Why do the prices keep changing?
Pricing at "The Goods", unlike other places, is determined directly, specifically and solely by the amount on hand of that item. If we have 20 units of copper on hand and 20 units of grass, we'll pay you the same amount in Goodscrip for 10 more copper or 10 more grass. That's an "if" -- because of the pricing structure and our volume of trades, the inventory corrects itself pretty quickly. The price changes at "The Goods" happens pretty much automatically and in a precise and predetermined way. You know what the price of grass/Medium Stones/Tilapia/whatever is going to be when you want to buy at "The Goods".
I know it’s automatic but how exactly are the prices worked out?
Well you asked for it…
The value we assign to a commodity depends on one thing only: the amount of that commodity we have in stock. The basic unit of our pricing is the First Good, which is the value we assign to the first unit of any commodity we add to our inventory. It doesn't matter what the good is. As far as we're concerned, the value of a diamond is the same as the value of a carrot, if we have only one diamond and one carrot in stock.
For the mathematically inclined here is how it works:
The value The Goods assign to having n units of a commodity is log2(n+1) First Goods. Suppose we have j units of a commodity. If you want to sell us k more, we will value those k items at a total of log2(j+k+1)-log2(j+1) First Goods; if you wish to buy k of the j items we have in stock, we will ask for log2(j+1)-log2(j-k+1) First Goods in return.
For the rest of us:
The first unit of a commodity has the value of 1 First Good. The next two units together have a total value of 1 First Good. So do the four after that, the eight after that, and so on.
We will always pay exactly 1 First Good for one more than our entire stock of an item. (For example, if we have 437 coal, we will pay 1 First Good for 438 coal.) Likewise, if you want to buy more than half of our stock of an item, it will cost at least 1 First Good. The value of a unit does not "plateau". If you buy 100 glass rods, you will not be simply paying 100 times a base price; the price per unit will always vary with the quantity. We have a calculator that will work out the price.
However, constant proportions of our stock will tend to converge to a constant value. For example, 10% of our entire stock of an item will be worth about 0.152 First Goods, regardless of how much we have in stock.
Consequently, relative prices will tend to remain stable as absolute quantities vary. If we have n times as many of item A in stock as item B, then the price of item B will be approximately n times the price of item A. The more units we have in stock, the closer the approximation. There is no limit to the quantities we will buy. With the formula given, it will in theory always be possible to buy anything we have in stock with whatever listed commodity (except for herbs which we no longer buy but still sell) you can provide, as long as you can provide it in sufficiently large quantities.
Prices are self-correcting. If we value an item too low, we will tend to sell more of it than we do other goods, increasing its relative price. If we value it too high, we will tend to buy more of it, lowering its relative price.
Confused? Wondering what the heck we’re on about?
Don’t worry you won’t need to work out the math to do a trade as we have provided a calculator tool for you to use at:
http://www.atitdhosting.com/thegoods/valuation.php
Really all you have to remember is that:
The more we have of a commodity, the less value we assign to it.
I have a hard time accepting that one deben of straw has the same worth as one Black Syrup Fertiliser....
If that situation occurred it would encourage players to sell more straw to "The Goods" until the price they got by selling was acceptable to them. (Thus making a killing, but only that one time for that one person.) This is a desired side effect of How Things Work at "The Goods." Wild pricing variations caused by changing game conditions on "old" items or new items being entered. The customers of "The Goods" then act as "rational actors" (i.e. greedy capitalists) and buy or sell the items until they feel the time/effort/value of getting the item approximates their (self defined) value for GoodScript. Until a number of people "vote" on where that price is, it will fluctuate. At some point, however, the price will stabilize at the "generally accepted price" and stay there. People can make (or lose) GoodScript while that stabilization is going on, but as you always know what the price is (or will be after you make a trade) there's no surprises.
How is a new item added?
Slowly. It will be discussed by the board and only after it has been agreed by at least three Elders that the item is generic, not complex or unique (see the manifesto page for details), and that carrying it will benefit The Goods as a whole, then donations of a new item are accepted prior to listing it. The level of donations to be solicited for each new item introduced in game will be on a item by item basis. An elder will usually post in the guild forum details of the donations. Note that new items will not be immediately available for trade. Badgering Tellers or Elders into adding a new item will only slow the process down. Further note that canvassing Tellers and Elders to add items that have been considered and rejected will NOT result in us changing our minds.
Do you log your trades? And have you any statistics I can see?
Yes, the retired elder Gurney has created this statistic page: http://atitdhosting.com/thegoods/stats/