Originally posted by C_D_R:

Space Engineers ID "244850" Rare items flatlined by regional exploit loop from crafting

Hello,

I’m posting this because I’m genuinely concerned about long-term market health of Space Engineers.

Problem (short):
The interaction of Steam’s regional minimum pricing and Space Engineers’ scrap→rarity crafting lets players in low-price regions acquire large volumes of low-rarity items for virtually nothing, convert them into rarities, and then place those rarities on the global market. The result is repeated mass supply injections that keep rare items flatlined or permanently depressed instead of following normal supply/demand behaviour.

Why it matters:

Rarity becomes meaningless when high-tier items are produced continuously at near-zero real cost.

Honest traders and players in higher-price regions lose value and confidence in the market.

Developers and the marketplace still earn fees on these transactions, but the long-term health and perceived value of in-game items deteriorates.

Illustrative example (not a how-to):
Uncommon items from some regions can be listed for a few kopeks (very small local amounts). When many of these are converted into a single purple/gold rarity, the global sale value of that rarity is often several dollars — a huge gap between input cost and sell price. That gap allows repeatable, low-risk manufacture + dump cycles that overwhelm natural demand.

Suggested mitigations (practical):
Please consider one or a combination of the following:

Adjust crafting economics — increase scrap requirements or change input/output ratios so manufacturing rarities from low-cost inputs is less trivially profitable.

Cooldown or trade-lock crafted rarities — make newly crafted rarities non-transferable / non-marketable for a short period to prevent instant cross-region arbitrage.

Region-tagging of crafted items — consider temporary region-binding or metadata that helps detect cross-region supply injections.

Rate limits / craft monitoring — flag accounts or IPs performing mass-crafting and review for abusive activity.

Market monitoring and thresholds — automatically detect sudden unusual spikes in rarity supply and alert devs or temporarily throttle listings until reviewed.

I’m not asking for Steam/Dev to change regional pricing itself — I realize Valve controls that. My point is purely that the game mechanic (scrap → rarity) amplifies regional pricing gaps into an exploitable, market-crushing workflow. A small tweak on the crafting side or a monitoring rule could protect the market without removing legitimate player freedom.

If helpful, I can DM full evidence (API priceoverview JSON snapshots, screenshots, and the price-history chart for a representative rarity) so the team can review specifics quickly.

Thanks for taking a look — I appreciate the team’s time and any feedback on whether this is something that can be reviewed.

Best Regards,
[C_D_R — 76561198100344613]

Originally posted by C_D_R:

Hello,

I’m posting this because I’m genuinely concerned about long-term market health of Space Engineers.

Problem (short):
The interaction of Steam’s regional minimum pricing and Space Engineers’ scrap→rarity crafting lets players in low-price regions acquire large volumes of low-rarity items for virtually nothing, convert them into rarities, and then place those rarities on the global market. The result is repeated mass supply injections that keep rare items flatlined or permanently depressed instead of following normal supply/demand behaviour.

Why it matters:

Rarity becomes meaningless when high-tier items are produced continuously at near-zero real cost.

Honest traders and players in higher-price regions lose value and confidence in the market.

Developers and the marketplace still earn fees on these transactions, but the long-term health and perceived value of in-game items deteriorates.

Illustrative example (not a how-to):
Uncommon items from some regions can be listed for a few kopeks (very small local amounts). When many of these are converted into a single purple/gold rarity, the global sale value of that rarity is often several dollars — a huge gap between input cost and sell price. That gap allows repeatable, low-risk manufacture + dump cycles that overwhelm natural demand.

Suggested mitigations (practical):
Please consider one or a combination of the following:

Adjust crafting economics — increase scrap requirements or change input/output ratios so manufacturing rarities from low-cost inputs is less trivially profitable.

Cooldown or trade-lock crafted rarities — make newly crafted rarities non-transferable / non-marketable for a short period to prevent instant cross-region arbitrage.

Region-tagging of crafted items — consider temporary region-binding or metadata that helps detect cross-region supply injections.

Rate limits / craft monitoring — flag accounts or IPs performing mass-crafting and review for abusive activity.

Market monitoring and thresholds — automatically detect sudden unusual spikes in rarity supply and alert devs or temporarily throttle listings until reviewed.

I’m not asking for Steam/Dev to change regional pricing itself — I realize Valve controls that. My point is purely that the game mechanic (scrap → rarity) amplifies regional pricing gaps into an exploitable, market-crushing workflow. A small tweak on the crafting side or a monitoring rule could protect the market without removing legitimate player freedom.

