People who undersell by 1 credit.

[UberSamoyed]

If you're selling one thing...just once...then I could empathize with your frustration. But, if you are a dedicated crafter who sells a multitude of items, then undercutting an item by the smallest margin necessary is the smart play. If I'm selling 30 might augs, then I have a vested interest in the overall price both now and in the future. In my situation, undercutting anything by more than 1 credit is a self-defeating concept. I'm willingly punishing myself (and every other serious crafter selling that item) by lowering the price more than it should be to sell the product.

 

Ironically, I grow frustrated at those who craft many items and do not prescribe to this theory. Even worse, in this simplified market, you really gain no demand advantage by undercutting something 5%-10% compared to 1 credit. So...in reality...apart from some weird seller's platitude, there is no viable reason to undercut more than the very minimum. Sure....there are those who feel that they should support a certain seller's style or time on market. But, for many reasons, it's really a futile gesture.

 

I'm sorry if this sounds cold, but it's just the truth of the GSN market.

[Kunovega]

It's not a weak move at all, it's competition. A free market has to have competition or it's not free. While the economy of SWTOR is nowhere near the complexity of that in EVE Online, I can say straight up that, weak or not, if they're item is selling, and yours is not, they're not gonna care what names you call em cuz they'll have the creds you wanted. You just need to learn some strategy of your own. If you've got the capital, you might consider buying their item and then returning it to the market at your price. That way, you profit on that item as well.

 

If they undercut you by 1 credit and you try this: you will lose money

 

The GTN keeps 6% of every sale

 

Note: I'm not talking about the deposit, deposits are completely refunded on sales. To factor in what I'm talking about you need to remember to subtract the desposit refund and than calculate the GTN fee

 

Example: Sell item x at 100 credits with a 10 credit deposit

 

When the item sells you get: 104 credits back. But 10 of that was yours before, its just the deposit refund. The GTN kept 6 credits (6% of 100)

 

If for example you were buying out people who sold at 99 credits (1 credit under you), it still cost you 10 credit deposits to put that back up which means your cost of attempting that sale is 99 + 10 or 109 in total cost. Your return on that investment is going to be 104 credits, a 5 credit loss in comparison to your costs

 

If you are buying out people cheaper than you it needs to be prices more than 6% lower than your own or you will be losing due to the GTN fee and generally isn't worth the time unless they are 20% or more below yours. I sure as heck have no interest in making a 1% margin. It doesn't even get interesting to me unless its upwards of 10% profit potential

[Darklighter]

I do it all the time. Deal with it. If someone undercuts me by 1 credit, good for them. I just re-post the item again. It'll sell eventually. I don't get upset over someone selling an item over me. It's called life.

[Kunovega]

The GTN belongs to those with the time to babysit their sales.

 

Thanks to the whole 'no add-ons' rule, there's no automated thing for the GTN if you get undercut. So, those with the time can undercut at a small price and if you're not paying attention, they'll get your sale.

 

Personally, I can respect that. It's the ones who undercut by 20% or something stupid like that that force the slump in prices and cost all sellers in the long run.

 

I usually buy them out and profit from their mistakes. For example the components to make an augment price out to a bit over 60k on my server (adaptives sell for 30k each all day long)

 

I make many augments and try to price them in the 90 to 99k range. Most sellers play along and only rarely to they dip to 80k, sometimes 70k on the slow sellers

 

There's 2 or 3 people on my server who save up their personally collected adaptives and try to bulk lower prices by putting up augments at 50k or 60k. Not sure why they bother: they could have made more selling the parts.

 

Regardless, every week I buy out their stock and mark it up to 90k+ along side my own crafted ones. They all sell, it's all profit for me.

 

Some of them mail me complaints "i put those up to help poor people", that's nice: I play this game for profits not to appease your sense of charity

 

I give charity to: ask me personally to make augments for you and all I ask is for the adaptive circuitry. I'll cover the other parts and give you the time it took for free. But buy them off the GTN and I expect you to pay me and I expect a profit.

