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Active Stop undercutting. Seriously.

Question for the buyers - Would you be comfortable buying at a higher price for sellers?

  • Yeah, if they're efficient and knowledgable they deserve decent compensation for their time.

  • No, prices should be kept as low as possible for the benefit of the consumer.

  • I seem to be on the fence with this one.


Results are only viewable after voting.
K

Krelbit

Guest
I enjoy what IATS did for creating standard prices between sellers, at prices which are understandable and fair for both the buyer and the seller. Many of the people involved in that (including myself, even though my shop is on hiatus) still have our prices at those standards, which is great. Along with the same bulk order discounts. This also helped create a sense of trust between sellers. And if someone wasn't able to take an order, they could recommend someone else in IATS who was available of need be.

I've always been for a higher standard of prices on PP. It helps the sellers and website profit a little more, helping to keep the place running. So if the standard for everyone was 175pc per Pokemon with bulk order discounts, that would be great. :)

Since I'm the one who mostly ended IATS, I liked the concept, but the execution in my opinion was very poor. With the addition of saturation as the market went on longer, pokemon are bound to depreciate in price. However, they dropped too fast, and we never saw a rise in prince as incentive, so we have to up the prices on our own when we feel it is necessary, which I feel is right now.

The trusted seller part really didn't get to me. Just being part of a group that regulates your prices makes you "trusted?" I mean, you look more reputable, but you're far from trusted imo.

I think that actual trusted sellers should have a small network and help out newer sellers, much like me, @GiaQuando and @Chaos are doing to support @cj-97. If we can get more experience into our sellers and actually get people to trust them, instead of stamping a [TRUSTED] label on them for being part of a group, we can establish a higher amount of trust in this community.
 

yunerotroy

Youngster Joey
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working at a fast food chain requires more money for expenses , energy and time than sitting and looking at your pc and trading on the 3ds though , and if you're looking for a job that pays good even when ur at home , there are lots on the internet that pays more . besides even if u guys stick to 175 a mon , people will always find a way to attract others to buy from them , and the easiest way to do that is to lower the prices . If people were actually breeding these pokemon in the game than getting it using third party programs in a flash , i would support this in a heartbeat . And price of the mons itself will go higher . supply and demand . just my two cents :D
 

GiaQuando

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working at a fast food chain requires more money for expenses , energy and time than sitting and looking at your pc and trading on the 3ds though , and if you're looking for a job that pays good even when ur at home , there are lots on the internet that pays more . besides even if u guys stick to 175 a mon , people will always find a way to attract others to buy from them , and the easiest way to do that is to lower the prices . If people were actually breeding these pokemon in the game than getting it using third party programs in a flash , i would support this in a heartbeat . And price of the mons itself will go higher . supply and demand . just my two cents :D
If you think that just sitting in a PC and doing it is easy plz be my guest a try do it
 
K

Krelbit

Guest
working at a fast food chain requires more money for expenses , energy and time than sitting and looking at your pc and trading on the 3ds though ,
Working at a fast food chain doesn't require any expenses other than food and desperateness. It's a very widespread form of unskilled, blue collar labor.

You actually have to take a decent 2 or 3 weeks to learn about making pokemon, you need to meet the hardware requirements, the software requirements, and you have to learn how to market yourself independently. If that doesn't come off as even niche white collar labor, I don't know what will.

and if you're looking for a job that pays good even when ur at home , there are lots on the internet that pays more . besides even if u guys stick to 175 a mon , people will always find a way to attract others to buy from them ,
Yeah, and that's competition for you. It's healthy and moves a market.

and the easiest way to do that is to lower the prices .
It may be the easiest way, but I'm not talking about the easiest way. I'm talking about the best way for the community, it's operators, and it's patrons to coexist. It may be harder but for sure it'll always pay off in the long run.

If people were actually breeding these pokemon in the game than getting it using third party programs in a flash , i would support this in a heartbeat . And price of the mons itself will go higher .

