Unusual AH Activity on Bahamut

[Byrd]

OK, I know price fixing is nothing new, but this seems to be different. Normally, a person or group of people buy all the items on the AH, jack the price for 10 sales, they relist them, hoping to capitalize. This seems like people are doing the exact opposite.

I sold a pair of Fume Sune-Ate last night around 8pm PST for 130k, which is the price they were when I put them on sale on Friday night (I put them up for 121k; they fluctuated down to 90k and back to 120k since). Since I sold them about 12 hours ago, there have been 11 sales ranging from 60k to 70k. The person (Narbie) who bought it from me for 130k has bought two more pairs at 60k and 61k (They are Rare/Ex) since the pair they bought from me for 130k last night.

Looking at the other people on the list, they all have similar histories in the last 12 hours. There seems to be a cycle going through a number of players with a very similar (exact?) set of gear.

Narbie

Furioy

Gibsom

Omalika

Ikarian

Aliesia

Zaride

Carolmiu

There are probably more, but these are enough to show a clear pattern.

Doing a search for Brown Belt, Elusive Earring, Elemental Torque, Fuma Sune-Ate, Maneater, Emporer Hairpin, Astral Ring, Merman's Earring, Woodsman Ring, Flame Ring, Sniper's Ring reveals these guys' names all over them, dropping the price by 50% over night. I'm not complaining, necessarily, but this seems awfully strange....

What am I missing that would make this make sense, other than looking a gift horse in the mouth? Altruism by a few wealthy player or players seems unlikely. A new tactic by RMT? Some tactic to combat RMT?

[Katlan]

Maybe they are trying to change the AH price so they can mass purchase stuff for cheaper. Then 1-3 weeks later sell it for the same original price or higher = profit?

[Therin]

Booooooooooring. This has been happening for like a year or more.

They're resetting the price lower so that they can stockpile and then make larger amounts of profits. Risky, but it happens all the time. Cerberus Maneaters were at 100k for about a month and then they went back up to 300-330k.

[DanielRemora]

Yeah, kinda odd. The only thing I can think of is to lower the price as much as possible, buy out as much as possible at 50% the original price, then relist them at original prices.

[Meian]

Maybe they are trying to change the AH price so they can mass purchase stuff for cheaper. Then 1-3 weeks later sell it for the same original price or higher = profit?

This is what I was thinking as well. Don't recall seeing it happen much on Hades but haven't looked around in a while

[Not Kuno]

They might try to jump servers with them.

[Byrd]

They're resetting the price lower so that they can stockpile and then make larger amounts of profits. Risky, but it happens all the time. Cerberus Maneaters were at 100k for about a month and then they went back up to 300-330k.

They might try to jump servers with them.

A couple of good points, the first thought had occurred to me, it just seemed awfully risky. Put the two together, and it's yet another RMT tactic.

Here's a full list of people who seem to be in the group:

Narbie, Furioy, Gibsom, Omalika, Ikarian, Aliesia, Zaride, Carolmiu, Raikku, Pegaso, Yoshinkun, Aidriel, Mathus, Lacatia, Mithtina, Fjnm, Otaria, Evolex, Hyorida, Kaitorxr

Oh well, at least I sold my Fumas for twice market value, and their names have shot up to the most viewed on ffxiah. That should annoy them some, at least.

Dear RMT, couldn't you drop Imperial Wootz Ingots to half price? Because that would be great.

[Amele]

This is what I was thinking as well. Don't recall seeing it happen much on Hades but haven't looked around in a while

It happens occasionally with staple armor but most of our RMT seem content to just shit on basic crafting supplies rather than stuff we actually purchase for use.

Hades is getting to be pretty backwater anyway so I'm willing to bet that there's less opportunity for RMT here than is on say, Bahamut or Odin - our AH sale rates on alot of stuff is approaching like, half. so you can't stockpile as fast and the chances of someone jacking the price on you when you're trying to drive it down are pretty high.

[ringthree]

This is happening on Odin right now too, and I wouldn't be surprised if its happening on all servers again.

This is Scouter's Rope on Odin, the normal price is 100~150K.

Aug. 6, 2008 Sierran Mepowe 50,000
Aug. 6, 2008 Kuuquu Gonini 50,000
Aug. 6, 2008 Otraku Conoka 60,000
Aug. 6, 2008 Nashy Jihadz 42,862
Aug. 6, 2008 Dkimono Harus 50,000
Aug. 6, 2008 Yourd Wolford 46,164
Aug. 6, 2008 Aarwyn Yokotan 50,000
Aug. 6, 2008 Ekuko Kohtya 50,000
Aug. 6, 2008 Sierran Dalune 60,000
Aug. 6, 2008 Kuuquu Tompei 60,000

All of those RMT are on the purchase list for Fuma Sune-ate, Elusive Earrings, Leaping Boots, Brown Belt, etc, etc, etc.

[Shinsei]

Is that really from Bahamut?

Those names are also on Bismarck wtf lol........wierd

[spooky]

Booooooooooring.

Also, advanced.

[Day]

Also, advanced.

Not AV or bot drama-y enough for you?

[Deband]

https://secure.playonline.com/supportus/exmf.html

[Ramses]

Same exact thing happening on asura with same items plus a few others.

[Ehran]

They're resetting the price lower so that they can stockpile and then make larger amounts of profits. Risky, but it happens all the time. Cerberus Maneaters were at 100k for about a month and then they went back up to 300-330k.

How do you stockpile rare items?

[Byrd]

How do you stockpile rare items?

I would think if they had 2-3 rings they sold 10 times in order to start an AH history, they would still have 17-18 people who could stockpile the items out of that list of 20 I posted. When the number on the AH + the number currently held = the number of people in the group minus one or two, buy the ones off the AH, cycle 10 of them through at the new price to reset the AH history, and then put a couple of them up for the new price, and filter through as they sell.

[Alistaire]

How do you stockpile rare items?

Send to self.

[Keria]

Been happening forever, old idea is old. If you suspect RMT activity send a POL message to the STF. They will probably get banned anyway if it is RMT and not some guy about to transfer servers. SE does watch for these things.

[Ehran]

Send to self.

More to the point, my question is why aren't we seeing the same tactic with non-rare items? Yes, price fixing has been happening for a while now. Every time something like this pops up, the same items (usually KSNM or ENM drops) are involved.

It just doesn't make any sense. Clearing the AH history for an item to re-sell one Maneater for 300k instead of 200k? Over several characters, I guess that's enough to make it worthwhile, but why bother being subtle about it anymore?

[Ramses]

It isn't just rare items.