Lower Auction fees

[curiousgis]

I just realized that every time I sell something on the AH I am charged around 27% of the sale price which means I have to increase the cost by 40% just to get the minimum amount I want. This is ridiculously high and just makes it more difficult for the lower level people to get anything at a "good" price at the AH. Either bring down the cost or charge a flat fee to unlock the number of things you can put on the AH in a certain time frame.

[Visty]

its 30% and its good that way as its one of the few ways to get plat out of the game

[Denssor]

its 30% and its good that way as its one of the few ways to get plat out of the game

But they can and should place the 30% on your initial price so items in the AH aren't overpriced.

[Impaqt]

But they can and should place the 30% on your initial price so items in the AH aren't overpriced.

No matter where the 30% gets added it ends up the same.

[Cedwin]

But they can and should place the 30% on your initial price so items in the AH aren't overpriced.

So if I put an item up for 100,000 GP, it would be listed as 70,000 GP?

If I want to make 100k, I would post it for 130k. The customer ends up paying 30% more, and that 30k is removed by turbine after the transaction is completed, so I get 100k.

If it's changed, I would post the item for 130k, which would list it at 100k, but I would have to pay 30k to list it? If not then it's not taking money from anywhere. Besides, if people have to pay more to list things, they would make the prices higher to offset the difference, so we'd be right back where we started...

[Denssor]

No matter where the 30% gets added it ends up the same.

There is no reason not to place items to large amounts of money on AH right now, because if no one buys it you only lose a few hundred gold. But if the price was taken out from the initial price, players would lose tons on money if they didn't get the item sold. Making it a better choice to sell the itme cheaper so they don't risk losing money. This will also filter out more plat from the game.

[Impaqt]

There is no reason not to place items to large amounts of money on AH right now, because if no one buys it you only lose a few hundred gold. But if the price was taken out from the initial price, players would lose tons on money if they didn't get the item sold. Making it a better choice to sell the itme cheaper so they don't risk losing money. This will also filter out more plat from the game.

It would quickly destroy all High end sales the AH as well.

Some things ARE worth 2Mil Plat. but theres no guarantee they are going to sell the first time ya put em up...

[Cedwin]

There is no reason not to place items to large amounts of money on AH right now, because if no one buys it you only lose a few hundred gold. But if the price was taken out from the initial price, players would lose tons on money if they didn't get the item sold. Making it a better choice to sell the itme cheaper so they don't risk losing money. This will also filter out more plat from the game.

Many people who have been playing this game for some time now are setting on hundreds of millions of plat, it doesn't take long to start amassing a fortune once you start pulling weapons that sell at the broker for 10k - 20k plat each. Those prices may seem expensive right now, but wait until you get higher level, it's exponentially different. 100k plat is chump change by then.

[Denssor]

It would quickly destroy all High end sales the AH as well.

Some things ARE worth 2Mil Plat. but theres no guarantee they are going to sell the first time ya put em up...

90% of what I see on the AH is not worth the price it is set for.

Like you said before it won't matter, it's still 30%, but people won't put things on the AH for a ridiculous amount if it's not going to sell and they have to pay the fee upfront.

[captfurious]

If You wanted to make 100k min on an item you should mark it up ~43%.

Also, applying the 30% to the initial bid price is a really poor idea. If I go on the auction house to compare prices for something, and see that it is selling for 130k, and then price my similar item at 130k, it's actual price on the auction house would be 169k. I would have to be continual math in my head (deducting 30%) to accurately compare prices, if i wanted to appropriately price an item i want to put up

[Impaqt]

90% of what I see on the AH is not worth the price it is set for to me

Like you said before it won't matter, it's still 30%, but people won't put things on the AH for a ridiculous amount if it's not going to sell and they have to pay the fee upfront.

Fixed that for ya....

Just because you think its overpriced, doesn't mean it really is. It only takes one person to pay the price to make it worth the price.

[Denssor]

Many people who have been playing this game for some time now are setting on hundreds of millions of plat, it doesn't take long to start amassing a fortune once you start pulling weapons that sell at the broker for 10k - 20k plat each. Those prices may seem expensive right now, but wait until you get higher level, it's exponentially different. 100k plat is chump change by then.

I never said I couldn't afford them, I said it's not worth it to me. There's a difference. I have tons of plat sitting around doing nothing, but a +1 frost longsword is not wroth 50k plat to me.

Also, for those overpriced items that don't sell, there more plat taken out of the game.

[Zenako]

There is no reason not to place items to large amounts of money on AH right now, because if no one buys it you only lose a few hundred gold. But if the price was taken out from the initial price, players would lose tons on money if they didn't get the item sold. Making it a better choice to sell the itme cheaper so they don't risk losing money. This will also filter out more plat from the game.

While that might seem like a solution, all that would really accomplish is to kill the auction house as a source of finding useful and very good items. NO ONE will list something that might sell for 1,000,000 gold if they have to pay 300,000 gold to list it and hope it sells in that time window, only to have to repeat that process again. Quite a few high end items end up getting listed a handful of times before someone actually looking for that item happens to look at the AH while you have it listed.

If the listing fee was based on the price, not the (base value of the item) then you would no longer be able to find most of those items on the AUction House. They would only get traded among friends and guildmembers and perhaps in the Trade Forums here. Actually trying to excute in person trades with strangers is more than a pain and only done these days in special circumstances.