There are already breeders, except no one buys from them because the customers of this site have shown time and time again that they want the instant 30 minute sale and gratification. If there were any different incentive to get into the breeding market, we might very well take it. Since there isn't, it's just seen as an inefficient way to earn PC.

supply and demand . just my two cents :D
Except that the demand is high in genned mons and the supply is decreasing, and the access to said supply is becoming harder to obtain. If cotton prices suddenly went up, then blue jean prices are going to go up. If nintendo blocks people from being able to gen pokemon, the price of genning pokemon will go up.

Scarcity, playa.

Have a nice day.
 

yunerotroy

Youngster Joey
Credits
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If you think that just sitting in a PC and doing it is easy plz be my guest a try do it
i've done real "WORK" in the internet while sitting in the past , try making an account in upwork :) Working there would net you more bucks . Pls dont hate , i gave my opinion and so did you :) thats the whole point in this thread is it not?

Working at a fast food chain doesn't require any expenses other than food and desperateness. It's a very widespread form of unskilled, blue collar labor.

You actually have to take a decent 2 or 3 weeks to learn about making pokemon, you need to meet the hardware requirements, the software requirements, and you have to learn how to market yourself independently. If that doesn't come off as even niche white collar labor, I don't know what will.


Yeah, and that's competition for you. It's healthy and moves a market.


It may be the easiest way, but I'm not talking about the easiest way. I'm talking about the best way for the community, it's operators, and it's patrons to coexist. It may be harder but for sure it'll always pay off in the long run.



There are already breeders, except no one buys from them because the customers of this site have shown time and time again that they want the instant 30 minute sale and gratification. If there were any different incentive to get into the breeding market, we might very well take it. Since there isn't, it's just seen as an inefficient way to earn PC.


Except that the demand is high in genned mons and the supply is decreasing, and the access to said supply is becoming harder to obtain. If cotton prices suddenly went up, then blue jean prices are going to go up. If nintendo blocks people from being able to gen pokemon, the price of genning pokemon will go up.

Scarcity, playa.

Have a nice day.
if u can buy three good quality oranges for 300pokedollars , and another shop sells 5 good quality oranges for the same price , even a kid would know where to buy oranges .
 
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K

Krelbit

Guest
if u can buy three good quality oranges for 300pokedollars , and another shop sells 5 good quality oranges for the same price , even a kid would know where to buy oranges .

If I can provide the 3 oranges with distinct differences in service, manners, and marketting, and other people see that I can do such things, they're going to find different ways to distinguish their product and sell at a similar price point to me.
 

Cheza

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working at a fast food chain requires more money for expenses , energy and time than sitting and looking at your pc and trading on the 3ds though , and if you're looking for a job that pays good even when ur at home , there are lots on the internet that pays more . besides even if u guys stick to 175 a mon , people will always find a way to attract others to buy from them , and the easiest way to do that is to lower the prices . If people were actually breeding these pokemon in the game than getting it using third party programs in a flash , i would support this in a heartbeat . And price of the mons itself will go higher . supply and demand . just my two cents :D
if u can buy three good quality oranges for 300pokedollars , and another shop sells 5 good quality oranges for the same price , even a kid would know where to buy oranges .
Please don't double post. :)

Getting the proper software in order to create Pokemon can and has cost people hundreds of dollars. And at a time people were struggling with prices as low as 20pc per mon, which is pretty much spending hours of your time creating and trading off perfect Pokemon for free. In some cases having spent a few $100 in order to get the proper software to do so.

Without decent prices that both the seller and buyer can agree on, what is the point in selling Pokemon in the first place? Decent prices keeps this place running and keeps people coming back to sell and / or buy Pokemon when they need to. Additionally, on your point of breeding Pokemon, there are a good amount of people who do take the time to run breeding shops. However they're not as popular as the quicker shops, because people would prefer not to wait a few days to get their Pokemon.

