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Item Prices

Discussion in 'Vendor Locations & Misc Services' started by Jatvardur, Apr 18, 2017.

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  1. Jatvardur

    Jatvardur Avatar

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    I would like to present my latest efforts: a spreadsheet of prices. I scoured the forums looking for the prices of many popular items and took a note of the thread in which they are posted. The intention is to improve price transparency.


    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hXv7MLjQRd1BAC-hT3DKZ41Zhp_i2sDXytxBQWltZFY/edit?usp=sharing



    What is it?
    • A spreadsheet of publicly available prices of popular items on the forum.
    • Prices are in US dollars.
    • It has 'Sell' prices and 'Buy' prices. Sell prices are WTS: i.e. selling to you. Buy prices are WTB: i.e. buying from you.
    • Reference so you can check the prices in the original threads.
    • I've tried to stick to the threads of larger traders. Generally such traders cover most items and are more likely to be trustworthy.
    • Edited:
    • Added new functionality. I made a duplicate sheet and calculated the prices in gold (igg). It is just a simple multiplication of the dollar price with a known rate of igg to dollars (100k/ $28 -- seemed a reasonable market rate at the time of writing).


    What is it not?
    • It isn't perfect. This is perhaps the best solution for improving transparency, but it will never be perfect.
    • It can't be perfectly up to date. Prices may be inaccurate / wrong. Some items may even be duplicated since it is hard to match names sometimes.
    • This sheet can't cover all traders and all trades. It is about trying to balance the information as best as possible.
    • This is not about fixing prices but about making prices easy to find. Prices will still float by the laws of supply and demand.


    Why?
    • I think price transparency is important for a healthy market. That's why this spreadsheet needs to be public rather than private.
    • I recently complained about the difficulty of finding prices via the search function. Rather than complain and leave the problem I wanted to make an effort to rectify the issue.
    • Creating this was a lot of effort, but maintaining will be an even bigger effort. I hope that by making this public that the community will help me to keep it updated.





    What I need now is help to keep it updated. :)

    Proposed reply format:

    Item Name
    Price
    WTS / WTB
    Thread link


    E.G.


    HOB Cabinet
    300
    WTS
    http://www.....


    Don't add any formatting as i want to be able to quickly copy and paste the text. Don't bother with dollar signs either. Simple is best. Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2017
    By Tor, StarLord, Spoon and 8 others like this.
  2. Kitty2

    Kitty2 Avatar

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    This must have taken a great deal of hard work - thanks very much, Jat!
     
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  3. High Baron O`Sullivan

    High Baron O`Sullivan Avatar

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    is everything.
    That $20 CoV investment sure pays off.
     
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  4. Jatvardur

    Jatvardur Avatar

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    Thank you! Yes, it was quite an effort over a few days. The value of the "completed" work makes it worthwhile though. Obviously there is still a lot of items to add. I will probably do that bit by bit but would gladly accept any help that folks can offer.

    I have another idea I'm brewing to help improve the marketplace too. Keep your eyes peeled. :)
     
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  5. Spoon

    Spoon Avatar

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    Ouch, that is so much hard work.
    Big thumbs up for this.

    I really think that this bit is key: "I've tried to stick to the threads of larger traders. Generally such traders cover most items and are more likely to be trustworthy."
    That makes the task feasible and the outcome less shaky.

    Maybe just identifying those traders would make it more robust?
     
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  6. Frederick Glasgow

    Frederick Glasgow Avatar

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    Holy beejeebers the amount of work this must have taken. Thank you.
     
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  7. Jatvardur

    Jatvardur Avatar

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    Haha, yep.

    Obviously I should share my PayPal address for donations. :p
     
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  8. Jatvardur

    Jatvardur Avatar

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    Glad you approve.

    Yes, absolutely. Identifying the key traders is an important part of building trust and in creating certainty that the prices posted are representative.

    Key traders also help provide "liquidity": they buy and sell in a large number of trades and hence help the process of finding a seller / buyer.

    As an example, Cristiano Kimberlin has many items for sale and has been around for a while now. So his selection is good and prices are in line with the market. Given his publicly available feedback I'd be inclined to rate him as a top tier trader. Hence it isn't a surprise that his prices feature heavily in my spreadsheet.

    My next step is identify and publish a list of the main traders on the forum.


    Edited:

    Added new functionality to the spreadsheet. I made a duplicate sheet and calculated the prices in gold (igg). It is just a simple multiplication of the dollar price with a known rate of igg to dollars (100k/ $28 seemed a reasonable market rate at the time of writing).
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2017
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