User:TheAnimatedKiddo/Market Manipulation

Introduction
Market manipulation is artificially raising the lowest bin of certain items on the Auction House, then listing them for sale to get profit. Market manipulation is a popular money-making method not only in Skyblock, but in real life too.

In this guide, we'll go over the steps of how to do Market manipulation, why you should do it, how to prevent getting scammed by it, and plenty more. Before we begin, here are a few reminders:


 * This is only a guide. These methods are only from what I observed worked before or worked for others.
 * You're most likely to lose coins than earn them.
 * Market manipulation is parallel to scams. I am not responsible for any offenses you may get for Market manipulation.
 * Most of the information here is extrapolated from a Dummies Guide by @cuppyduppy on the Hypixel Forums. This is more of a copy-paste tutorial plus some added notes.

With that out of the way, let's begin!

Finding flips
There are plenty of items in Skyblock that can easily be manipulated. Firstly, you will need plenty of coins as you'll be buying at least 1-10 items from the lowest bin. Minion skins/cosmetics work really well because they're obscure and in short supply. In this case, minion skins were used, but high level books or other items could also be used. Once you've found that item, you'll want to make sure there's a significant difference between all of the listings on the Auction House. Here's a great example:In the first image, the price of the Reindeer Minion Skin is 2.7 million coins with the lowest bin of 1 million coins. The second image has a price of 10.9 million coins. Buy all of the Reindeer Minion Skins below the 10.9 million coins listing.

Auctioning and Advertising
NEVER do bin auctions. They will not sell. Instead, auction your items ONE AT A TIME. Setup your auctions to last between 10-20 minutes with a 10 coin starting bid. After that, Lobby Hop between Hubs and advertise your listing. Here are some examples:


 * >>> 10m Flip on my AH last only 5 MINUTES! Do /ah NOW!!!!!!!! <<<
 * Check out my AH for a 9m FLIP (only lasts for 5 MINUTES) /ah me NOW
 * Once in a lifetime deal on my ah!!!
 * 15m flip on my ah check it out now



Your goal is to get the attention of players willing to spend millions of coins to make more of it. As always, you can add random characters such as ` or / to be able to spam the message. Here's an example:


 * Check out my AH for a 9m FLIP (only lasts for 5 MINUTES) /ah me NOW
 * Check out my AH for a 9m FLIP (only lasts for 5 MINUTES) /ah me NOW`````````````````````
 * Check out my AH for a 9m FLIP (only lasts for 5 MINUTES) /ah me NOW////////////////////////
 * Check out my AH for a 9m FLIP (only lasts for 5 MINUTES) /ah me NOW::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Profiting from Market Manipulation
Let's say your listing got a 7 million coin bid. That's already a 5 million coin profit from one item! Keep in mind that you still need to sell a few more items before you can truly profit. When your auction concludes, approach the winner and offer to sell them more items for a reasonable price. In this case, I would offer them for 5-6 million each. If they accept, you want to get rid of everything. Offer to sell them all at a discount, or just one or two if they agree. Now, approach the second highest bidder if you still have items left over or if the highest bidder did not want more. They'll probably be interested because they lost. Offer your remaining ones for the same amount they bid on your auction. Sell to them, or keep going to the next highest bidder, and so on.

If you still have items left, you can give one to your friend. Simply ask them to bid it at a high amount, in this case 10 million coins then you can Auction and Advertise again. Remember to not do this right away so the previous bidders or other people won't catch on your Market manipulation scheme. You can do this the next day just to be safe.

How do I watch out for manipulation?
If you see a flip while on the Hub Island that seems to good to be true, it probably is. Most market manipulation consists of useless items that seem to be worth a lot and if so, it's most likely being manipulated. You can also check the Ending Soon option in the Auction Agent, and if they're ending anywhere within 1-30 minutes, it's very likely that item is being manipulated. You can refer to Scams for more information.

What do people think about it?
While making money is satisfying, selling your items to people when you know they will lose money is not. @cuppyduppy made a poll on the Hypixel Forums to see what people think about it.

Feel free to use Market manipulation to earn some Coins, but you may feel bad in doing so.