26 November 2007 - The Grand Exchange

[Mstrling70]

After reading through this thread, I can see a basic disagreement about the so called "free market". It would be nice if the Grand Exchange allowed people to buy and sell for any amount, but it can't. That's because free markets are not free.

 

 

 

Large groups, in this case the people who manage large gold farming operations, could easily send out e-mail instructions to their thousands of "employees" with explicit instructions to buy and sell in such a way as to push prices any way they desire, bringing in more gold for their materials (which have been largely dropping in price over time.) By slowing down the rate of change in prices, Jagex has given themselves enough time to analyze price trends to see if there is any attempt to manipulate prices by large (1000+) groups of people. Yes, there are computer scripts that Jagex can use to point out possible irregularities, but it still takes a human being to truly decide if an anomaly is noise in the data, or something statistically significant (there goes my statistical engineering again.)

 

 

 

To put this into real world machinations, my one ounce of gold is as important as anyone else's one ounce of gold, but those who control tons of gold can use their stores to move the price in either direction, where I cannot because of my one measly ounce. There are controls in place that will activate when the price of gold changes too rapidly, and there are controls in place to prevent someone from dumping large amounts of gold into the market at 10% of the going rate. This makes the market much more stable, but it will still change over time.

 

 

 

You have to put in a system that prevents one large group of people from having a large influence on the market that will benefit them and harm others. It can't be completely free because it never will.

[jimi2424]

thanks a lot for the quick replies. This could work out to be a real nice update.

[Lightshayde]

Market Prices in the Grand Exchange:

 

 

 

There is a limit to the amount you can buy or sell items for in the Grand Exchange, which is generally set at 5% above and below the 'market price', and it is impossible to buy outside of these boundaries. This will create a stable economy that cannot be abused by players who seek to manipulate prices to the disadvantage of others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merchanting is dead...

 

:evil:

[hellbellz]

I'm loving it.

[qeltar]

Market Prices in the Grand Exchange:

 

 

 

There is a limit to the amount you can buy or sell items for in the Grand Exchange, which is generally set at 5% above and below the 'market price', and it is impossible to buy outside of these boundaries. This will create a stable economy that cannot be abused by players who seek to manipulate prices to the disadvantage of others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merchanting is dead...

 

:evil:

 

 

 

On the contrary. Jagex's decision to artificially restrict the free market will make merchanting very profitable. It's going to have the exact opposite of the intended effect.

[backstreetboy]

Explain Yourself Please Qeltar :P

[Bini]

Market Prices in the Grand Exchange:

 

 

 

There is a limit to the amount you can buy or sell items for in the Grand Exchange, which is generally set at 5% above and below the 'market price', and it is impossible to buy outside of these boundaries. This will create a stable economy that cannot be abused by players who seek to manipulate prices to the disadvantage of others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merchanting is dead...

 

:evil:

 

 

 

On the contrary. Jagex's decision to artificially restrict the free market will make merchanting very profitable. It's going to have the exact opposite of the intended effect.

 

 

 

Never had a better merchanting day than today! :mrgreen:

 

 

 

I have a problem, I can't sell yews for under 390ea and Can't sell Raw Lobbies for 240ea...

 

Anyone else having the same problem?

[qeltar]

Most merchanting is a form of what is called "arbitrage", which means taking advantage of price differences between two markets. For example, people used to buy some items in f2p because they were cheaper there and sell on p2p, or they'd buy in w2 and sell on the forums, etc.

 

 

 

If Jagex hadn't ruined the GE with its silly price controls, then the market would always reflect the current market value of items. People would be able to easily buy and sell items and many would stop using other markets.

 

 

 

As it stands now, the new system restricts people from setting prices, which causes differentials in supply and demand. Merchants can easily monitor items that are being restricted to unrealistic prices and move quantities of goods between the GE and other markets.

 

 

 

Price controls don't work. I'll have an article on this shortly.

[jwrm22]

jagex... why? first 90% of the shops sell every item unlimited, and now this? i like the idee, but its ruined on some parts like you have a minimum or maximum price for an item, you can only buy/ sell 6 (amount doesnt matter) items at once. i think they keep taking idees from other games that is a good thing, but that runescape has alot problems with macros, real world rs money sellers and stuff (alot more then other games) do they have to ruin it! then why do we need an "auction house"?

 

 

 

all those updates wont make me play rs again...

[backstreetboy]

Thanks, cant`t wait to read your article, have read all of `em since the one of ZMI.

 

 

 

BTW, Actually merchanters might result better than they were in some cases but in some other the prices they usually sold for is now taken as too much and also players sell for the normal price in most cases so merchanters offers are sometimes put with less priority than the ones from other players.

[Aneron]

Most merchanting is a form of what is called "arbitrage", which means taking advantage of price differences between two markets. For example, people used to buy some items in f2p because they were cheaper there and sell on p2p, or they'd buy in w2 and sell on the forums, etc.

 

 

 

If Jagex hadn't ruined the GE with its silly price controls, then the market would always reflect the current market value of items. People would be able to easily buy and sell items and many would stop using other markets.

