Remove Auction Tax

[Aaxeyu]

This.

Also, if there weren't an AH tax, then there's nothing from preventing you from bidding up prices on your own (or, rather, an alt's) item, because there's no longer a penalty for accidentally winning the auction.

Cheers,
Kernal

They can make it so that you can't bid on your own auctions.

[Waukeen]

no.

leave it as is, it is a regulatory function and makes some sense because you are paying to use the AH service,

if it does not sell the fee is nominal.

if it does the AH takes its cut.

it works as intended.

use the trade area of the forums or spam the /trade channel if you wish to bypass fees.

thats how I sell all of my +1 thundering shatter light hammers for big bucks

[sirgog]

This.

Also, if there weren't an AH tax, then there's nothing from preventing you from bidding up prices on your own (or, rather, an alt's) item, because there's no longer a penalty for accidentally winning the auction.

Cheers,
Kernal

You can't bid on your own auction, nor an alt's auction. (You can get guildies to bid on them, however, just as you can now).

[Stermlin]

You can't bid on your own auction, nor an alt's auction. (You can get guildies to bid on them, however, just as you can now).

True, but the point is that if you get a guildie to jack up a bid on your item and no one else bids on it, you lose the cut and gain nothing. Without an AH cut, then there would be no risk to an immoral practice as that.

[kernal42]

Yes, I deliberately didn't specify that the alt need be from the same account, as well. The inability to bid on your own account's auctions is a trivially-obviated obstruction to this sort of abuse. The Auction House "tax", however, provides a severe disincentive. Thus, this tax should not be removed.

Cheers,
Kernal

[Aaxeyu]

They could remove the bid price and only have buyouts. It's the only thing I miss from AoC

[fuzzy1guy]

I'd raise the AH fee to 50%. It's dangerous delivering goods around stormreach.

And raise the posting fee.

AND raise the base value on all collectables, ingrediants, and other things people post over and over in big blocks that looks like farmers doing it for insane prices.

So it costs them something to do so.

[Fenrisulven6]

Everyone hates it.

I dont hate it. I hate what all magic item sales do to the game.

Raise the tax! Make it 66% !!

Even better, have a run on House K banks! Reduce everyones 401k by 90%!

[DelverRootnose]

...a percentage of the starting bid. At least that way the items are not overpriced as a starting point. If the bid goes up big then you make more if not then you just shot yourself in the purse for asking to much to start.

[Rumbaar]

Previously this was the only major plat sink in the game, now we have the Guild Ship amenities.

So maybe it can be reduced at one point. But I can't see that happening, and it's not too much of an issue.

If only there was a global in game channel for trades though, and not reliant on individual instances.

[Durion]

They could remove the bid price and only have buyouts. It's the only thing I miss from AoC

So a Non-Auction Auction House?

[DrenglisEU]

/NOT Signed, keeps things atleast alittle in shape

[Phidius]

...

If only there was a global in game channel for trades though, and not reliant on individual instances.

That way I can stock up on +1 Masterwork Greatswords and +1 Mithral Chain shirts before I go into the Shroud... I keep running out, and I hate going all the way back to the Marketplace/Harbor to stock up.

[EustaceTrevelyan]

This.

Also, if there weren't an AH tax, then there's nothing from preventing you from bidding up prices on your own (or, rather, an alt's) item, because there's no longer a penalty for accidentally winning the auction.

Cheers,
Kernal

This x2. That's why they set it that high to begin with, that and the gold sellers, i think.

[kilagan800]

I think the AH tax is silly because it's not real money.

[teh_meh]

Agree the tax is heavy. But removing it would just create another 'Easy' button in DDO and I am totally against that.

Giraffe head.

[Aschbart]

Everyone hates it.

'hate' is a strong word. When I sold an item on te AH for the very first time, I was pretty much upset though - I really would have liked a warning about this extraordinarily steep fee that you only get to know after the fact!

Now that I've played for a while though I realize that the fee is pretty much neccessary. Make it too low, and fewer people would bother to sell at the pawn brokers, and instead try to get better prices at the AH, where most of the stuff is ridiculously overpriced and thus unobtainable for many players. Make it too high, and some more items would go to the brokers, but AH prices would go through the roof, because sellers would just add the increase on their prices. There is a balance point somewhere - maybe it is at 30%, maybe it is a bit lower or higher, but removing the fee entirely would be a mistake.

As an aside, lowering the fee will mostly help the vets with tons of cash, because they are the ones selling the majority of useful items. I found that it is mostly the unexperienced players asking for totally unrealistic prices, because they are unept at reading the AH and have no idea about the real value of items. Try following Harbor trade channel for an hour or two and you'll see what I mean.

Having said that, if it is mostly the vets aho would gain from lowering the fees, guess what will happen to their ability to purchase stuff? Right, they can now pay even more ridiculous prices at the AH. So in the end, AH prices might still rise. You don't believe me? Then look up 'inflation'. It is based on too much money, not too little!

If anything in-game cash sinks need to increase, not decrease. The only problem is that any cash sink will only work as long as people are willing to throw their money in, so increasing the fees and prices too high won't work very well.

Maybe something that would work is increasing the posting fee - but not based on item base price, but based on the bid price being asked for. Or maybe a combination of the two, e.g. new_posting_fee = old_posting_fee + 10% * bid_price.

[Aschbart]

Removing it wouldn't be so wise, but lowering it would certainly be an improvement IMO.

Lower tax= more trade = still a cash drain.

You have started out with the right idea, but didn't follow it through: If there is no fee, no amount of trade will drain cash. If the fee is too high then there will be no trade and no cash drain either. The 'truth' lies somewhere in-between: At some value, the fees will drain the maximum of cash out of the economy. But whether that fee is at 30%, or whether it's higher or lower, we do not know.

That said, the cash drain doesn't really have to be at maximum, as long as it suffices to keep inflation in check.

[Aschbart]

Drastically lower auction sale tax. Base auction fee on auction price, not item base price. Fixed.

Already suggested that some time ago, and someone else brought it up again, just a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately both threads were pretty much ignored except for a few people who didn't like it. Main argument against it was that it wouldn't help new players (which was the idea of this suggestion) because vets will still buy anything useful at ridiculously high prices, keeping the AH prices at current levels.

Personally I do not quite agree, because I think there are still lots of halfway useful items that vets don't really bother with, but are still priced very high. Good example are basic items such as +x stat items, permanent feather falling, proof against poison, or underwater action items, improved or greater fire/acid/cold resist items, Moderate or Heavy Fort items, 'of Resistance' and 'of Protection' items, etc.. Don't even bother for fear immunity! Vets keep complaining that quality of PuGs is going down because new players don't have such basic items, but when you look at the AH prices, how can you blame a new player for not being able to afford them?

But I digress. Economy is tricky. The only thing I know for sure - and most people seem to agree with that - is that a money sink is needed. Whether it's better to have it as a selling fee on auctions, or a posting fee, or a mix thereof - that is something very hard to evaluate.

[BurningDownTheHouse]

The biggest cash drain is consumables after all (pure guess though:P ).

Probably not. Not even with Silver Flame and Youguloth pots.

I think that I've "lost" more plat on AH fees than I will ever be able to spend on consumables.