I am trying to forge a plain ol' toxic flame, nothing special. But I can't seem to get the price down below 70k, and I see lots of much more advanced flames being sold on the market for cheaper. Is there any special attribute that has a large effect on flame price?

Forging costs way more than buying.

Just like buying tc is way cheaper when from players than from the shop.

I guess so, but then how do flame forgers make a profit?

no not at all unless they do request and ussauly they only get about 1k profit