I know that the Diablo 3 markets are generally a social science if you boil it down to which branch of science it fits under. I'm interested in how people buy/sell items focusing more on their internal psyche, and personal choices to trade on the AH and RMAH, however. Can anyone help me build up a list of psychologically appealing price ranges for various levels of upgrades and/or reasons a Diablo player would be satisfied with their choice to buy an item rather than bid on a similar one. I guess I'm saying if anybody has some experience in advertising or consumer psychology I would like to learn as much as I can.

I'm not sure where to start here, but my focus is towards everyday things which people buy to improve their experience of life, enjoyment, or efficiency. I think that if we put our heads together in order and come up with a list of things we buy everyday, then we can begin to understand our target consumer a lot better.

I'll start off with a few examples of what I'm attempting to explain:
--If I'm selling an item on the RMAH and my competition is $2.00 I will generally undercut them by ~10-20% but also put a "9" at the end of the price, so I'll list my item at $1.79.
--If I am attempting to sell a higher priced item that's worth $10-20, I tend to give it a price which is an acceptable amount for people to let go of for a decent improvement in their gaming, but also throw in some random numbers like "3" or "7" and correlates to prices I regularly see in TV ads, newspapers, or any "BIG SALE" sign in stores. ($13.37 for example visually looks like leet, a gamer term for "elite")

Some real life examples are as follows:
--Buying a McDouble for $1.07, it's satisfying now but you'll usually regret it later (especially if you get 2 or 3).
--Purchasing a $12.99 meal from Red Lobster, it's more satisfying to eat because the food is better (but usually only worth it's value if you have money to throw away, or you're eating with friends/family)

This is a good question. Personally, I don't use any jedi mind tricks other than severely undercutting the next highest price or if I can't do that, I'll buy most of everything in the similar price range and then increase the cost as I see fit (what I sometimes do with the 2 to 4 million range nats rings).

Price isn't even my first consideration to be honest. If you're selling to flippers, making sure it is listed recently is important. Unless the market is really small, which means a very specific search, I won't buy unless its been listed 2 hours or less.

This is a bigger deal in the GAH because of the velocity, but could be relevant to this discussion.

Also, the threshold for me has been under $10 for sales typically. But anything priced well below current listed prices eventually sells.

Posted by nuhertz at 02/08/2013 12:31 PM

Price isn't even my first consideration to be honest. If you're selling to flippers, making sure it is listed recently is important. Unless the market is really small, which means a very specific search, I won't buy unless its been listed 2 hours or less.

This is a bigger deal in the GAH because of the velocity, but could be relevant to this discussion.

Also, the threshold for me has been under $10 for sales typically. But anything priced well below current listed prices eventually sells.

The market size is an important factor, definitely. The mechanics of increasing drop rates should also be taken into consideration. I would like to understand more about the tip on selling to flippers, because that would take a lot more effort if you think about it. It does make the item analysis process significantly more appealing to flippers, however.

Posted by Khan at 02/08/2013 11:42 AM

This is a good question. Personally, I don't use any jedi mind tricks other than severely undercutting the next highest price or if I can't do that, I'll buy most of everything in the similar price range and then increase the cost as I see fit (what I sometimes do with the 2 to 4 million range nats rings).

There is a point which undercutting can start to be a bad thing, imo. When there's too much volume and too many people undercutting (similar stats, but only a small percent cheaper) I consider refining my searches or look for smaller markets.

I am attempting to look at patterns in every-day trading behavior of people who play the game mostly on inferno with or without monster power, and don't flip items on a consistent basis. It's like picturing the average diablo 3 player and imagining what he/she does throughout the day, then what ideas go through their mind to get to the a decision about spending money to improve their video-game experience.

I mean what really is the difference between someone buying a big-mac and then buying a a $3-4 item, versus someone who spends like $50 at an expensive restaurant, and then goes home and purchases a 500m item on Diablo 3?

I mean what really is the difference between someone buying a big-mac and then buying a a $3-4 item, versus someone who spends like $50 at an expensive restaurant, and then goes home and purchases a 500m item on Diablo 3?

I would say its a host of factors such as base income level, expendable income level, time available, and at the moment frustration. I can purchase both the burgers or the expensive restaurant meal but if I'm on the way home, its too late for the gym, and the wife has no idea what to cook because she had a long day, I'll hit the drive through to get the family burgers because taking them out to eat would take longer for me to get food in my belly. The burgers in this instance would be a frustration buy for me because I worked late (grumpy), I can't work out (grumpy), and no ready meal at home (grumpy). So I'll compromise my normally disciplined routine out of hunger and frustration buy something I know has historically satisfied me and the family: meat and fries.

Not to mention that I'm sure there is a large population of people playing diablo 3, using the RMAH, with no intention of cashing out. They haven't put any money in, but are selling found items on the RMAH to buy more items for themselves. They don't see the balance as cash, just as another in game currency.

They will spend their battle.net balance in whole or in part on whatever item gears their character the best.

I created wealth and I spent wealth, in game only.

I am back to 5 millions softcore, down from 300 millions.