I give up - to many long threads
But here is what I think about this subject.
First of all traders dont contribute to the loot pool but they can spend a lot of time trading and therefor that is worth something.
I think there is both good traders and bad traders. Some people is fair with their prices and others just tries to get more and more money out of people needing the traded stuff.
I need tailoring materials and that sucks big time for me atm. The price on molisk and animal hide is crazy - the same thing has been with orange paint and that is still crazy. I think there is more to it than the traders cuz it seems like the mob drops less of it but then again I've seen people in auction trying to sell animal hide - in this case the refined generic leather - for 500%.
I've also met traders that wants some clothes and they cant understand why the price is what it is. I haven't yet raised my price on clothes but if the price on tailoring materials keeps being that crazy then I have to. For some its ok to sell tailoring materials for a hign price but when it comes to clothes they dont wanna pay the price it cost to make it and I have to tell then, that I dont pay for their clothes.
And more demands cuz of new people joining the 'game' that sould mean that there would be more materials cuz they hunt small mobs that drops it and...well most of them dont start out with buying clothes.
So to sum up: Its both the traders who makes the price go crazy and
MA for not dropping more of the items needed.