Feeding Frenzy

Once again, I have no problem with people buying tack who need it or know they will need it.

I am not describing what you are doing.

I literally had someone buy everything I had on sale to the point that they filled over 40 pages of transactions on my bank page.  That's not stocking up for the future, that's making sure that no one else gets any.

I obviously need to make some adjustments in strategy to try to discourage that kind of thing.

But if I were just flooding the market with cheap stuff, you'd have a point that I was damaging the market.

Which is why that is not what I am doing.  There will be no stuff sitting and stagnating on the market because it is more expensive than mine (but still a good deal) because I am purchasing those things myself.  Purchasing them, upgrading them, and putting them back on the market so someone who needs it can buy it.  People's stuff is selling faster than ever as a result, because I am deliberately making sure of it.

In short, here's my stance on buying the items I posted:

Buying something because you need it now or will probably need it later = GOODGOODFUNYAY!

Buying something because you don't want someone else to get it = OHNOFRUSTRATION!

But I am thinking very hard about this to figure out the best way to make this tack easily available for people in the first category, while discouraging the kind of thing in the second category.

maybe release stuff in batches?  so the only way someone could buy you out is by vigorously stalking sales

The direction this conversation went has blown my mind. 

I sometimes will go find newer players that I see making an effort to get somewhere in the game that have low bank balances and send them $50,000. Just because. When I first started back up I had a very nice player just out of nowhere give me $200k. Just because.  Honestly BargainBin, I believe what you are doing is beyond kind and helpful for players who are striving to get their "foot in the door" but lack the resources to do so. So, thank you! 

Last edited on 2018-04-26 at 18:22:08 by Olympea

Thanks, Olympea.  I'm kind of taken aback, myself.  I'm starting to think I'm in a cornfield, there are so many straw men being set up and attacked.  Hey, if I actually was screwing over anyone else's sales by undercutting them, you should be annoyed with me, but I already stated multiple times how I not only prevented that from happening, but actually people's stuff sells so much faster now.  And if I actually didn't want anyone but newbies to buy my stuff, that would be ridiculous, but I already stated how I don't care who buys my stuff, as long as they don't hoard to the point that no one else can get anything.

I started doing this because of a suggestion that was made recently, where people were saying that they've got all these extra items they don't need, but they can't get anyone to buy them in the item market, so they were hoping something could be set up where they could clear out their inventories and maybe make a little money.  I thought that this is something I can change from the inside, and Abbey won't even need to program anything new to fix things.  I think there are a lot of things in this game that we could make better if enough people who have the means to do so, decide to take action rather than just point out the problems.  I have the means, and I've been looking for a new project, and I thought it might be fun.  I may not be getting any EVD out of it, but I've been enjoying the challenge, so it's worth it to me.

And I don't mind critique, because I really do want to make sure I'm not missing any issues that need to be addressed, but this isn't even constructive criticism, because what they're criticizing is not even what I'm doing.

Except for the wanting to help new and struggling players.  That part I plead guilty to, with pride.  And I don't intend to change.

I'm very baffled by the tangents some of the posts in this topic went off on. . . . Like, hopscotched right from Point A to Point R or something. . .  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $200. . . .

As a thought - if someone is buying that much tack, but is a new player with a basic account, they may not yet realize that tack can be repaired rather than lost (or believe at the prices you sell for that buying replacements is cheaper than repairing?), and thus believe they will eventually go through that much tack and want to buy up what they can while it's available at the lower price?

Alternative thought - the person bought it all with the intention of reselling it at a higher price, and just hasn't found the time or motivation to actually put it back up for sale yet?

It's hard to say, Timbergray.  They had a few pieces of tack up for sale, and they were at 100%, so I'm not sure if that was the issue.  And, several hours after the feeding frenzy, I put some more tack up at the same price, and they bought that all as well.  But they've only put four items up for sale, since then.  I'm keeping an eye on it, mostly because I'm trying to figure out the reasoning behind it all.  I did try private messaging them, but apparently there is a language barrier so that went nowhere.  Which might explain why they bought stuff, regardless of the type of tack, but not why they bought it in such high quantities and left none for anyone else.

I'm experimenting with pricing, to see if I can find a sweet spot where people who need it can afford it, but no one mass buys the whole lot anymore.