Fixing the Market by CoD

[magicalhats15]

I had an idea about the possibility of fixing the market on a certain good by requesting people CoD that item to you, and then not purchasing the item. For instance, on my server Primordial Saronite is primarily sold through trade chat, not through the AH. I was trying to sell my primordial saronite (which i had purchased lower earlier- i made 450g in arbitrage = D), when someone who was in dalaran with me requested that i CoD it to him. I, being a paranoid person, immediately thought, what if this was a malicious person who simply wanted me to be without my primordial saronite for 30 days as it sat in his mailbox?

I found a new buyer, but the idea stuck with me. What would be the consequences if this happened on a mass scale? Well, consider that the market price is the equillibrium point between supply and demand. If the supply goes down (into my mailbox), and the demand goes unsatisfied (people who would actually buy it are not allowed to), the price would rise. I believe this plan would work, because primordial saronite, as it stands, is a very scarce resource; at any given time, there are only a handful being sold on the market. So how does one profit from this?

Make an alt, as you probably do not wish to sully your reputation on your server. Sign on, and request to purchase primordial saronite a bit above the market price (on my server they usually sell for about 2200g; buy for 2250g). If people CoD their supplies of primordial saronite to you, you will have large quantities sitting in your mailbox that only cost you 2250g. Wait a while, and if (as we have hypothesized) this causes the price to increase, you can then buy them from the people who CoD'd them to you, and then resell them for a profit.

This isn't, at first glance, much different from simply buying them low and selling high, but this assures that you are, in fact, buying low, and subsequently selling high. I suppose the better comparison would be buying all of the cheap items off the AH so you can repost them higher, but in this case there is no risk; you don't have to spend any money until you already have a buyer for the good. The limiting factor i see on this plan succeeding would be the demand for primordial saronite on your server. Still, even if the plan does not succeed, you aren't out anything at all; you haven't lost a copper.

I am not going to do this, because i feel it is malicious to the people who sell you the primordial saronite, and i do not wish to do anything malicious, but i thought i would share the idea nonetheless.

[shadowsx]

I had an idea about the possibility of fixing the market on a certain good by requesting people CoD that item to you, and then not purchasing the item. For instance, on my server Primordial Saronite is primarily sold through trade chat, not through the AH. I was trying to sell my primordial saronite (which i had purchased lower earlier- i made 450g in arbitrage = D), when someone who was in dalaran with me requested that i CoD it to him. I, being a paranoid person, immediately thought, what if this was a malicious person who simply wanted me to be without my primordial saronite for 30 days as it sat in his mailbox?

I found a new buyer, but the idea stuck with me. What would be the consequences if this happened on a mass scale? Well, consider that the market price is the equillibrium point between supply and demand. If the supply goes down (into my mailbox), and the demand goes unsatisfied (people who would actually buy it are not allowed to), the price would rise. I believe this plan would work, because primordial saronite, as it stands, is a very scarce resource; at any given time, there are only a handful being sold on the market. So how does one profit from this?

Make an alt, as you probably do not wish to sully your reputation on your server. Sign on, and request to purchase primordial saronite a bit above the market price (on my server they usually sell for about 2200g; buy for 2250g). If people CoD their supplies of primordial saronite to you, you will have large quantities sitting in your mailbox that only cost you 2250g. Wait a while, and if (as we have hypothesized) this causes the price to increase, you can then buy them from the people who CoD'd them to you, and then resell them for a profit.

This isn't, at first glance, much different from simply buying them low and selling high, but this assures that you are, in fact, buying low, and subsequently selling high. I suppose the better comparison would be buying all of the cheap items off the AH so you can repost them higher, but in this case there is no risk; you don't have to spend any money until you already have a buyer for the good. The limiting factor i see on this plan succeeding would be the demand for primordial saronite on your server. Still, even if the plan does not succeed, you aren't out anything at all; you haven't lost a copper.

I am not going to do this, because i feel it is malicious to the people who sell you the primordial saronite, and i do not wish to do anything malicious, but i thought i would share the idea nonetheless.

if memory serves me right mail sent via COD only sits in the mailbox for 2 days, not 30

[Gankenstein]

Correct it was changed to 2-3 days because of people doing this "trick"

[magicalhats15]

Yeah, just tested it, it is two days. This post, then, only remains true to the extent that the market for a certain good could be altered in two days. It might still be enough for primordial saronite, but probably not. I posted this with the memory of waiting 30 days for a boe epic i cod'd to someone to return back to me = (

[OregonCp]

Even with the lower mail box time, this can be used on a smaller scale to help weed out some of the comp on lower supply items. I have used it several times on Nobles decks when there are only one or two floating around.

[superprokop]

Couldn't you just... I don't know... put them in your inventory? I don't see why you want to use your mailbox.

On a side note.. I did something similar to this. Monopolizing and all. Well I did it during BC and cornered the market on enchanting mats, ore (fel and adamantite), cloth, leather, primal nethers, nether vortex, heart of darkness and Eternal fires. I bought all of them in AH then reposted EVERYTHING at a 300% mark up. When someone underbid me, I bought them out and reposted. I did this for 2 weekends in a row until blizzard gave me a 3 day suspension for exploiting the economy.

Just be careful when you do hard core buy low sell high kind of stuff.

But, on a UPSIDE note. All blizzard did was freeze all my auctions (sending them to my mailbox) but they did not take the money I made away from me. 12k invested, 54k returned, not a bad 42k profit

[OregonCp]

Couldn't you just... I don't know... put them in your inventory? I don't see why you want to use your mailbox.

The big point of using CoD is that you dont actually have to buy the item. You can ask seller to CoD you a item in a effort to remove as many of said item off the market as possible, this will lower supply thus making your item worth more(Some times much more).

[StrudleJunkie]

[QUOTE=superprokop;1790743] I did this for 2 weekends in a row until blizzard gave me a 3 day suspension for exploiting the economy.QUOTE]

You can get banned for that? What? It sounds like a very viable, unbannable scheme.. /shrug Blizzard ruins the fun, yet again.

[Unholyshaman]

Agreed, you get economy manipulaters in Real life, if Blizzard wishes for there to be an economy in WoW they should realize that there will be the same consequences.

[Trollblod]

Agreed, you get economy manipulaters in Real life, if Blizzard wishes for there to be an economy in WoW they should realize that there will be the same consequences.

Exactly, this won't work. Unfortunately.