 

Undercut me by stupid amounts and I'll profit from your mistakes too. Keep the prices at reasonable numbers and we can both make money.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Kunovega

[Kunovega]

My opinion is, why are you getting so worked up over something you can't control? If you want to "teach them a lesson," undercut them by 1 cred.

 

Edit: The most amusing post I ever saw on this subject was one guy who posted saying undercutting by 1 cred was harassment (not the OP).

 

I had a friend who actually did do it just to annoy people. He would post things up for 1 credit less than a person and than message them about it.

 

His category was mostly rare mounts. He would buy up all the cheap ones and than wait for a pack to rotate out and than harrass anyone who tried to sell one.

 

It worked well for him, he would often convince them to sell to him for less just so they didnt have to wait for the GTN sale. Now he'd have another copy to post up at high price and wait for a return.

 

I don't have the patience for that or the intererest in using the GTN for harrassment like that, but he made a couple billion over the course of 2 years playing the high end mount game like this

[Bugisttod]

For me it depends on what the item is, how many are listed and the range of prices.

 

If it's crafting materials, I just sort by unit price and buy the cheapest way to the amount I'm after. If I need a stack or two, I'll generally skip the people just selling 5 or 10, and move up to the people selling lots, if I'm just a few bits short it's cheapest all the way.

 

If it's a reasonably expensive item though, and the second cheapest has undercut by a sensible amount, only to then be undercut by 1 credit, I'll get the second cheapest. If everyone's undercut by a tiny amount, cheapest wins.

[Gidrea]

I don't buy from those people who undercut by 1 credit. And I'm not whining because they undercut me, because I rarely sell anything. I just think it's a dirt bag thing to do.

[Pagy]

Really? Honestly that is a huge *****bag move. Putting an item up for 10 mil for someone to 9,999,999 under me. 1 Credit so t hey can get their item sold first. I personally always buy the person who costs 10 mil and leave that 1 credit person waiting. That's not a deal, thats just cutting out the other persons chance at a sale. If you are going to put something up at least make it 5% cheaper than the original price, or the same price. It's stupid to get back on the GTN to find an item ex: 1,000 credits, then 999, 998, 997, 996...like really 1 credit?

 

What's everyone elses opinion on this? I think its a weak move, if you want to sell, make a better offer or list the same cause 1 credit out of a 10 mil item is nothing.

my opinion is that you take this videogame way too seriously and people should be able to sell their items for whatever amount they want.

[JLazarillo]

I don't buy from those people who undercut by 1 credit. And I'm not whining because they undercut me, because I rarely sell anything. I just think it's a dirt bag thing to do.

 

As for me, I usually use the price filters and set them to be XXX999, so while I might not be deliberately picking 1 credit under-cutter, it may very well work out that way. Of course, I also sort by price, and the first to pop up on my list is the first that gets bought, so, yeah.

 

When I list, my own prices tend to look like random strings of numbers, because I basically take my "desired" price and do the backward math to get what I want after the GTN takes its cut, I do tend to undercut by a pretty significant amount, mostly just because the 48 hour max on the GTN is annoying to have to re-list for. I preferred the eternal listing (and buy order) system from City of Heroes...

[Gidrea]

my opinion is that you take this videogame way too seriously and people should be able to sell their items for whatever amount they want.

 

They are able to sell it for whatever amount they want. And I'm able to NOT buy it from them. That doesn't make them look any less stupid.

[Pagy]

They are able to sell it for whatever amount they want. And I'm able to NOT buy it from them. That doesn't make them look any less stupid.

if youre paying more for an item in video game out of some sense of righteousness then maybe you shouldnt be throwing terms around like stupid lol

[Gidrea]

if youre paying more for an item in video game out of some sense of righteousness then maybe you shouldnt be throwing terms around like stupid lol

 

LOL

 

Well, if one credit matters that much to you, you're probably not playing properly.

