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Message to GTN Sellers


chosonman

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If you're going to list your crafted stuff for sale why would you undercut the lowest price by more than 1 credit? Do you even bother to check what the price is before you list it?

 

Personally if I'm looking to sell fast I'll list my item AT the same price as the lowest. I don't understand some sellers dropping their price as much as 50% below next lowest price.

 

Also, look at the number of items being sold and time left. If you have a stack of 50+ mats and the lowest price has only 1 item per stack chances are that 1 item will sell out the price price will rise to the next higher price quickly. Take that into account before deciding to list your 50 stack of mats.

 

Same as time. If the lowest priced item has an hour left on it's listing, you can probably list yours at the next lowest price knowing you have 3 days vs 1 hour of listing time. You don't need to undercut a listing that only has 1 hour on its clock....

 

Factor in the time you spent crafting your stuff and how much time it will take to gather and craft replacements. If it takes to 2 days to craft something and you sell it right away and you have 2 days you can't list anything because you're behind on crafting your items then you probably sold your product too quickly. Ideally, you want to price your item to be sold at the same time a replacement can be crafted.

 

It frustrates me to no end to see crafters giving away their stuff practically for free. Rather than competing with low ballers, I just move to a different item to craft or just wait out the low price know full well low ball crafters can't keep production on their sales.

Edited by chosonman
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If you're going to list your crafted stuff for sale why would you undercut the lowest price by more than 1 credit? Do you even bother to check what the price is before you list it?

Depends. If a would-be seller thinks the current lowest price is much too high (and therefore won't sell), then pricing just one credit lower is a waste of time.

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Depends. If a would-be seller thinks the current lowest price is much too high (and therefore won't sell), then pricing just one credit lower is a waste of time.

 

Too much in what sense? Most items on the GTN will sell at whatever the going list price is. By lowering it further that seller is setting the the new bar for the market. Personally, it would be nice if we all could make a million credits in a reasonable amount of time. Continually undercutting each other makes it hard for everyone who's in selling in that market. It's not a huge problem for me because I have a good crafting setup and can move from product to product depending on the market, but seeing new crafters sink their market is sad. In some particularly bad cases I might lower my price by a lot to undercut the undercutters in order to purposely tank market and buy up the cheap stuff to sell for later or force them to move to a different product.

Edited by chosonman
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Too much in what sense?

In the sense that the would-be seller, for whatever reason(1), thinks that the price is high enough that the item won't sell. It doesn't really matter *why* the seller thinks that, but if that's what the seller thinks, then undercutting by *only* one credit makes exactly no sense.

 

Then again, marking the price down so far it's below the cost of production doesn't make any sense either.

 

(1) Example: every item currently listed at that lowest price has been up for at least 23 hours already (i.e. it's at 2 days 1 hour, 1 day 1 hour or 1 hour left). I'd think it was priced too high in that case.

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In the sense that the would-be seller, for whatever reason(1), thinks that the price is high enough that the item won't sell. It doesn't really matter *why* the seller thinks that, but if that's what the seller thinks, then undercutting by *only* one credit makes exactly no sense.

 

Then again, marking the price down so far it's below the cost of production doesn't make any sense either.

 

(1) Example: every item currently listed at that lowest price has been up for at least 23 hours already (i.e. it's at 2 days 1 hour, 1 day 1 hour or 1 hour left). I'd think it was priced too high in that case.

 

In most cases they are doing this because a) They want a quick flip b) have no clue what they're doing

 

Here's how I sell dye modules:

I list my dye modules for $300-$400k. The list price is usually around $100k. If I listed my modules at $100k I would have to sell 4 modlules and then gather enough mats to make 4 more modules to replace the ones I sold. Also, if I list my modules at the lowest price, undoubtedly someone will undercut me driving the price down even further. I don't want to do that. The person who sells at $100 might sell more, but I'll make just as much as him without having to work as much. I accomplish this by only listing 2 dye modules of each color instead of 10 modules of the same color. After listings expire or the lower priced modules get sold off I will eventually get my return. I average about 5-10 modules a day at 300-400k. Someone who low balls might sell just as many for 100k each.

 

Ultimately I will usually never list my items at lower than the lowest price. I will more than likely list them a little higher knowing listings will expire or inventory will get sold and eventually it will be my turn to get sold. If I want a quick flip I'll match the lowest price but hardly ever list it lower than the lowest price unless I'm intentionally trying to tank the market.

Edited by chosonman
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If you're going to list your crafted stuff for sale why would you undercut the lowest price by more than 1 credit? Do you even bother to check what the price is before you list it?

 

Personally if I'm looking to sell fast I'll list my item AT the same price as the lowest. I don't understand some sellers dropping their price as much as 50% below next lowest price.

 

Also, look at the number of items being sold and time left. If you have a stack of 50+ mats and the lowest price has only 1 item per stack chances are that 1 item will sell out the price price will rise to the next higher price quickly. Take that into account before deciding to list your 50 stack of mats.

 

Same as time. If the lowest priced item has an hour left on it's listing, you can probably list yours at the next lowest price knowing you have 3 days vs 1 hour of listing time. You don't need to undercut a listing that only has 1 hour on its clock....

 

Factor in the time you spent crafting your stuff and how much time it will take to gather and craft replacements. If it takes to 2 days to craft something and you sell it right away and you have 2 days you can't list anything because you're behind on crafting your items then you probably sold your product too quickly. Ideally, you want to price your item to be sold at the same time a replacement can be crafted.

