Undercutting and Marketboard Manipulation in FFXIV
Undercutting is the aim of the game for marketboard pvp players, crushing dreams and pushing players out of markets for their own gain and market domination with the purpose of making a profit. This guide explains a few popular strategies you might employ to make Gil on the markerboard.
Best Undercutting Market Board Strategies in FFXIV
Undercutting is an incredibly important aspect to making Gil due to the lowest price always being at the top of market listings, and therefore being the most accessible to players.
The game operates under a free market, meaning players can price things at whatever they want, with up to 99 items in a listing. There is no way to only partial buy a stack that is available, so sometimes players will choose to buy a more expensive item to get a smaller amount that they would otherwise discard simply because it ends up being cheaper. 30 logs at 500 gil is still less than 99 logs at 400 gil if you only wanted 25 logs and won't have use for the remainder. There's always the option of reselling, but most players won't want to go through the hassle.
A general structure of supply and demand does still apply in game. A higher supply means prices will drop because there is not enough demand. Prices for brand new items will drop rapidly until the price becomes worthwhile to players, therefore increasing the overall demand.
Undercutting Strategies
There are various methods you can use to interact with the market which have been outlined below. The first three have a sort of rock, paper, scissors-style synergy.
1 Gil Undercutting
Many players will simply undercut the current cheapest item by a single Gil. This method serves entirely to just get your item to the bottom so it sells before other players. Sometimes controller players may undercut by a few hundred or thousand just due to it being tedious to undercut say 65,438 gil down to 65,437 but the idea is still the same.
This method is generally very non intrusive to other players allowing you to coast by and hope your item sells. In busy markets you can end up finding yourself pushed out of the market by players undercutting more harshly or more regularly.
Undercutting Large Amounts in One Go
Some players will intentionally undercut by large amounts of gil with the aim of either pushing players out of the market or by trying to increase the demand for items so that they sell faster. People may undercut by tens or even hundreds of thousands of gil.
Players end up getting pushed out either due to being uneasy about the volatility of the market with prices dropping rapidly or by it simply not being profitable to them anymore.
Buying Up a Market
If a market drops to a really cheap price due to a lot of undercutting, you can simply buy up any cheap items and then list again at a higher price.
This does come with some risks, as the players who undercut harshly might do it again, or the price you are trying to set the market at might be naturally too high to produce a good demand.
Multi-Retainer Listing
One more secret method would be to list items under different retainers and almost make it look like undercutting is already happening. This may scare off potential sellers. Alternatively, you could have one retainer listing the items at higher than you plan to sell for, and have a second retainer listing at the price you plan to sell for making it look like a good deal.
Bot Limit Testing
As unfortunate as it is, botting can occur in some markets where players have software that allows them to automatically undercut. With the risk of getting banned, we would never recommend this, but this does not mean you can not take advantage of them.
Due to being automatic, they generally have a minimum that they will sell. If you know this minimum you can take advantage of it. Some bots may purchase items below their limit to re-list and sell, giving you a lot of sales, while other bots may not have a floor and you can trick them into selling goods at a super low price for you to buy and sell yourself.
Party Finder Strategies
You can also entirely avoid the Market Board by trying to sell via Party Finder. Some players will advertise their sales in Party Finder and shout across different zones to further help advertising, either to sell items that can not be sold on the market, or to offer players a deal on things such as gear without the hassle of undercutting.
This can also help you find clients that may return in the future for more items or on new patches. You do not even have to sell items you can simply sell your services.
Changelog
- 26 Jun. 2024: Updated for Dawntrail.
- 10 Aug. 2023: Guide added.
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This guide has been written by I'nanghal Shikhu (Discord - Shikhu). He is a Crafting & Gathering theorycrafter, mentor for The Balance and also a guide maker for Teamcraft alongside Icy Veins. He also managed to obtain 10 top 12's on the leaderboard during the Ishgard Restoration rankings.
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