[UberSamoyed]

To further elaborate why one is forced to price things below others (apart from the obvious reasons), I'll relate my own beginning in the crafting market:

At the start, I always priced my items at an exact match of the lowest priced item. I figured I was being a noble seller. Unfortunately, if my item didn't sell within the first few minutes of the sell, it never sold. Why? Because 20 other sellers had swooped in an undercut me before I would check back in. I ended up with a massive surplus of unsold goods and a growing frustration with the whole market. As with most things in life, you learn to adapt or fail. 99.99% of buyers purchase the lowest priced item. There is no difference in quality, so price absolutely rules this market. And, if you want to craft and sell a multitude of items, then you must price your item to sell...and sell quickly. And, as explained in my previous post, there is little logic in selling an item below market value...and even less when you are selling many items.

 

Don't get me wrong here, checking and rechecking, pricing and repricing is a pain in the rear. It takes time away from my enjoyment of the game. Still, if I want to make money and buy all of those neat things I can't seem to get enough of, then I gotta earn to burn. Make no mistake about it, crafting (to the extent I do it) is relative hard work for this game. I am not one of those gamers who has amassed a massive amount of money just to have a title. In fact, I have spent almost the same exact amount as I have earned on the market...and I have been crafting items for a long time. To me, there is no point in having money in this game if you can't spend it. Regardless, I harbor no animosity toward those who love the riches. If they earned it fair and square, what right do I have to judge them? Live and let live.

 

And this brings me to my final question: How can enlightened people possibly believe that pricing an item one credit below the lowest price is a frowned upon practice? I work hard for my items and the only way to sell them is to do as such. Selling them below one credit makes no economic sense either. I would be costing myself tens of thousands of credits...maybe more...each week. Can you blame someone for wanting to sell an item for as much as they can get for it? I'm not here to get in some petty argument over nothing. What I am interested in is a reasonable, logical explanation why this is wrong. Other than obvious anger over being undercut or a general dislike of crafters, is there something I'm not aware of?

[Sidicous]

Such an ez fix for the Op....vendor your stuff, no GTN hassles, no stress, and zero commissions to pay.

 

Face it, we all win if people like the Op use the vendor instead of their usual waah, waah, change my diaper, whining!

[Icykill_]

Really? Honestly that is a huge *****bag move. Putting an item up for 10 mil for someone to 9,999,999 under me. 1 Credit so t hey can get their item sold first. I personally always buy the person who costs 10 mil and leave that 1 credit person waiting. That's not a deal, thats just cutting out the other persons chance at a sale. If you are going to put something up at least make it 5% cheaper than the original price, or the same price. It's stupid to get back on the GTN to find an item ex: 1,000 credits, then 999, 998, 997, 996...like really 1 credit?

 

What's everyone elses opinion on this? I think its a weak move, if you want to sell, make a better offer or list the same cause 1 credit out of a 10 mil item is nothing.

 

I always list for 1 credit less... Why give away credits by driving the price down to nothing... Would you prefer someone to undercut you by 50%??? All that does is destroy the value of the item

[DarthDymond]

Most of the time, if I see a one-credit undercut I'll buy the more expensive one. Sometimes I'm not thinking about it and just grab whatever is cheapest on the sort list, but whenever it's a bigger purchase - like I'm deciding between getting a CM Armor set piece off the GTN vs trying my luck on the Packs - I'm going to give my money to the 100,000 credit listing, not the 99,999.

 

Not saying "people who undercut by one credit are terrible, terrible people", just saying that I prefer not to buy those listings (an idiosyncratic preference in the economics of the game to be sure).

[GopherLuV]

Work retail for any amount of time and you tend to price things ending in 99 just out of habit.

GTN prices actually look odd to me at even numbers for just this reason. Lately ive been pricing things ending in 75 because, suprise, thats how my work was doing their pricing.

 

Not really a matter of undercutting for me, i just price them where i feel its worth, quite often i have things listed over the lowball must sell fast prices, but they still dont end in 0.

 

As for "super-undercutting", well sometimes people list things for pants on head prices. If i see someone has something listed for 1m that i know isnt worth more then 100k, yeah im going to save myself a relisting and put it up for 99,975.

