Tutorial:Lowballing

Introduction
What is Lowballing? Lowballing is a popular money making method used by mid to late game players. These players buy your items lower than the market price. Lowballing can be a way to sell your items fast when you're in need of coins.

Things to remember
Before you start: It is recommended that you get a booster cookie or open AH tracking website to check the lowest BIN.


 * 1) The best lowballs are the ones that are auctionable. Items such as hoes, minions, books, exotics are usually not profitable.
 * 2) Make sure to have at least 20 million coins when lowballing to allow greater profits.
 * 3) Respect players who are lowballing/being lowballed at all times.
 * 4) Be fair when trading/lowballing items.

Lowball Price
There are plenty of variables to consider when lowballing, let's look at the most common ones.

When lowballing pets, it's recommended to treat a pet with a level of below 100 as a level one pet. Most players who lowball do this in order to increase their profits. Level 100 pets should be priced at around 125% more than the lowest bin or 85% of the lowest Level 100 Pet on the Auction House.
 * The first variable to consider is the sell volume. The sell volume is how much an item sells per skyblock day. Popular skyblock mods such as NotEnoughUpdates, Skytils, and more can show the sell volume in the item's tooltips.
 * The second variable to consider is the item's rarity. The items rarity is determined by how difficult it is to get the item, or the actual rarity of the item. Items such as the Shadow Assassin Chestplate is a great example as it only has a 1.03% drop chance in a Bedrock Chest with a S+ dungeon score. Because of this, the usual price of the chestplate is 20 million, even though it only costs 6 million to unlock.
 * The third and final variable to consider is the price of the item. The simplest version is to just price the item by 85% of the lowest BIN. There are plenty of sub-variables in the price of the item such as Craft Cost, Enchantment Cost, Hot-Potato book Cost, and Acquire cost. The Craft Cost is how much it takes to get the materials needed to craft the item. The Enchantment Cost is how much EXP levels it takes to add the enchantments necessary. It can be determined by the number of EXP bottles it would take to get enough EXP levels to enchant. It can also be determined by the cost of the enchantment when buying the book in the Auction House (Ex. A Giant Killer 6 book costs 1.2m coins as of writing). The Hot-Potato book cost is how much it would cost to apply hot potato books. And the Acquire cost is how much it would take to get this item. It can be self-determined or determined by the opinion of others.
 * A special mention is the rarity of the item. Exotics can bring the price up very high. Lowballing exotics is a risky decision as not much people can afford Exotics. Exotics dyed before the Dye Patch can go to more than 100 million coins. Exotics dyed because of the Wither Armor bug can go to more than 50 million coins. Exotics dyed before the Crystal and Fairy Armor Patch can go to more than 20 million coins.

With this, you can make a formula for calculating the price. (This is a rough draft, I'm experimenting on the formula itself too)

A simpler and most common formula would be:

(or your preferred percentage)

Advertising
The most common way to advertise that the player is lowballing is through Lobby Hopping. Lobby Hopping is the action of going through multiple lobbies with the intent of advertising. You can use the Hub Selector to hop between lobbies. Always start with Hub 1 as it's always filled with the most players.

After you go to a lobby, you have to move away from spawn to be able to send messages. After that, you can paste your advertisement. To be able to send it a couple of times, you can add a random character such as / or `. Example:


 * Lowballing 20m Purse! /visit me (no hoes, minions, exotics, non-auctionable items)
 * Lowballing 20m Purse! /visit me (no hoes, minions, exotics, non-auctionable items)/////////////////
 * Lowballing 20m Purse! /visit me (no hoes, minions, exotics, non-auctionable items)```````````````

Remember to follow the Hypixel Rules & Guidelines when advertising.

Common phrases and forms of advertising are. Example:


 * Lowballing with 20m purse!!! /visit me (no hoes, minions, pet skins)
 * LOWBALLING VISIT ME (auctionable items only)LOWBALLING VISIT ME (auctionable items only)LOWBALLING V (spam copy paste)
 * >>> Need quick cash? Visit me to lowball your items!!! <<<
 * Lowballing Juju /visit or party me!!!

