The Universal Price Checking Guide



Index
[1]What is price checking? (defined)
[2]Basic Method
[3]Advancing your price checking capabilities
[4]Pricechecking "use-ables"

Section 1
What is price checking?
Q: What is price checking?
A: Price checking is the method of checking the current market and using past market knowledge to make an estimated price for an item.

Q: Is it easy to do?
A: Yes -- very easy to do the basic method. Refer to the "Basic" method described below.

Q: I can't figure it out -- where can I get help?
A: Post in these for help: Softcore or Hardcore

The basic price check method
Six Step Process
The basic price check method is very simple!! Just follow the steps below!
1) Open your market in Ladder Slasher.
2) Take the item you would like to price check and place the following stats into the search tool of the market:
- Item type (Weapon/Armor/Charm/etc)
- Item class (sword/axe/plate mail/etc.)
- Item level
- One magical level lower than the items level. If its magical -- just search magical.

Example: Say you are looking for the price on a level 30 sword with a mystical magic level.
- Select "Weapons"
- Select "Swords"
- Put item level "30 to 30"
- Min Magical Level: "Rare"

3) Click search and you will get a list of items that compare to your item.
4) Find the cost of an item that is one magical level below your item (if yours is magical -- void this step).
5) Find the average cost of the magical level that your item has.
6) Average these two out -- put it up for that price.

See its pretty simple actually!! Just 6 steps.

Advancing your price checking abalities
General Tips
There are a couple things that will give you an edge on other price checkers.
1) If you are active in your Core's trading forum you will want to notice what people are bidding on items. Take note as to what is usually offered on items -- and where the bumping train begins. If someone is bumping there topic a while without getting offers, they have surpassed the items cost most likely.

2) Keep an eye on what is on high demand. A good trader will always observe threads and see what is getting bid wars and what isn't. When price checking something simply tag it with "this is likely to get higher based on demand". Also advise them to not put a bin on the item, and no short dls.

3) Simply watch the buyers. Watch who is moving in on the market. A high roller can highly effect market prices all by themself. If someone with a lot of fg is coming in looking to buy a lot of new gear -- or you know what they are looking to buy -- keep this in mind.

Price checking "use-ables"
Just 5 steps
Price checking "use-able" items is just a little bit different than price checking muteables.
1) Open the market in Ladder Slasher.
2) Place the important stat into the search bar along with the item type (Weapon/Armor/Charm/etc).
3) Try to search +/- 10 levels of the item. So if you are searching a 30 sword you will want to search levels 20 to 40.
4) Press search & compare prices.
5) All you need to do now is make a good judgement on what a good price would be. A good rule to follow is that the Market Place is normally a bit overpriced, so never follow those items.

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Hope this will help a lot of you out!! I've noticed a lot of people needing help with price checking -- so now we will see if its lack of info or simply ignorance.

Pretty much exactly what I do. The more you do it the better you get at it and the more familiar with general prices you'll become.
Nice guide.


/edit in regards to bubbachunk's response.

Yes, it's not at all a perfect system, but it's still a very valuable tool for judging prices. I think that's the main point of the guide.
It takes time to get a really good idea of values and prices fluctuate anyway, but with time you can see what items sell at and get a decent idea for values regardless of some items on the market being overpriced or underpriced. It's not a one size fits all deal, but with some time and experience it works well for at least 90% of the items out there.

I'm not saying I agree with the way he handles anything else, but the guide itself is good in my opinion.

This post was edited by mwm_zyxcba on Dec 12 2008 09:46am

If things are sitting on the market then are they not the wrong price? Many things are wrong with simply just searching for similar items on the market.
1. All items on the market could be overpriced hence why they are still sitting there.
2.Your item may be unique and not at all similar to anything else on the market.

Lastly don't appreciate you calling people ignorant for using the pc thread with your last comment. As I have stated not everyone agrees with your way of doing things (me included) and prefer to either as m8s or use the thread granted a reliable member is on.

1. I mentioned that you should underprice according to other items on the market.
2. If an item is unique they will do the correct thing 99% of the time -- make a trade thread.

I'm sorry if you don't like the way I deal with things. Not everyone does.

E: The only ignorance I was talking about was the repetitive posting of muteable lists in the price check thread.



I don't think you realize that this an extreme situation. Yes you are correct on many of those theories but a guide cannot be perfect. I never said my method is the way to go -- nor am I forcing anyone to do it.

I'm simply here to inform.

This post was edited by MyAddiction on Dec 12 2008 09:51am

1. Items can be so grossly overpriced that going below whats on the market is still overpriced, or someone does not go low enough below the market item price and is still overpriced.
2. Just because you make a trade thread does not mean you do not still want a pc to get a relative value to establish when you should close an item or set a bin.

Also play devils advocate so you may see why people prefer the pc thread and your method is not the be all end all.

The only thing i feel is missing is the basic concept of "selling" your item. I would assume that anyone here is old enough to grasp the idea that you want users to be attracted to your item, not group it with the rest of the market. Why be equal when you can be the one making the forum gold?

If you compare your item to one on the marketplace, your already into the first step of overpricing.

The reason there are items on the marketplace to compare to is that typically they're at a higher price than the average user is willing to pay for an item. Although your magical property idea is quite nice for pricing higher property items, I can't agree with using their price either.


Overall, I applaud the guide and hope that newer users are able to grasp your overall vision here.



After reading bubbachunk's comment, I'll admit I missed the last part involving the mentality of some users. I'd make sure to edit that part out when you finalize the guide. There's no room to demene your audience in these forums

Good work Cody.

my personal opinion is not more or less the ability to check or know prices. I find the ladder slasher community, newer and older members alike are all scalpers. Countless times, posting reasonably good or great items, all you encounter, even for 10+ pages is low offers, +10 fg offers and people saying "pm me bin". When an appropriate bin is set, everything will go stagnate because people are looking to for wonderful deals and not what they need. Conversely, a lot of people are selling their best items to make fg and using garbage to get by.

A lot of people are not even aware of the basic fundamentals of making fg and I imagine they don't even know what you're talking about. A level 25 rare charm will make 1-3 fg any time. How many people knew that (minus the select few that posted comments here)?

This is a good way of expressing search methods but it is basically useless because most people do not understand what items are or they can get because they have not invested the time into this game to discover all facets.
It's not about ignorance, it is the mentality "I will get the best deal". New and old alike share it and it drives the cycle.

ofc the market its a great place to see prices....
but lots of those itens are overpriced..
1 time i saw like 3 sword with the same range of EE for 1k fg each... and in the next day there were 2 more swords.. so it was 5 swords with same range ee for 1k each.. but after 4 days none was sold, because all 5 was overpriced

when you find nice gear your tips don't work

i never found right price on gozu items placed in market place.

This post was edited by Karagor on Dec 12 2008 10:53am

nice one.. ..