Problem with Zen sellers

Zoe - Heavens Tear · September 2008

This is a problem I've seen in every mmo ever that has a cash shop.

There will always be people that buy things from the cash shop and sell them in the game. This is a good system as it helps all those (like me at the moment) that are unable to buy any zen.

However there are always people that do everything in their power to drive up the price. That way they can get rich by selling it. The thing is, they are so greedy it gets out of hand and eventually no one can afford a darn thing. This happens with ANY item at all actually, not just cash shop.

Another game I play has new and old players quitting all over the place because of these resellers/inflators who only care about getting rich.

These greedy ones have to be stopped NOW. They've already started trying to raise prices for their own personal gain and if they are allowed to continue this game will end up like the other one with half or more of the players quitting since they can't afford a thing.

Masala - Lost City · September 2008

I dont see how you can call people who actually spend money on this game, who pay server cost, personel cost etc etc are greedy while you do not spend any at all.

At this moment you get around 1million coins for 10 dollar. Which is not much in my opinion. It would be fair for the paying customers to see the price rise.

Zoe - Heavens Tear · September 2008

Masala - Lost City wrote: »

I dont see how you can call people who actually spend money on this game, who pay server cost, personel cost etc etc are greedy while you do not spend any at all.

At this moment you get around 1million coins for 10 dollar. Which is not much in my opinion. It would be fair for the paying customers to see the price rise.

You'll see things differently once half the players quit since prices are too high.:rolleyes:

Its the exact same thing you see with the price of Zen. People say they won't buy since it costs too much. Well it will be the same way in the game. The zen sellers will charge so much no one will buy anything.

Masala - Lost City · September 2008

So what is your suggestion? Ban everyone who asks to much for cash shop items? or not buy zhen at all?

Zoe - Heavens Tear · September 2008

Of course not, zen sellers are needed, its a good thing to have them like I said. Just find a way to stop people from driving up prices simply to get rich. Its always one or 2 people that mainly do it. In another game I actually watched ONE person buy up EVERY cash shop item every player in the server was selling, then quadruple the price and sell it to get rich. New players would then see that and think it was the normal price, so everything went up HUGELY in price.

Others shout that they are buying at a really high price even if they are not, they just want the prices to go up so they can get rich. I've already seen people doing that in this game.

Its the same way with any other item like materials for example. Players buy up all the ones that are actually being sold for a fair price, then sell them for tons more and the price never goes back down. Things like that just can't be allowed or it will ruin yet another great game.

Naris - Heavens Tear · September 2008

So... you're recommending mind control? Or more realistically, mass bans for anyone pricing items above a set limit?

Zoe - Heavens Tear · September 2008

If people price items high thats their business, I don't really care. If they buy all the low priced items just to resell them at a higher price, or intentionally do anything that drives up prices, THAT is where the problem lies.

One of the things I have thought of is putting some sort of marker on items that have been bought by players which marks the price it was bought at. This marker will not allow that player to sell the item for more than HALF of what they bought it for in the first place. I have no idea if it would even be possible to implement such a thing into the game but its an idea.

One other idea is to simply limit how high prices can go. Put a cap on the prices at the current rates they are in the game now. No one can sell for more than that price, but they can sell for less all they want.

Whisky - Lost City · September 2008

I personally do quite a lot to fight inflation in game, namly, selling things a lot cheeper than everyone else.

For mats/DQ items, its NPC price +25-30% depending on rarity.

crafted items i usually sell for the conbined NPC price of the mats +15% then rounded up to nearest 100/1000.

simplest thing is to educate ppl to just NOT PAY more than a reasonable price for things. I think a few of use should also make a thread that tells a fair market price index for the most commonly bought/sold items, so new players dont get sucked in and reward economy inflaters

bron · September 2008

Whisky - Lost City wrote: »

I personally do quite a lot to fight inflation in game, namly, selling things a lot cheeper than everyone else.

For mats/DQ items, its NPC price +25-30% depending on rarity.

crafted items i usually sell for the conbined NPC price of the mats +15% then rounded up to nearest 100/1000.

simplest thing is to educate ppl to just NOT PAY more than a reasonable price for things. I think a few of use should also make a thread that tells a fair market price index for the most commonly bought/sold items, so new players dont get sucked in and reward economy inflaters

Whisk, your post is full of major win. I do this all the time with just not selling at high price, even though I know people will buy at that price (Thinking it's normal price) and I'll get more money. I price it a little less than them by about a k or even two, and watch it sell out. Heck, if it's one of those buy-outers, I don't care. I still get my money, and they're stuck using their time to resell it.

