Tired of low market prices? Do you feel that items like xp and diamonds should be worth more? Well, if you want to take action show your support for the Traders' Syndicate by voting in favor of joining. What would joining the Traders' Syndicate mean? Good question and I would like to hear your thoughts on it. Simple is usually better so the syndicate would probably just be a unified group of traders and shop owners who proactively try to control market prices. This would mean buying up items which are priced below a value deemed appropriate by the syndicate and selling them at an agreed upon price. For instance, if diamonds are currently selling at around $30 and the cartel would like the price to be $45 then syndicate members would actively buy diamonds in the free market if their price is under $45 and resell them at $45. This, of course, also means that diamonds syndicate members mine themselves should be sold at $45. It's unknown whether the syndicate would have enough power to command the prices set but if enough people joined the syndicate, this could (and should, theoretically) work. Note: the Traders' Syndicate is not formed. This post is simply testing interest. If enough people would like to join the syndicate and try this theory out, I will put a thread together with more information. ***You must be fully committed to the syndicate for it to work at all***
There are two sides to market prices, supply side and demand. You are focused on the supply side through monopolizing certain items. By buying out items and setting your own price because you have the majority of the market, you are encouraging others to collect those resources, which, in turn, results in even more supply. These players will undercut your prices causing the value to snowball downhill to a very low price. Liquidating your supply will become increasingly difficult because resources such as diamonds or iron are neither finite nor require specialized skills which means there cannot be a true buyout. What you fail to recognize is the demand will fall for overpriced items. People only pay extra for something inelastic, which every item in ECC is not. Each item is very elastic which is why the market needs to continue to shape itself. The reason items are not inelastic is because there is no tier of resource collection, i.e. Only players of XXX level or XXX caliber can collect Y where Y is a vital item to most players. If this were the case then players collecting Y probably make a considerable amount of money compared to farming/mining. If players collecting Y wanted items easily available to all (Z), but not much profit, then you get TVC involved. The money from profits of Y are greater than Z therefore they would collect Y and sell to buy Z. Once this scenario is possible, then you can buy out Z and up the price forcing the players to either collect Z themselves or pay the higher price, up until Z becomes more profitable than Y. However, since this is not the case, a market control over certain items will not work. If you still want to try, then good luck!
Solid economic theory MrVon. Also, thanks for shooting holes in my plan and giving more thought to the whole thing than I did in the first place. I'm going to keep the poll open to see the what the votes are like after 7 days. If there are a lot of votes in favor of a syndicate, I will still try to put something together but the goals of the syndicate will probably be less lofty than trying to control market prices (although I'd give it a shot if for the heck of it).