 

 

 

As it stands now, the new system restricts people from setting prices, which causes differentials in supply and demand. Merchants can easily monitor items that are being restricted to unrealistic prices and move quantities of goods between the GE and other markets.

 

 

 

Price controls don't work. I'll have an article on this shortly.

 

 

 

That's based on the assumption that the prices the GE provides are inaccurate (and keep in mind that they are self-correcting :wink: ).

[cat666]

Well I have huge amounts of flax and maples stored up for this. However I can't sell either at the GE as the minimum price they sell for is more than the current going rate on the forums.

 

 

 

Still means I will be using the forums and world hopping.

 

 

 

Also people are just standing around the GE selling items for lower than the GE price. I can see why Jagex imposed a max limit on items but surely they could remove the minimum limit? Give us a warning or something to say "Are you sure you wish to sell this for such a low price?". Least then I could get something for the useless junk I have lying around. I have 16 lava battlestaffs, no way are they going to shift for the minimum GE price.

 

 

 

Nice idea though, will be great once it stabalizes.

[TheAncient]

Heh, I'm disappointed due to the price controls - Jagex managed to nerf another good update. Hopefully they'll update these controls so they refresh faster.

 

 

 

Also... the GE just crashed on W79; it isn't letting anyone withdraw items that they dont want to sell anymore :shock:

[Moonshadow]

! This is the worst update ever! I will give reasons once I see what the update is like... Note the sarcasm ;)

 

 

 

But, selling some thing will be nicer, but, I wish you could set your own price anyways.

[Goldenjkered]

Hm, I'm on world 121, and there seems a to be a bug where, once you put your stuff up, you can't abort it and get it back. Big problem, dno if its like this on other worlds.

[drgnslyer_15]

Hm, I'm on world 121, and there seems a to be a bug where, once you put your stuff up, you can't abort it and get it back. Big problem, dno if its like this on other worlds.

same happened to me on 99

[Iv_Green_vI]

I personally think that people will stick to manual selling..

 

 

 

I'm sure others will agree with me on this one.

[MooseHole]

Well I have huge amounts of flax and maples stored up for this. However I can't sell either at the GE as the minimum price they sell for is more than the current going rate on the forums.

Yes, do not sell it if it's less than you're willing to sell it for. If people do this, the prices will rise to compensate over time. However, why would people buy your stuff on the forums when they can buy it easily and cheaper at the GE?

[Bini]

Hm, I'm on world 121, and there seems a to be a bug where, once you put your stuff up, you can't abort it and get it back. Big problem, dno if its like this on other worlds.

same happened to me on 99

 

 

 

People are "panicing" in world 1 at the GE.

 

Stupid noobs spamming and making me lagg.

[drgnslyer_15]

Hm, I'm on world 121, and there seems a to be a bug where, once you put your stuff up, you can't abort it and get it back. Big problem, dno if its like this on other worlds.

same happened to me on 99

 

 

 

People are "panicing" in world 1 at the GE.

 

Stupid noobs spamming and making me lagg.

i only have bout 4m in there.. and some items i really am not concerned about.. So if i did lose my stuff it wouldn't be too much... people panic over lil things lol

[goat62494]

 

Ali Morrisane needs to teach his son how to spell

[TheAncient]

 

Ali Morrisane needs to teach his son how to spell

 

 

 

Hahahahah silly quality assurance team.

 

 

 

Dude that's a crazy good-looking face that boy has (in the non-creepiest way possible).

[cat666]

Well I have huge amounts of flax and maples stored up for this. However I can't sell either at the GE as the minimum price they sell for is more than the current going rate on the forums.

Yes, do not sell it if it's less than you're willing to sell it for. If people do this, the prices will rise to compensate over time. However, why would people buy your stuff on the forums when they can buy it easily and cheaper at the GE?

 

 

 

I'm saying the GE is overpriced. Maples I think were 85 on the GE. I always struggled to sell them for 80 but the GE won't let you lower it that much.

[lordkafei]

I have a new favorite f2p yew spot... :D OMG so easy to cut yews north of Varrock Castle now that the wall has an opening now.

 

 

 

And it was nice that they put the spirit tree inside the wall as well.

[alcoolj]

GE Offline: Quote from Jagex:

 

 

 

 

 

Well despite countless hours of testing it seems a couple of bugs slipped through with the grand exchange system. It actually took several million trades before the exact set of circumstances that caused this problem showed up so you can imagine how obscure it is!

 

It's nothing too major though, but nonetheless we've temporarily taken the system offline to fix it and get it working perfectly. That's because with a system this important we would rather not risk it. We hope to resume normal operation shortly.

 

 

 

Anyhow the main point of this news post is to reassure everyone that you will NOT lose any items through this. (that's because your items are actually looked after by an older system that has been working fine for years, rather than the new system). Therefore any items currently stuck in the exchange will be retrievable/tradeable as normal as soon as we put it back online again. So no need to worry about that.

 

 

 

Sorry for the inconveniance, we know you're all keen to try out the exchange! Sorry!