Beware Of This Scam!!

Abominus - Sanctuary · May 2009

I just wanted to point out a scam that you could fall victim to if you're not very careful. I believe I actually fell victim to this last week, as I inexplicably was missing over 200k that I could not account for. At first I wondered whether or not I got ****, but after what just transpired a few moments ago, I'm almost positive that this is how I lost my money.

I'm sure you're all aware of the Crazy Stone quest, and how at higher levels it is a godsend. Naturally people want to capitalize on it, and set up catshops near the NPC's and offer the gemstones needed to complete the quest. The scam works like this. The scammer sets up a catshop, and advertises the gems at a price lower than the other competing catshops around it. What they then do is that one of the gems, oftentimes the last one, are then priced at outrageous prices.

In the case today, -Edited due to forumrules- was the catshop owner, and all of his Blemished stones were priced at less than 5k, which beats most of the others. The last gemstone, however, was priced at over 200k. So if you are not paying attention, you will essentially be getting charged through the roof. They bet on the fact that the area is usually crowded and that you just want to hurry up and get out of there, and are not paying attention to the individual prices of each stone. It also doesn't help that with multiple stones on each item, it brings up that box so that you have to designate how many of each stone you want. It gets repetitive after a while, and you begin to just hit enter and move on to the next stone, assuming they are all the same price.

I only happened to catch on to it today because I happened to have only around 100k on me at the time, so when I tried to purchase them, it said that I did not have enough money for the purchase, and I took a closer look. I won't complain about getting duped last week, or even nearly getting duped again today because I really should have been paying closer attention, but I did want to get the word out to all of you as a warning, since I now understand what happened and because I don't want any of you get taken for a ride. It's a shame that there are always people who try and use the system for their own ends, but that is the world we live in. At any rate, take care all...

Zoe - Heavens Tear · May 2009

It's things like this that prove rules need to change.

There should not be "buyer beware"

It should be "Seller be banned" so this kind of scamming never happens again.

Abominus - Sanctuary · May 2009

I agree completely, Zoe.

erethizon1 · May 2009

They should not be banned. They did not do anything wrong. We are all free to try and sell our items for any price we choose. What I cannot believe is how successful they are. I have been hearing a lot of reports about this lately and cannot believe so many people fall for it. Heck, I check the final price when buying stones every time I do it and I buy only from NPC merchants. It amazes me that people would not even bother to look at the price total before they hit okay.

Zoe - Heavens Tear · May 2009

That's just the thing, players should NOT be able to sell at whatever price they want. EVER

That right there ruins games when they can. This one is already starting to fall apart as a result.

You want proof? Read this topic.

This game will soon be rendered unplayable due to player greed.

Breakerone - Heavens Tear · May 2009

Morale of the story watch wat you are buying. Player scams are big everywhere. Always check the price. And also MOVE THE DAMN SEA OF CATSHOPS ELSEWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Abominus - Sanctuary · May 2009

My apologies about naming a specific player. I forgot.

MystiMonk - Sanctuary · May 2009

I always buy mine off the npc as it is very crowded around where that quest is better yet go to another town and see if they are selling any.

erethizon1 · May 2009

Zoe - Heavens Tear wrote: »

That's just the thing, players should NOT be able to sell at whatever price they want. EVER

That right there ruins games when they can. This one is already starting to fall apart as a result.

You want proof? Read this topic.

This game will soon be rendered unplayable due to player greed.

The problem is, if every item had a maximum price then it would be very hard to find certain items. I run a cat shop that sells mostly crafting components. I price my items at the upper end of reasonable. My prices are high enough that I virtually never sell an entire stack of crafting components in one go, but low enough that people that have a real need can still afford them. If my price was fixed lower than what it is, some people would buy out my entire stock in one go and there would be nothing left for the other people that need items. My prices are such that you can always find what you need at my shop whenever you need it. If my prices were fixed lower you would find my wares sold out at times because someone found them to be a good enough deal that they bought the whole stash.

And it is not just my shop. There are plenty of very rich players in Perfect World and if they decide the maximum price of some item is low enough that they want to buy ever one of that item they can get their hands on, they will literally buy up the entire stock the world has at every chance they get. This means it will never be for sale at auction for more than a few minutes (since the buy now price would always be available since the item has a maximum value) and you would only find it in cash shops if you were lucky enough to spot it first. Higher prices keeps the people looking for good deals out of the market so that the people that really need it can find it. My cat shop is not for people that look for good deals. It is for people in need. The more you need something the less you care about price.

