AH Mishap, Troubling ConclusionFollow

Okay, I'll make a long story short.

I'm messing around with low bids on the Windurst AH, and I get a Penitent's Rope (http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?fitem=8893) for 10k. It's a 1.6 million gil item. I start going wild buying stuff that I couldn't previously afford. Later (say 12+ hours later), the seller contacts me saying it was a mistake. She offers to pay 75k for it, and after some internal deliveration I give her a counter offer of 160k (10% of the value). She is really, really upset at this, and accuses me of extorting her out of money, etc. I talk to several people and they think I'm being really nice about it, considering I could just sell it and pocket the 1.6 mil. But she has nothing but sour grapes and hard feelings for me. I suppose I should mention she states she purchased it for 600k a couple of months ago. So, I figure that if someone can drop 600k on a single item, I have no problem asking him or her for 10% of its value as compensation. However, I am wondering if anyone has any opinions on:

1) Whether what I did was right (monetary exchange of 10% of the value of an item mistakenly sold at the AH - she thought it was a flaggelant's rope) or wrong (should I have just given it back for what I paid for it: 10k), or somewhere in the middle (agreed to her initial offer of 75k for it).

2) Whether it's right or wrong to try and underbid for valuable items at the AH.

I consider myself an ethical person. I would never buy gil or try to rig the game. Her unrelenting bad attitude about this really upset me because I thought I was being reasonable and, actually, a pretty nice guy about it. What's 160k to a level ~55 RDM who has a 1.6 mil belt?

Bah, humbug, I say!

She sold it for that much so she wouldn't have to pay the fees... atleast that is what I think. If you think about it how many times have you actually tried to bid lower the then price history? Not many people do, so sellers rely on that to sell items at low prices so they don't have to pay the AH fees, but still make the big money off of it..

Ladies and Gentelmen this is what happens when you try to beat the system and the system bites you back. Enjoy your rope and keep your money.

agreed. keep it.

you stated your terms, which were honestly very gracious. at the rate you asked, she would have ended up paying some multiple of the AH charges she tried to avoid in the first place as penalty, that money being your reward for returning the item had this been an honest mistake. her reluctance to meet your terms of reward for an honest deed clears you of any moral responsibility.

you did what was right, in stating your terms. she did not, in trying to cheat you, as she tried to cheat the AH.

enjoy your prize.

Well, I appreciate all of your replies, because I was in a quandary. I agree that she MAY have been trying to undercut the AH fees, but why do that in Windurst AH of all places? I mean, items above level 30 or so tend to sell really poorly, if at all, from the city AHs. Everyone seems to use the Jeuno market and AH to sell expensive and high-level equipment. Consquently, I believed her when she said it was a mistake.

I agree that perhaps I should have kept the rope, but after some internal deliberation, I gave it back to her for a promise of 10% of the item's value. Perhaps I'm a sap, a softie, etc. She stated she only had 75k on her at the time because she was leveling ninja (which is just about as highly suspect a claim as anything I've ever heard another player state), and I let her just give me that for the time being with a written promise to pay me the other 85k when she gets it (which should be soon given her stated ability to farm ~45k/hour).

My final judgment was based on the thought that, what if I mistakenly did something just as dumb (even though I doubt I ever would)? I would want to "take it back" and try to fix the situation. However, dumbness of that magnitude needs some corrective action, or there is no lesson learned. The only reason I regret my decision is that she was totally rude about the entire process and frankly, I felt she should have been grateful.

Edited, Sun May 1 09:59:15 2005 by Lawlesslobster

I have been in a similar situation.

I bought a Vermillion Cloak for a little over 100k Gil when it was listed around 4 million. (I offered all the money i had at the time, so maybe i could get lucky.)
The seller contacted me seconds after it happened (Surprisingly fast), so i figured they must've slipped or something when entering the price. (This was before the high taxes in Jeuno)

I gave it back. It was never mine, why should i keep it?(I did make a picture of me in it first ('-'*)) It only came in my possession through something that should have never happened in the first place.

I would have kept it. Simply enough I would belive they were trying to undercut or play with the AH system.

no way, if she could farm 45k an hour she wouldnt be ******** so hard about it.i mean come on 45k/hour 1 day of farming she has the money back she spent on it in the first place. i think she's full of it.

Enjoy your Penitent's Rope^^ If she put it up for 10K to avoid the fees that's the risk she takes. I think you are a very good person for even making her an offer. She sold in on AH and you bought it(it's a done deal).It's yours now do whatever you want with it.

I wouldnt have given it back. I doubt if the roles were
reversed that person would even give you the time of day.
I doubt s/he will pay you back either.

man why did you give it back to her. I dont care what kind of person you are she listed it at a discount and you bought it at that discount. The fair thing to do would have been you sell it at its regular price and keep the tax and your 10% then give her the rest. I hope you get your gil from her when she gets it.

Yeah, ok so pretty much everyone says "You should have kept the rope." Maybe I should have, I really don't know. But I think she made a mistake, and hell, FFXI is just a game, so why not let her have the mistake back? But, now I KNOW that she should have been more grateful to me, because most people would have just sold the belt and pocketed the cash. I certainly know that I could ues some freaking ~700k astral rings right about now.

I have screenshots of her promising to pay me the 85k, so I'm not too worried about it. After all, according to the Player Agreement, a promise is a promise.

The real world is a dog eat dog place, and I think that Final Fantasy Online is in some ways designed with teamwork and comraderie in mind, which is why it is so refreshing to me. If I were to be purely self-motivated, then maybe FFXI would start feeling like work to me, and I wouldn't be able to enjoy it as much.

It is important to consider the moral angle in this situation. I am more or less 100% sure she thought it was a Friar's Rope (dumb, but true), which was why she was selling it in Windurst for 10k. But, that certainly doesn't change the fundamental idiocy of her action. That's why I figured 10% of the value is a fine learning fee as far as I'm concerned. If I were Jeebus, I just would have given the belt back for 10k or even for free. But, of course, I am merely a mortal man and thus I needed some cash. When she pays me, I'm rewarding myself with a scroll of Drain.