PSU-Item: Photon Fair Pricing

[Shinzakura]

Okay, let me get your honest opinions, folks - so none of the "LOL TOO LO U SUX" crap, please.

I've opened my store and I'm appalled by the amount that elemental photons are selling for. I realize you can't get them in stores, but let's be realistic about it, they're not all that hard to get.

I was thinking about selling them in the range of 10000, as the lowest I've seen to date in stores is 15K, and that seems to be the rate at which they seem to sell well. I say "seem" simply because I have no proof that they do; hence, my question.

I have no intention of ripping people off; I sell most of my items at 50% of the NPC retail and want to keep things as fair as possible.

So? Too high? Too low? I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on this, all.

[ljkkjlcm9]

way too high... offline story mode sells them for 500 meseta or something. These photons are such high prices because of all the duped meseta, so people have way too many 9* boards and use them far too often.

THE JACKEL

[Eliash]

If you are trying to go for a "legit" feel, then most of the photons sell for about 30-50 meseta on Xbox, however, some try to sell for over a hundred but I don't think anyone buys them at that price.

If the NPCs were to sell them they should go for roughly 500 meseta per I think. But you need to keep in mind how much other people items are, if you are selling photons for 50 meseta and an A-rank weapon costs 300-800k you may be waiting a while to get one.

Another problem is that other people may just buy out your shop, and resell all your photons for 15k+ to get more money for themselves. In the end it's up to you to decide what is a "fair" price.

Last I heard people were selling photons for 60k and they were selling pretty fast.

[RuPiKa]

If you sell low, they will just buy them from you and sell them in their shop for more. It is a horrible way to look at it but, that how things stand for now (cough, duped Meseta, cough). If you sell them for what you think they are honestly worth to you(i.e., what you would pay or what is you farming time worth), you''ll not lose any sleep over it.

[Weakness]

I refuse to pay retarded prices (anything above 10k... which still pisses me off and I don't do that very often). If I need an item synthed, it can wait for me to farm the photons myself.

I bought 25 Megi-photons this morning for 20k each, but I was in a rush (didn't have time to shop around) because I was using a friend's PM and she was about to go to bed. So that is the exception.

Moral of the story, stop being lazy and buying inanely over priced photons because you "have to synth now!" Because you know you can't give an additional 45 minutes to farm the photons in LL C, otherwise that wait of 12 hours for a 9* synth is just too long.

[nooblet]

My honest opinion is to price your photons base on the market value.

[Shade-]

I well at whatever the market is going at. Ultimatly, it wont matter. It will cost more to make said striking weapons, therefore, thier sell price will be adjusted. This isn't a prblem though, because if you sell the photons you have at X meseta, you have that much more, negating the increase in the sell price of the weapons. I'll admit, hunters that are dead set on having high % elemental weapons do get the shaft, as if I want some ranged weapons, I can sell all my ele-photons, and be able to buy the stuff I want from a shop and still have money left over.

[Palefire]

On 2007-01-20 13:37, nooblet wrote:
My honest opinion is to price your photons base on the market value.



There really isn't any such thing as "market value": just a glance through random shops reveals pricing with neither rhyme nor reason to it. (Basic Twin Handguns for 2K Meseta? WTF?)

Pricing decisions seem to be done by way of dart board/Ouija Board. Though what Weakness posted makes a lot of sense...players are probably paying silly prices due to laziness. I understand how they feel: I don't usually have of a lot of time to farm, myself. But it really isn't worth the extra Meseta as a convenience tax, and waiting to synth something isn't that much of a drain on my patience.

Personally, I find up to 75% of the NPC price + 100/elemental Photons and/or upgrades to be reasonable. Anything above that makes it seem like a shop owner's been hitting the glue bottle fumes once too often.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Palefire on 2007-01-20 14:04 ]</font>

[Magitek_X]

Shop around guys. Look for people who are doing clearances.

I just bought elemental photons for 500 meseta today. And two weeks ago I bought Kubara Wood for 200 meseta. Search for specials!





