I don't think prices will ever be reasonable for reasons others here have already stated. There are a lot of credits in the game, and nothing to spend them on except items on the exchange. Really, NOTHING. I can buy all the uncommon items i want with exploration badges, can craft rare items, and I could still easily do all my missions with common items 2 tiers below my level.
The OP said that he was a successful merchant in SWG. SWG had something that made crafters and merchants necessary(evil words coming!): item decay.
STO could use that, too. There, I said it.
Aside from the measures to end using the exchange as a bank and the organisation of the exchange by price (both of which I agree with), most people are missing the point made above and by the poster who mentioned inflation... the reason prices are high is because energy doesn't get you anything you actually want.
This needs to be fixed in a co-ordinated manner with the fix of crafting at memory alpha. The reason is simple. The final "market" values will be decided by how hard it is to get the best of the best at each tier. To accurately reflect the Trek universe(s), replictor energy should be able to get you anything that is "basic". Special items will require difficult or impossible to replicate elements plus specialized skill / knowledge by the scientist working on it. Access to these would be according to status.
After lieutenant, at each tier you can currently only buy odd Mark gear, and all you want is the even mark gear. You have to wait for even mark gear to drop, because it is sold for energy nowhere. IF you are crafting, no one wants to start with the odd mark stuff, because it is inferior to the same gear if you started with an even mark base item. This is backwards... you should be making due with the stuff that drops until you can craft better, and for that you need the superior base item. So you need to be able to by the Mark 4 rather than the Mark 3. Better if both.
Furthermore ALL basic gear should be available. I feel sorry for the poor soul who earlier thought he was going to be able to buy class X items with energy. Right now there are things that you can only get if they drop. That stretches my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point, but it also ruins the economy. Phaser X dual cannons can only be aquired by drop so they are priceless, but phaser X dual heavy cannons can be aquired with badges so they are going to be cheap. This neither reflects "trekness" nor makes for sensible supply and demand.
Right now I am developing an escort that will use dual cannons and turrets, so I am taking tetryon skill instead of plasma like I had wanted (to match my autoturret). Why? Because there is no way to aquire the gear I need at level ten. I would spend all of my over 1 million energy to get any of those items as plasmas because energy can't get me what I need. For that matter neither can badges or the like. Tetryons can be had for a little time and a few badges, and they are already crafted up a notch. The current economy simply fails me. Either no one has the item because of dumb luck, or whoever does get the drop can ask whatever he feels like.
So my recommendation is that the missing items, the ones vendors don't currentlly sell, all become available for purchase in energy. Then between rank, badges, marks, and memory alpha data, we gain the ability to improve on these items for an additional energy cost. That way you can purchase, for example, a dual tetryon beam bank (currently unavailable unless you win the drop lottery) at the level you wish, and then pay energy and meet the prestige requirements necessary. Let's say that crafting lets you add one aspect to whatever item you start with for each rank tier you gain, but each tier added gets progressively more expensive in energy, badges, merits et cetera. So if you find or are rewarded with a rare item you can improve it 3 times at the rank of Captain. Of course the cost would be immense.
This would create some very personalized items and make for more individual characters. You might decide to keep those Mark 3 efficient combat engines and build them up as you go, rather than scrap them. This would also allow you to plan out and build a coherent character concept. Sadly, that is something the current economy and crafting process doesn't let you do.
Good call! I wish everyone on the exchange sold items like you do. I have been trading on the exchange for a while now, and came to the same conclusions as you. But 4 was new to me its a great idea to coralate prices to the credits that you have currently.
Everyone else pay attention to him, and maybe we can get a viable economice going here.
Selling a 1500 console for 100 000 is just silly. I've been selling things at value cost if not below especially if I only looted the item and not bought it myself
I sell stuff at half price everytime I put something in there and when it's a shield or Impulse Engine Higher than Commander I price it a 9000 sounds reasonable when the actual price is like 20,000
The OP makes the mistake of considering that the average buyer on the Exchange is fully informed about what vendors sell and what items are basically worth. Many buyers don't seem to know about NPC Vendors. It is not in the best interest of profit to educate them, as kind as it would be to do so.
