Market crashes

[lethaldose]

Hello all-
I have read - and read- message boards about tradeskilling for years.. Been with EQ for ..well sence before Kunark... not bragging just giving a historical account for my self..

I have read and lived through some bad market crashed... I feel sorry for the shammy who bent them selves over selling SOW potions in the Bazaar.. on my server they go for 75-80pp.. it cost 68pp to make... wow they really F*ed themselves trying to make a fast buck..

Here is what i practice to maintain the 'fair market' value and still undersell when i need the fast buck..

my advise is to not place your underpriced items in bazaar trader. thats the first step in crashing the market, hurting others and your self in the long run..remember the shammys!!.

Often i /auc in the market channel something like "Selling Celestial Tempers below bazaar cost, PST for price- bulk buyers welcome" i donot offer my discounted price in channel or /auc! thats the key point!
at that point i get tells asking "how cheap?" i reply with my low price.. some buy in bulk (@ even lower price) others buy just a few..some say "no thanks thats still to high" <- ignore those there just market mining (looking for good deals to resell at higher prices) This does two things
1. I sell my goods faster -but cheaper.
2. I dont crash the market by permanently putting up a "market crashable" price.
There is a person who sells tempers in bazaar often, and they ALWAY sell for 100pp less than me.. so if i offered my goods at the dicounted price, he/she would lower theirs 100pp cheaper.... thus the domino effect begins, and the market value crashes.. using this method i still sell more for less and I dont harm the market.
remember the key is not shouting out your discounted prices in /ooc, /auc, or in channel. wait for the interested party to contact you, then tell them this special price..
thats what i have been doing and so far im keeping a few other traders from underselling me and crashing the market value.

Does this work? yes lol.. thats why im posting it....
yesterday i sold 34 celestial tempers at my discounted price... the person who like to under sell me.. had 7 for sale ay 1200pp, and still had 7 after i sold my 34 at the discounted price..
also, no i cant sell 34 celestial tempers every day.. the market does not hold that kind of volume... i have gone weeks selling nothing and days like that one mentioned. its the slow, down time that people get desperate and sell in trader mode, going afk, at a very low price- crashing the market..Remeber the shammys!

Lethaldose
54 wizard

[Cigarskunk]

Sounds like you're doing good for the moment, but remember that you can only go so long before someone tries to compete with the guy who's undercutting and crashes the market for you.

There's also this strange creature that wanders tradeskill circles which deliberlately crashes markets in order to either create a monopoly for itself or make the items "available to the masses" - when that creature finds your server and tradeskill then you're toast.

[Kaidian Blade]

I hate that creature! He breeds on Sol Ro, I'm sure of it!

Good luck while it lasts.

[lethaldose]

I have been doing this for years.. no it will not prevent or stop market value crashes from happening.. it will just keep YOU from being the cause.. and i dont always offer my items at a discounted price.. only when I need to clear my inventory.
Believe me im fully aware of the beast that crashes markets for their own gain.... they make $$ fast but live short lives....then they have to move to another medium of making fast money.. .leaving behind a torn and beaten market value for that item.
as far as any one else knowing and seeking my server out... over 2K ppl play on my server.. and this way of trading was shown to me<> and its not rocket science... im not the only one who trades in this manner. i know ppl who have sold items for 1/5 the market value (not I, and how i dont know- the components cost me more than their selling price)... its those who lower there prices to only 50pp above item cost and go in trader mode for long period of time that crash the market.
only way to stop market crashes from happening is for all trade skillers to band together. in the past - to protect one item from a market value crash-- i bought up all the items for as long as i could re-selling for fair market value... thats not a cost effective way to save a market but it worked in this specific case.
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all markets will crash eventually there are too many fools who play that dont under stand how an economy works- and how to properly maintain a economy.
just keep your skills up so you can make the best new thing...untill that new thing is destroyed...
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Lethaldose

[Clementine]

I sell my wares at the avg price, no matter how many undercutters there are I am not going to lower my prices because of them. The plat is always nice but I like making my baked/brewed goods and it's good for ppl to see the prices set up.

[Kronepsis]

I hate that creature! He breeds on Sol Ro, I'm sure of it!

Good luck while it lasts.

LOL.

If you're talking about me, I sell Celestial Tempers based on the price of Blue Diamonds. So if I can get a sizeable amount of Blue diamonds for 1000, I'd sell for 1300. If I can get a sizeable amount of Blue diamonds for 250, I'd sell for 350-400. I do drop prices if there is absolutely no interest or if the price of Blue Diamonds drops considerably (yeah...I'm really going to be able to sell Celestial Tempers for 1000 when the Blue Diamond goes for 400-500 in the bazaar and dips down to 300 at times while not being completely bought out on folks for more than a couple months...right). However, I have a "use it myself" time limit on the tempers, where if I need the space, no one has really touched the tempers in a while (buying 7 or 8 in a batch of 40 doesn't cut it...), and I can't lower it any further without causing the cost of making the temper to be more than the cost of selling the temper, I just throw my luck to the winds and use them on High Elf Cultural.

If I'm going to lose money, I may as well try to get a few skill ups out of it. No skill ups resulted, but I made a Blessed Artkeeper's Tunic (which I wear in /trader and when I'm too lazy to swap it out for something else...) and a Blessed Full Mithril Breastplate that way, so I'm not complaining.

Although right now I've been putting merchant mining and selling in general for leveling. KEI and the Planar Imbue spells is just around the corner...really... O_o