As for your last point, that is the reason for this threads creation. If everyone selling Pokemon raised their prices slightly, everyone would be selling for a fair price that both sellers and buyers could agree on. There would be less of a gap between selling 3 oranges and 5 oranges for the same price, and selling Pokemon would depend on availability and the buyers preference, rather than drastically different prices that aren't worth anyone's time. :)
 

yunerotroy

Youngster Joey
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the only way i see for you guys to get more "money" for your "work" here and keep the site active is to change the pricing for each mon from 20pc base to i guess 175pc ? that way everyone is forced to abide by the rules . and all pokemasters here will live happily ever after . and distinct differences in service, manners, and marketing will matter more :D
 
K

Krelbit

Guest
the only way i see for you guys to get more "money" for your "work" here and keep the site active is to change the pricing for each mon from 20pc base to i guess 175pc ? that way everyone is forced to abide by the rules . and all pokemasters here will live happily ever after . and distinct differences in service, manners, and marketing will matter more :D

No, we don't want to employ a price floor. That would lead to terrible market ineffficiencies and constant amounts of surplus. With this surplus you'd see rampant undercutting begin to occur again, and a total deadweight loss for the entirety of the market. We want to keep it a free market economy, but people should make a decent amount for their time. However, it is an incredibly objective amount. This post was made to compare the amounts they're making to actual applicable amounts, and let the buyer decide if they really think their time is worth this much dedication and effort.
 

Jiggly

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Just for a point of reference and to point out the severity of the economic deflation, one of my first purchases on this site was a 5iv Talonflame that I bought for 700 PC. That was cheap at that time.
 

Strawberries

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I must agree that the price average should change, and it would benefit the sellers to put their prices above the 175PC mark, at the very least. The salary sellers are making is alot less than it's worth for the time it takes to gen some pokemon, wasting their free time.

"More underpaid than workers at McDonalds.
And your joking right
 

notsoclutch

Rare Breed
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The biggest issue, I think, is that we have an estranged market. The issue isn't that there are a bunch of reliable sellers undercutting everyone, it's that there are a lot of sellers that will get on make a couple of sales at the lowest price possible, get bored and leave. It creates a valley at the bottom of supply and creates a standard for a lot of buyers. These sellers aren't given enough incentive to continue, but at the same time, affect the market significantly. Setting a market price doesn't really fix this issue as the further from the valley you go, the more pressure you will feel as these shops get more business with the rising prices. It's what I attempted to explain to the IATs group when that was a thing.

I think it's very admirable what you are trying to do, and like I said early on, I will continue to give business to those in this crusade, I just don't feel like this is the way to go about things. We have to fix the bottom before we can fix the top and I agree that changing the floor price won't really fix a thing either.

If this works, more power to you, but overall I just don't think there is a solution because of the kind of business the sellers on this site are in.
 

Cheza

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The biggest issue, I think, is that we have an estranged market. The issue isn't that there are a bunch of reliable sellers undercutting everyone, it's that there are a lot of sellers that will get on make a couple of sales at the lowest price possible, get bored and leave. It creates a valley at the bottom of supply and creates a standard for a lot of buyers. These sellers aren't given enough incentive to continue, but at the same time, affect the market significantly. Setting a market price doesn't really fix this issue as the further from the valley you go, the more pressure you will feel as these shops get more business with the rising prices. It's what I attempted to explain to the IATs group when that was a thing.

I think it's very admirable what you are trying to do, and like I said early on, I will continue to give business to those in this crusade, I just don't feel like this is the way to go about things. We have to fix the bottom before we can fix the top and I agree that changing the floor price won't really fix a thing either.

