You want an algorithm that calculates the future price of virtual items in an online computer game, and it must be accurate or presumably you would lose virtual money if the price goes against you?
I have already coded a program for that but I was only going to sell it to 89 people so it doesn't saturate the virtual market.
Peter
That's plain ignorant. If you don't know how to price virtual assets, you have no hope of pricing anything real. For all asset classes, virtual or otherwise, the pricing strategy is similar. It has nothing to do with taking pot shots, tossing coins or gambling.
To sell quick:
Sell Price = What people are willing to pay now
It's cheap if 75% or more of interested customers are willing to buy at that price. It is expensive if 25% or less of interested customers are willing to buy at that price. Those customers who are interested but refusing to pay the asking price are enormously valuable as a gauge for your pricing strategy. You should treat them with greatest courtesy even though they don't appear to give you a penny.
To sell higher:
Sell price = What people are willing to pay sometime in the future
It's cheap if 75% or more of interested present and future customers are willing to buy at that price. It is expensive if 25% or less of interested present and future customers are willing to buy at that price. Those customers who are interested but refusing to pay the asking price are enormously valuable as a gauge for your pricing strategy. You should treat them with greatest courtesy even though they don't appear to give you a penny.
Cheap or expensive
It's entirely up to you. Some prefer to be cheap-ass sellers. Others prefer to be premium sellers. Selling cheap creates more transactions and more work. This may be interesting for those who are easily bored. Selling expensive affords you less work so that you can go do other things. So adjust the aforementioned gauge until satisfied.
Whichever style chosen, it is best to be consistent and stay in that style. This tells the customers where you stand. Once they know your style fits theirs, they will approach you never needing to think again.
Profit margin
The profit margin is a consequence of how long you can afford holding inventory of items being sold. The longer you can hold, the greater chance the price fluctuation will reach the point you demand/find-satisfactory.
Profit is also a consequence of your salesman skills. For those who are genuinely skilled, they would be able sell a pile of snow to an eskimo, while it is snowing and the snow is falling on the eskimo's igloo all by itslef.
Additionally, profit is a consequence of your market manipulation. If you actively dry up the supply for any particular item generally and everywhere, you can set the price to whatever you like. Of course this requires capital and inventory capacity. Both are easily available, given time, if you understand the essence of how to price assets, virtual or real.
A profiteer's goal
You want to be the dam in a river of supplies. Hold them all up, and then release them to the other idiots at the price and rate of your choosing. They will respect and thank you for it, while believing you to be the best altruist/ATM-machine out there. In the mean time, you keep on growing. With size, come fame. With fame come influence. With influence come power. With power, you can change the truth, such that people are taught to accept they are exploited not because of your actions, rather it is their own inferior psychology.
