Huge price gap between the 4 Agnerod Staves and The Vinktar Square Map

During completing Atlas Objectives I noticed the following:

The Vendor recipe to receive "The Vinktar Square" Map is to sell the four different Agnerod Staves (North, East, West and South). So, I just went ahead and searched on the trade website for the three staves I still needed. I payed 3-4 Chaos Orbs for each. Out of curiosity, I checked the price of the Staff I already had - also about 4c. I then looked up the price for The Vinktar Square Map - lowest offer around 40c, but it was all the same guy.

I was confused, because getting all 4 staves cost me like 15c, but buying the Map directly would cost 40c? It didn't add up and it's suspicious when the same guy offers 20 of them, all T3. (The tier of the Map depends on the lowest iLvL of the staves you vendor, so by just buying them randomly, you probably end up with a T3 Map.)
I went ahead and ignored that person, and then offers started at 50c with most offered at 70c. So the price gap was even worse and it didn't make any sense to me.

Then I researched the price to get a T14 Map (needed to complete the "Awakening Bonus Objective"):

Direct Map trade 60+c vs. four iLvl 81+ staves ~6c each = ~24c.

I checked if all prices pan out:
I whispered the guy offering 20 of those Maps, each 40c, but I didn't get a reply on several tries.
I put one T3 Map up for 38c (~15c for staves) - sold within 10 minutes.
I spent 24c on all ilvl 81+ Agnerod Staves to get a T14 Vinktar Square Map.
Put that T14 Map up for 55c to be lowest seller - sold within 10 minutes.


There were only ~70 offers for the map (any tier; T14 ~50 offers), and I can't imagine everyone knowing about the vendor recipe, because why spent 30+ Chaos Orbs more than you have to? So I think that some people just abuse that fact and gain a lot of currency from those who buy the Map for a very high price instead of getting the staves much cheaper.


I don't know what to do about that other than make the Vendor recipe widely known, can't really punish the "scammers" for people's lack of knowledge.

I wouldn't call it 'scamming' but making good use of market opportunities. Now that the word is out, those margins will drop of course.

This isn't new and it happens with every other component building item. You can also ask yourself why is presence of chayula 4x more expensive than the 2 parts to build it. People just don't care and would rather pay the extra c to save themselves trouble.

Welcome to "PoE: the Trade Simulator"

There are people who spend most of their PoE time flipping items to take advantage of imperfect market information. (Some might say they are just taking advantage of laziness on the part of players who don't do their research.) Either way, it's probably the best way to make PoE currency if you're willing to invest the time.

I always wonder why folks who like to do this in PoE aren't spending their time doing it in the real world, where they could make some serious money.

:D

i'd pay 40c instead of 15 to save 3 trades any day, especially on SC

With this logic, a whole tree should cost the same price as a seed, right?

I know that that's the case for a lot of those component recipes, but I never saw such a huge gap, were you can make more than double the currency.
I also know a lot of price fixers/flippers/abusers and whatever you wanna call them exist.
Spending 30+c just to save 3 trades sounds very expensive, maybe some people are willing to do that, but I don't think the majority thinks that way.

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Ozxell wrote:

With this logic, a whole tree should cost the same price as a seed, right?

does it take you 30 years to "mature" the "seed" here? aka vendor the 4 parts?
no, it doesn't.
yes, it was a bad comparison

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Ozxell wrote:

With this logic, a whole tree should cost the same price as a seed, right?

That's not comparable, you don't have to put in any work and maybe just 2 minutes more to buy the components.
I'm well aware people are willing to spend more for the comfort of saving trades, but that big of a difference doesnt make sense. If it was 10c, sure I see that. If it was 20c, sure I'd say people just spend more than they have to. But 30+c? I say this is an insane price for comfort.

At this point in the league 50c is absolutely nothing to a lot of people especially if your currency is just going to rot in standard.