How do low priced items sell in just a few seconds on a trader?

Arunei · May 2023

Dr_Con wrote: »

if you suspect foul play, which is entirely possible, report the incident to ZOS and they can look into it.

all of the other posts on here are valid, but they do not invalidate your concern. Your transaction is in the guild store's logs, get the name of the person who insta-bought your items and submit a good faith report if you suspect foul play.

Let's not suggest people go reporting others for something as simple as making a purchase. Not only is it pointlessly weaponizing reporting, it also adds to the number of reports that CS has to sort through to reach things of actual concern.

There's really nothing here to be suspicious of either. It needs to be kept in mind that there are THOUSANDS of people playing this game, hundreds at any one time, with people spread across different instances. There's going to be a decent number of people checking Guild Stores at any given time, and if they're looking for what you're listing, and it's underpriced or mispriced at lower than the average, then yes, there's a good chance it's going to go within seconds.

I always underprice my stuff so it sells faster, and in many cases things like Dreugh Wax or Chromium Plating can get snapped up within seconds of my posting it. High demand or otherwise popular items are going to ZIP out of Guild Stores if they're underpriced, especially if it's by a significant amount. A stack of mats that sells normally at 50k being sold for only 5k because of a missed zero is 100% going to wind up gone within moments, ESPECIALLY if it's during prime time hours.

So no, there's no automated buying of mats or scripts or botting going on. It's literally just a matter of lots of people playing = lots of people checking Stores at any given time.

Jhava · May 2023

Arunei wrote: »

Dr_Con wrote: »

if you suspect foul play, which is entirely possible, report the incident to ZOS and they can look into it.

all of the other posts on here are valid, but they do not invalidate your concern. Your transaction is in the guild store's logs, get the name of the person who insta-bought your items and submit a good faith report if you suspect foul play.

Let's not suggest people go reporting others for something as simple as making a purchase. Not only is it pointlessly weaponizing reporting, it also adds to the number of reports that CS has to sort through to reach things of actual concern.

There's really nothing here to be suspicious of either. It needs to be kept in mind that there are THOUSANDS of people playing this game, hundreds at any one time, with people spread across different instances. There's going to be a decent number of people checking Guild Stores at any given time, and if they're looking for what you're listing, and it's underpriced or mispriced at lower than the average, then yes, there's a good chance it's going to go within seconds.

I always underprice my stuff so it sells faster, and in many cases things like Dreugh Wax or Chromium Plating can get snapped up within seconds of my posting it. High demand or otherwise popular items are going to ZIP out of Guild Stores if they're underpriced, especially if it's by a significant amount. A stack of mats that sells normally at 50k being sold for only 5k because of a missed zero is 100% going to wind up gone within moments, ESPECIALLY if it's during prime time hours.

So no, there's no automated buying of mats or scripts or botting going on. It's literally just a matter of lots of people playing = lots of people checking Stores at any given time.

Well said.

CGPsaint · May 2023

I'm a sucker for a good deal, and I always checked items by newly listed. I'll also keep my eyes peeled in zone chat for people spamming items for sale. That's how I managed to snag my Chef Arquitius's Lost Thesis, which is the fragment for the only recipe that I figured I'd probably never learn.

xilfxlegion · May 2023

Jhava wrote: »

If you're in a backwater guild then you can recover from dropping a zero. However if you're listing in a prime spot, the vultures scan all day.

Sometimes though its as simple as people were looking while you listed.

vultures ?

Beilin_Balreis_Colcan · May 2023

Arunei wrote: »

Dr_Con wrote: »

if you suspect foul play, which is entirely possible, report the incident to ZOS and they can look into it.

all of the other posts on here are valid, but they do not invalidate your concern. Your transaction is in the guild store's logs, get the name of the person who insta-bought your items and submit a good faith report if you suspect foul play.

Let's not suggest people go reporting others for something as simple as making a purchase. Not only is it pointlessly weaponizing reporting, it also adds to the number of reports that CS has to sort through to reach things of actual concern.

There's really nothing here to be suspicious of either. It needs to be kept in mind that there are THOUSANDS of people playing this game, hundreds at any one time, with people spread across different instances. There's going to be a decent number of people checking Guild Stores at any given time, and if they're looking for what you're listing, and it's underpriced or mispriced at lower than the average, then yes, there's a good chance it's going to go within seconds.

I always underprice my stuff so it sells faster, and in many cases things like Dreugh Wax or Chromium Plating can get snapped up within seconds of my posting it. High demand or otherwise popular items are going to ZIP out of Guild Stores if they're underpriced, especially if it's by a significant amount. A stack of mats that sells normally at 50k being sold for only 5k because of a missed zero is 100% going to wind up gone within moments, ESPECIALLY if it's during prime time hours.

So no, there's no automated buying of mats or scripts or botting going on. It's literally just a matter of lots of people playing = lots of people checking Stores at any given time.

Same here. I use TTC to check the prices, and set mine to be slightly under the minimum, it sells reasonably fast, and I'm generally happy with the gold I get from the transaction. I can't control who buys it.

