Guild Wars 2

I foolishly bought 10 gold worth of gems right before wintersday expecting them to go up in value. Although they have gone up in value modestly (about 5% increase from 1g 95 silver to about 2 gold 5 silver), they conversion of them back into gold has steadily decreased (From 7 gold at purchase to today only being worth 5 gold 50 silver).

I realize there is a tax on transfer, but this is clearly manipulation being done by arena net. Both are increasing in cost. Inflation cannot affect both, if one increases in cost the other should go down,

Or maybe not as much people bought gems with gold. Or maybe some people dumped their gems and converted them to gold when they saw prices were creeping up.

Of course manipulation is a possibility, but I’m gonna lean towards the system working just as it’s designed to…

No, its clearly manipulation. If the price of gems for gold is going up then the amount of gold that gems are worth must increase. It basic math.

TrojanKilla.6382:

No, its clearly manipulation. If the price of gems for gold is going up then the amount of gold that gems are worth must increase. It basic math.

Sorry if I’m misunderstanding you. But the Gem→ Gold conversion rate and the Gold → Gem conversion rate are pretty much in lockstep with each other.

http://www.gw2spidy.com/gem

That is exactly my problem.

I bought 10 gold worth of gems at 1 g 96 silver per 100 and got 429 gems

Initially I could sell those gems back for around 7 gold when first purchased.

Gem prices rose and are still higher than my purchase price. Highests was 2 gold 5 silver and currently is 2 gold.

Yet if I want to sell back the best I can get is 6 gold and 10 silver. That is a 10-15% decrease in their value despite an increase in their value listed on the trading post.

The math does not add up. An a flat tax cannot account for that.

It is the flat tax that account for it.

You got to see it like this…

- When you convert 100g into gems, you only get 85g ‘worth of gems’: the sell fee is 15%. Even though you do not see it as a buy, the seller only gets 85g.

- Say the convertio was 1 gold = 100 gems.

- When you sell 8,500 gems, you should get 85g. But there again is a 15% fee, so you only get 72.25g.

=> if you buy gems for 100g and resell them immediatly, you only get 72.25 gold.

This means that the price of gems has to go up with 38% (72.25 to 100) before you make a profit reselling.

Tallis.5607:

It is the flat tax that account for it.

You got to see it like this…

- When you convert 100g into gems, you only get 85g ‘worth of gems’: the sell fee is 15%. Even though you do not see it as a buy, the seller only gets 85g.

- Say the convertio was 1 gold = 100 gems.

- When you sell 8,500 gems, you should get 85g. But there again is a 15% fee, so you only get 72.25g.

=> if you buy gems for 100g and resell them immediatly, you only get 72.25 gold.

This means that the price of gems has to go up with 38% (72.25 to 100) before you make a profit reselling.

Your math is correct, but you’re not actually answering his concern: the flat tax rate should always mean that the resale value should always go up if the purchase cost goes up – not necessarily into profit.I

If you buy 100 @ 1g, you can then (in theory) sell at 85s. If the cost of 100 rises to 1g10s, you should then be able to sell for 93.5s. You’re still not profiting, but you’re getting a better return than you were.

So it is indeed strange that, if there is a flat tax, the purchase price has gone up but his resale value has gone down.

Maybe there are incremental tax rate bumps at certain price ranges? Tax the rich and all.

SOCIALISM!

I believe that the issue is the that you are being taxed BOTH WAYS.

15% tax on buying gems
then:
15% tax when you try to sell those gems again.

So, unless the market gives you a profit strong enough to beat a Thirty Percent Tax, you’re not going to be making any gold.

It’s possible to profit, but you need to:

-Invest A LOT of gold into gems.
-Invest when Gems are lowest possible rate.
AND
-Be very patient, as this will be a LONG-TERM investment.

I’m pretty sure they have the gem to gold one fixed in such a way that people just don’t buy alot of gems hoping for them to go up in value

I have to agree with the OP. Logically, if it really was ‘player dependent’, an increase in players converting gems into gold should lower the over all cost of converting gold into gems and visa versa. Instead, conversion both directions has gone up drastically in the last two months. When I first began playing, you could convert 1g into 300+ gems and 100gems into 10-15gold. Now 1 gold will not even get you 50 gems and 50 gems will not net you any conversion. At least, when I checked yesterday that’s how it was.

Feels like a market manipulation to me…

Ageia.5843:

100gems into 10-15gold.

If only….

Ok, admittedly my estimation of gems to gold was a bit wonky. but I still stand behind the fact that it was, just two months ago 1g=300+ gems. and the conversion the opposite direction was in line with same.