 

It frustrates me to no end to see crafters giving away their stuff practically for free. Rather than competing with low ballers, I just move to a different item to craft or just wait out the low price know full well low ball crafters can't keep production on their sales.

 

capitalism ?

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The amount I undercut on GTN listings depends on a bunch of things.

 

Sometimes I just want to get shot of stuff fast so it isn't cluttering up my bays/inventory, in which case I may list well below whatever the current lowest is, eg 10% or 25% lower.

 

Other times, for example if there are only a few items listed that are very expensive, but they've been there for a while. I may chop the listing by say 25-50%. And I'll keep doing that till it sells.

 

If I have to relist something, I'll definitely discount progressively harder till it sells. I hate relisting. When I list I want it gone. if someone wants to flip it then more power to them.

 

In general I'd guess my base undercut is maybe 2.5% (very approximate:D)

 

For stuff i craft, if it ever means that there's no decent profit in listing, I just stop crafting/listing.

:)

Edited by jojobanutz
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It could be that the person selling the item is just trying to clean room in their inventory and just want it gone and they already have enough credits so undercutting is just a way of them trying to make sure the stuff sales and they don't have to put back in their inventory again.
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If you're going to list your crafted stuff for sale why would you undercut the lowest price by more than 1 credit? Do you even bother to check what the price is before you list it?

 

Personally if I'm looking to sell fast I'll list my item AT the same price as the lowest. I don't understand some sellers dropping their price as much as 50% below next lowest price.

 

Also, look at the number of items being sold and time left. If you have a stack of 50+ mats and the lowest price has only 1 item per stack chances are that 1 item will sell out the price price will rise to the next higher price quickly. Take that into account before deciding to list your 50 stack of mats.

 

Same as time. If the lowest priced item has an hour left on it's listing, you can probably list yours at the next lowest price knowing you have 3 days vs 1 hour of listing time. You don't need to undercut a listing that only has 1 hour on its clock....

 

Factor in the time you spent crafting your stuff and how much time it will take to gather and craft replacements. If it takes to 2 days to craft something and you sell it right away and you have 2 days you can't list anything because you're behind on crafting your items then you probably sold your product too quickly. Ideally, you want to price your item to be sold at the same time a replacement can be crafted.

 

It frustrates me to no end to see crafters giving away their stuff practically for free. Rather than competing with low ballers, I just move to a different item to craft or just wait out the low price know full well low ball crafters can't keep production on their sales.

 

Oh look another player who undercuts the market and starts a price war and then complains about a price war.

 

If you cared about the market then you would not be undercutting so stop ************. If you really cared about the economy being stabilized then match the lowest price instead of undercutting. I will drop the price by millions if someone undercuts me. If they wanna screw other players I will happily destroy the economy.

 

People are dumb though so nothing will change.

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I tired having this conversation 12 months ago. What I’ve come to realise is many people don’t really want to make many credits or are actually stupid in the way they conduct commerce on the GTN. If it was real money and they behaved the way they do, they would be broke and bankrupt.

 

One thing I’ve discovered over the last 18 months is to not engage in price wars or under cutters. They don’t care what price they sell something for as long as they are the lowest. That is a good way to fall into a trap of never making credits because you spend all your time farming and crafting for little return.

 

The next thing has to do with people who overlist stock. If you list 5-50 of an item that doesn’t mean you’re going to sell it all. It means someone is 100% going to under cut you because they know if they list it higher or at the same price, they have less chance of selling. So people who list more than 2-3 are most likely going to be undercut 100% of the time by someone else.

 

The issue is then made worse if the under cutter also lists 5-50 items. What happens then is you have an over supply on the market. Buyers see this and don’t feel excited or the need to buy straight away because a smart buyer will know the over stocking will lead to price falls as these under cutters start fighting for dominance to clear some of the stock.

 

A smart GTN trader will watch these guys fight it out and drive the price down and then buy the lot and relist at higher price, hence creating a price correction on the market. But this doesn’t always work because some people are just allergic to making credits and you can have a price correction and then one of these fools turns up and offers a 50% discount for absolutely no reason. In real life, these people would go broke. But in the game with no risks, they don’t care.

 

Anyway seeing as I’ve more credits than I know what to do with and I’ve just unsubbed due to Bioware nerfing crafting in CQ, I don’t see any harm in letting you all in on my strategy,

The point is don’t engage with the people who play silly undercutting games on the GTN. Since I stopped doing that, I have become extremely rich in the game,

I only ever list 1-2 of the same items at a time and I’m never, ever the cheapest, unless I’m the only one listing that item. Then I’m both the most expensive and cheapest at the same time and I get to set the price ;)

Also list at least 10-50k “higher” then the next cheapest (yes you heard that right, higher). And try and keep your items separated from ones above you too.

Ie, I might list an item at 220,000 even though the cheapest is 60,000 and the most expensive is 300,000. I will more often than not sell my item at 220,000.

But you need to have a large portfolio of things to sell. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

 

People perceive cheap as worthless sometimes. It’s a perception thing and they will by pass those cheap items fast without really looking, where as they will slow down and look when they reach the price they perceive as being valuable.

The trick is finding out what that value is on an item and then using it to your advantage to set the value.

I’m now making 500,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 credits a month following my formula. I craft less, I don’t have to spend so much time gathering mats and I’ve more time to actually play content.

Edited by TrixxieTriss
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