Daiyanae · May 2023

I don't consider myself to be a skilled trader or good at flipping. I just sell stuff to stay below my inventory cap. I do like making coin to be able to participate in Auction, which is a blast.

I did find it interesting that no one mentioned Master Merchant in any of the previous posts. That's how I sell. I always look at the MM price and USUALLY go with that exactly.

I have wondered also, about the speed at which some things are purchased.

Silverbride, I'm curious, what are the results of your test?

SilverBride · May 2023

Daiyanae wrote: »

Silverbride, I'm curious, what are the results of your test?

I scrapped the test after @Kite42 pointed out about different instances. I may not see anyone where I am but there may be buyers standing there in another instance of the zone. So my test wouldn't really show anything.

Danikat · May 2023

Daiyanae wrote: »

I did find it interesting that no one mentioned Master Merchant in any of the previous posts. That's how I sell. I always look at the MM price and USUALLY go with that exactly.

I suspect it's something that literally goes without saying for most people. I know there are PC players who don't use addons (and are very keen to mention that at every opportunity) but I suspect the majority of PC players who sell at guild traders use MM or an equivalent, even casual players who aren't that into trading.

I started using it because I'm a casual player who is not that interested in trading. I only sell stuff because I want it out my inventory and I'm aware it's better than deleting it, but I don't want it to be any more hassle than it has to be and I don't deal with traders enough to know the price for most things, so having an addon which can tell me what it's worth makes things much easider.

FeedbackOnly · May 2023

Here's some stories.

I bought a drudric bookcase 6k x2 . It was just a green recipe. It had been in that trader for over a week. I sold 1 back on my trader for 6k in a few hours

I bought a televanti item for 60k and 65k. I sold one my guild trader within the hour for 80k. It was then selling for 200k in de trader .

A few times I saw someone selling something at enough below market value that I could resell it. These items were just put up.

I sold Minstrel clothes at 200k within in mins.

Technically we have 10 million accounts playing the game.

A lot of people over 50 love playing the game too. Especially former people in business or current people in business

Traders in be in house or at traders in different instances.

Overall if it sells instantly then it probably under price and people got excited.

Leaving comment here, in case this question comes up again years later

CGPsaint · May 2023

Snagged the purple Vampiric Chandelier furnishing plan today for 12K, and have seen them listed closer to 500K on Xbox/NA. Also bought one of the gold Scrivener's Doors for around 21K when they were selling for 1-1.5M shortly after they started dropping. Sometimes you just get lucky.

aaisoaho · May 2023

Daiyanae wrote: »

I did find it interesting that no one mentioned Master Merchant in any of the previous posts. That's how I sell. I always look at the MM price and USUALLY go with that exactly.

I don't use the Arkadius' Trade Tools average price for pricing (ATT does the same as MM). I rarely find the price to be accurate, or well, accurate for my trading purposes. This is because the price lives constantly. If the item price is dropping, the average will give you too high of a price and the item won't sell. On the other hand, if the price is climbing, the average will give you too low of a price.

I do use the ATT to price tho, but I only use the sales history/data to find the price. I search the item from the sales data, and look for a most recent high price point that has several trades.

For example, a while ago the price of the mountain flowers was climbing. The ATT average very stubbornly showed it to be around 200-250 gold, while the data showed the mountain flowers were selling for 350g+ a piece. It even helped me to flip, because the difference between the average and the selling price was over 10%. Many players used the average price, so the flowers were rather plentiful to find, but they sold really fast, because there were a lot of players who had noticed this trend. This same thing has happened before too, with items like chromium plating.

SilverBride · May 2023

I use ATT but I always thought that it only shows what the last item sold for in your guild rather than in all guilds.

This works well for me for things like crafting mats which are my main source of income. But for other items, such as furnishings and motifs and recipes, I go to the TTC website and check prices there.

I've never used the TTC or MM add-ons so not sure if they may have features that find deals and auto purchases them.

Toanis · May 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

IThis works well for me for things like crafting mats which are my main source of income. But for other items, such as furnishings and motifs and recipes, I go to the TTC website and check prices there.

I've never used the TTC or MM add-ons so not sure if they may have features that find deals and auto purchases them.

Hush, don't mention that external tools provide most of the benefits of a proper auction house, people might realize, that the guild traders mainly benefit item flippers, who dedicate most of their playing time RPing as trade tycoons.

Auto purchases can't really be done, but an alert that tells you were an item from your to-buy list is sold cheaply surely is possible, and even if the TTC addon doesn't provide the functionality itself, it has access to a database, that another addon could piggyback on.

Amottica · May 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

Are they standing at the trader while they do this? Even if they are it seems that it would still take more than a few seconds to go to the item and make the purchase.

To clarify, there were 2 stacks and they were purchased by 2 different players.

I am going to test this tomorrow by putting an item up at the guild trader rather than at the bank which I normally do. I'll make sure no one is standing there when I do it to see if that has anything to do with it.