Basing your prices off of the small EC value in the item description is great for the buyer but not profitable for the seller unless it is done in extreme bulk. Provide an equivalent item at less price that everyone else and if someone buys it don't over think it too much, or try to moralize the transaction before or after the fact.
1) There is a severe over saturation of mediocre items on the exchange.
2) There really aren't that many unique items, so even rare items are seen in greater quantity than they should.
3) Most players don't know what IS good.
4) Even if the item IS good, it may not always LOOK good. The descriptions are bugged. When you buy a cruiser, it shows how that item will work in a CRUISER, even if you are flying an tactical or science. I bought a danube, so all my stats are borked, graphically at least.
4) The exchange does not allow filtering by price, which would eliminate pages and pages of "inventory"
5) There is no descriptions available or even a way to see WHO you are buying from. I for one would be loyal to a seller /merchant that had consistent pricing and honorable methods. Regardless of price you would pay for something you needed, you wouldn't return as often to the ferengi who repeatedly ripped you off or gouged you when the nice guy around the corner could come through with similar gear.
Bottom line, before you start to see better practices in salesmenship, they will need a better vehicle to drive us there. It will come soon enough I hope, and then hopefully the gougers can all sit in the corner hoping to find a newbie with a little energy credit to swindle and still being unsuccessful salesmen.
Ps: Great post OP, and good ideas for those with enough common sense to utilize them, unfortunately, most people are packled in that regard....
I sell stuff at half price everytime I put something in there and when it's a shield or Impulse Engine Higher than Commander I price it a 9000 sounds reasonable when the actual price is like 20,000
You actually lose money that way. The replicator sells for 40%, but aside from Ferengi (30%), most sellers in sol station give 50% of listed value. I sell most that way, especially common since no one else will buy it.
Is there any way you can tell me when you are posting stuff in the exchange? This way i wont have to actually work to find em. Please keep posting your stuff based on the energy credit value, that way i can buy them real cheap and sell them for actual market rate and keep making a fortune.
The exchange also makes a nice bank. With the limited bank space, put an item up for sale for an outragoues price therefore you don't have to worry about anyone buying it. Its also a good way to transfer credits to an alt. With no penalty for listing items these 2 reasons will continue.
Good tips for sure. I wish more people would follow them.
I rarely use the exchange, only right after getting a new ship for the most part. Yesterday I went looking for some consoles and found a bunch. Value on the tooltip: 3,200. Average selling price: 100,000+. Yeah, right.
One person knew what the hell they were doing though. They had it for sale for 3,000 and that's the one I bought. I saved 200 credits, they earned 1,400 over what an NPC would've paid for it. That's 1,400 more than those people selling for 100,000 plus will ever get, at least from me.
All very valid points. The only one you left out, and that the OP may not have taken into consideration, is the lack of a timer on the exchange. There are a large number of items that were posted weeks ago at TRIBBLE prices that will stay there until either removed by the poster or a retcon of the exchange that implements a timer.
I don't doubt that a lot of those are from people who left and didn't bother to remove the items, or are from alts, banned gold farmers, etc.. and will stay on the exchange until the expiration timer is implemented.
The other problem is that so many people have literally tens of millions of credits, which pushes prices up, because the people selling the stuff on the exchange think they're entitled to everyone elses money. Happens in every game eventually, but really accelerated beyond reason in STO, due in part to the ease in which credits can be earned, and the fact that they are virtually useless for anything other than the exchange.
This game has far too many currency standards, and as a result the economy is overinflated and mostly meaningless.
A very good OP and in the days SWG also had one of the best player driven economy commodity exchanges.
Some of the feedback is correct though, I think that a big part of the issue is that there is no timer on items put on the exchange and that there is no price filter when you want to purchase an item.
