Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="eamon" data-source="post: 5293257" data-attributes="member: 51942">Not at all; I'm arguing that the more common the item, the smaller the gap between selling and buying price - based on reality, common sense, and economics 101.&nbsp; I don't understand why this should be any different in a fantasy world.&nbsp; The actual rules have the reverse relationship.Obviously, on average vendors don't sell an item &quot;at cost&quot;.&nbsp; But, for the sake of argument, let's say you're right and they sell a level 1 magic item for the same price it costs them to procure - which means it costs them 360gp normally to procure such an item.&nbsp; That means that any price below 360gp is actually a good deal for them - they're getting the item cheaper than usual!&nbsp; If indeed it usually costs 360gp to procure a common level 1 magic item, then a shopkeep has a very weak bargaining position - if he won't buy it for near that price, then any other shopkeer could bid higher - after all it's a common item, and every magic item shopkeep deals in them since every combatant or adventurer with sufficient resources will want one.You're confusing price with fluidity.&nbsp; If it's easy to find a buyer and hard to procure, that's a sign that the price is too low - i.e. not a market equilibrium.&nbsp; If the market isn't fluid, then buying and selling is risky business and takes more effort - the markup will need to be greater.The only leap of faith I'm making in this argument is that common items have a more fluid market than less common items - not exactly an unreasonable assumption, it seems to me.Common magic items don't degrade over time (both mechanically and mythically), so the argument that the item is &quot;used&quot; hardly matters.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="eamon, post: 5293257, member: 51942"] Not at all; I'm arguing that the more common the item, the smaller the gap between selling and buying price - based on reality, common sense, and economics 101. I don't understand why this should be any different in a fantasy world. The actual rules have the reverse relationship. Obviously, on average vendors don't sell an item "at cost". But, for the sake of argument, let's say you're right and they sell a level 1 magic item for the same price it costs them to procure - which means it costs them 360gp normally to procure such an item. That means that [I]any[/I] price below 360gp is actually a good deal for them - they're getting the item cheaper than usual! If indeed it usually costs 360gp to procure a common level 1 magic item, then a shopkeep has a very weak bargaining position - if he won't buy it for near that price, then any other shopkeer could bid higher - after all it's a common item, and every magic item shopkeep deals in them since every combatant or adventurer with sufficient resources will want one. You're confusing price with fluidity. If it's easy to find a buyer and hard to procure, that's a sign that the price is too low - i.e. not a market equilibrium. If the market isn't fluid, then buying and selling is risky business and takes more effort - the markup will [I]need[/I] to be greater. The only leap of faith I'm making in this argument is that common items have a more fluid market than less common items - not exactly an unreasonable assumption, it seems to me. Common magic items don't degrade over time (both mechanically and mythically), so the argument that the item is "used" hardly matters. [/QUOTE]

Verification