Merchanting Clans do more harm than good?

[Assume Nothing]

Part of the reason that I think all people who are ranked in merch clans deserve a perm ban is because they encourage botting as a way to get ranks, so thats why whenever I see blatant autotypers I always report them for macroing.

That's true, and is in fact a bannable, or at least a mutable, offence.

However, most of these ranks are clever with wording, they tell others to "advertise" which is not directly against the rules, therefore they aren't encouraging others to break rules (in Jagex's eyes). I think Jagex really needs to amend their rules before 'fixing' the economy. Jagex lacks one thing - Common sense

[Ryhzuo]

Merchanting in itself, will always do more greater harm than good.

The basic concept of merchanting is to use price fluctuation to make a profit. The problem with merchanters is that they gain something from nothing. This means that some where else some other unfortunate bugger is losing out. Merchanting in itself contributes absolutely nothing into the flow of goods and services and is but a leech, like the mark up cost on supermarkets and the extra packaging and handling you get for buying overseas.

[Assume Nothing]

Merchanting in itself, will always do more greater harm than good.

The basic concept of merchanting is to use price fluctuation to make a profit. The problem with merchanters is that they gain something from nothing. This means that some where else some other unfortunate bugger is losing out. Merchanting in itself contributes absolutely nothing into the flow of goods and services and is but a leech, like the mark up cost on supermarkets and the extra packaging and handling you get for buying overseas.

 

Lolno, complete bias. Manipulation is the form of 'merchanting' that is community damaging and a common pest, other forms such as flipping is fine and it relies on patience, we do not FORCE people to buy an item for more, people choose to voluntarily. People who buy stuff out buys things at MAX, people who flip buy things at MID.

[SanNo1]

Part of the reason that I think all people who are ranked in merch clans deserve a perm ban is because they encourage botting as a way to get ranks, so thats why whenever I see blatant autotypers I always report them for macroing.

That's true, and is in fact a bannable, or at least a mutable, offence.

However, most of these ranks are clever with wording, they tell others to "advertise" which is not directly against the rules, therefore they aren't encouraging others to break rules (in Jagex's eyes). I think Jagex really needs to amend their rules before 'fixing' the economy. Jagex lacks one thing - Common sense

Ah I didn't think of that, that's actually pretty clever of them. They know that the advertisers will most likely use autotypers, but don't tell them to use them. And if anyone accuses them there are also a few 'legit' advertisers who don't use autotypers and can serve an an example.

 

And my sicere apologies to Kaida23 as there is a differece between merchanting and manipulating clans, if you define them by what they do, but they both call themselves merchanting clans. Even if it's an unjust name, you can't really blame anyone for using the name 'merchanting clan'. It's not what they are, it's what they call themselves.

[vettro]

I learned my lesson not to mess w/buyout clans the hard way. I was at PC and some autotyper was advertising "wefightge! Make millions in days!!!!". So the next day I joined the chat and bought a few Karil's skirts, not knowing that they had been spiking on the GE for several days and had risen an ungodly amount. I bought 3 for 1.7M and they were only worth 800K before I could sell them. I kept one for myself though. :-P

 

I think I may try again, selling wayyyyy before the "dump" price, just try to make a little profit. The problem with the Karil's skirts was that I had potential to make money had I not gotten so greedy and actually believed that people would sell at the "dump" price. I could have made about 300K. So who knows, maybe I will check the GE price charts next time. I won't buy the item that has already spiked, rather wait for something that has just begun rising.

 

I'm glad I was a little suspicious, at least I didn't invest my entire bank.

[SanNo1]

runescape (1 day ago)

 

Hi (name censored),

 

Organised merchanting has long been an activity in RuneScape, but the advent of the Grand Exchange made the activity more accessible and prevolent than before. People always want to try and make a quick buck!

 

We dont see anything wrong with merchanting per say, but users should always remember there is no such thing as a guaranteed profit prices can change unexpectedly and sellers will often try to mislead you when talking about future profits. So never gamble anything youre not prepared to lose!

 

We appreciate that sometimes the item(s) you want to buy appears more expensive than your used too. If thats the case, wait a few days if you can, or look to see if there is an alternative. You could even decide to train something else, or take on a different minigame for a while as the price comes back down.

 

Remember that things are often much cheaper than you expected too, but people rarely complain about getting too much change back from the GE!

 

Mod Stevew

 

Taken from the YT channel. Someone posted this in the RSOF and it cought my attention. Apparently they have decided not to counter it anymore and let the players decide for themselves if they want to be a part of a manipulation clan.

[Assume Nothing]

I learned my lesson not to mess w/buyout clans the hard way. I was at PC and some autotyper was advertising "wefightge! Make millions in days!!!!". So the next day I joined the chat and bought a few Karil's skirts, not knowing that they had been spiking on the GE for several days and had risen an ungodly amount. I bought 3 for 1.7M and they were only worth 800K before I could sell them. I kept one for myself though. :-P

 

I think I may try again, selling wayyyyy before the "dump" price, just try to make a little profit. The problem with the Karil's skirts was that I had potential to make money had I not gotten so greedy and actually believed that people would sell at the "dump" price. I could have made about 300K. So who knows, maybe I will check the GE price charts next time. I won't buy the item that has already spiked, rather wait for something that has just begun rising.