<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Magitek_X on 2007-01-20 14:35 ]</font>

[Thrash777]

They should be sold at around 100 a piece...

[Dragon_Knight]

You know I usualy sell elemental photons for about 20 meseta a pop.... even the much desired ray photon. I decided to do a test to see just how much people would pay for them. I placed 10 Ray Photons for sale at 40k EACH. Now I wasn't expecting anyone seriously looking for them to buy it...but not half a minute after putting them on sale I found someone had popped into my room and actualy bought them....all of them. I sat there looking at my shop thinking "Wtf man?!"

[Thrash777]

On 2007-01-20 14:44, Dragon_Knight wrote:
You know I usualy sell elemental photons for about 20 meseta a pop.... even the much desired ray photon. I decided to do a test to see just how much people would pay for them. I placed 10 Ray Photons for sale at 40k EACH. Now I wasn't expecting anyone seriously looking for them to buy it...but not half a minute after putting them on sale I found someone had popped into my room and actualy bought them....all of them. I sat there looking at my shop thinking "Wtf man?!"



lol! Now you're 400k richer, even though you didn't want to be! lol!

[ricodead]

You have to keep it in context of what price players are asking for 9* weapons and lineshields.

Some in the tens of millions.

When the games economy is screwed and mesata is easily got, then the old inflation kicks in.

I sell mine from 900-5000, 5000 for ray photons, I can live with that. I know people buy mine and sell them in their own shop, one even told me when he was buying them (blacklisted)

[Ether]

As a test I stuck a ray photon (just 1) in my shop earlier for 30k. It sold.

If you're interested in being legit... well, craft with your photons. If you're going to sell them, I don't see any point to intentionally selling them for a "fair" price and denying yourself money. The economy is just too far gone at this point

[Vaxillus]

It doesn't seem like such a big deal to me. Since everyone has more money, you're ultimately paying more or less the same % of your income as you would normally, perhaps a bit more since everyone is synthing an ungodly number of weapons. Even so, a single run of LL A gives you about 5-10 photons of various elements, they really aren't that hard to come by if you work for them normally. Then again, that might take time, and considdering I still synth all the A rank woods from C rank wood, I may not be one to talk.

[ljkkjlcm9]

I never buy photons just because it's absurd. I'd rather spend hours doing missions to get them then give them that much money. Especially considering the weapon can fail, or come out some crap percent, it's not worth it to me to pay 10k a photon.

THE JACKEL

[Axel3792]

On 2007-01-20 13:46, Palefire wrote:

On 2007-01-20 13:37, nooblet wrote:
My honest opinion is to price your photons base on the market value.



There really isn't any such thing as "market value": just a glance through random shops reveals pricing with neither rhyme nor reason to it.


See "Definition of Market Value" from dictionary.com:

"noun 1. the value of a business, property, etc., in terms of what it can be sold for on the open market; current value (distinguished from book value). "

See "Definition of Open Market" from dictionary.com:

"open market
–noun an unrestricted, competitive market in which any buyer and seller is free to participate."


Looks like nooblet was right after all.

[Palefire]

On 2007-01-20 15:12, Axel3792 wrote:
See "Definition of Market Value" from dictionary.com:

"noun 1. the value of a business, property, etc., in terms of what it can be sold for on the open market; current value (distinguished from book value). "

See "Definition of Open Market" from dictionary.com:

"open market
–noun an unrestricted, competitive market in which any buyer and seller is free to participate."


Looks like nooblet was right after all.


Cute, but you might want to re-read what you cut & pasted: this isn't an "open market" because it isn't competitive by any stretch of the imagination. Hello, duped Meseta. You can't have an open market when so much of the money in it is, essentially, counterfeit. Thus, "any buyer" isn't "free to participate": new players aren't, for one, because they generally lack Meseta if they play legitimately.

Thus, no real "market value" -- not when you've got an artificially-inflated economy and a simple elemental Photon can be priced anywhere between 15K to the maximum price that can be set within a store. In a true open market, you'd have a much smaller margin that would be determined by what buyers would be willing to pay.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Palefire on 2007-01-20 15:46 ]</font>

[Laranas]

I'm thinking of doing 1 of 2 things, and I want your opinion:

1) Selling photons and other things at the real fair prices (300m for elemental photons)

or 2) Selling photons for the insane prices and dumping the money off in missions, thus creating a money sink.

