He Undercut Me And Crashed The Market! Help!
Recognise it for what it is
- Could this be walling? Where a competitor posts thousands of items like glyphs at a set price just over the crafting cost?
- Is this a plain attempt by another player, trying to force competitors out?
- Don’t worry, there is room for all competitors. There is enough gold to go around! The more gold your competitor makes, the more he can spend on your sales tomorrow.
- Your competitor is afraid of you. He is afraid of competition. He doesn’t want to share his toys.
Deep breaths
Now you have relaxed a little have a better look at the situation.
- Is this a temporary situation?
- What is the long term view of this market?
- How have the past sales been?
- Is something coming out in the next patch that you don’t know about that could cause a market crash?
- Is the market crashing or is your competitor just being a jerk?
- C’mon admit it if you have to. Were you overpricing? Can the market really support the price you wanted?
What to do
- Hope he’s an amateur, and does not have the stamina that you have.
- If its a big quantity item, like glyphs, continue to post your items, either at the normal high price (ready to sell when his expire/disappear) or at a low price (grit your teeth and remember, a profit is a profit, is a profit, and with a high quantity you can multiply these small profits). And keep a good plentiful stock of this item ready to pounce when he gets bored.
- If it’s a transmog piece, rare pet, gear, or similar high value item, you can choose based on your past experience and knowledge of the market. Buy him out, or wait for his item to not sell. See this previous blog post on handling competitors.
- Consider buying him out, but don’t spend much gold. Buy only a few of his pieces, just to see his reaction.
- Ignore the cheap item and wait. Don’t antagonize your competitor, remember he is already frightened. Frightened competitors do nasty things. Consider this competitor like a big fat bully pushing everyone out the playground. Just wait for him to get tired, then move in.
- One guy can not crash a market for an entire server unless he’s absolutely determined. You don’t want him to get determined. Softly softly approach.
[box type=”warning”] Whatever you do, keep your emotions out of it.[/box]
You can get revenge on this guy, sure, but at a price. And having more gold, being richer than him, winning, is better revenge than simply pissing him off and gaining an enemy in your chosen market/s.
About the Author
The Gold Queen is written by Alyzande. With many level 100s, 9 years expertise in making gold, 11 garrisons, 17k+ achievements, 1593 days played, and over 32 million gold earned. The Gold Queen blog teaches you how to make gold playing World of Warcraft using ethical trading, auction house flipping, crafting, reselling snatch lists, and farming gold making.