While Im waiting for my login to happen sigh yet again stuck on character screen. One of the probs with developing an economy is gold farmers they need the virtual cash to be able to get real cash. So long as there are stupid people willing to hand over real money for things they are too lazy to grind, swap or exchange for/
One of the other issues I think in my humble opinion is the lack of real crafting - you should be able to craft something that is almost as good as a rare drop or close too - hunting for resources and using them making things for your mates etc.
One of the best economys Ive seen is Lord Of The Rings.
Ive tried the in game crafting and well when you have to do things pot luck maybe you might advance and no documentation behind it sorta makes it hard, and when you do get to the top tier your only able to make junk so rather pointless to pursue.
Get crafting going properly and maybe the exchange might get a bit of a lift.
I agree with having timers put on the exchange that would help with people having to think about what they are selling things for, as well as making the gold farmers put in a little more effort into their day as well.
The other problem with the exchange is you have professional farming groups that farm for items day in and day out making it extremely hard for normal players to get the elusive drop they are looking for, and your pro farming groups then dictate the price.
Excepting for a few items that are useful ie antiproton consoles which you cant buy and only obtainable via drops what else is there that you need to buy that you cant get from a drop if you didnt have to compete with pro farming groups.
Which Mythic dont seem to want to address or cant or dont know how..
Good tips for sure. I wish more people would follow them.
I rarely use the exchange, only right after getting a new ship for the most part. Yesterday I went looking for some consoles and found a bunch. Value on the tooltip: 3,200. Average selling price: 100,000+. Yeah, right.
One person knew what the hell they were doing though. They had it for sale for 3,000 and that's the one I bought. I saved 200 credits, they earned 1,400 over what an NPC would've paid for it. That's 1,400 more than those people selling for 100,000 plus will ever get, at least from me.
Although I agree with this in concept, to the point that I'll be removing a bunch of things from the exchange and reposting them, does the tooltip value actually mean anything? Is that the actual vendor price? Does it matter when the items I'm trying to sell are only available via drops and/or exploration badges rather than 'normal' currency?
I'm going to be reposting my stuff relatively cheaply, both to actually sell them, and to do my part to make things available for reasonable prices. I just don't like the idea of someone grabbing my stuff and reposting it at a higher price.
Yeah...the prices for common and uncommon items on the exchange is ridiculous. Problem is there are plenty of people out there who would actually shell out 10,000 credits for a MK2 phaser bank rather than walk two more sections over and buy it from a vendor for 1,000. Rare and Very Rare items are the only ones that can justifiably be sold for more than their base worth. And even then the markup should not be any more than %50 above base. I have made tons of money by selling quality loot at prices slightly below base. I make almost twice what I would get from a vendor and the player gets a substantial discount over the price form the same vendor. It's a win-win situation.
Referencing DarkOrions post as well, I would like to indulge the kindness of the community. Where is there a vendor that sells even numbered (MkII, Mk IV, etc.) items? My understanding was that these were obtainable by drops and explore badges only, not with credits (except on the exchange.)
And yes, add my vote to adding a timer and better filters (eg: cost) to the exchange.
The exchange also makes a nice bank. With the limited bank space, put an item up for sale for an outragoues price therefore you don't have to worry about anyone buying it. Its also a good way to transfer credits to an alt. With no penalty for listing items these 2 reasons will continue.
Maybe I've missed it, but, how the hell do you see who has posted the item, so that you can use it to transfer credits? I've thought about doing it myself, but as I said, I don't see any way of seeing who posted it, so that I know it's my own guy buying it...
Maybe I've missed it, but, how the hell do you see who has posted the item, so that you can use it to transfer credits? I've thought about doing it myself, but as I said, I don't see any way of seeing who posted it, so that I know it's my own guy buying it...
You dont (you cannot see who sells items on the exchange)... when you post (for transfer) you have to come up with a unique amount and a pretty unique item (say 934856) and then write that down - then look for it on the alt.
Although I agree with this in concept, to the point that I'll be removing a bunch of things from the exchange and reposting them, does the tooltip value actually mean anything? Is that the actual vendor price? Does it matter when the items I'm trying to sell are only available via drops and/or exploration badges rather than 'normal' currency?
