Market exploitation of Crystal Slivers?

[MaliceAwakening.9205]

Supply on the trading post just got bought up; went from about 3700 supply to about 400 supply on the market over the span of about 10 minutes. A pump-and-dump scheme perhaps?

 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Crystal_Sliver

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"MaliceAwakening.9205" said:

> Supply on the trading post just got bought up; went from about 3700 supply to about 400 supply on the market over the span of about 10 minutes. A pump-and-dump scheme perhaps?

>

> https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Crystal_Sliver

 

It's a fairly known speculative opportunity. It spikes up every year around October in anticipation of Wintersday, so people try to buy it on the cheap in the off-season. 3700 supply isn't that much at 1s each; easy enough to buy it all up.

 

Basically, anything stackable with less than 5k supply listed in bulk at under 2s is a worthwhile risk. A handful of gold invested and all that needs to happen is a mild increase in price...

 

tl;dr no need for actual manipulation; there's simply so little on the TP that it's an easy target.

[MikeG.6389]

Is it exploitation if it's allowed by the system? I mean, if you have the gold to buy, there is no limitation you have to bypass. It seems like the market is played, but all within its rule set, even if it's only one person buying up the whole lot.

[mtpelion.4562]

Exploitation is a pretty meaningless term, as it applies to literally any use of something. I'm exploiting my ability to breathe air right now!

 

This is most likely just speculation.

[Mewcifer.5198]

I think when they said exploitation they meant insider trading

[Jethro.9376]

Is this another thread to increase interest on a specific item to influence prices? :o

[MithranArkanere.8957]

> @"MikeG.6389" said:

> Is it exploitation if it's allowed by the system? I mean, if you have the gold to buy, there is no limitation you have to bypass. It seems like the market is played, but all within its rule set, even if it's only one person buying up the whole lot.

 

It is exploitation if it's allowed by a flaw in the system.

 

Some people consider a flaw being able to buy the entire stock of an item regardless of item demand, rarity and restock frequency.

And that there should be certain limitations for certain cases.

 

For example, making very rare items required for collections "account bound on purchase" so people can still sell them, but not buy them to sell them higher.

Or like increasing the tax rare for each individual item the more frequently it is bought, still allowing some profit from flipping, but only up to a point for each item, forcing diversification to get any decent profit.

[MikeG.6389]

> @"MithranArkanere.8957" said:

> > @"MikeG.6389" said:

> > Is it exploitation if it's allowed by the system? I mean, if you have the gold to buy, there is no limitation you have to bypass. It seems like the market is played, but all within its rule set, even if it's only one person buying up the whole lot.

>

> It is exploitation if it's allowed by a flaw in the system.

>

> Some people consider a flaw being able to buy the entire stock of an item regardless of item demand, rarity and restock frequency.

> And that there should be certain limitations for certain cases.

>

> For example, making very rare items required for collections "account bound on purchase" so people can still sell them, but not buy them to sell them higher.

> Or like increasing the tax rare for each individual item the more frequently it is bought, still allowing some profit from flipping, but only up to a point for each item, forcing diversification to get any decent profit.

 

I see your point, but I contend that if it's a flaw, it should have been fixed by now. This kind of manipulation has always been possible. I can't see why Anet wouldn't be able to restrict trading the ways you suggest. The only reason I see is that they don't view it as a flaw in which case I have to say the market is fair game to the TP barons.

 

Anet should address the issue. You can't send 2 letters to other players in close succession, but you can buy up complete stocks of items on the market if you have the gold...