AH price out of control?

[Ybbald]

I think many people are starting to do this. But once you have a lot of plats what are you going to do with it?

I don't think most vets bother with the AH anymore.

Buy a large scale for my LitII

the problem here is for the newnies. Ingredients will continue to rise no matter what and it will become the new norm. Just deal with it. I'm just worried about undergeared newbies.

After starting my first Sarlona toon after running out of Canntih slots, I was struggling to gear myself. Even utilizing tricks to max my coin. Selling ingredient comestibles. Looting a good haggle item, cha clickies, casting heroism on self, etc. not to mention I was making due to sub prime equipment and doing lots of bargain hunting.

[pMagic]

Postumus,

Great post! +1 rep.

[Triepod]

Someone who gets it. +1 to you sir and/or ma'am! ;p

No, no, no. It is not the 'plat farmers.' This is what happens in an unregulated free market with unlimited money supply.


Sellers don't dictate the price, the buyers do. No one can force a buyer to buy anything. The sellers WANT to sell, and since there is generally no overhead for them (unless they are resellers), they will take the highest price they can get. Buyers are flush with virtual cash, so they drive prices up, not sellers.


You are witnessing the same type of phenomenon that occurred in the US housing market. Cheap, easy credit allowed anyone to have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars (through financing). The market got flooded with lots of buyers with money, so prices became inflated to ridiculous levels. Similar thing happened with IPOs in the nineties.


Unlike the real world, DDO won't experience a 'bubble' since, as Ratnix explained, there is no end to the money supply. It just keeps growing. Buyers keep accumulating more and more wealth, and have less and less to spend it on. Now new players with 150pp are competing with TRX3 players with (virtually) unlimited wealth for some of the same items.


If the AH didn't exist, prices would still be sky high and the trade channel would be a nightmare. People would just use the forums to sell things, for the same high prices.


The only way to lower prices in a free market, is to increase the supply of those items. You could try to undercut every seller on the AH and trade channel - but that would be a full time job. Also, savvy AH sellers will simply snap up your lower priced items and resell them at a higher rate to try to keep prices up.


I think a better approach is to educate new players.

1- Steer them toward the pawnshop vendors and encourage people to use pawnshops rather than other in game vendors who don't resell, so items are available to other players at (practically) list price.

2- Teach lowbies which crafting items sell on the AH so they post ALL their crafting items for sale, rather than cash them in to NPCs for dubious rewards. That would dramatically increase the supply of those items and drive the prices down.