 

The one guy sending me tells yelling at me for undercutting his 1m garbage boots was special

 

That... I price things at amounts that I think it's worth but then keep it at like 169,999 or 154999 etc.. I try not to undercut by 1 cred but if the price is smashed to low and i've lost most of the profit (but don't wanna wait to list for inv space) i'll go with 1 cred...

[Nickious]

I consider it justice when I buy something someone intended to undercut by 1 credit and leaves out a 0. Its what you get for being too much of a cheapskate.

 

Had that happen a couple weeks ago for a jetpack. instead of 10,999,999, they posted 1,999,999.

Edited May 2, 2015 by Nickious

[wainot-keel]

Everyone loses? Why don't you buy the ones that are too cheap and re-sell them at what you think is the right price. That way you win. If you are not willing to do that, then the price is not "too low."

 

hu ? Right price ? Too low ? What are you on about ? I didn't say anything about prices being "right" or "low"

All I said is that by undercutting by a lot, specially talking about augments, you lose a lot.

[MadDutchman]

1 credit makes perfect sense to me, what really hacks me off is those who stupidely and regularily undercut. While I do enjoy seeing people listing lvl 56 prototype armourings for 10k each, as i just buy them all up and resell them, if this happens too much, it kills the market and can takes days to recover.

[kirorx]

business, that is all

[VixenRawR]

It's not a weak move at all, it's competition. A free market has to have competition or it's not free. While the economy of SWTOR is nowhere near the complexity of that in EVE Online, I can say straight up that, weak or not, if they're item is selling, and yours is not, they're not gonna care what names you call em cuz they'll have the creds you wanted. You just need to learn some strategy of your own. If you've got the capital, you might consider buying their item and then returning it to the market at your price. That way, you profit on that item as well.

 

Buying an item for one credit cheaper than mine? Why in the world would I do that? Its not really competition when someone undercuts by one credit, what am I going to do yank it down and repost 1 credit less every time? And for other person its not so much ending in 999 or w.e I was using an example. Im just saying the person always drops one credit as if OMG competition, capitalism DEAL!? Do you drive across town to save 1 cent on gas? Or 1 dollar a gallon?

[VixenRawR]

I'd rather be undercut by a single credit than having someone devalue the item by dropping the price 25%

 

Nothing bad about it...it's how this works

 

No thats terrible. Cause if they devalue your item that much that item gets bought and bam your item is left up once more before people notice. But a list of 789,999, 789,998, 789,997...like people just stare at it and wait for a deal, I will always undercut at least 5% of the price, why post 1 credit under when 30 other people are going to do it 3 seconds later, its lame and such a cheap tactic. I will still continue to pay the extra 4 credits and make those people wait.

[VixenRawR]

If you are to fragile to handle GTN PvP then go play Skyrim or KOTOR by yourself. I enjoy GTN battles as much as I do warzones.

 

Lol GTN battle? So you mean you like Sin vs Sin fotm arena boringness? That isn't a challenge, no skill undercutting by 1 credit, that's like sheep technique. There are so many other ways to battle to sell an item if you take it that seriously.

[VixenRawR]

while I can understand raging about being undercut, being undercut by 1 cred and raging hard about it is... well, it's meh. Not that big of a deal really. If you really want to rage about something on the gtn, how about raging against those folks that undercut by ridiculous amounts. Example. Something is listed on the GTN and average sells for about 4 mil. You go and check to see the competition, and there are 10 of them on there with the following costs: 3,900,000 / 3,650,000 / 3,500,000 / 2,000,000 / 1,000,000 / 200,000 / 150,000 / 50,000 / 20,000 / 19,000.

 

This is when I think a rage would be validated. The fact that people don't look at the currently listed prices and play according to that. Or the ones that just don't give a flying **** about anything and are just looking for a quick buck. Either way, it's ruining the market and economy. At least with the one cred undercut, the value is still somewhat relevant.

 

??? Who said I was raging? Saying something is stupid is immediate raging? Not quite sure you understand the term.