kaybee92 Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 I have the SSW and while looking for some (ITEM name removed), I noticed the same user was the lowest price for most of the ITEM (the name is very memorable to me so I recognized it right away). I noticed that this user has been buying the ITEMS I put in my shop and then jacks up the prices. Presumably, they are buying all ITEMS of this kind and setting the price higher than it previously was. In the NeoPets FAQ they call this "price fixing" and it seems to be a freezable offense. I agree that it isn't fair if one user has the money to buy a million items at 100NP and then sells them for 1000NP, making it harder for other players to afford the item. But in a way I believe this keeps prices from deflating too quickly. Is there a happy medium? Is price fixing ok, or not ok, in your opinion? Note that I am NOT promoting price fixing - I am specifically stating that it is a freezable offense according to TNT. Edited to remove the item name, just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batgirl Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 I'm not seeing it in the neopets FAQ (i believe you but cant find it) - what category or keyword did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaybee92 Posted July 11, 2014 Author Share Posted July 11, 2014 http://www.neopets.com/termsfaq.phtml It's the FAQ on their terms and conditions. Not sure how to find it regularly, I just googled my question bc I wasn't sure if what the user was doing was wrong or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batgirl Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 my interpretation, which may in fact be worth only one neopoint, is that a single person, even one working 24/7 to hoard an item, is not pricefixing. that pricefixing can only reach a problematic level when more than one person is in on it. i dont think they would pay attention unless you could show there was more than one person involved. now, even if i am right, there's still an obvious problem in that 2 people working together to raise something by 5 k, might be freezable but 100 people who independently decide, like with the spaceship coincidence, to massively pricejack specific items from 10 np to unbuyable are not freezable simply bc they didnt actively conspire. .Brianna., Welcome Back Apathy and Poppecorn 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaybee92 Posted July 11, 2014 Author Share Posted July 11, 2014 It seems like there's definitely a grey area - when they talk about price fixing they talk about conspiring with other users, while the talk on price speculation deals with only one person and for a specific site event. Price speculation sounds like what happened with The Coincidence, with people jacking up prices on junk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fullonparanoid Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Batgirl is correct. Inflating prices on your own, with no collaboration...is ok. If you want to spend all your neopoints on a particular item in hopes of inflating it and you take that risk on your own...go for it, it is a fair gamble per TNT rules. HOWEVER... If you collaborate/collude/conspire with others to raise the prices on a particular item or group of items....OR if you use your Side accounts to give the impression that the item(s) are increased in value...THAT is Bannable. That is 'False inflation'. It is a frustrating thing to encounter...but it is only verboten if there is collaboration/collusion/conspiracy involved. :P *Oh...and with the Coincidence? That was a WHOLE bunch of Neopians taking advantage of the very real economic concept of Supply and Demand. Again, aggravating, perhaps...but very much within TNT rules. Welcome Back Apathy, Emily and Lydia Trebond 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovedwallflower Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 I get what you're saying, but I don't think it should be against the rules. It seems like re-stocking operates on much the same principles, as does sniping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leverhelven Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 According to this NT Editorial answer: "Quite often in your Editorials and rules, you have said that it is against the rules for a group of people to get together and purposely inflate items to corner a market. You state that it is okay if only one person does this by themselves, but it seems that nowadays the name of the game is "get with the group and buy up all of an item." How are people being allowed to corner markets like this when it has been stated that group inflation is against the rules? ~kalis_coraven If you strongly believe certain players are grouping to inflate items, please, by all means, send in a detailed report about their shenanigans. Such things are very subtle, and we rely on you honest players to give us a heads up when you think your misbehaving Neo-peers are up to no good. Also, to reiterate a past Editorial, yes, one person can buy up all the items they want. However, if they make them unbuyable and suddenly the price jumps from 99k to, say, 600k and start getting offered on expensive items, then it's considered scamming." PERSONALLY, I'd say it's okay as long as people do not go crazy - like, buying all Eo Codestones around (worth about 9,000np) and put them up for 60,000np. But that's just me, since it'd be legal according to TNT. Yeah... :mellow: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 funny story! when I first heard about "restocking" I thought it was just as you described. Going around to user shops, trying to find under priced items and then reselling them for more haha. I never actually did this but I thought it was common practice lol if people are buying items and then reselling them for crazy prices them good luck to them. As I'm sure they would need a lot of luck to get people interested in buying. If they're reselling for a slight profit then they picked a very slow and inefficient way of earning nps. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaybee92 Posted July 12, 2014 Author Share Posted July 12, 2014 funny story! when I first heard about "restocking" I thought it was just as you described. Going around to user shops, trying to find under priced items and then reselling them for more haha. I never actually did this but I thought it was common practice lol if people are buying items and then reselling them for crazy prices them good luck to them. As I'm sure they would need a lot of luck to get people interested in buying. If they're reselling for a slight profit then they picked a very slow and inefficient way of earning nps. lol The thing you described is sniping - hunting for cheap items in user shops. Which is totally legal and non-bannable and not against any rules. I just swiped an item worth 5,300NP for 3,500NP so the user probably just flipped the numbers by accident. But that's specifically hunting for a few items in different categories, not artificially inflating prices of a single item. Interesting how the Editorial says it would be scamming to make an item unbuyable...but what about jumping from 60k to 99k? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rune Valentine Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 It's generally how the world works, even outside of Neo. You could do it, if the item was rare enough and only few for you to buy and bring the price up. The problem with that is every time someone else wants to sell, they'll just undercut your price, and so on, until the price drops again. It'll require tons of NP and not worth the effort :P I have attempted to do it myself, while restocking, a couple of thousand spike but I couldn't keep it up for long, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomuraAkemiTheHero Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 I really don't have too much of a problem with price fixing as long as it doesn't get crazy and by that I mean the Coincidence crazy where suddenly puddles of water become 99,999 neopoints but let's say someone tried to get the price to raise by a few hundred neopoints I wouldn't be bothered. Also I kinda like price fixing since of reminds me of supply and demand which for me adds more charm to the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysteryAF Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 I sell my stuff so cheap that people could resell them for more. Should I not do that? Poppecorn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppecorn Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 If it's something common and ETS, then it's not okay if there's a group of players doing it (3+). But in most cases I believe it is perfectly acceptable. I tried to organise it once for a 500K+ Ultra Rare and Very Very Hard to Sell Item and I got a warning though, so TNT might think otherwiseIn my case it was THE GREAT SLUSHIE CONSPIRACY *Fanfare plays*.I sent a neomail to everyone on Trading Post with the item, and we were going to raise the price but pretty much nobody bothered to actually reply so it didn't work. And then I got a warning from TNT -_-This post has been edited by a member of staff (Spritzie) because of a violation of the forum rules.Please don't double post. If your post is the most recent reply and you would like to add something, use the 'Edit' button.Please check your user inbox to see if you have been contacted regarding this incident, then review our rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllTimeMarr Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 In my case it was THE GREAT SLUSHIE CONSPIRACY *Fanfare plays*. I sent a neomail to everyone on Trading Post with the item, and we were going to raise the price but pretty much nobody bothered to actually reply so it didn't work. And then I got a warning from TNT -_- You have to do it solo, if you work in groups is against the rules.. as stated in the editorial mentioned earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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