Topic

Abusing the auctions

There are too many overpriced items on the auctions. Some of them are for the projects, but others are just abusing the system.

When you place an auction the item disappears from your bags. So some people just place auctions that nobody would buy just to free some bag space. So maybe you can make it so the item remains on your bag until someone purchases it?

Posted 20 months ago by Yaya Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

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  • I love all the ideas about sorting, listing charges, etc...

    But to the complaining about people charging higher than acceptable prices, this has got to stop, both in the threads and in game chat. Seriously.

    Caveat Emptor. Plain and simple.

    And for all the worry about those poor newbies that might get taken advantage of, they will learn. And seriously, like it's all that hard to earn money in this game.

    I'm sure this comes off cold and heartless to the granola crowd here, but the flip side is much worse in the long run.
    Posted 20 months ago by en Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 en  .... and I Love granola... I live in it... speak to it ... and I eat it all the time (lol.. i know what you mean).  It is a Market... if you don't like the price... then don't buy. 

    As for using at extra storage... eh.. .doesn't hurt anyone, does it?  It's part of a risk... perhaps someone will buy the item being stored at a crazy price because they can.... because, as you said,  it's REALLY easy to get currants in this game.

    I also love all the great ideas to improve the user interface in the auction.  Very creative group we've got here!
    Posted 20 months ago by RainyRain Subscriber! | Permalink
  • great news on the updates, stoot!

    lots of other good stuff has been said in the thread so I'll keep it short

    SUGGESTION: Auctions should be longer. Goes against the grain of those worried about auction as storage, but i want to see the auction grow in breath of items and options, and right now, even when the game is going strong for a day or two, we seem to be constantly rebuilding it.

    COMMENT: What the hell else are we supposed to do with currants but buy overpriced things (something clare mentioned and a few others)??? If you're not sinking every current coming in to power level that money starts building up fast. With nothing special in the game to save for (until there's a market for street trophy parts, yetis or something else) if I'm paying double for spinach that i want to use for a project it still won't make a dent in my funds.
    Posted 20 months ago by Another Chris Subscriber! | Permalink
  • When we start seeing decos and stuff for our houses, you will definitely see a need for currants.
    Posted 20 months ago by MaryLiLamb Subscriber! | Permalink
  • We will also switch the default sort order when looking at listings for a given item type so that it is sorted by price per unit. If you need loam and you can see a page of loam auctions with the cheapest at the top, those who price far above market will just be wasting their listing fee.
    Posted 20 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Okay so these tweaks settle it.

    Pagination and sort by price will sink the fake auctions so they don't flood the main page, and time delay and commissions might discourage people from using auctions as bags.


    Thanks stoot & hitherto
    Posted 20 months ago by Yaya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Pagination is live... 

    More to come once I've swept a few of the other decks on this bizarrely multi-decked ship!
    Posted 20 months ago by hitherto Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Woo! Thanks, hitherto!
    Posted 20 months ago by clare Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't see any difference...how does it work?

    Edit: Oh, now I see - awesome!
    Posted 20 months ago by Cupcake Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There's page navigation at the bottom, Cupcake. :-)
    Posted 20 months ago by clare Subscriber! | Permalink
  • pagination! :D 

    thanks, hitherto!
    Posted 20 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Had to run and have a looksee...AWESOME!!! TY!!
    Posted 20 months ago by sgjo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • OMG - thank you hitherto!  Seems like we asked to have the non-pagination shortfall addressed a ½ year ago, and to finally see the simple fix enacted makes me hopeful again that the devs actually care about our input.

    Also, I don't have to feel guilty now about not sharing my searching apps!
    Posted 20 months ago by Yeoman Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yet another wonderful example of, if it's driving the players up a wall - TS is happy to fix it :D
    Thanks loads hitherto, once again you've made life easier through sorting!
    Posted 20 months ago by Travinara Subscriber! | Permalink
  • and to finally see the simple fix enacted makes me hopeful again that the devs actually care about our input.

    Of course we care about your input! We will have to do better at communicating that. But I can tell you now that these site forums are read by most of the team. Sometimes we do not respond in thread, but have discussions about forum topics internally (it doesn't always make sense to share our thinking as it develops), so you might not know we're reading. We also can be slow on fixing obvious problems (like pagination on auctions) because we're a relatively small team, and we have a relatively huge todo list. But we are listening!
    Posted 20 months ago by eric Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Something that might help is a historic tracking of what an item sold at last.  I had no idea what something was worth, so I looked at current auctions and posted my items in accordance with what was listed.  It seems the auction I copied was far too high - but as a new player, I was guided by what was already there.  I don't want to price gouge, but as a new player making a profit is important.
    Posted 20 months ago by Thessilian Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sorry but you cannot say something is over priced in a free market economy - well you can - you say what you want.  But prices settle at the point between what a seller would like and what a buyer is prepared to pay.  

    I have seen in game markets manipulated in games like WoW - but it only lasts for a short while.  The problem you are experiencing is ONLY because the tests are short and people have limited supply of items to buy.  Once the game opens - or even goes into extended beta the prices will settle to this mid point - fluctuations will occur as people try to manipulate or scam the market but it will only be a glitch (sorry!).


    By trying to implement structures to restrict the market means you ultimately take away the benefits of a game like glitch.


    As a buyer you need to be away of the true market value of items and not to glibly click buy. 


    As an enhancement I would like to see a bidding mechanism added - with of course the buyout option.


    As for using the auction as a free bag - this is easy to reduce that - the game takes a percentage of the buyout price up front - this can be refunded at the point of sale.  as an example the cost of sale could be say 5% but 50% is taken from the sell upfront - this is only refunded at the sale point.  Perhaps on expiration too - but lost if the sell cancels the auction.  Most games see this kind of problem but again it is less of an issue when you have more items.


    I love free game economies - there is so much scope for buying and selling for profit - I haven't - but would - buy a cheap item and relist for more money.  there is nothing wrong with this.  The person who sold it cheap got what they asked for it and the person that buys from me obviously willing to buy for that amount.  :)  


    Let the market settle over a longer period of time and the price will settle down - sells will think it is too low and buyers too high.  But both will grudgingly accept that price.
    Posted 20 months ago by Accy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I find this thread endlessly interesting.
    It sounds like the devs are working away at many items that will alleviate a lot of the problems re: pricing etc.
    Although I sitll think a "newbie" won't have the money to buy something crazy over priced on the auction because they don't have enough $ yet...and when they do they need to buy a bigger bag!

    re: the storage issue...i think you have to have limited storage. otherwise people would hoard everything. It requires some strategy and thought - the game can't be too easy after all!
    Posted 20 months ago by Mimi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Thessilian, when you post an auction a price is suggested to you, which is comparable to what you would get if you sold the item to a vendor.

    People do sometimes pay more for items that cannot be purchased at vendors (powders and jewels, for example), and during the frenzy of projects. But a "last sale price" could be equally misleading to a newbie, since there are frequent ridiculous sales prices.


    It seems to me that learning how to set your auctions prices well is another facet of learning the game. (And it sounds like that will all change soon anyway, once there is a listing fee.)





    Posted 20 months ago by clare Subscriber! | Permalink
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