[captfurious]

Fixed that for ya....

Just because you think its overpriced, doesn't mean it really is. It only takes one person to pay the price to make it worth the price.

Impact hit the nail on the head. It's about perception. When I first started, I thought the AH prices were also too high. As I progressed in levels, and made a couple more chars, I started thinking that *most* prices are too high.
Now that I am a bit better off, my perception is that *some* items are overpriced, most are ok, and some are a steal.

I'm sure my perception will change again in the future, and what's more I know it's all in my head.

If the AH was overpriced, then people would be charged posting fees and getting no return, because no one would buy them. Someone *is* buying them, just not in your (or many times my) income bracket. Does this make it overpriced? No.

I want a ferrari for $100. Does that mean they are overpriced?

[Denssor]

Fixed that for ya....

Just because you think its overpriced, doesn't mean it really is. It only takes one person to pay the price to make it worth the price.

And that is part of the problem. All they have to do is keep posting that same item over and over at the same until that ONE person buys it. If they had to pay more at the begining, I don't think they would have placed it so high to begin with.

[captfurious]

I never said I couldn't afford them, I said it's not worth it to me. There's a difference. I have tons of plat sitting around doing nothing, but a +1 frost longsword is not wroth 50k plat to me.

Impact never said you couldn't afford it. He just corrected to imply the price wasn't WORTH it to YOU.

Maybe that +1 frost longsword is worth t to ME. Does your perception trump mine?

[Thanimal]

Important if obvious reminder: Value is defined by what someone is willing to pay -- true in RL and in games.

If the 30% fee is too much for you, arrange a trade. For me the AH almost always gets me MORE than I could get in trade, and so the 30% fee is clearly worth it.

Part of why people think everything on the AH is overpriced is explained as follows:

Just like a yard-sale, stuff that is under-priced sells immediately. This leads to stuff at higher prices appearing to dominate, because all the bargains are snapped up, whereas the more dubious postings stay for the full 3 days. However, this is also a feature. If I desperately want a +1 Frost Longsword NOW, then the fact that one is sitting there at a bit of an "overprice" is a feature: I can decide that my plat is worth less than my time, and buy it.

However, a few posts are completely detached from reality, and I think simply making the posting fee be a (small!) percentage of the asking price would eliminate this. As long as that fraction is small (say 2%), then it is automatically negligible to any legitimate seller: he can post it 10 times and still get 80% of his price if it ever sells. Importantly, posting fees are RETURNED when something sells, so most legitimate posts wouldn't even incur this 2% a single time.

BUT this discourages people from posting prices that make NO sense and are VERY unlikely to sell, because they will repeatedly eat the fee, that is made larger by their insane asking price.

I've made this proposal before, and I feel it's the only one I've seen that can mildly discourage ludicrous pricing without interfering with the market (much).

[Phidius]

There is no reason not to place items to large amounts of money on AH right now, because if no one buys it you only lose a few hundred gold. But if the price was taken out from the initial price, players would lose tons on money if they didn't get the item sold. Making it a better choice to sell the itme cheaper so they don't risk losing money. This will also filter out more plat from the game.

As others have already said, it would make it a better choice to sell the item on the forum's Marketplace so they don't risk losing money. This would filter the AH from the game.

90% of what I see on the AH is not worth the price it is set for.

Like you said before it won't matter, it's still 30%, but people won't put things on the AH for a ridiculous amount if it's not going to sell and they have to pay the fee upfront.

Correct - people won't put things on the AH for any amount. I'd be happy to pay 1 million gold for a Docent of Defiance... doesn't that seem like a ridiculous price for a 50K gold docent?

And that is part of the problem. All they have to do is keep posting that same item over and over at the same until that ONE person buys it. If they had to pay more at the begining, I don't think they would have placed it so high to begin with.

Frankly, the wearisome plodding from the mailbox to the AH every 3 days is sufficient motivation for me to sell the worthless trash to the vendor instead of posting it on the AH. Heck, I'll sell stuff to the vendor that ISNT trash, just cause it isn't worth the "hassle" of the AH.

This is not to be construed as a request to make the AH more cumbersome, btw.

[Thanimal]

And that is part of the problem. All they have to do is keep posting that same item over and over at the same until that ONE person buys it. If they had to pay more at the begining, I don't think they would have placed it so high to begin with.

That's not a problem. That's how a market works. I just sold an old water ski this week, and I didn't sell it to the first guy who was interested -- I sold it to the guy was willing to pay the most for it! That's what you're trying to do when you sell something.

It's only if NO ONE buys it that the price was too high.

[Denssor]

Impact never said you couldn't afford it. He just corrected to imply the price wasn't WORTH it to YOU.

Maybe that +1 frost longsword is worth t to ME. Does your perception trump mine?

1) I know Impact didn't say that, Cedwin implied it.

2) I know it's not worth it me, that's why I rarely buy anything on the AH.

If your willing to buy an item that overpriced, fine I don't care, but are you willing to place an item on the AH that overpriced when you will lose 30% before anyone gets to see it?

I understand why some items are priced higher than I would pay for them, but many time I see 10 +1 vorpal khopeshes going for 300-400k then 1 that is going for 1 million. I'm sure that guy is trying to get lucky, but if he got a 30% fee right at the start, I doubt he would place it for 1 million.