PSA ༊*·˚ Overpricing

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·˚ ༘ Introduction

If you’ve been here for a while (or if you simply read our PSA’s, and for that we greatly thank you) you may our underpricing PSA. In the post I covered some facts about our community’s then quite large underpricing issue, and how to price things correctly.

Recently, the staff team has noticed a somewhat unreasonable increase in prices for art. In light of this, we’ve decided to post a PSA regarding the, now prevalent, inflation in CAA.

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·˚ ༘ Reasons why

So, why has this become a thing in the first place? Well, the first reason is:

1. More s

Our community has grown by thousands of during the past year or so, which has led to more Amino coins being present in our Amino’s “exchange system”. This means that there are more people willing to pay for adoptables, leading to people getting richer, leading to people having even more ac to spend, and so forth… It’s a textbook example of ‘supply and demand’. The more money there is circling around, the more it allows for higher prices. This is obviously not only an issue in our community, rather an extensive issue across all of Amino, and there is no easy fix for it.

2. Inflation

This is one of the main reasons for price increases almost anywhere. Simply explained, inflation is an upward movement in the overall price level of goods and services in an economy. This means that there is more and more money in the system, which makes the value of it less and less.

As more money has come to circulate in our community, the value of the Amino coin has decreased. When this community had less than 10k , one Amino coin was worth more than it is now (not literally, but the experienced value of it has decreased).

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·˚ ༘ Why is this a problem?

First off, it’s intimidating for newer . Unfortunately, many new come into the Amino not expecting such high prices - leading to some leaving the community or simply not buying adoptables (which is what this community’s main idea is!).

Additionally, the value of the Amino coin going down leads to you paying an increasing amount of ac for things that aren’t really worth 200k ac. No, let me explain (get ready for some numbers, fellow math haters).

To put the numbers into perspective, I’m going to use the most accurate conversion rate we have of ac to USD. The general consensus is that 120 ac = 1 USD. Of course, converting real money to fake currency is always a bit more fluid than real money to real money, which means that not all people use this rule strictly, but this is what you’ll be paying if you buy ac.

With this knowledge, let’s bring in an example. An adoptable was recently sold for around 185k Amino coins which, converted using the 120ac rule, is approx. 1,541 USD (I did this by taking the ac price, 185k divided by 120). No matter how beautifully intricate an adoptable or commission may be, it is not reasonable to pay over 1,500 dollars for it. It’s simply not.

Furthermore, a very, very important aspect of this is: what if you get scammed? Our community bank offers an upwards of 3k ac in compensation if a has been scammed, but that is our maximum. We have this rule in place as we simply cannot afford paying s these large amounts of ac - we’d empty our bank extremely quickly. So, if you were to be scammed off of such an absurd amount of Amino coins, we would NOT be able to compensate you for it, no matter how bad we’d feel. Therefore, we advise you to avoid paying these large amounts of money in one go. Take care of your coins!

Another cause of this overpricing issue is that “coin mining” and botting has seen an increase in some communities as well as mass-paying following after. The staff team urges you to never engage in coin mining/botting, as it is strictly against Amino’s TOS to use many of the programs used, and it worsens the inflation problem greatly.

Additional insight written by Sir.Sheepii (added Jan 8th)

Greetings lovelies, sheepii here! It was suggested an addendum be made given the we've seen in regards to the psa. To clarify again, we are not asking our s price things at 500ac and below with this psa. We ARE asking that buyers take some time to think citically on purchases within the community, and ensure our s are aware of the issue.

As we have seen rises for higher price amounts on sales; we have also seen rise in joybidding - wherein a with call an amount they do not have and try to create alternative payments in the payment's place - general hostility in that s are unable to purchase adopts with higher bidding amounts or sales listings, and our inability to refund scams with higher amounts of ac payments have led to this psa.

What we aimed to do with this psa was to bring light that higher prices were causing noticible issues in the community, and that we wanted to adress it without giving any set rules or guideline changes. A public announcement on an issue that we wanted to bring attention to. We wanted to put things into perspective with the coin conversion rate, which was not elaborated on properly.

Using an adjusted conversion rate to accomodate the inflation ( 500ac = $1 )

that means :

5,000ac = $10

12,500ac = $25

25,000ac = $50

50,000ac = $100

The point of the above maths is to highlight how intimidating it has become to newer sellers and buyers, and to spotlight the current issue of how much is spent. When we talk about amounts through conversions, it showcases how extreme bid wars and sales have become. While there is an argument to be made about artistic worth and supply and demand, we are asking that our s take a moment to consider their spending habits and how the community can be effected by such drastic amounts.

Constructive and differing opinions are always welcome; however we expect they be shared with a level of maturity and respect. Thank you for reading and taking the time to engage with the post!

- Sheepii ♡

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·˚ ༘ Conclusion

Something very important to understand is that we are NOT against high prices - we’re against unreasonable prices. If an adoptable/custom/commission is worth a lot of ac, then it deserves to be sold for that price. But paying 200k for one adoptable isn’t reasonable, especially considering the conversion rates. Economic growth is great, even in Amino communities! But when it gets out of hand, it needs to be stopped. Inflation is only good in moderation.

So, the next time you are pricing your own or someone else’s art, and the next time you’re planning on buying art, be wary of the price. Is it a reasonable price or is the conversion to real money simply ridiculous?

This is by absolutely no means a critique on a specific group of s. Everything we’ve seen regarding this hasn’t ever been connected to any one person, rather it’s a widespread issue that many unknowingly take part in. Something else to mention is that we are NOT going to implement any price restrictions to minimize overpricing, this is simply a PSA to inform you all about this situation and how it affects our community.

Additionally, I am urging you all to not underprice your art either. It’s a little ironic, but in my older underpricing PSA, I at the end wrote this;

“I’m not telling you guys to start pricing your art at thousands upon thousands of Amino coins just for the gits and shiggles, but I am telling you all to start thinking about how you price your own art and others’ art.”

It’s funny, isn’t it? This time around I want to tell you all, once again, to start thinking even more consciously than before about how you price art. Respect your work, don’t underprice it, but also respect the economic wellbeing of the community (and our wallets)!

That’s it for this PSA. Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions or concerns, then feel free to voice them in the comments and we’ll try to respond to the best of our abilities!

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