Vendor Search Sites are Blacklisting Vendors

[Link]

Ever find an item randomly on a vendor which is cheaper than what is available on the vendor search sites? Well someone has looked into it and found the problem is more widespread than a simple computer error.

Good day...

For the past three weeks I have been visiting several shops in Luna...
(those under those sites Radar... lets be nice people and call it Radar)

I wrote down the prices of the good that are selling the most...
(buy 20 get a bonus reward... those items)

Then I went to those sites and I searched.

Outcome...

finding #1 (and we will discuss this one only for now)
Several vendors are ignored by the Radar.

So it confused me... so I asked the owner of one of those vendors to move it to another Luna House. She did but "let it slip" where her vendor was now and gave the location and its name(chat and icq)... and I waited another day...

The next day, her vendor was again out of the Radar.

So I compiled a list of vendors that aren't listed... and understood that the market is manipulated and some vendors are moved to ignore... some very specific vendors on some shards, some unfamiliar vendors on another shards, hey I cant know everyone...
(there are more issues with the Radar, lets stick to this one first)


This survey was done on Catskills, Europa, Drachs, Baja, Chesapeake, Sonoma and Pacific.
Main testing was done in Chesapeake and Catskills.
(with a standard deviation of 15,8%)

And yes... I have way too much time on my hands.

Several months back the more popular search site was purchased and now one person has a monopoly on vendor searching. So they are now abusing their control to make more money by ignoring vendors which sell more cheaply than their own.

[Vaen]

Welcome to business.

[Domo]

Both websites belong to Golrath.

I don't know if they blacklist individuals but I do know at one point they didn't post certain items selling below a certain price.

[Link]

[quote="Domo"]Both websites belong to Golrath./quote]
Well that explains why FindUO looks like crap now. It used to have a nice design but now the logo is a Google ripoff? lol

[Rafman]

it looks like over half (not to say 90%) of vendors aren't showing up on the search sites anymore.

[Domo]

Probably because the script program is down right now so they can't update.

If really that many are missing though, that's pretty bad and would justify me getting one together...

maybe that will make him revert the change =)

[Kayne.]

Lame, the reason I used it the most was to get cheapie junk weps/jewels for training