All that said, I have never participated in the so-called scam that this thread is about. I do keep my prices at the upper end of reasonable (5k is the most I would sell a blemished stone for) and do not have different stacks of the same material at different prices. Still, I would very much not appreciate a maximum price on items (unless it was a very high maximum price) and I do not believe there is anything wrong with what the so-called "scammer" is doing. When the scammer wakes up in the morning he should discover that none of this 200k stones have sold. He should probably find that he has sold less of the other 4 types as well because people did not feel like getting 4 stones from his shop and then having to go to another shop for the 5th stone, so they instead went to a competitor for all 5 stones. That is how you stop this kind of behavior, not by banning it. And you especially do not stop this behavior by falling for it. Look at the total price before you hit enter and you will never be taken advantage of.

As for the game being unplayable due to player greed, this game is quite playable even if you almost never buy anything from other players. There is very little that is needed to play this game. The only things that are totally overpriced are popular items that are too rare for everyone to have one. This can easily be avoided by simply ignoring those items. The game is quite playable without them. And if you really want to champion a cause, try getting the game designers to make those items more common, not to set a price cap on them. A price cap just makes those few people that get one lucky enough to get a good price. If there were more of the item the price would be lower and more people would be able to enjoy it. That is a much better solution.

Tearvalerin - Sanctuary · May 2009

Zoe - Heavens Tear wrote: »

That's just the thing, players should NOT be able to sell at whatever price they want. EVER

That right there ruins games when they can. This one is already starting to fall apart as a result.

You want proof? Read this topic.

This game will soon be rendered unplayable due to player greed.

oh dont go spouting your greed **** again.
we run our economy based on caveat emptor and laissez faire :O.
if we ran things zoe's way wed all be freakin communists.

kosake666 · May 2009

Well first off, no, players should not be banned, punished, or anything for this. Insulted sure, but that's for attempting to rip people off based on there own stupidity.

When you buy something from AH, you look carefully at the item, and it's price correct? Why do players seem to not follow the same common sense process when buying from cat shops? Yes, this is a bad thing that the sellers are doing, but it's the buyers choice to just trust that something is a generalized price.

Secondly, there seem to be a great number of people who are very unaware of this fact: Buying the shabby gems, and refining them into the quality you need is more cost effective! To do the level 41-61 Crazy Stone quest, just buy 3 shabby shards of each type needed from the merchant, the total cost will be exactly 7950 Coin. Take these to the Jewelcraftsman, and refine them all into the blemished shards required for the quest. This will get you a couple points of EXP and SP in the process.

All in all, this isn't a case of scamming, it's crooked sellers, lazy buyers not paying attention to what they are buying, or even the final price, and uninformed players. Do your homework, and you won't get scammed.

Easy.

Zoe - Heavens Tear · May 2009

Here it is, simple fact:

Prices, never go up. Only the greed of the players does.

I'm already looking for another game before this one dies an early death like the other dozen or so mmos I've played due to the insane greed of the players.

Although I'd have no trouble affording the prices, as usual with any mmo. Only since I'm a high level though.

erethizon1 · May 2009

kosake666 wrote: »

Secondly, there seem to be a great number of people who are very unaware of this fact: Buying the shabby gems, and refining them into the quality you need is more cost effective! To do the level 41-61 Crazy Stone quest, just buy 3 shabby shards of each type needed from the merchant, the total cost will be exactly 7950 Coin. Take these to the Jewelcraftsman, and refine them all into the blemished shards required for the quest. This will get you a couple points of EXP and SP in the process.

Since I think you are right that many players are not aware of how to refine stones I will go ahead and correct your minor error. 3 shabby stones refine into one rough stone. 3 rough stones refine into one blemished. For the 41-60 quest you do indeed need 3 shabby stones so you can make your rough stone for the quest. At 61-80 you would need 9 shabby stones to make one blemished.

I am not trying to nit-pick, but just in case your post caused any confusion for people that are just learning about the refining process I wanted to clarify.

Tearvalerin - Sanctuary · May 2009

zoe is unaware of the meaning of a volatile economy. its called supply and demand. when there is a limited supply of a 50$ mount that a lot of people want, people can charge the most they can get for them, things wont be cheap.

now say something like charm packs comes along again, charms will go down in price, they dropped ~150-200k on sanc when they did.

its basic econ 101 :O. any tard can remember this

erethizon1 · May 2009

Zoe - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Here it is, simple fact:

Prices, never go up. Only the greed of the players does.