If this works, more power to you, but overall I just don't think there is a solution because of the kind of business the sellers on this site are in.
Hmm you make a good point... would you have any recommendations on how to fix things from the bottom up? Would creating a start up guide for new users looking to sell Pokemon be a beneficial idea? Explaining the different types of Pokemon shops, how to create a shop + maintain, along with the recommended prices for each type of shop? :)
 
K

Krelbit

Guest
The biggest issue, I think, is that we have an estranged market. The issue isn't that there are a bunch of reliable sellers undercutting everyone, it's that there are a lot of sellers that will get on make a couple of sales at the lowest price possible, get bored and leave. It creates a valley at the bottom of supply and creates a standard for a lot of buyers. These sellers aren't given enough incentive to continue, but at the same time, affect the market significantly. Setting a market price doesn't really fix this issue as the further from the valley you go, the more pressure you will feel as these shops get more business with the rising prices. It's what I attempted to explain to the IATs group when that was a thing.

I think it's very admirable what you are trying to do, and like I said early on, I will continue to give business to those in this crusade, I just don't feel like this is the way to go about things. We have to fix the bottom before we can fix the top and I agree that changing the floor price won't really fix a thing either.

If this works, more power to you, but overall I just don't think there is a solution because of the kind of business the sellers on this site are in.

My thought on this was this: Many stores that start out have a fresh motive to sell pokemon. However, they need to know prices. So, they hop over to the buy/sell forums, scope out their competition, and plan their next move when pricing out their stores. If these people begin to price at a reasonable rate and get sales, they'll keep these prices, and so they'll stay and keep their prices at a generally high rate.

Now, these new sellers will eventually begin to undercut each other. It's easy to see and predict. Eventually the market will reach an equilibrium again at a price point lower than a McDonald's worker, and they'll leave. But, bumping the price every now and then should be common practice, especially around times of denied supply.Without the price bump, we'd be stuck at a constant line of 100 pc sales forever, until a huge economic stimulus came and shook up the market.

In a perfect market such as this there is no way to fully prevent undercutters. There are ways to raise awareness for our current situations, and that is what I plan to do with this series of rants.
 

Nenkendo

Youngster Joey
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I Like this idea but i see some flaws.
1. Overseas Sellers. This regulating of the market makes all prices equal so when you order you will go to who ever is online at the time so you can have your pokemon within a hour. this is grate if you live in america where most of the buyer bace lives. but if you live in australia. there is no way of being on at thise prime times evry day without becoming nocturnal. so what insentive would there be for a buyer to buy from thise overseas market and wait a day or two for there order when thay can get it in an hour form an american.

Yes this will help you krelbit but thinck of oter sellers who will lose there markets. for the only way thay can make any money is from selling at a lower price then the american counertparts.

2. your useing ameircan minamum wage. The minimum Wage in Australia is between 16 aud for 13 yar olds to 5000 plus for older people. so there is less insentive to sell. so we are doing it for fun.
I know my self i sell pokemon just so i can buy more from other sellers. I breed mons for people.

And before you say this is an American site. I Know Allready. but that shouldent stop other overseas sellers from doing well. so mabey there should be this regulationg the market but if possable can there be an exception for people who cant follow it becuse otherwise thay will fail.
 
K

Krelbit

Guest
I Like this idea but i see some flaws.
1. Overseas Sellers. This regulating of the market makes all prices equal so when you order you will go to who ever is online at the time so you can have your pokemon within a hour. this is grate if you live in america where most of the buyer bace lives. but if you live in australia. there is no way of being on at thise prime times evry day without becoming nocturnal.

Gia and CJ have changed their prices and have seen a visible improvement in their overall sales. Gia's in Greece and CJ is in the UK. I talked about this earlier as well. Niches. I said that in order to survive and make a decent share of the market, a seller needs a respective role, whether it be speed, knowledge, customer service, or as a new one, availability times. As the buyer base is lower for Australians, so is the seller base. At the moment I can only think of one person who makes sales from Australia and that's @CannuJul. If they want to, a new seller can easily worm his way into the late night Australia market, or if he's Australian, the market. By upping the price, you actually might see more Australian sellers, because now there's more people who are willing and able to sell.

so what insentive would there be for a buyer to buy from thise overseas market and wait a day or two for there order when thay can get it in an hour form an american.