[Shinzakura]

Well, based on the above I've been testing sales of photons at various prices to see what happens. On one hand, I'm hoping it works. On the other hand, I'm afraid I'm going to get some wildly skewed results.

[Almalexia]

This is fair and realistic pricing and what I used to sell them for.

el, di, gra, magi, zon, ban = 75 meseta.
Ray Photons = 400 meseta.


I rarely if ever sell photons now.

[Axel3792]

On 2007-01-20 15:29, Palefire wrote:
Cute, but you might want to re-read what you cut & pasted: this isn't an "open market" because it isn't competitive by any stretch of the imagination. Hello, duped Meseta. You can't have an open market when so much of the money in it is, essentially, counterfeit. Thus, "any buyer" isn't "free to participate": new players aren't, for one, because they generally lack Meseta if they play legitimately.

Thus, no real "market value" -- not when you've got an artificially-inflated economy and a simple elemental Photon can be priced anywhere between 15K to the maximum price that can be set within a store. In a true open market, you'd have a much smaller margin that would be determined by what buyers would be willing to pay.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Palefire on 2007-01-20 15:46 ]</font>



-Even a new player can make 15k easily, so don't exclude them from the fray just yet.

-Counterfeit money spends the same as legit money, especially in a video game. Whether there is 1 million or 99 million in an economy, the price will stay proportionate to the amount of money both a.) in the consumer's pocket and b.) in the economy, that is, accessible to the consumer through further trade/purchases/sales.

-In a "true" open market economy, you would be in the real world, where there are a lot more variables to take into account. In PSU (not real), you have the following: supply of goods (shops, stacks, drops), demand (omg i needz my a rank nowww), and the amount of money in circulation.

Also, the "market value" is evidenced by the fact that you don't see a whole lot of photons selling for 500k, but you do for 50k and down, thus setting their market value.

[Pikadrew]

I'd really think twice about selling your photons for what you feel is a fair price. Honestly, you're just shooting yourself in the foot. If a ray-photon can go for 150k, and you sell them for let's say..500 who's the loser there? I understand the market is fucked, but that's the way it is. You might as well take advantage of it. Photons are super easy to get. Tons of people already say they hunt them themselves. Any decent lvl can (and should) go to LL C-A and just run it a few times. Come out a bunch of photons richer, and use the ones you need and sell the ones you don't. You don't have to buy them at that ridiculous price, but it'd be silly not to sell them at that price if they move. Which they do.

[Gojin]

sell it in your shop for 100 I'll buy them all and turn around and sell them for a 100k, see you get to keep your so called 'values' and I get to get rich, everyone wins. Its a game, fuck the economy, get it how you can!

[LoserMaster]

Honestly I think the prices are too high, yet I'm abusing this chance and making as much money I can from it. Megi-Photons drop so easily in "Fight for Food" (Is that what it's called?) yet people are willing to dish out 25000 over just one. I can't explain how funny it is. Thanks to this increase in demand I was able to buy A rank equipment. (Yes, I know I'm slow I'm still Level 44) I guess holding off all of my photons for later was a good idea.

I have mixed feelings on this. It seems unfair to others yet it's letting me get ahead. I actually do sell most at 10000 since I get low amounts of customers. I'm going to continue this until prices shoot down and then I'll sell other things.

[MontyNice]

user received a verbal warning for flamebaiting.
congratulations.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: rena-ko on 2007-01-20 19:12 ]</font>

[Flwl3ssCowboy]

im sellin mine for 500 (yes, theres no K on purpose) to see if i can make a good profit out of that

[Laranas]

On 2007-01-20 18:33, Gojin wrote:
sell it in your shop for 100 I'll buy them all and turn around and sell them for a 100k, see you get to keep your so called 'values' and I get to get rich, everyone wins. Its a game, fuck the economy, get it how you can!

