Topic

Pushing Auction Prices Up

Bottomline:  Sell your stuff for a currant or 2 more than the lowest price (instead of less).  You won't be the first one bought, but you will be the second and if enough people do this, we can drive the auction prices back up.

I get a lot of Music blocks and end up throwing them out on auction.  I've noticed a tendency of prices to be driven down by people offering a slightly lower price than the last.

This has the effect of driving the price down slowly over time.

People do this for natural reasons:  They got their goods for no money and any amount of money earned by it is profit.  By making their stuff the cheapest in the auction, it's guaranteed to sell first.

I take a different approach however and want to encourage others to do the same.

So take the pledge today to stop auction deflation!

Posted 14 months ago by Mister Master Mixer Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

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  • 9.5% auction fees are ridiculous.
    Posted 14 months ago by Bashere Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wow, seriously. If I want to make some sort of profit (even a small one) or discuss economics then I must be greedy? :( That doesn't seem right.

    And it seems to me that if someone really wants the lower level players to get stuff the best solution would be to leave things in the streets where new players start? And if money really is so unimportant you could even buy things to leave around too. At least that way you'd have a higher chance of them getting the items than an auction sniper. I'm not being snarky or anything, I seriously wonder why you wouldn't do something like this to get stuff  to people that you want it to get to. It would only take a couple of teleports, one to the street and one back to where you were. I even saw someone mention making goodie bags for new players once, which sounds like a great idea and I'd love to do that myself sometime :D
    Posted 14 months ago by Sunburst Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My three cents, which will be repeats of many of the above but I haven't posted in the forums in a while so let me remedy that here: I rarely used auctions in beta. I was having fun learning all the different skills and using them to craft things and just didn't need much other stuff. I was introduced to things like herbs and their powers organically, usually by getting one from a friend and trying it out. 

    This time around I have a personal goal of getting to a specific number of currants. I have herb gardens and am doing a lot of alchemy and thus selling lots of Rubeweed and EHSP. I am the person who sets her price at one or two currants below the cheapest. And I am having fun!

    Fun knowing that people who are just discovering herbs can come buy mine. Fun knowing that people on a donating spree can get my EHSP and continue with their path. And I love the little boxes that pop up on my screen telling me my things have just sold. 

    I have never done the math to see if I lose money on these items or not; it's entirely possible that I do. Sometimes when the prices of one of the things I regularly sell dips quite a bit I hold back and wait for it to go back up--it's fun to check the auction house and see what things are selling for, just like in the good old dot com days when you'd check the stock market five times a day. 

    This is a "solitary" pursuit but just like real life sometimes you need time to yourself.
    Posted 14 months ago by bugeye Subscriber! | Permalink
  • And it seems to me that if someone really wants the lower level players to get stuff the best solution would be to leave things in the streets where new players start? And if money really is so unimportant you could even buy things to leave around too.

    i do.

    AND i undersell goods at auction because it suits me.

    if you want to talk about profit, fine. if you want to make profit, fine. i like profit, too.

     i'm making a TON of money using the auction the way i do, and i like it. outside of maybe buy orders, i don't see that it needs improving at all. if you are not making adequate profits the way you're playing, i suggest you learn to adjust your playing style instead of either asking someone else to adjust theirs or to have game changes.

    this game is just lovely. its economics are charming to many of us.
    Posted 14 months ago by flask Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @flask i'm with you.

    the economy is not broken or in dire conditions, if a significant percentage of people were having trouble affording a house, food to keep their energy up or mats for their crafting/cooking or going broke selling on the auction then i would agree that the economy needed fixing. it's simply a buyer's market which benefits buyers but sellers can have their cake and eat it too by can selling to tool vendors. people can also play the market by buying low and selling to the tool vendors. the only ones who don't get to eat their cake are the people who wanna sell for over 80% profit (but hey they could have cake too if they figured out which items are in demand and sell for over 80% profit on the auction).

    i'm glad this economy doesnt have crazy ass levels of inflation, its a nice escape from the crappy sad state of the real world economy. everyone can pretty much afford to buy want they want, even me and i havent even been playing that long (of course i cant afford a 50k house but well i shouldnt be able too yet ;)
    Posted 14 months ago by Fur Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Why do you think everything isn't over priced? Let the invisible hand drive the prices where they need to be. I'm sad, I thought this was a post about bots or something. Not about basic economics. "

    The basic economics from which the Invisible Hand comes assumes completely rational actors in a market, which has been demonstrated about 70 years ago to be not the case.  And there is direct evidence here that the actors in Glitch are not perfectly rational, or they would not be selling at cost.

    I'm no economist, but it just drives me batty when people are being snide and pretending to be Super Logic Dude when they don't have any idea what they're talking about.
    Posted 14 months ago by Elenuial Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If you go back and read those "other" threads about the game economy, you will find a number of vocal proponents of changing it, of making it more "real." However, you will also find a large number, possibly even a majority, who like the economic structure just fine the way it is; who do not want to see major changes. Even though their voices may not be as strident as those who desire a "true market experience" in the game, they are just as valuable.
    Posted 14 months ago by Audaria Subscriber! | Permalink
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