I'm going to be reposting my stuff relatively cheaply, both to actually sell them, and to do my part to make things available for reasonable prices. I just don't like the idea of someone grabbing my stuff and reposting it at a higher price.
The way I understand it is the tooltip value is what it would cost to buy it from a vendor. You can sell it to vendors on starbases for 50% of that number or traveling merchants for 40%.
The fact an item can only be bought with badges doesn't matter to me personally. For one, we can earn badges just as easily as energy credits so the item isn't any harder to obtain. We may be able to buy it sooner and in less time than we'd be able to earn badges for it, but even so we're guaranteed to be able to get our hands on it either way. Two, there's no way for someone browsing the Exchange to know just by looking at the tooltip that it can only be bought with badges.
Drop only items are different I suppose. They would be worth more to me given the random nature of getting a hold of one, but again, there's no way for me to know it's a drop only item using just the information we're given at the Exchange.
Depends on the item though. For example, MK II items are bought by badges or dropped. So when I see a MK II item I know that I have to farm badges through the Explore missions rather than incidentally collecting credits through my normal missions, etc. In that sense it's 'easier' for me to make credits than badges. On top of that, I still make credits while farming my badges.
For those items that don't get sold by vendors asking for credits, the tooltip is less useful.
Again, if an item tooltips at 3200, but there's no vendor that actually sells it for that, then it is an abstract that means very little. No one can say that they saved or made money over buying it at the vendor when no vendor carries it. The most you can say is that a seller has made more money than hawking it at a vendor.
Now, if there were a direct conversion from badges to credits then maybe we'd be able to talk math.
Either way, I still agree that the exchange is extremely inflated.
I've moved to selling things a little bit cheaper than their tootip value if they're available at a vendor, and about the same as their value if they're not.
Seems to be working for me. I'm not making any instant millions but I made several thousand instead of waiting for something to sell.
I put a bunch of Commander/Captain level stuff on the Exchange yesterday. I looked at the tooltip value, rounded down to the nearest thousand and then took off another thousand (5,432 > 5,000 > 4,000). I make 1200 and the buyer saves 1400 (theoretically, given Peregrin's point about abstract values).
It must be an okay system because I sold an item before I even finished listing them all for sale.
I put a bunch of Commander/Captain level stuff on the Exchange yesterday. I looked at the tooltip value, rounded down to the nearest thousand and then took off another thousand (5,432 > 5,000 > 4,000). I make 1200 and the buyer saves 1400 (theoretically, given Peregrin's point about abstract values).
It must be an okay system because I sold an item before I even finished listing them all for sale.
lol
Thanks for the acknowledgement.
Yeah. I priced my batch of things the same as what I saw already on the exchange and I just stared at it for weeks. Repriced and they sold in a couple of days.
I really do wish they'd clear out items that have been there a while though.
Good post. I take all of those things into account for my prices, but I usually will price slightly higher than the marked value as I only sell items of green (uncommon) or higher quality on the Exchange. Except for a few unwanted consoles all my items tend to sell rather quickly.
The real problem is that prices on the Exchange are currently being influence greatly by the RMT players who are trying to sell credits for real money. This will continue until they find that they cannot really make a profit on this game or until Cryptic finds a way to get rid of them altogether.
Until then all we can do is buy the reasonably priced stuff, sell our own items at reasonable prices and leave the rest to rot. When Cryptic adds a time limit to Exchange it will help get rid of a number of the overpriced seemingly permanently marketed items.
I kid you not I saw a common tribble posted for 100,000 and a normal MK I Phaser Array for 100,000,000.
You know what they say... there is a sucker born every second. I guess they are hoping someone will double click a bit to fast on the wrong item.
Those are most-likely energy credit transactions. Its a common thing to see a very low level item in the auction house or exchanges of other MMO's for stupid prices like that. It's how gold/credit/energy credit dealers try to skirt around the ToS by masking the sale as a legit transaction.
Kinda like selling your buddy your motorcycle for $20.00 before a divorce just to buy it back from him to $100.00 after the divorce is finalized. (Yes, true story. I have a two friends that did this.)
