Economics 101 >_<

I am an angry taru. >_<

The silly thing is, I can't believe it is all over 90k. Well, I accept the fact that 90k is a lot of money to some, but the fact that two people are fighting over something as simple as 90k gil is rather >_<, if you were to ask me. Of course, by now you can assertain that one of the people involved was me.

Here's the scenario.

A few days ago, I went with a group of friends to fight the BCNM40 down at the Waughroon Shrine (you can tell I've been going there more and more often) for the Worm's Turn. We did a total of six runs, and was pretty successful overall. For those who are interested, the party setup was BLM BLM BLM WHM RNG RNG. Five of us walked out with either Erase or Utsusemi: Ni in our hands, one of us actually got both.

I personally got a Spirit Torque, Phalanx, and a scroll of Utsusemi: Ni, so I was quite pleased. I could use the Spirit Torque and Utsusemi for my Ninja, at least, whenever I actually hit NIN37. Given that my RDM still isn't RDM37, I figure that will take a while. So I held onto both items for a while, pondering over whether I should sell them or not.

Couple days later, I gave in and decided to sell them. I was quite pleased to find out that Utsusemi: Ni is actually more expensive than Erase by about 100k, and the Spirit Torque was still rather high, but falling. I undercut on Spirit Torque, and it sold for (I think) 150k. I think I undercut something like 20k or so?

The problem is, one of my LS-mates who also came on the run also got a Spirit Torque, and was looking to sell both the Torque and his Erase to buy an Elemental Torque. Except that while I undercut, he didn't. Obviously, mine sold quickly, and the price soon came tumbling down and now he was stuck.

He only brought this up to me in LS chat this evening, when I was commenting on prices of certain scrolls. Poison II, for example, sells quickly, and you can easily make 20k out of just buying five scrolls from the Selbina NPC, and selling them in Jeuno. I also noted that a scroll of Raise III is down to just 320-340k, and still falling. I'm seriously debating whether I should buy one as an investment, but there's no sign that the price will pick up again anytime soon, so I withheld for a moment.

Then, the /linkshell showed up: "Tuuf, spirit torques are now 4k, thanks a lot."

Sarcasm, no? I went to check the Jeuno AH, and indeed, a Spirit Torque sold for 4k. Guess somebody must've been desperate to get rid of his. Also, the going rate for Spirit Torques were now 110k, instead of whatever they were before. Two more Spirit Torques had been sold since the 4k one, both times at 110k.

What things basically boiled down to was that he was upset that he couldn't sell his Spirit Torque for 200k (I don't ever remember seeing them past 180k, personally), and I had basically shafted him out of 90k by undercutting. While a lot of us frown upon undercutting, there are times when it makes sense, and this was one of them. When I went to list, there were several Spirit Torques up for sale, given the number of people that go on BCNM40 runs. Also, they don't flow that quickly, with only five or so selling a day. I don't remember what the last transacted price was when I listed mine, but I felt this was something I wanted to get rid of quickly, so I undercut fairly drastically.

Basically, I anticipated a price drop, since supply > demand (your Economics 101 part), and so undercut to sell the Spirit Torque quickly, before the price dropped.

The end result is that I sold a Spirit Torque for 150k instead of 180k or so, while my LS-mate is left with a stuck torque, and is faced with the prospect of having to relist his for 110k, instead of his desired 200k, or whatever.

Naturally, he blamed me for this, to which I explained to him my reasoning above.

In addition to that, as a crafter, AH slots are very valuable to me, and I would rather undercut and take a small hit than have a clogged slot and have constricted flow while waiting for things to sell. This was also just before I started burning through Silver Arrows (which I am still trying to get rid of! >_<), so I really did want those slots open.

Of course, it was as if he just refused to listen to reason, basically taking my reasoning and throwing it back in my face,

"I almost guarantee you didn't consider all that, but that's okay."

Sorry, but {Huh?!}

I felt really insulted by that. Not only was it showing complete disregard for me trying to teach you something, it is also just downright rude. I may be fairly patient with people, but those who know me can assure you that if anything really gets on my nerves, it's rudeness. I abhor being insulted, and probably would've added him onto the "People-I-don't-want-to-associate-with" list if it weren't for the fact that we were LS mates and already knew each other. So mad, that I immediately unequipped the TrueRune pearl, and brought that to an abrupt end. Hmph. >_<

For crying out loud, I'm an applied mathematician by training (in real life), and I have training in dealing with the real world stock market. Yes, that means I'm trained to spot, identify, and react to trends, so don't go saying I don't know what I'm talking about, or that I didn't do what I said. Continual exposure to the ever-changing nature of the in-game economy also helps out in this respect, too! Some people, honestly...

{/fume}