 

I'm glad I was a little suspicious, at least I didn't invest my entire bank.

 

As long as there are gullible people out there, forms of scamming will exist. Remember all those autotypers that went "Omg Jagex blocks your pass if you type it backwards, ****!" The only solution there is; as stated many times before, until the day Jagex changes their rules/applied common sense, and or makes a less exploitable exchange system, there will always be manipulation and scamming.

 

There are methods to gain money from manipulation, but it's very difficult if you do not understand the market. I'd aim for f2p items personally, mainly because f2pers are so restricted the same few items gets manipulated over and over again. Red spider eggs, Power amulets, and Uncut Gems <- They get manipulated around once a month or less, so if you have a large surplus of gold, these are relatively safe investments. After around 4 days of manipulation, dump at max. That would prevent you getting scammed, also, depending on size on clan, they can survive the dump usually.

 

I do prefer flipping, it's one of the traditional methods of merchanting that does less direct impact to the GE, unless a panic causes everyone to dump. Manipulation and Flipping works in a similiar way, but flipping is "Out patiencing impatient people" and earning a pretty profit from it, manipulation is a massive organised buy out that damages the community when a item needed is near impossible to buy. Just thought you'd like to see this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJQyY25v8-8

[Merre]

I think Jagex should add an option to report the autotypers, but not for macroing but for advertising.

I report them daily and I notice after a week the same names are still spamming the same phrases at ge.

If Jagex could take out those autotypers, less people would be temptet to risk their cash for nothing...

[Romy]

I think Jagex should add an option to report the autotypers, but not for macroing but for advertising.

I report them daily and I notice after a week the same names are still spamming the same phrases at ge.

If Jagex could take out those autotypers, less people would be temptet to risk their cash for nothing...

 

Try reporting for 'Distruptive behaviour'.

 

I'm not quite sure if it works that way, but Disruptive behaviour is a lot less commonly reported for (it's basicly a report for spamming), and if I am correct, better looked after for that fact.

 

I could be wrong, but it costs nothing to try, and you're technically sending a better report, as there's no 'clear' evidence for macroying, but there definetly is one for spamming.

[ilovecuttingyews]

The main problem that I see in Jagex's handling of this is that even though they say that auto talkers are against the rules, they don't really do anything proactive about it. With their current systems it can take weeks even months to ban convicted autoers. There is one auto talker on my (old) homeworld that I have reported evertime I saw it for weeks. Still there. And this auto is one of those that goes for litterally 24 hours per day.

 

I have asked Jagex if they plan on setting up some sort of auto mute system where the system mutes you if you say over XXXX amounts of words in an hour or say the same lines XXXX amount of times in an hour without a mistake (or the same mistake). They said that they don't need such a system because the ingame auto spam isn't that big of an issue. That's what really grinds my gears...the fact that Jagex doesn't see auto spam as a big issue. It is clearly the number 1 way in which clans recruit. Without that, most of the clans would cease to exist. It seems (in F2P at least) that the clans with the most auto talkers are the ones that get the most people and thus manipulate the prices higher.

 

Ever since PVP cash rewards all of the 'average Joes' seem to have at least a couple mill. All it takes is one 76k trick to make up to 5M. Then these players see other clans auto spamming so they set up their own bots to make their own manipulation clan. These type of clans are the worst for scamming players. The leader knows that the clan won't last long so they make no effort to avoid mass losses for the clan members.

 

That was kinda all over the place, but that's just what came to mind when reading this topic.

[Assume Nothing]

The main problem that I see in Jagex's handling of this is that even though they say that auto talkers are against the rules, they don't really do anything proactive about it. With their current systems it can take weeks even months to ban convicted autoers. There is one auto talker on my (old) homeworld that I have reported evertime I saw it for weeks. Still there. And this auto is one of those that goes for litterally 24 hours per day.

 

I have asked Jagex if they plan on setting up some sort of auto mute system where the system mutes you if you say over XXXX amounts of words in an hour or say the same lines XXXX amount of times in an hour without a mistake (or the same mistake). They said that they don't need such a system because the ingame auto spam isn't that big of an issue. That's what really grinds my gears...the fact that Jagex doesn't see auto spam as a big issue. It is clearly the number 1 way in which clans recruit. Without that, most of the clans would cease to exist. It seems (in F2P at least) that the clans with the most auto talkers are the ones that get the most people and thus manipulate the prices higher.

 

Ever since PVP cash rewards all of the 'average Joes' seem to have at least a couple mill. All it takes is one 76k trick to make up to 5M. Then these players see other clans auto spamming so they set up their own bots to make their own manipulation clan. These type of clans are the worst for scamming players. The leader knows that the clan won't last long so they make no effort to avoid mass losses for the clan members.

 

That was kinda all over the place, but that's just what came to mind when reading this topic.

 

Jagex... are funny people. They like fixing what doesn't needs to be fixed alot (see the 09 updates), and doesn't see spamming as such a huge issue. It's like before luring were made a bannable offense, the gullible and stupid are always going to be 'victims' of a massive organised scam.

 

I think if a thread on the Rsof gets enough attention, MAYBE, just MAYBE, Jagex will change things. The PvP statuettes update were a direct result of people complaining about the deflation and how the DFS, DFH and Dchains were unfair and unjustly in PvP.