Lowballing
Once you've got some people on your island, it's time to lowball. First, you send a trade request to the person you want to lowball. After the person accepts, you check the item/s they want to lowball. You then use the Guide above to figure out what price you want. A common trick used by business people is to first offer the lowest price you can offer. For example, the person offers a clean Livid Dagger they got from a dungeon run. The lowest bin of the Livid Dagger (as of writing) is 7 million coins. You then offer then offer the person 5 million coins. Of course, the person refuses as it's too low. You then give the price you actually want to lowball, in this case, 6.5 million coins. The person might think they're getting a great deal, from 5 million coins to 6.5 million coins. Remember to check the items your getting. Most people initially add the item/s you want, then quickly switch it for a look alike. Refer to Scams for more. Once you've finished the deal, you can go to the Auction House and put up the Livid Dagger for 7 million coins. That's a 500k profit!

Of course, the example above is a risky trade. The person in the example paid 6.5 million coins only to get a 500k profit, that's only 8%! Your goal is to always get at least a 15% profit. The best way, as always, is to use the Guide above.

What if you made a mistake? You now can't sell that Livid Dagger you got for 6.5 million coins! Go to a Hub, preferably Hub 1 as it's filled with Lowballers. Find a lowballer with a purse more than 100 million coins. These types of players are very rich and can suffer millions of losses and can get it back easily. Ask the lowballer to lowball the Livid Dagger than you lowballed. You should try to sell the item with the same price as you got it, in this case 6.5 million coins. If not, you should try to get it 5% below of what you got to minimize your losses.

Being Lowballed
As Skyblock grows bigger and bigger with each update, the prices of items inflate, therefore players need more money. Players who need quick cash in order to keep up with the new updates may find being lowballed a great way of getting it. Previously, we talked about lowballing. In this part, we'll take about why you would want your items lowballed, how to get a good price, and how to prevent getting scammed.

Just a few reminders:


 * This is just a guide based on my understanding of being lowballed, do not take this as a verified and official method.
 * This guide contains methods based on what worked before for me. It's not to be taken seriously and may not work all the time.

With that out of the way, let's get started!

Items to be lowballed
To decide what to lowball, you can use Discord Networth Bots to find items that are worth a lot. Bots such as Maro, SkyHelper, and more.

Find an item or an Armor Set that you haven't used in a while. While you're at it, empty out your Ender Chest and check out your Backpacks too. Never sell your main gear and armor unless you'll use to get better gear and armor.

Check out the Auction House and find the prices of the items you want to sell. If the item is Recombobulated, you can check the lowest price of that rarity too. If your item has Tier 6 or 7 enchants, reforges, stars, make sure to remember that when lowballing.

Finding a lowballer
Previously, in Advertising, we talked about lobby hopping. Most lowballers start at Hub 1 as it's always filled with the most players. You can use the Hub Selector to hop onto Hub 1. After a while, wait for the spammy advertisements. If no one is advertising that they're lowballing, you can advertise that you're looking for a lowballer. Here are some examples:


 * Looking for a Lowballer (20m purse) /p me!!!
 * Anyone here a lowballer?
 * YOOO anyone here a lowballer? /p me if so

Like mentioned before, you can spam these messages by adding a random character such as ` or /.

Making a deal
Once you've got a lowballer, go visit their island to start being lowballed. Usually, most lowballers will give you a price under the lowest BIN. As mentioned before, if your items have Tier 6 or 7 enchants, reforges, stars, make sure to remind the lowballer that and ask for a higher price. Make sure to not ask a very high price or you may risk losing a great deal. If the lowballer asks you for a price too low, you can always decline and leave to find another lowballer.

Once you find a price that you both agree on, you can go ahead and send a trade request. Remember to check the coins your getting. Most people initially add the price you want, then quickly switch it for a lower one. Refer to Scams for more.

You've done it! You've successfully been lowballed and can now get your shiny new gear!

Scams
When lowballing/being lowballed, the player has a very high risk of being scammed. here's some ways to prevent that.

When the player is lowballing:


 * Remember to do your research about the item being lowballed.
 * Be friendly and respectful to the other player/s.
 * Buy the items one at a time to prevent item switching.
 * Always check the item when trading, players can switch the item/s before you accept to trick you.

When the player is being lowballed:


 * Remember to do your research about the item being lowballed.
 * Be friendly and respectful to the other player/s.
 * Sell the items one at a time to prevent item switching.
 * Always check the coins when trading, players can switch the coins before you accept to trick you.
 * Observe the other people being lowballed to see if the lowballer is a fair player.