People complain about exchanges prices all the time but they forget one important thing: Time
Try finding an uncommon MKX Antiproton mag and get back to me. It can take WEEKS to find an item and because of that they go for around 2 million on the exchange which IMHO is justified.
I do agree that we need stuff to spend energy on but the new DP should at least help that situation.
It is reasonable to put a higher price on truely rare items that are fairly sought after. That's part of 'economy'... price dictated by supply and demand. I don't begrudge those sellers. However, 99% of what is currently on the exchange does not qualify.
The addition of the Exchange timer will clear a lot of the flotsam, as well, the addition of new Purples accessable through the Dailies will also help.
Comments
Aside from the measures to end using the exchange as a bank and the organisation of the exchange by price (both of which I agree with), most people are missing the point made above and by the poster who mentioned inflation... the reason prices are high is because energy doesn't get you anything you actually want.
This needs to be fixed in a co-ordinated manner with the fix of crafting at memory alpha. The reason is simple. The final "market" values will be decided by how hard it is to get the best of the best at each tier. To accurately reflect the Trek universe(s), replictor energy should be able to get you anything that is "basic". Special items will require difficult or impossible to replicate elements plus specialized skill / knowledge by the scientist working on it. Access to these would be according to status.
After lieutenant, at each tier you can currently only buy odd Mark gear, and all you want is the even mark gear. You have to wait for even mark gear to drop, because it is sold for energy nowhere. IF you are crafting, no one wants to start with the odd mark stuff, because it is inferior to the same gear if you started with an even mark base item. This is backwards... you should be making due with the stuff that drops until you can craft better, and for that you need the superior base item. So you need to be able to by the Mark 4 rather than the Mark 3. Better if both.
Furthermore ALL basic gear should be available. I feel sorry for the poor soul who earlier thought he was going to be able to buy class X items with energy. Right now there are things that you can only get if they drop. That stretches my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point, but it also ruins the economy. Phaser X dual cannons can only be aquired by drop so they are priceless, but phaser X dual heavy cannons can be aquired with badges so they are going to be cheap. This neither reflects "trekness" nor makes for sensible supply and demand.
Right now I am developing an escort that will use dual cannons and turrets, so I am taking tetryon skill instead of plasma like I had wanted (to match my autoturret). Why? Because there is no way to aquire the gear I need at level ten. I would spend all of my over 1 million energy to get any of those items as plasmas because energy can't get me what I need. For that matter neither can badges or the like. Tetryons can be had for a little time and a few badges, and they are already crafted up a notch. The current economy simply fails me. Either no one has the item because of dumb luck, or whoever does get the drop can ask whatever he feels like.
So my recommendation is that the missing items, the ones vendors don't currentlly sell, all become available for purchase in energy. Then between rank, badges, marks, and memory alpha data, we gain the ability to improve on these items for an additional energy cost. That way you can purchase, for example, a dual tetryon beam bank (currently unavailable unless you win the drop lottery) at the level you wish, and then pay energy and meet the prestige requirements necessary. Let's say that crafting lets you add one aspect to whatever item you start with for each rank tier you gain, but each tier added gets progressively more expensive in energy, badges, merits et cetera. So if you find or are rewarded with a rare item you can improve it 3 times at the rank of Captain. Of course the cost would be immense.
This would create some very personalized items and make for more individual characters. You might decide to keep those Mark 3 efficient combat engines and build them up as you go, rather than scrap them. This would also allow you to plan out and build a coherent character concept. Sadly, that is something the current economy and crafting process doesn't let you do.
Everyone else pay attention to him, and maybe we can get a viable economice going here.
Actually the really sad thing is they probably do realise and just don't care. They get theres, why should they bother about anyone else.
Selling a 1500 console for 100 000 is just silly. I've been selling things at value cost if not below especially if I only looted the item and not bought it myself
Basing your prices off of the small EC value in the item description is great for the buyer but not profitable for the seller unless it is done in extreme bulk. Provide an equivalent item at less price that everyone else and if someone buys it don't over think it too much, or try to moralize the transaction before or after the fact.
