"Do auction houses suck?" - Raph Koster

**Uzik** · 10th July 2012, 07:10 PM

Local auctions and a contract system is the best bet IMO.

A full on global auction house makes trading too impersonal.

**Chance** · 10th July 2012, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by Uzik

Local auctions and a contract system is the best bet IMO.

A full on global auction house makes trading too impersonal.

Hear! Hear! I totally agree. Want to see what's up for auction, you need to go to that city to see. Now I can make a case for a few precious items being listed in another city if they were sent a messenger bird and asked to post the item for a posting fee. (What a great way to lure people to your city so you can rob them before they get there.)

**tbigness** · 10th July 2012, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by Chance

Hear! Hear! I totally agree. Want to see what's up for auction, you need to go to that city to see. Now I can make a case for a few precious items being listed in another city if they were sent a messenger bird and asked to post the item for a posting fee. (What a great way to lure people to your city so you can rob them before they get there.)

You have hit apon a point here with the messenger anyway. If you really want big participation then advertise items to be auctioned at a specific date and time and have people or representatives travel to the site for the auction. This will increase the exposure of the city and the auction house to all the others in the lands.

**Jacabon Mere** · 10th July 2012, 09:33 PM

Since you can't stop people from advertising on a forum and running auctions like that, any severely limited ingame system is just going to get neglected for a global out of game one.

**Thradok** · 10th July 2012, 09:37 PM

Mayhaps, but they still have to actually get the item so it doesn't do them nearly as much good. I doubt you'd need to advertise much beyond the nearest towns anyway, unless it was a particularly exotic or rare item. If it is so rare people are willing to travel across the world to buy it, you also just invited every thief and raider around to come steal it

**Jacabon Mere** · 10th July 2012, 10:24 PM

The fact that browsing a forum is quicker and easier than having to be physically somewhere ingame to check prices will mean it will happen. I assume there will be a degree of anonymity, and trusted traders will soon have a name for themselves. It's just that not much can match forums for an inter tz trading system when most buyers and sellers want a big a potential customer base to maximize/minimize prices. I can imagine that a forum trade system would most likely be for expensive items or bulk items, the types that are likely to be auctioned anyway.

**tbigness** · 11th July 2012, 12:47 AM

Maybe, but the transfer of funds for Items will still have to take place unless otherwise arrainged. In which case you would not use an auction house. As I recall the auction houses have to have the items in possession and will exchange the item for funds. So the case of back forum trades through the auction house will be limited at best and the trade will still be at the auction house.

**Androcles** · 14th July 2012, 09:25 PM

I'd like to see Merchants set up shop in their home town, and offer their wares for sale at that location. Items would be purchased at retail prices by both NPC and PC alike, with NPCs tending toward the more easily available/less expensive gear. NPC demand for Iron in an area might be 24 units per day, with them buying the cheapest two units for sale in that area every hour, the point is that PCs would be inserted into a healthy and vibrant market which then adapted to their actions. If my armormaker consistently produced type X helmets for a good price, we might find them in common use among both PC and NPC in an area... outside of that area they might still be popular among PCs, however they would most likely not be considered cost effective by NPC.

Once a merchant has reached a certain level of renown they would be able to join a guild and the guild would facilitate transfer of merchandise from the Merchant/Crafters store to the buyer within a continent for retail price plus an additional fee.

Players who identify shortages or surpluses in one continent or another could act as resellers for various products. However if they didn't own a shop in the land they were selling, they would be forced to sell everything at wholesale prices to another merchant.

If units of Iron were wholesaling for 6 silver and retailing for 8 silver in Valdonia but were wholesaling for 10 silver and retailing for 12 silver in Quadaroth... I should be able to arrange for the shipment and/or move them myself by ship and resell them for a profit... making Iron more available in Quadaroth and putting upward pressure on prices in Valdonia. If I'm able to wholesale from Iron mines in Valdonia and sell my iron retail in Quadorath... I'm going to make a lot of money. If I buy retail in Valdonia and sell wholesale in Quadaroth I'll still make a little money.