What are the problems you are trying to address? Are you starting a shop? I recognize your name from my server and know you are new. The biggest problems I see with shops are what people sell, lack of stocking, then complicated by not taking other shops and gameplay factors into account when setting prices. I think there is an illusion of imbalance in our economy, but there's not. We all start with the same Rupee balance and tools. There are no monopolies. Information about everything you can craft or collect is freely available on the internet, and everyone has free access to the Wild, Nether, and End for materials. If anything about our economy is unevenly distributed, it is real life factors like time and ambition. It's not how many Rupees you start with or how pretty your shop looks. It's the person playing the game that makes the difference.
I'm sorry, but you have been here a week, and think you know all about the economy here? I'm over 400 days old here and I'm STILL learning the economy because it's always up and down. I'm not trying to hate on you or anything, but if we implant your 2 ideas, that's going to make the economy even worse. The goal of the Empire Shop is to encourage players to make their own shops. Not to make prices similar to it.
In then end of the day the market will sort it's self out. No one will sell undercut priced items consistently. One thing I learnt when I was new was so what your prices are cheap? In the end of the day it's all about te package. Let me explain that metaphor or whatever you'd call that. The price may be cheap but the image (package) your stock will always be the leading factor. I know for a fact 4005 is not the best deal but the reson it still is working is because the prices are good. Not to expensive as to scare away customers but not to cheap as to become a garage sale.