Guess that means I'll be dumping the hacked meseta when I open my shop back up

[Palefire]

On 2007-01-20 18:19, Axel3792 wrote:
-Even a new player can make 15k easily, so don't exclude them from the fray just yet.

-Counterfeit money spends the same as legit money, especially in a video game. Whether there is 1 million or 99 million in an economy, the price will stay proportionate to the amount of money both a.) in the consumer's pocket and b.) in the economy, that is, accessible to the consumer through further trade/purchases/sales.

-In a "true" open market economy, you would be in the real world, where there are a lot more variables to take into account. In PSU (not real), you have the following: supply of goods (shops, stacks, drops), demand (omg i needz my a rank nowww), and the amount of money in circulation.

Also, the "market value" is evidenced by the fact that you don't see a whole lot of photons selling for 500k, but you do for 50k and down, thus setting their market value.

- Depends on what you define as "new". I'm not, but I don't have 15K now, much less than when I first started out. (And what I do have, I've had to bank for a while to reach) When I started, 2K was fairly easy to make but spent just as easily on Monomates. A new player hoping to earn 15K is going to have to save up considerably, forgoing getting much of anything in the way of better equipment and hoping that weapons drops are forthcoming.

Unless new player has a lot of friends who are already online and are willing to donate Meseta and equipment.

-...Which hasn't happened. And that was my point: the price hasn't stabilised. Once again, this means that there isn't anything resembling a "market value". Today the "index" could be 10K, then tomorrow 80K, then to 15K. (I've seen quite a few places selling Photon upward of 50K, as a matter of fact. That's just another reason the game has no "market value" for it) A simulated "market value" can't fluctuate that wildly for there to be a trustworthy game average.

-...Which was my whole point, actually. Video game market =/= real world market, ergo, no "open market", much less "market value". And while other games have something that passes for one, this game's economy isn't stable enough for it. Perhaps when this duped Meseta issue is fixed, we'll see one. But today is not that day.

[Gojin]

ST cant fix all the meseta duping, if they could they would have done it by now like with the swimsuit glitch.

[Reiichi]

If you list photons for cheap half the time they'll be bought up by photon resellers. Sell them to me and I'll use them for weapons rather than reselling them at 100k. Any 9* with low %s go into my shop for around 250-350k depending on the % so it's not like I'm ripping off the rest of the community. Or am I? http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif

[Sekani]

If you're hell bent on selling your photons for a retardedly low price just so you can sleep at night, lock up your shop and give the password out only to people you know won't resell them.

[CrabRangoon]

On 2007-01-20 13:14, Eliash wrote:
If you are trying to go for a "legit" feel, then most of the photons sell for about 30-50 meseta on Xbox, however, some try to sell for over a hundred but I don't think anyone buys them at that price.


I've noticed that I can find all elemental photons priced (usually) within reason on 360, however, I have a HELL of a time finding Im-Photons as drops (idk why that would be?) and I sometimes have to resort to buying them from players shops. Makes it a pain as they are one of the only photons I cant find at a good price, averaging at least 100M a pop =

However, if I were on PC, and trying to sell my photons (I NEVER EVER sell mine, I have intentions of using most of them) I'd just go with the market and sell them for the average price, unless I had a password'd shop only available to my friends, then I'd sell at very reasonable prices, as to not rape them and be ridiculous. Then again, I dont play on PC, so I'm not speaking from experience.

OT: I've been having a lot more run-ins with over-priced player shops lately, i.e. mainly grinder bases. I decided that while I have a lot of luck (my New's & Hu's this week) I should be doing lots of grinding, but I had to buy most of my grinders at the NPC as 95% of players sell them for more than the NPC charges :screwy: who're they trying to fool?

[KyokoHunter]

I charge what I consider to be a fair price for photons, doing the maths and working backwards from what you'd get from a Photon selling it to a NPC shop. If other people want to rip others off and make money by reselling my photons, let them be.

Hopefully by charging a fair price people will be encouraged to revisit my shop in future and buy other stuff other than photons - a returning customer is a valued thing!