If helpful, I can DM full evidence (API priceoverview JSON snapshots, screenshots, and the price-history chart for a representative rarity) so the team can review specifics quickly.

Thanks for taking a look — I appreciate the team’s time and any feedback on whether this is something that can be reviewed.

Best Regards,
[C_D_R — 76561198100344613]

Originally posted by C_D_R:

Hello everyone’s !

This is not about in-game mechanics — it specifically concerns the Steam Community Market tied to [Space Engineers].
I am requesting that Steam review this issue, or temporarily suspend the market for this title until Keen Software House can address the imbalance.
I have invested a significant amount of money into trading within this market, but it has become concerning that some individuals are generating rare items at negligible cost — by mass-crafting them from low-tier skins acquired for fractions of a cent — and then dumping them into the global market. This practice destabilizes item values, undermines fair trading, and erodes consumer confidence.
If no corrective action is taken within a reasonable timeframe (e.g., one month), I may consider pursuing formal action on the following grounds:
Unfair / Deceptive Practices
Consumer Protection Violations
Failure to Maintain a Fair Marketplace
Unjust Enrichment from Exploitative Systems
Exploitation of Jurisdiction-Specific Pricing Loopholes
I am not raising this to threaten, but to emphasize how serious the impact is on fair players and the health of the market. At minimum, I ask that Valve investigate this matter transparently and clarify its position.
Best regards,

Originally posted by HuskyDynamics:

Originally posted by C_D_R:

Hello everyone’s !

This is not about in-game mechanics — it specifically concerns the Steam Community Market tied to [Space Engineers].
I am requesting that Steam review this issue, or temporarily suspend the market for this title until Keen Software House can address the imbalance.
I have invested a significant amount of money into trading within this market, but it has become concerning that some individuals are generating rare items at negligible cost — by mass-crafting them from low-tier skins acquired for fractions of a cent — and then dumping them into the global market. This practice destabilizes item values, undermines fair trading, and erodes consumer confidence.
If no corrective action is taken within a reasonable timeframe (e.g., one month), I may consider pursuing formal action on the following grounds:
Unfair / Deceptive Practices
Consumer Protection Violations
Failure to Maintain a Fair Marketplace
Unjust Enrichment from Exploitative Systems
Exploitation of Jurisdiction-Specific Pricing Loopholes
I am not raising this to threaten, but to emphasize how serious the impact is on fair players and the health of the market. At minimum, I ask that Valve investigate this matter transparently and clarify its position.
Best regards,

In that case you'd be better off contacting Valve directly instead of in the general Steam suggestions forum. The vast majority of people here a) don't work for/with Valve, and b) don't play Space Engineers, and this forum is meant for suggestions/improvements to Steam in general, not specific requests for action regarding a game's community market.

Originally posted by C_D_R:

Originally posted by HuskyDynamics:

In that case you'd be better off contacting Valve directly instead of in the general Steam suggestions forum. The vast majority of people here a) don't work for/with Valve, and b) don't play Space Engineers, and this forum is meant for suggestions/improvements to Steam in general, not specific requests for action regarding a game's community market.

I’ve responded to valve, they instead redirected me to say it here to the suggestion, I’ll wait a few days and see the results here

Originally posted by C_D_R:

Originally posted by HuskyDynamics:

In that case you'd be better off contacting Valve directly instead of in the general Steam suggestions forum. The vast majority of people here a) don't work for/with Valve, and b) don't play Space Engineers, and this forum is meant for suggestions/improvements to Steam in general, not specific requests for action regarding a game's community market.

I’ve responded to valve, they instead redirected me to say it here to the suggestion, I’ll wait a few days and see the results here

Originally posted by Shreddy:

Originally posted by C_D_R:

I’ve responded to valve, they instead redirected me to say it here to the suggestion, I’ll wait a few days and see the results here

There won’t be any results here, there is no steam staff here that responds. They send you here to get rid of you. The next step will be a one month ban from contacting support. Steam support is completely incompetent and a frustrating experience at the best of times. The best advice is not to spend a lot of money in the steam market and don’t look at it as an investment.

Originally posted by William Shakesman:

Originally posted by C_D_R:

I’ve responded to valve, they instead redirected me to say it here to the suggestion, I’ll wait a few days and see the results here

Valve employees seldom read and never post here. Not even talking about your issue specifically but I can say with almost total certainty you will never see a response or action taken from a post here within the bounds of Valve Time. If you have another step planned, you should skip ahead to that.

Originally posted by Princess Luna:

you would think that is dev problem and not ours?
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/244850/discussions/