I'm already looking for another game before this one dies an early death like the other dozen or so mmos I've played due to the insane greed of the players.

Although I'd have no trouble affording the prices, as usual with any mmo. Only since I'm a high level though.

What goes up is inflation and with it the value of coin goes down. Do not get me wrong, I am with you when it comes to my feelings about the economy of games as they age. As time goes on things get more and more expensive. But the problem in my eyes is not player greed, it is that people do not value money as much as they used to.

As people learn how to earn money faster (and especially if they just buy it using real life cash) the value of that money goes down in their eyes. An item they used to be unwilling to pay 1 million coin for they will now gladly pay 2 million for because the money is not worth as much to them anymore. That is what kills the economy of games. The problem is not that someone is trying to sell the item for 2 million. Only a few very "special" people would sell an item for 1 million when they know they can effortlessly get 2 million. The problem is the people that are willing to pay 2 million for an item that should not even be worth 1 million.

The only fair solution I have ever come up with is making all items available in unlimited quantity from merchants. The problem with just capping the maximum sell price is that it does not solve the problem (the fact that there is more demand for the item than supply) and it can be worked around (perhaps by insisting that you trade 1 million worth of items plus one million in cash for the item or by having you drop 2 million in coin on the ground and they drop their item so the actual process of trading can be avoided).

By having an unlimited quantity of all items available for sale from merchants it creates a price cap equal to what the merchant sells the item for (or perhaps slightly higher since some people pay a little extra to avoid having to go to the merchant).

Revolte - Heavens Tear · May 2009

Zoe - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Here it is, simple fact:

Prices, never go up. Only the greed of the players does.

I'm already looking for another game before this one dies an early death like the other dozen or so mmos I've played due to the insane greed of the players.

Although I'd have no trouble affording the prices, as usual with any mmo. Only since I'm a high level though.

no the prices go up too lol but not the worth. its unavoidable in any form of capitalism, in real life and in game. the best way to go about this is to NOT buy from any selling at outrages prices, and if other buy form it then they gatta learn not too.

if no one buys they will lower the prices, i jsut wanna know how people are getting some odd thousand rough shards lol

Revolte - Heavens Tear · May 2009

Tearvalerin - Sanctuary wrote: »

zoe is unaware of the meaning of a volatile economy. its called supply and demand. when there is a limited supply of a 50$ mount that a lot of people want, people can charge the most they can get for them, things wont be cheap.

now say something like charm packs comes along again, charms will go down in price, they dropped ~150-200k on sanc when they did.

its basic econ 101 :O. any tard can remember this

I am sure Zoe was talking about the worth of the item not the price its being sold for by others.

anyhow capitalism disgusts me whole heartidly and i am an active anarchist, BUT its just a game and people shouldnt make it like real life, if somethings over priced dont buy it. time for this discussion to end now.

Abominus - Sanctuary · May 2009

For clarification, I posted this thread to make people aware of this particular tactic. I accept responsibility for allowing it to happen. While it could be argued that the person was not "scamming" in the sense that he is technically allowed to do what he does, the case can also be made that he advertised "4k Blems" when this wasn't entirely the case, and that he knowingly is trying to grossly overcharge people. In the end you are correct in that it is up to each buyer to do their own due diligence. When you do not, this sort of thing can happen. I just wanted others to learn from my mistake and be aware of it.

RainbowVidel - Sanctuary · May 2009

All those catshops selling stones are always higher prices than the merchant. Just craft them yourself, save money in the process and you won't be scammed.

__Longshot__ - Sanctuary · May 2009

It could be a case of "accidental" typing.

I forgot a 0 once and messed myself up in a catshop. No biggie, my error. Maybe he added a 0.

Also, and more importantly, is the laziness of players to read. It's simple to hand over coins by "clicking", but in real life if you go to the grocery and get a gallon of milk you expect it to be about 3 bucks(US). If it rang up $30, you sure as heck would say something before you hand over the money. In the same sense, before you can actually buy from catshops, it asks to confirm that you wish to buy, so there's lots of chances to see how much you're spending before you do. It's the laziness that makes people just click "ok" so they can get back to gaming.

erethizon1 · May 2009

Revolte - Heavens Tear wrote: »

i jsut wanna know how people are getting some odd thousand rough shards lol

By buying 3000+ shabby shards and refining them.

Tearvalerin - Sanctuary · May 2009

anyhow capitalism disgusts me whole heartidly and i am an active anarchist,

this made me lol.

theres no such thing as anarchy. even among low lifes, and the law less, the strongest usually stil establishes an order or code of living. its human nature to have rules, and want to be ruled.