1) There is a severe over saturation of mediocre items on the exchange.
2) There really aren't that many unique items, so even rare items are seen in greater quantity than they should.
3) Most players don't know what IS good.
4) Even if the item IS good, it may not always LOOK good. The descriptions are bugged. When you buy a cruiser, it shows how that item will work in a CRUISER, even if you are flying an tactical or science. I bought a danube, so all my stats are borked, graphically at least.
4) The exchange does not allow filtering by price, which would eliminate pages and pages of "inventory"
5) There is no descriptions available or even a way to see WHO you are buying from. I for one would be loyal to a seller /merchant that had consistent pricing and honorable methods. Regardless of price you would pay for something you needed, you wouldn't return as often to the ferengi who repeatedly ripped you off or gouged you when the nice guy around the corner could come through with similar gear.
Bottom line, before you start to see better practices in salesmenship, they will need a better vehicle to drive us there. It will come soon enough I hope, and then hopefully the gougers can all sit in the corner hoping to find a newbie with a little energy credit to swindle and still being unsuccessful salesmen.
Ps: Great post OP, and good ideas for those with enough common sense to utilize them, unfortunately, most people are packled in that regard....
You actually lose money that way. The replicator sells for 40%, but aside from Ferengi (30%), most sellers in sol station give 50% of listed value. I sell most that way, especially common since no one else will buy it.
he got the point
I rarely use the exchange, only right after getting a new ship for the most part. Yesterday I went looking for some consoles and found a bunch. Value on the tooltip: 3,200. Average selling price: 100,000+. Yeah, right.
One person knew what the hell they were doing though. They had it for sale for 3,000 and that's the one I bought. I saved 200 credits, they earned 1,400 over what an NPC would've paid for it. That's 1,400 more than those people selling for 100,000 plus will ever get, at least from me.
All very valid points. The only one you left out, and that the OP may not have taken into consideration, is the lack of a timer on the exchange. There are a large number of items that were posted weeks ago at TRIBBLE prices that will stay there until either removed by the poster or a retcon of the exchange that implements a timer.
I don't doubt that a lot of those are from people who left and didn't bother to remove the items, or are from alts, banned gold farmers, etc.. and will stay on the exchange until the expiration timer is implemented.
The other problem is that so many people have literally tens of millions of credits, which pushes prices up, because the people selling the stuff on the exchange think they're entitled to everyone elses money. Happens in every game eventually, but really accelerated beyond reason in STO, due in part to the ease in which credits can be earned, and the fact that they are virtually useless for anything other than the exchange.
This game has far too many currency standards, and as a result the economy is overinflated and mostly meaningless.
Some of the feedback is correct though, I think that a big part of the issue is that there is no timer on items put on the exchange and that there is no price filter when you want to purchase an item.
Sorry to ask a slightly off-tangent question, but I've never seen an answer to this question... tks!
One of the other issues I think in my humble opinion is the lack of real crafting - you should be able to craft something that is almost as good as a rare drop or close too - hunting for resources and using them making things for your mates etc.
One of the best economys Ive seen is Lord Of The Rings.
Ive tried the in game crafting and well when you have to do things pot luck maybe you might advance and no documentation behind it sorta makes it hard, and when you do get to the top tier your only able to make junk so rather pointless to pursue.
Get crafting going properly and maybe the exchange might get a bit of a lift.
I agree with having timers put on the exchange that would help with people having to think about what they are selling things for, as well as making the gold farmers put in a little more effort into their day as well.
The other problem with the exchange is you have professional farming groups that farm for items day in and day out making it extremely hard for normal players to get the elusive drop they are looking for, and your pro farming groups then dictate the price.
Excepting for a few items that are useful ie antiproton consoles which you cant buy and only obtainable via drops what else is there that you need to buy that you cant get from a drop if you didnt have to compete with pro farming groups.
Which Mythic dont seem to want to address or cant or dont know how..