I mean, if both seller and buyer are Australian, this curbs that very quickly. Honestly, there is little incentive for those buying from an Australian seller, because of the timeframe that the site usually operates on. It's not necesarily purposeful, but circumstancial discrimination. By adding a decent reason for Australians to stay, maybe they can make more sales with other Australians. At the moment, the site just isn't large enough to handle oddities as time zones.

Yes this will help you krelbit but thinck of oter sellers who will lose there markets. for the only way thay can make any money is from selling at a lower price then the american counertparts.
Or they can provide distinct different services to exclude themselves from their competitors. I use my personal speed in genning as such a differentiator.

2. your useing ameircan minamum wage. The minimum Wage in Australia is between 16 aud for 13 yar olds to 5000 plus for older people. so there is less insentive to sell. so we are doing it for fun. I know my self i sell pokemon just so i can buy more from other sellers. I breed mons for people.
16 AUD comes up to about 12 USD, and taxes will probably deduct even further, making it just about equal to my price points. If you're depending on this site for a sole source of income, it's just not stable enough to support someone. Just because you get a decent chunk of change however, doesn't mean you still can't make more. Who says you can't have fun while making money, and if the money can look somewhat decent, why not take advantage of it and join the market as an actual seller?

And before you say this is an American site. I Know Allready. but that shouldent stop other overseas sellers from doing well. so mabey there should be this regulationg the market but if possable can there be an exception for people who cant follow it becuse otherwise thay will fail.

Let's get this clear. I have nothing against overseas sellers, and work with them quite regularly to patch up our time-zone differences to provide the best amount of customer support to sellers as this site possibly can.

I am not on a vendetta to regulate ANYTHING. I'm leaving this post here, as evidence, to maybe open some eyes. I implore people to raise their prices, but it's not like I'm crusading around, telling people to "UP YOUR PRICES OR SUFFER THE WRATH OF KHAN." This is meant as a way for the community's sellers to get a decent amount of change for our time, because the sales rate has been a lot higher in the past.

We get that markets depreciate and lead towards a more efficient and downward sloping equilibrium. However, the supply has recently taken a hit, and without any stimulation to move up, the site is just going to cave in on itself. If there are those who can't or don't want to follow these pricing suggestions (that's all they are, suggestions), then speaking in the long run, they are a hazard to the economy of the site, but that's their choice. Maybe, we hope that they'll see this, and change the prices on their own free will.

Do you see the title of this board? It's rules and suggestions. I, and anyone else who has changed their prices as a result of this, am not trying to impose a price floor on you. It's on your own free will to quantify your time, and decide if you want to continue selling at said prices or not.

Have a nice day.
 

ThePokemonFanboy

Pokémon Trainer
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I agree Krelbit, I don't expect to be making a whole lot off of here especially as a new seller. But, my time is worth something. I try to be online as often as possible even waking up late at night to take an order. My nice is my customer service. I try my hardest to be one of the nicest people on here and give away free stuff if needed. (Like a customer had bought some eggs from me but I through in a free shiny volcarona since they needed a flame body pokemon.)So I'll try raising my prices with you.
tumblr_mzsn1kDZD21tq4of6o1_250.gif
 
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K

Krelbit

Guest
I agree Krelbit, I don't expect to be making a whole lot off of here especially as a new seller. But, my time is worth something. I try to be online as often as possible even waking up late at night to take an order. My nice is my customer service. I try my hardest to be one of the nicest people on here and give away free stuff if needed. (Like a customer had bought some eggs from me but I through in a free shiny volcarona since they needed a flame body pokemon.)So I'll try raising my prices with you.

I appreciate the input. Thanks for joining my little movement, hopefully we can pick stuff off the ground with these new pricings. They'll only work if there are people on board.
 
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