And I also support the pricing thread, but where would it be put? I don't rememebr seeing a forum market, which is also needed.

Kingofhearts - Heavens Tear · September 2008

To me it seems the economy is pretty stable so far. The auction house exchange rate is between 90-110k for gold, and most of the item mall things in players stalls are accordingly priced, some exceptions noted.
I don't think anyone can drive up prices by going around buying stuff in people's stalls, because you have the exchange rate. The exchange rate is what really sets the economy. If things are too high in stalls, you just go to the auction house and exchange for gold and then buy what you want from the item mall......and vice versa...so I don't see how people can drive up prices...unless the exchange rate is driven up...and that is really economy-based. No small group of people can drive up the prices.
And it'sall about shopping around. Take the time to hit a lot of stalls and Never buy what you need in the first stall you see it for sale. Price-shop, and the lower priced vendor will be rewarded with the sale, and the higher priced vendor will be punished by No Sale.

Zoe - Heavens Tear · September 2008

Kingofhearts - Heavens Tear wrote: »

To me it seems the economy is pretty stable so far. The auction house exchange rate is between 90-110k for gold, and most of the item mall things in players stalls are accordingly priced, some exceptions noted.
I don't think anyone can drive up prices by going around buying stuff in people's stalls, because you have the exchange rate. The exchange rate is what really sets the economy. If things are too high in stalls, you just go to the auction house and exchange for gold and then buy what you want from the item mall......and vice versa...so I don't see how people can drive up prices...unless the exchange rate is driven up...and that is really economy-based. No small group of people can drive up the prices.
And it'sall about shopping around. Take the time to hit a lot of stalls and Never buy what you need in the first stall you see it for sale. Price-shop, and the lower priced vendor will be rewarded with the sale, and the higher priced vendor will be punished by No Sale.

In the other game I mention, there are people that inflate the exchange rate of cash shop money to game money as much as they can. They shout that they are buying it for a certain rate which is MUCH higher than the normal one. This lets all the sellers know that there are people willing to pay that much for it so they all start selling for that high.

The ones that do that are actually the major sellers of the cash shop items. I've already seen people telling them to sell for higher to drive up the rate in this game

Dsyndicate - Heavens Tear · September 2008

Putting caps on items might keep people from overpricing but it INCREASE the amount of people quiting.

The only real way to stop inflation is to...
1. put a restriction oh how long players can remain idle in shop mode.
2. Remove the auction fee and remodel auction house.

If everyone sold in the auction house, then you could see EVERYONE's pricing keeping people from trying to con you. BUT with the way it's set up, takes too long to get the items you want.

As long as players can sit in a stall overnight, they will eventualy get someone to buy an overpriced item and when people see that it sold for that much, they will sell it for that much.

Another game I played had a good idea (not saying the name) Players would put items on auction in bundles like 1, 10, 25, 50 or 100 and set there lowest sale price. Instead of giving the people buying a list of the salers and prices, it only listed the item, bundle number and last price one was sold at. The buyer makes his bid and the persion that set the lowest sale got the full amount that the buyer paid.

Example:
I put 10 cotton thread up for 10k, but someone puts it up for 30k.
The buyer looks up cotton thread 10 units and sees the last sale was for 15k.
The buyer bids 12k.
I'm the lower priced sale and the buyer bids @ or above my sale so mine sales and I get 12k.
The overpricer gets his item back in 24 hours.

Example 2:
I sale 50 Carbon steel for 1g trying to be smooth.
Buyer looks up carbon steel 50 units and bids 1g just to be silly.
I am the lowest seller and the buyer bids @ or above my sale so I sale and get 1g.
People laugh at me >.<

This gives the lower saler the advantage, prevents alot of overpricing and provides an instant buyer transaction.
Unfortunatly we will never see this. Even IF everyone wants it, even IF the devs think its a good idea, they do not have the time or resources to reprogram the auction house.
Also, this system probly wont work too well for custom armor.

So we get stuck with what we got and I dout we will see a change.

Unfortunatly every good game has to have a flaw.

Zoe - Heavens Tear · September 2008

How would it make people quit? Just becuase they won't be able to be greedy as heck and overprice everything? It will get rid of the very greedy ones from the game.

Problem with Zen sellers

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