just about the most annoying thing about the market place. People aren't looking at the long term good when they unload for a meek price! gonk

I used to be all about buying/selling angelbows, and I was doing GREAT for at least a month, and then this one person screwed it up, then other's joined, and after I had done all that hard work inflating, they deflated it right back to where I started and WORSE! scream

..And now I'm sad.

Haha, it's great when that happens, as rare as it is. <3

I've actually had somebody PM me asking me why I was trying to up the price. I couldn't even reply due to the fact that I wouldn't have been able to say anything but -- "Are you stupid?" Did you actually get reported, though?