My two bobs worth..
I stand to be corrected tho...
Although I agree with this in concept, to the point that I'll be removing a bunch of things from the exchange and reposting them, does the tooltip value actually mean anything? Is that the actual vendor price? Does it matter when the items I'm trying to sell are only available via drops and/or exploration badges rather than 'normal' currency?
I'm going to be reposting my stuff relatively cheaply, both to actually sell them, and to do my part to make things available for reasonable prices. I just don't like the idea of someone grabbing my stuff and reposting it at a higher price.
Referencing DarkOrions post as well, I would like to indulge the kindness of the community. Where is there a vendor that sells even numbered (MkII, Mk IV, etc.) items? My understanding was that these were obtainable by drops and explore badges only, not with credits (except on the exchange.)
And yes, add my vote to adding a timer and better filters (eg: cost) to the exchange.
Maybe I've missed it, but, how the hell do you see who has posted the item, so that you can use it to transfer credits? I've thought about doing it myself, but as I said, I don't see any way of seeing who posted it, so that I know it's my own guy buying it...
You dont (you cannot see who sells items on the exchange)... when you post (for transfer) you have to come up with a unique amount and a pretty unique item (say 934856) and then write that down - then look for it on the alt.
Yes, not only at every Sol base, but on every exchange in the game (K7, DS9, The Caps Table, etc.) all the bases.
The fact an item can only be bought with badges doesn't matter to me personally. For one, we can earn badges just as easily as energy credits so the item isn't any harder to obtain. We may be able to buy it sooner and in less time than we'd be able to earn badges for it, but even so we're guaranteed to be able to get our hands on it either way. Two, there's no way for someone browsing the Exchange to know just by looking at the tooltip that it can only be bought with badges.
Drop only items are different I suppose. They would be worth more to me given the random nature of getting a hold of one, but again, there's no way for me to know it's a drop only item using just the information we're given at the Exchange.
For those items that don't get sold by vendors asking for credits, the tooltip is less useful.
Again, if an item tooltips at 3200, but there's no vendor that actually sells it for that, then it is an abstract that means very little. No one can say that they saved or made money over buying it at the vendor when no vendor carries it. The most you can say is that a seller has made more money than hawking it at a vendor.
Now, if there were a direct conversion from badges to credits then maybe we'd be able to talk math.
Either way, I still agree that the exchange is extremely inflated.
Seems to be working for me. I'm not making any instant millions but I made several thousand instead of waiting for something to sell.
It must be an okay system because I sold an item before I even finished listing them all for sale.
lol
Thanks for the acknowledgement.
Yeah. I priced my batch of things the same as what I saw already on the exchange and I just stared at it for weeks. Repriced and they sold in a couple of days.
I really do wish they'd clear out items that have been there a while though.
The real problem is that prices on the Exchange are currently being influence greatly by the RMT players who are trying to sell credits for real money. This will continue until they find that they cannot really make a profit on this game or until Cryptic finds a way to get rid of them altogether.
Until then all we can do is buy the reasonably priced stuff, sell our own items at reasonable prices and leave the rest to rot. When Cryptic adds a time limit to Exchange it will help get rid of a number of the overpriced seemingly permanently marketed items.
:cool:
Those are most-likely energy credit transactions. Its a common thing to see a very low level item in the auction house or exchanges of other MMO's for stupid prices like that. It's how gold/credit/energy credit dealers try to skirt around the ToS by masking the sale as a legit transaction.
Kinda like selling your buddy your motorcycle for $20.00 before a divorce just to buy it back from him to $100.00 after the divorce is finalized. (Yes, true story. I have a two friends that did this.)
and are using the exchange as an overflow "bank"
Try finding an uncommon MKX Antiproton mag and get back to me. It can take WEEKS to find an item and because of that they go for around 2 million on the exchange which IMHO is justified.
I do agree that we need stuff to spend energy on but the new DP should at least help that situation.
The addition of the Exchange timer will clear a lot of the flotsam, as well, the addition of new Purples accessable through the Dailies will also help.