Forum Thread

To start this suggestion off, I do want to mention that the addition the rating system for items was overall a positive addition to the Item Market. However, I do believe that the rating system needs some more work done to it. Personally, with how the rating system is currently, I'm definitely more neutral with its current state with its inner workings. But, this is the reason for my suggestion to hopefully make improvements and or adjustments to it.

So, here's an example of why the rating system isn't so great:


In my opinion, this just isn't good. As of writing this post, the Recommended price of Dragon Gems are sitting at: 34,000 - 38,000.

The current best price for Dragon Gems are 39,000, which is measly only 1,000 more PD in value from it's highest recommended price point range. Honestly, I don't believe such a difference should deem an item to have the highest rating. Especially since the lowest priced Dragon Gems has the same price rating of the most expensive Dragon Gem which is astronomical in price. Also, considering the current Market Prices are higher than the recommended price, and there's plenty of sellers who have their Dragon Gems currently listed for higher.

I do realize that the price ratings are based off of the recommended price of an item, and what an item would be successfully being sold at mainly. Those sales are what are mainly contributing to the recommended price which makes up what the ratings would be.

So what do I think should be done about the rating system to be better?

Well, I think that the ratings shouldn't be solely based off the recommended price of items and what they are typically selling at. I think that the ratings should also try to consider and adjust accordingly based off of the overall current Item Market listings overtime. If an item stops getting listed and less sold less frequently at its recommended price, then the price ratings should start shifting accordingly based off of the available listings for said item.

So, let's say Dragon Gems here start getting sold less at their recommended price of 34,000 - 38,000, then the cheapest listings available (even if they're higher than the recommended price) will have their rating lowered more towards being a fair deal.

There's a lot of items that aren't selling as much with how the rating system is now. Especially with very cheap items, a few PD difference is what could make an item fair priced versus being very expensive which doesn't make too much sense. It's just hurting sellers in the long run. I just don't think that it helps the economy, or really is going to help simulate it. Don't get me wrong, the rating system is really great in theory, but it just isn't realistic as it stands currently and needs to be more considerate.

This thread has received Mod approval and is now open for discussion.

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Full Support. Due to certain things, many prices have dropped.

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support; maybe additionally the recommended price could be shown below/next to the "very expensive" or replace it?

I think that could potentially be an equally good idea as well. The main problem with the rating system currently is that the only cheap and fair deals are what people are mainly buying, which is basically whatever the recommended price would be or lower. People are a lot less inclined to buy the higher priced stock that's rated with being expensive even if it has been sitting there for longer periods of time (as their ratings will most likely never have a chance to really change). The rating system isn't considering any time and wouldn't be giving those sellers with higher priced items a fair chance with having ratings be adjusted if nothing recommended/cheaper is being sold (or less of it is).

So, to buyers the rating system is being deceiving to them in such a way, and that's what's going to drive overall sales down. That also means less items being circulated and making items cheaper than what they may normally be worth. Basically, a lot of items just won't be able to properly stabilize as it makes supply and demand wonky.

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Quote from Ephenia

The rating system [...] wouldn't be giving those sellers with higher priced items a fair chance

The question is, though, what is "fair" and why would users who clearly overprice their items be given a "fair" chance?
The "recommended price" range is basically the minimum and maximum price for which these items are currently being sold. If you sell it in the upper part of this range, then you're definitely trying to sell it for a comparably high price (because most sales are done at a lower price) - thus being labelled as "a bit expensive". If you, however EVEN try to sell your item ABOVE the maximum price that people are willing to pay for normally, then in my opinion it's definitely "very expensive".
Because like I said: It's important to consider that the recommended price range is not the average price but (more or less) the minimum & maximum prices.

Let's take your Dragon Gem example: You say that 39k shouldn't be labelled as "very expensive" because it's "only 1k above the recommended price range". Though, you could also look at it this way: The median price for Dragon gems is currently 35k PD - which means that the 39k is 4k PD (or 11.4%) above the "normal price". I'd say that's pretty expensive, don't you think?

Quote from BlazeZet

Full Support. Due to certain things, many prices have dropped.

This has nothing to do with that.

Quote from Ephenia

The main problem with the rating system currently is that the only cheap and fair deals are what people are mainly buying, which is basically whatever the recommended price would be or lower.

It is completely uncertain whether this is true or not. We have not seen a drop in sales since this update was implemented (interestingly, we're experiencing quite the contrary actually) and the market values of the items has also not dropped (it's worth to mention, however, that this is hard to evaluate after such a short time, though). The items that are currently labelled as "very expensive" have been sold very very rarely even before the update and it's the same now after this update.


All in all I'd recommend you to just "give it a shot" before we further discuss the possible downsides of this update. When judging effects of something on the economy, it's always extremely hard to make speculations so shortly after an update has been released. Maybe it'll even boost sales and lead to a more stable market (because people might actually be more confident about putting up items for a price that is a little higher in the "recommended price" range as it'll be labelled as "fair price".) - who knows. Personally I think this discussion makes only sense after we have actual numbers that prove the effects of this update on the overall economy. Everything else is just very subjective speculating.

Quote from Riako

The question is, though, what is "fair" and why would users who clearly overprice their items be given a "fair" chance?

Fair meaning like the ratings should start to be more in favor of the best current priced listings/lowest currently priced listings available. Even if those prices listed up for an item are going over the recommended price threshold and could be seen as expensive. Another thing to add on is that some people already do set their items for a bit higher, and once their items could happen to be the cheapest available, they may still be seen as "very expensive". The higher rating will deter buyers even if the seller could have left their items listed up for a long time. This is what's not really fair to those sellers as they may have waited and been patient to try and see if they could get a better deal for their items even without the intention of trying to overprice in the first place. That's with just waiting for their items to be the cheapest available on the Item Market with everything cheaper getting sold out. There's not much point of sellers waiting if their stock isn't made more enticing for buyers to pay for them at the time when their items could be the best offer for buyers. They may as well just price their items cheaply and undercut others and get an appealable rating, since time is money after all. There's not much incentive made for them to wait around with getting a better deal that they most likely won't get due to how these ratings currently are..

It's also not really giving all of the people who are overpricing items a fair chance, but it's about making the current market with what listings there are more fair for all sellers alike. There's not always going to be items being put up and sold at the recommended price range, and an item's value could go up or change which is something that happens. The example I showed with Dragon Gems there, everything is "very expensive". Meanwhile, it's more like the cheapest Gems listed there are more fair deals than the higher (latter) prices for what's currently available. Even if their prices are going over the recommended price, that doesn't just automatically make them very expensive as sellers could be starting to demand higher prices as well. Overtime it should start to show that these (lowest/best available offers) would be at the very least be the fairest offers and be given better ratings if not much is getting sold cheaper or at the recommended price anymore.

That's the main point of my suggestion was to just make the ratings more flexible and make them be more considerate. Basically, make the ratings consider not just the successfully bought items, but also the current price listings of an item that are available.

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