Someone could be in a different instance looking at the same trader.

So the test would not be valid.

SilverBride · May 2023

I don't flip but have nothing against it as long as the flippers aren't using an add-on to auto purchase items for them. This is what I'm concerned about.

kargen27 · May 2023

"Hush, don't mention that external tools provide most of the benefits of a proper auction house, people might realize, that the guild traders mainly benefit item flippers"

How? The person first listing the item gets the amount they want. The person that finally ends up with the item pays a price they are okay with and a third person is also happy. All three people benefit and are happy.

HedgeHugger · May 2023

You do realise that you can list items for your shop at the bank, don't you?
I bought Azabi (and Fez) before I was in a guild. I always used those 2. Never needed to go to a bank or shop. I had a pocket pair

I used to travel to the actual shop to list things. So if it was Goh in Grahtwood, I'd go to Goh. Times this by 4, I'm in 4 guilds. I used to be well travelled just for my shops

Then one day, for some reason, I'm at a regular bank in the world. OMG!, I discovered all my shops were there, in one place. No need to travel everywhere.
It also means I can check 4 shops and not move an inch

It was probably 18 months to 2 years before I discovered this!

SilverBride · May 2023

HedgeHugger wrote: »

You do realise that you can list items for your shop at the bank, don't you?

Yes, and there is where I always go to put things up for sale. That is why I didn't know if players were standing at our trader when I put these things up for sale and how they got to them so fast if they weren't.

FeedbackOnly · May 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

I don't flip but have nothing against it as long as the flippers aren't using an add-on to auto purchase items for them. This is what I'm concerned about.

Literally 10 million accounts in the game. It's not a concern as people are just lucky being at right place right time and someone underselling something they can sell for more.

SilverBride · May 2023

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I don't flip but have nothing against it as long as the flippers aren't using an add-on to auto purchase items for them. This is what I'm concerned about.

Literally 10 million accounts in the game. It's not a concern as people are just lucky being at right place right time and someone underselling something they can sell for more.

My concern is if they are using an add-on to auto purchase items for them.

Amottica · May 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I don't flip but have nothing against it as long as the flippers aren't using an add-on to auto purchase items for them. This is what I'm concerned about.

Literally 10 million accounts in the game. It's not a concern as people are just lucky being at right place right time and someone underselling something they can sell for more.

My concern is if they are using an add-on to auto purchase items for them.

It is very possible and something that easily happens in a centralized trading house. It requires more resources for bot operators to do this in ESO.

Regardless, none of us have the means to determine if a bot or a real player purchased our items regardless of how fast they sell. If you suspect something then report the details you do have and know to Zenimax. They have more means to investigate but they will not tell you anything about their investigation or the results.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · May 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

FeedbackOnly wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I don't flip but have nothing against it as long as the flippers aren't using an add-on to auto purchase items for them. This is what I'm concerned about.

Literally 10 million accounts in the game. It's not a concern as people are just lucky being at right place right time and someone underselling something they can sell for more.

My concern is if they are using an add-on to auto purchase items for them.

Sincerely doubt it. Especially in a prime trader spot.

DragonRacer · May 2023

Sometimes you just get lucky. I am on PS NA, so no add-ons here.

I also tend to browse by time left, sorting by 30 day listings at the top, so I see the most recent listings. This is how you find deals from folks who either do not realize market value of an item or accidentally leave off a zero or two.

My best purchase ever was in one of the big three capital cities (Elden Root, Grahtwood) where some pour soul didn't realize the Daedric Fence, Section has faaaaaaaar more value/rarity than other Daedric blue plans. They had a bunch of Daedric plans all up for 5k each, including that one. I've never bought something so fast. I am a plan collector, though, so I also instantly ate it rather than flip it.

More recently, I was browsing lower-grade traders (Stormhold, Shadowfen) and someone was listing treasure maps at 400g each. Which is the value for most... except they also had a few Galen, Blackwood, High Isle, and Deadlands for 400g each as well. I instantly snapped those up, then backed out a few moments and re-entered the trader to see if they were still listing anymore in real time. Because sometimes that does happen and in that instance, it would have looked like what happened to you. The Galen maps, I will probably flip because I do not care about the skin or style pages they can possibly lead you to. The others, I will dig as I am still working on antiquity motifs for the new chapters/zones.

That is simply the trader life. Being at the right place at the right time. No add-ons required, just some luck and fortunate timing.

jaws343 · May 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

HedgeHugger wrote: »

You do realise that you can list items for your shop at the bank, don't you?

Yes, and there is where I always go to put things up for sale. That is why I didn't know if players were standing at our trader when I put these things up for sale and how they got to them so fast if they weren't.

But there are like 40+ zones, with 40+ banker locations with guild trader access. A guild can have 500 people. Even assuming only 100 people of a trading guild are logged into the game, there are 100 opportunities that a player in your own guild is running a trader search in any of the 40+ locations. This also includes all of the instances of Imperial City. As well as the physical trader location with non-guild shoppers.