andepans
07-07-2011, 03:21 PM
1. Players Use the Black Market to Avoid Taxes
It makes very little economic sense to sell an item over 100,000p on the auction. Players know that common items like tomes, shroud and/or epic crafting materials, and highly desirable weapons may be sold with relative ease outside of the auction (i.e. the black market.) Any player can post on his or her's server trade forum and throw a few general chat "WTS's" out there and earn hundreds of thousands of plat. This practice is widespread and undesirable.
2. Black Market Trades Are Inefficient
A flat 30% tax is so prohibitively expensive that, for example, many epic scrolls are not put on auction at all, leaving players to use their bios, unofficial and official trade channels, or the forums to sell an item that could easily be placed into a searchable database that every player can access. Black market sales waste the vendors time through unnecessary marketing and the buyer's time through market research and limited availability. Vendors who do not want to go through the hassle of finding a fair buyer for their expensive items may elect to bank them instead of exchange them for their fair value (less 30,000p) and buy another item.
3. Black Market Trades Do Not Give Players An Indication of Fair Market Value
If every item was placed for sale on the auction, then the price players would be willing to pay for that item would be its value. That is the definition of value. This is not the case in DDO, where sales take place behind the closed doors of /tells. Unless someone has done a "average time to acquire" analysis for every item, I cannot imagine how value could possibly be determined. Market research should consist of moving your eyes a 1/4 inch up and down the auction window.
4. A 30,000/30% Tax Would Eliminate the Black Market and Accomplish the Tax' Original Goals
The Auction Tax presumably simulates the lost time a player must spend marketing his or her commodities and is a tool to reduce platinum inflation. If players choose not to use the auction because the tax is prohibitively high, neither function is achieved. By setting a reasonable 30,000/30% tax, players are encouraged to sell the expensive items that they would otherwise hawk almost exclusively on the black market. Increased use of the auction increases the volume of platinum taken out of circulation, the first goal of the tax. If there isn't a wikipedia article titled "volume, volume, volume" someone should make it immediately. Increased volume allows players to buy the items they do not wish to hunt for and continue playing the rewarding quests that they enjoy, increasing the fun level of the game. Players should not have to waste time shopping or farming for a common, saleable item. This accomplishes the second purpose of the tax.
5. The Black Market is Silly
I want to read about your epic scrolls in your bio as much as I want to read about the raid bosses you've killed and the 9,134 hp heal you made. The best way I've found to use the trade forums is a search of the entire forum (more complicated than a simple sort-by-item-and-level-and-hit-search) that usually comes up with irrelevant threads. Most of the trade chat is garbage and all of the trade chat is non-filterable by level and type. All other methods are a huge step backwards from the auctioneer.
It makes very little economic sense to sell an item over 100,000p on the auction. Players know that common items like tomes, shroud and/or epic crafting materials, and highly desirable weapons may be sold with relative ease outside of the auction (i.e. the black market.) Any player can post on his or her's server trade forum and throw a few general chat "WTS's" out there and earn hundreds of thousands of plat. This practice is widespread and undesirable.
2. Black Market Trades Are Inefficient
A flat 30% tax is so prohibitively expensive that, for example, many epic scrolls are not put on auction at all, leaving players to use their bios, unofficial and official trade channels, or the forums to sell an item that could easily be placed into a searchable database that every player can access. Black market sales waste the vendors time through unnecessary marketing and the buyer's time through market research and limited availability. Vendors who do not want to go through the hassle of finding a fair buyer for their expensive items may elect to bank them instead of exchange them for their fair value (less 30,000p) and buy another item.
3. Black Market Trades Do Not Give Players An Indication of Fair Market Value
If every item was placed for sale on the auction, then the price players would be willing to pay for that item would be its value. That is the definition of value. This is not the case in DDO, where sales take place behind the closed doors of /tells. Unless someone has done a "average time to acquire" analysis for every item, I cannot imagine how value could possibly be determined. Market research should consist of moving your eyes a 1/4 inch up and down the auction window.
4. A 30,000/30% Tax Would Eliminate the Black Market and Accomplish the Tax' Original Goals
The Auction Tax presumably simulates the lost time a player must spend marketing his or her commodities and is a tool to reduce platinum inflation. If players choose not to use the auction because the tax is prohibitively high, neither function is achieved. By setting a reasonable 30,000/30% tax, players are encouraged to sell the expensive items that they would otherwise hawk almost exclusively on the black market. Increased use of the auction increases the volume of platinum taken out of circulation, the first goal of the tax. If there isn't a wikipedia article titled "volume, volume, volume" someone should make it immediately. Increased volume allows players to buy the items they do not wish to hunt for and continue playing the rewarding quests that they enjoy, increasing the fun level of the game. Players should not have to waste time shopping or farming for a common, saleable item. This accomplishes the second purpose of the tax.
5. The Black Market is Silly
I want to read about your epic scrolls in your bio as much as I want to read about the raid bosses you've killed and the 9,134 hp heal you made. The best way I've found to use the trade forums is a search of the entire forum (more complicated than a simple sort-by-item-and-level-and-hit-search) that usually comes up with irrelevant threads. Most of the trade chat is garbage and all of the trade chat is non-filterable by level and type. All other methods are a huge step backwards from the auctioneer.