Bidding low on purpose and winning

[Shuko]

Hey all,

Today I was at the Auction House and decided to just bid low prices on some items to see if someone perhaps made a mistake. Lo and behold, I managed to grab two stacks of Silk Thread from two different people for 10,000 gil while they actually go for around 75,000. Of course I was happy that I won, but it didn't feel quite right making money that way, so I contacted them both to give it back. Both of them were Japanese and therefore it was quite hard to explain what happened. They didn't seem to understand me and after twenty minutes of talking to them both I didn't want to bother them anymore as they seemed to get a bit agitated. I'm not sure if I will simply send them the money I'm going to make from these stacks, but I probably will.

Is this actually common practice at the AH, bidding low on purpose in case someone made a mistake or is it frowned upon in this game?

[Omniblast]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

Wow, that's very kind of you, too bad there wern't more people like you around.

[Shuko]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

I hope this post doesn't come across as some sort of ego boost now, but I was just wondering how others feel about this since it's so incredibly tempting to try and buy these high priced items for low prices, just because someone made a mistake.

[JeanRC]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

just keep the item or the gil, unless they tell you about it if not it mean they dont care about it.

[lufia22]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

If you didn't double check your price then you didn't care that much about the money to begin with. =P

I do it all the time. Hell, I'll even get some items for 1 gil from time to time. Obviously there's no mistake when someone puts something up for 1 gil, so it serves them right. They took a risk and the risk didn't pay off.

[eriiko]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

You see the amount you are selling for twice, there was no error on their part. Maybe, maybe they put it up for 7500 by mistake, but that isn't likely.

They put the items up for that price, knowing the risks. You shouldn't feel guilty. Same as if I sell a '05 Lexus for $10,000.

Is this actually common practice at the AH, bidding low on purpose in case someone made a mistake or is it frowned upon in this game?

People do this all the time, no fault of yours to feel bad about.
Only thing that is frowed upon with the AH is if you overbid on a item(i.e. putting too many zeros or bidding on a item next to another more expensive item by mistake) & the seller refuses to give you the difference. But that is still your own fault, none of their own. They shouldn't be expected to pay you back.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

I've never done this myself but I have had people buy stuff of mine for more than it was worth. They usually stick an extra zero on the end so instead of 10,000 they put in 100,000. I rush to the ah and hope their name is still in the listing and if it is I send them back the difference. Once the person contacted me and told me he did it on purpose because he was quitting and returned the money to me. LOL

[Aeni]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

Naw, what is frowned upon is over bidding intentionally, just cause your grandma sent you an IGE xmas card with 50 mil gil attached to it >.> What I mean is, if the going price on some item is 20K, just cause you're loaded, doesn't give you the right to buy it for 50K, because what you did is just raised the bar that much higher. Other sellers will follow suit and next thing you know, that same 20K item is now worth 100K. Sure, you could afford it, but the next person after you can't get his upgrade now ...

[Blood Red Poet]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

I put everything up for 10 gil, or 200 gil in Jeuno. No one is ever smart enough to bid that much.

[tdh]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

I put everything up for 10 gil, or 200 gil in Jeuno. No one is ever smart enough to bid that much.

I do this on some items I just don't care about how much I get for them. I won't even bother checking how much it's worth, I put it for 10g and get what I get. Rarely does somebody bid super low and get the item for near what I was posting it for.

[Coinspinner]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

I got Erase for half price twice. Got messages about it too. (blacklist) (You can have this.) :D

[eriiko]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

I got Erase for half price twice. Got messages about it too. (blacklist) (You can have this.) :D

haha Good for you!

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

...what you did is just raised the bar that much higher. Other sellers will follow suit and next thing you know, that same 20K item is now worth 100K.

There are people that craft that do this quite often. They use their own gil or purchase gil and then buy up all of a particular item that they craft. Then they put the items back up and craft the same item and put it up for sale, recoup their loses, and eventually turn a nice tidy profit. They even go so far as note names of other crafters in their field that put up the same product, contact them, and tell them to not sell for under a certain price to keep that price inflated. Very common technique with big time crafters.

This same technique can be used by people that monopolize a drop item, equip, etc. Buy up all of the ones for sale, repost at a higher price and wait for the $$ to come in. I'm quite sure this is part of the problem right now.

[Jarre]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

You see the amount you are selling for twice, there was no error on their part. Maybe, maybe they put it up for 7500 by mistake, but that isn't likely.

They put the items up for that price, knowing the risks. You shouldn't feel guilty. Same as if I sell a '05 Lexus for $10,000.

People do this all the time, no fault of yours to feel bad about.
Only thing that is frowed upon with the AH is if you overbid on a item(i.e. putting too many zeros or bidding on a item next to another more expensive item by mistake) & the seller refuses to give you the difference. But that is still your own fault, none of their own. They shouldn't be expected to pay you back.

In saying that I have spotted many peopl making mistakes the other way. Items selling for 22,000 someone put 220,000 and someone actually bought it (probably a giull sellar as wasn't a very high lvl piece of armour), but I have noticed prices when you bid way off the mark. For a test I was buying some Brass mittens for my Mnk 11 prices was 2K, only one left, I bid up to 15k and still couldn't buy it. I didn't bid any higher (i ain't stupid) though i think they made a mistake and put it up for 20k. either that or someone trying tos ell to gill sellers or extreemly push the economy up (its happening too much this).

[x1ang]

Re: Bidding low on purpose and winning

i went around on the AH bidding on random items for 10-100gil and ended up making around 300k :O