I'm not certain if this is the right area, but I trust it will be moved if not. On Rathe, one person is constantly seen selling Skinspikes VIII (and others of higher roman numerals) for 250pp. This is well above the 100pp I have seen on Cazic Thule. So, I thought I would make some for the community, having sent so many alts to GE to level. I tried selling first on Chat Channel, but no takers, so I went to the bazaar to set up a trader. Now, I suspected this person of price fixing, so I did not set it at 100pp. I figured that at 200pp the other trader would let them go. Nope. I logged on a short time ago, and sure enough, this trader not only bought all 90 for 200pp each, but then began reoffering them at 250pp. Now, I still have over 100 robust essence from playing, so I can make more. And yes, it's a nice way to make platinum if one has no sense of ethics. But price fixing in any economy is prohibited by law because the actions not only raise costs for the population, but also are disruptive. So, yes, I sent a screenshot of the purchases in a petition and we will see if the PTB view price fixing the same way. No characters were assassinated in the making of this post.
Clearly GM intervention is needed for a player who purchased items that were at a low price so they could be resold at a greater price. That's not price fixing, unless all the bazaar sellers of that item are agreeing to sell their respective items at the same price.
no foul play here, no petition necessary. you can buy and sell things at whatever price you want in game. I used to reset the market costs on things all the time. My best advice to you, make a few thousand of these and under cut him. Post about 100 to 200 a day at most. Undercut him by about 25pp. He will either buy them up or adjust his price. The pots are fairly cheap to make so make your profit.
Please tell me your joking on this post..... Because some guy had it a higher price and you went lower, he went to buy the lower price to sell it for higher?? That is why it is called bazaar. Because you don't agree with their prices they set your mad at them and require GM attention. GM WILL NOT INTERVENE at all and it would be a waste for them to even get involved. Economics 101... People do it all the time they keep slashing their prices more and rather buy up the others to jack up the price. I give people props for doing it as it is very easy to do with kronos. Buy all the low ones for like 600-800k and jack up the price to 1mil. Easy profit.
Interesting points. Rathe is not a high population server like CT and skinspikes VIII does not come up very often because the only place to get Robust Shadow Essence is from the Willsappers in Grieg's End. Pretty tough to make a thousand of them unless I did not want to play the game for quite a long time. Also, Skinspikes VIII isn't available in Bazaar very often, despite someone always having a buy line for the component. I have only seen one seller of Skinspikes VIII the past couple of months. As for whether or not there should be a policy on this, well, that was the reason for the petition and this thread. This situation is not a "foul play" one and Daybreak can simply decide that nothing wrong was done or that nothing needs to change.
I'm not mad. I'm curious. As for Economics 101, let's just say that the virtual economy with some RMT components is intriguing. This is not a GM matter either. Let's just see how it plays out.
So...you are serious? I thought it was all a joke. Well if you are serious and really did petition then you have demonstrated that you don't have to be smart, intelligent or even average to play Everquest.
"But price fixing in any economy is prohibited by law because the actions not only raise costs for the population, but also are disruptive." You are wrong. Collusion on pricing is illegal (in the US), but buying out the competition is not.
It is under certain circumstances such as when doing so reduces the number of viable alternatives under a minimum level. US Economic law has nothing to do with economics inside EQ however. This is why truly Free Markets don't and can't ever exist.
The first part of what you said is correct. The second part is not always correct as when the action results in a monopoly, often characterized by the ability to charge "overly high prices."
Customer service is so very limited, and you send in a petition about someone buying something you had for sale. If the price for this completely optional potion is "overly high", everyone has the ability to farm teh mats and either 1. ask a shaman friend to make them or 2. make a shaman and level alchemy.
Well, that certainly increases the pool of potential players for DBG. By your reasoning, I suppose you would also believe that Edward Castronova must have been joking in 2001 to place the annual wealth generation from playing Everquest at $135 million or roughly 25 times the R.M.T. level at the time. According to a 2007 NY Times article, using his methodology on the gaming industry at that time would show an industry GDP of about $7 billion to $12 billion. I wonder how that has changed in the subsequent eight years. Or how the generation of coin (platinum) affects workers who are paid to work in shifts to work 24/7 to produce the product for R.M.T. sales. So no, it was not a joke. It was a test of economic theory (i.e., monopoly) in the virtual world. Absolutely nothing may come of it. In fact, no time at all might be spent on it beyond a cursory review of the matter. On the other hand, maybe not. Time will tell.
And you do realize that this game is not governed by actual 'real' laws of the 'real' world. Please tell me you don't actually believe in trolls and goblins other than those that read website forums lol.
It is impossible to have a monopoly of any trade skilled item in the game. Monopoly: the exclusive possession or control of something. NO ONE can have exclusive control because ANYONE can choose to make it themselves. Even if you do not have a shaman, you can make one. If prices go to high, other alchemists will begin to make them to try and profit by undercutting the high prices.
As are - murder - theft - burglary - looting/pillaging - threatening - offering or taking money for the act of any of the above (yes, being paid for murder is an act of crime in itself) - use of "black" money originating from any of the above (yes, using money acquired by murder is an act of crime in itself in some jurisdicative realms) Considering your level, you would face a serious list of charges. Do you *really* want to push your "price fixing crime" to the authorities? Oh, and I am sure you didnt pay a single copper of taxes! Beware, there might be sarcasm in this post ...
But Norrath isn't in the US - you are in their world now - so US law doesn't apply. Irksome? Yes - less so than the other guy resetting his price to 199 plat right after you put yours up though, I'd imagine. (Since you set price at 200pp, presumably you were willing to sell at that price, right? Then what do you care what happens to them?) Welcome to the unbridled free market.
This is a supply and demand issue, there is a point where you can increase the supply so much that he wont buy your stuff anymore, you might have to make a million but eventually you can reach that point. This can be done in the real world too (and it is) when a new iphone comes out people stand in line to buy the phone because the supply is limited (for a short while) they then will sell the phone on kijiji for a bit more money likewise some people will pay someone else to stand in line for them. What you're seeing is completely fair.
It would only be a monopoly if the person trying to corner the market also managed to monopolize all of the spawns to make the tradeskill item.