Drmelvin - Heavens Tear · May 2009

Buy CS stones from the NPC, Sell every drop you get which isnt 3* or mold to the NPC, Decomp 3* to mirages and give them to me and if you get a drop worth selling either set it up in a catshop for a decent price considering you got it for free a little profit is still a profit or put it in the AH. Sorted all your problems.

Oh and look out for the scam which the OP kindly informed everyone about

pallenmancuso12 · May 2009

You're already throwing your money away by not crafting them yourself. Make a weeks worth at once, then just use them throughout the week. Never have that much money at once? Why not make tomorrow's in that 10 minute waiting period?

Alphae - Lost City · May 2009

Very easy solution. Don't carry large sums of coin. XD

It makes you think about spending on ANYTHING be it teleports, catshop items, vendor items, if you don't carry large amounts when grinding, etc. If you are planning to do something, such as teleport to a certain area, or do cube, that's when you extract only the amount you need, and leave the rest in the bank.

I wish I got interest. b:sad

Kaosknight - Heavens Tear · May 2009

Zoe - Heavens Tear wrote: »

That's just the thing, players should NOT be able to sell at whatever price they want. EVER

That right there ruins games when they can. This one is already starting to fall apart as a result.

You want proof? Read this topic.

This game will soon be rendered unplayable due to player greed.

lmao.... that is some of THE dumbest **** I have ever heard.
Go to wal-mart and tell them they shouldn't sell for their price but sell at a price you want. You will get a resounding "**** off".

L 2 economie noop, ty.

Tearvalerin - Sanctuary wrote: »

oh dont go spouting your greed **** again.
we run our economy based on caveat emptor and laissez faire :O.
if we ran things zoe's way wed all be freakin communists.

Word....someone with a brain....
If you were forced to sell everything for a set price, everyone would buy from npc and the economy of the entire game would die.

Hasukurobi - Heavens Tear · May 2009

Thanks for sharing OP but honestly lol...Anyone who buys from those shops is duping themselves out of extra coin to begin with. I have NEVER seen them sell the stone cheaper than you can make it by buying the right amount of shabbies from any Merchant in town and Combining them to the desired level via the Jewel Craftsman. Not only that, but you also get an extra tiny amount of SP and EXP combining them. (Yeah it is tiny but over months of CS every day it will eventually add up) So why spend more coin and get less benefit? I guess if you are that lazy then go ahead lol but otherwise get your money's worth and do it yourself.

Huddle - Sanctuary · May 2009

i sold my Panther mount for 200k, spurred. Now i could have got alot more for it (from checking AH and WS) but i didnt. Just wanted to make some lucky person day that little bit better

Zoe - Heavens Tear · May 2009

Kaos, a buisness and your own pocket are 2 different things. Greedy morons like you need to learn that. Players do things out of pure greed. Real stores have actuall expenses. You just give all the money to yourself. Big difference.

You don't see one store owner go next door to his competitor, buy his entire stock and sell it in his own store for higher. Only greedy punks like you do that.

Tearvalerin - Sanctuary · May 2009

um, isnt that what coporate buy outs and hostile takeovers are?

they dont buy the competitions stock, they buy the supplier, its called a vertical monopoly lol, and its far from illegal. if mcdonalds wanted to sell hamburgers at whatever price they wanted, they invest in buying all the beef processing plants they can.

the whole point of selling, and owning a business is to line your pocket.
we do have expenses if we buy the stones from an NPC and hope out of convience someone will buy them for a little more.

if we sell too high, at the end of the day we lose profit and have a surplus.
if we sell too low, at the end of the day were out of stock and have a shortage.
so based on the demand curve, we have to sell at a price that pleases the customer, but keeps the product readily avaliable.

zoe you just accuse and name call, yet you dont know **** about economics, so please. unless you can name some examples, instead of sounding like a commie, follow your advice

When you actually get enough intelligence to speak, then you can speak. Until then, shut up you wannabe pker

erethizon1 · May 2009

Zoe - Heavens Tear wrote: »

You don't see one store owner go next door to his competitor, buy his entire stock and sell it in his own store for higher. Only greedy punks like you do that.

Unfortunately, that is what retail sales is. They buy at wholesale prices from the manufacturers and sell it to us for 3 times as much. And the worst part is that we are not even allowed to buy from the manufacturers ourselves. You have to have a business license to do that. We are actually forced by law to let the retailers rip us off.

Beware Of This Scam!!

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