Price Fixing in Bazaar

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Picaresque, Jul 27, 2015.

  1. Garshok Augur

    RE: FV, yes, it would have to be serves sharing the same rules sets.

    As you say, there certainly would be price shocks. On the other hand, if prices rise, people from lower-priced servers still engaged in farming or making items would be able to get higher prices, reducing ther impact over time, and prices from more expensive servers may drop as well. (People who made a pile in the past who have essentially left the bazaar game and have been living off their past savings, though, would definitely take a major hit with little opportunity for recovery unless they re-entered the market.) Would also be interesting prior to any bazaar merger too, as people on different servers try to identify possible arbitrage opportunities.

    While an interesting idea, though, with the extensive coding involved in making such a change, I would assess the chances of this ever coming to pass as essentially zero regardless ofn how much - or little - it might be supported.
  2. Motherlee Augur

    I can't believe this silly thread is still going on. Shut it down already.
    Perplexed likes this.
  3. EQgamer23 Elder



    Again, we need to stop thinking about these sellers as big corporations buying out businesses. There is no differentiation of products, no competitive advantage or supplier structures to exploit/pressure, no monopolies, oligopolies, or otherwise, just simply buyers and sellers, who all have access to the same inputs and outputs. If there isn't any competition, it doesn't necessarily mean one person has squeezed everyone out. If anything, there is a HUGE opportunity to sell the same product at a lower cost. If the price is too high in your opinion, then a lower price would still yield a reasonable margin, which means that it's simply a missed opportunity for sellers. If the price ISN'T too high, then this person buying products at a lower cost is perfectly reasonable to resell for a decent margin.

    Nothing is stopping anyone from selling these products lower than this one guy. Stop trying to act like this person is fixing a price. If there were more sellers who wanted to price their wares lower, this person wouldn't be able to continue to buy them out.

    I also think its funny that someone is complaining about people pricing above their price. I see people whining all the time about people undercutting them. This could just as easily been a post from the re-seller complaining about you :p
  4. Matari Augur

    Your attitude is one of the reasons I STOPPED using the bazaar. Monopolizing a part of the market to promote buying and selling of Kronos is absolutely ridiculous. It's no wonder the retention of new players is low.
  5. svann Augur

    No in general they aren't.
    Microsoft got in trouble for using their OS monopoly to gain unfair advantage in the browser market. The OS monopoly itself wasnt illegal at all.
    Motherlee likes this.
  6. Matari Augur

    You are correct. Similar to monopolies you have the media giants such as cellphone companies and the cable industry.
  7. Goth Augur


    monopoly is really only one supplier... technically the game is the only supplier.. others just have to do the work to sell what the supplier is offering.

    Supply in the bazaar is only a function of who actually does the work to get the items.

    IDK sellers in the bazaar are not really capable of being a monopoly. They are not the single source for the items. Unless of course the items are no longer obtainable in the game.
  8. Goth Augur

    what else is there to talk about? TLP. seriously game talk is sort of dead..
  9. EQgamer23 Elder


    Probably a good thing for you then. Leave the buying and selling to those who wish to make a profit by doing nothing wrong.
  10. Iila Augur

    Price fixing, collusion, monopolies, market manipulation, deception, and fraud are all incentivized actions in an unrestricted economy. Luckily EQ and most games have some protections against the last two. Unlike EVE, where the only real rule is "Don't scam with our PLEXes" (Same as Kronos).

    If buyers or sellers can successfully collude into fixing prices, it's a significant improvement in both profits, and quality of life. No longer having to worry about updating prices every few hours or watching for -1p undercutters is pretty nice!

    All those actions are restricted in our world for good reasons. They shift a large amount of power to the marketer side. So if you're the type of person who likes to play markets in games, you should be looking to exploit that advantage whenever you can.
    Arwyn-RoV likes this.
  11. Smallpox Augur

  12. Aghinem Augur


    Clearly not a fan of capitalism are we?
    EQgamer23 likes this.
  13. Matari Augur

    I'm a fan of capitalism, just not a fan of overpriced baz items to promote buying and selling of kronos to appease freeloaders.
  14. Aghinem Augur


    Sounds like you want to dictate how items should be priced; that is communism.
    Hiladdar likes this.
  15. FcsevenXIII Augur

    The funny thing is you can pretty much suspect those that price fix are the ones asking that this thread disappear. Just like roaches run for cover when you shine light on them.There is nothing wrong with helping inform the community and dbg that this is going on.
  16. Matari Augur

    I'm sorry but the majority of players are not benefiting from predatorial pricing schemes. I'm not asking for any GM intervention, I am just expanded accessibility to the Bazaar and properly informed player base.
  17. Kravitz Augur


    I price fix all the time and have admitted in this thread. Not running away from anything. Not my fault I can take an unfair advantage of the archaic bazaar system:D
    Hiladdar and Iila like this.
  18. EQgamer23 Elder

    this really makes me laugh. come on - "predatorial pricing schemes"? buying an item for what you feel is less than its value, and reselling it at a higher value is some sort of devious scheme? do you really believe the words you're typing?

    Has anyone asked if this person was successful in selling the items that they have priced? Markets like this move themselves to equilibrium if the pricing is too high, demand goes down because the price is too much, and prices drop. If people are buying the item at the higher price, vs. making it themselves (which no on can argue everyone can do...) then what's the problem?

    If people were really that worried the price was too high, then new entrants would appear with enough supply for sale that this guy wouldn't be able to buy low and still sell high. Nothing is stopping new entrants from coming in - its not like this guy is perma camping the mats to make the product so that no one else can sell it...
    Hiladdar likes this.
  19. Bigstomp Augur


    If things are overpriced in the bazaar. That's easy to fix. You can make a mint by selling at a slightly more reasonable price. Either they lower their price. Or, they buy your stuff to keep the price at their level.
    Elricvonclief and Hiladdar like this.
  20. Mayfaire Augur

    Informing DBG? We're all holding our collective breath praying we get a decently sized campaign (soonpleasegodsoon) with more than 7 raids, and you think they have time to police the price of skinspikes in the bazaar?

    :rolleyes:
    ^little purple emoticon emits a big sigh^

    People, this thread has gone on for 5 pages regarding a 50 plat increase on said skinspikes. If there were ever proof we need more content, and like, right NAOW, this thread is that proof.

    :eek:
    :D
    :p