Being an old exchanger on Menewsha, I honestly have to say that the so-called average prices are much lower than what the items themselves had normally gone for prior to the existence of the marketplace. Back then, obtaining new CIs was already a challenge, because you either had to have a supplier, or stalk the forums and hope that no one but you saw a thread that said "Selling new CIs." The average prices on some items are far too skewed on what they would normally be, as the information it receives is limited to how much is sold in the marketplace. As jellysundae commented, most of us are getting lazy of updating our exchange threads, checking in to see if there are any buyers, etc etc. We'd rather just list them on the marketplace, and wait for them to be sold. Often times, I'd list my items really cheap, just to sell it quickly. However, that screws with the marketplace, as I dropped the average price of what the item should really be worth. Likewise, the lowest price an item is sold for is already erroneous because the seller chose not to comply with current market prices, yet the sale still influences the marketplace and distorts the actual price. It takes a lot of sales of an item before a steady actual average price is reached, and I honestly don't see that happening soon.

As for CIs, the reason they are so over-priced is due to the fact that it's the beginning of the month and people are rushing in to buy them. Frankly speaking, it's the same back on Gaia's marketplace and it'll be the same here. I mean, back in 2007, CIs were 300 gold. Now, conventional pricing is around 3,000. This number will only increase as time passes, and there really isn't a way to prevent it, if you will. This is just natural inflation. The only explanation in my part that I can offer as to why the jump is around 1,000 is because it is a lot easier to obtain gold than it was back then. As far as I know, there weren't that many games and there weren't enough users either to stimulate significant inflation. Of course, there are factors that affect pricing, such as quantity and popularity. If the new CI is popular, say like the Fox Spirit, sellers know that even though one person may be turned off by the price, another person won't, and thus the CI remains at its current price with little deflation. You'll rarely find these items in the marketplace, as most sellers believe that the possibility exists that they can get a better offer in the exchange, and choose to sell it there. Even if they can't get an offer they want, they can still throw it back into the marketplace, because they know it's in demand. Of course, there are sellers who sell their items at ridiculously high prices, like this november 2007 set I saw going for around 40k, but I doubt anyone is going to buy it, so there is little chance the market would be affected. As a buyer, you need to be able to tell when an item's price is reasonable, and when it's ludicrous. For me, as long as it's between the price intervals of the lowest sold, and the highest sold, I'm good. The only other alternative is to stalk the exchange thread, and maybe you'll get lucky.

Whew...text wall. ^_^' You all make some interesting points. And I feel silly about the listing fee thing since I apparently imagined it. lol. :oops: I have noticed that the lowest price is often ridiculously low while the highest is unreasonably high. I just can't understand why people think anyone wants to buy something for way more than the highest price. *shrugs* It just isn't going to make any sense to me. I guess I'm not greedy enough to think like those people. ^_^'

I do hope the marketplace eventually evens out and I'm always hoping for mene to gain shiny new members. ^_^ In the meantime I'll keep stalking and wait for sane people to want to sell stuff. lol

It's not that people are greedy - they just want the best price for their item(s). Which isn't wrong to ask for. If people are willing to buy that high, that's on the person buying. It does take two to tangle when it comes to the Market.

@Boo- I do have to make a point though. Don't stop using the market. Just use it in a wiser fashion. If people stop using it it wont even out period. Just stalk the market until things sell at prices you can agree on....and then buy thme.

What Cora said; I only buy items for the gold I think it is worth. It's no different than the Exchange in that aspect. Not everyone sells for high - but then again, even in the Exchange before the Market Place came about, people would list items on the high end of the price guide or what they thought the item was worth.

I haven't stopped stalking the market. It just gets frustrating. I really started this thread more to vent than anything else. I didn't expect it to get such a response. lol. ^_^'

There's always going to be a lot of widely varied opinions on MP prices. I'm going to give you a view from our side of the fence now!

We were thrilled to bits when prices of the current CIs started to climb, because if a person can get more gold for their $2.50 investment then they're more likely to think about donating. We felt that it was likely that a lot of people didn't bother donating because the gold they made from selling CIs just wasn't worth their dollars. Considering that the sale of CIs is what keeps Mene open it's very important that there is natural inflation of them.

When I was active on Gaia I'd only donate for items that I wanted, but I'd buy extra of something that I knew would sell well. I bought 8 dark halos because of this. Gaia's MP used to run in a set pattern as I noticed. When the MCs were first released the prices would steadily climb, vendors clearly thinking, "Hmm, the highest prices are 40k and those are selling straight away, so I'll put mine up for 45k and see if they sell". So prices would go up and up until the first person decided to guarantee a quick sale for themselves by undercutting the highest prices, then the trend would reverse and prices would start to drop.
I managed to sell a Dark Halo as the price peaked and got 50k for it within a matter of seconds. (this was before Gaia's prices got rediculously out of hand and then crashed completely).

Mene obviously isn't large enough for that kind of breakneck selling, but people do need to let go of thinking that CIs should sell for 1k each and so on because really, selling that low is doing no-one any favours in the long run. Especially as a number of the people who buy from someone selling cheap are just going to turn around and resell, immediately, for double that amount...

I agree entirely that the current way things are moving is actually possitive.

I must make the point however.....that gaia's economy is....a mess. To put things extremely lightly. Things don't bounce back and forth alittle......they go from one day being worth 80mil.....to the next day being worth 2 mill.....and then back up to 5 mil. There is far to much gold in the system, without any feasable way to take it back out....and yeah.....I'll stop before that becomes a full fledged rant.

I guess my point is, I think the inflation on mene is healthy for its economy.