the auctions aren't actually auctions. they're just items you can put up for sale at one price, take it or leave it. couldn't we, maybe, set a minimum price and then allow people to bid on it?
We had a discussion a while ago (cant find the link) we often use auctions to get rid of stuff fast. If a friend of mine needs something and they are on the other side of the world we often use auctions to send him stuff.
We did want an option to actuallyh auction things off but they have not redone the system yet.
with commodities like most everything in the game is at this point it doesn't seem like it is very useful to have "250 cherries" or "50 meat" or even odd craftables like food sitting in the auction house for 3 or 5 days just waiting to be sold at the same price they always are.
so far there are probably 4 items in game worthy of actual "auction" with bidding.
what things turn into in the future i don't know, but modeling after ebay I could see a "buy it now" and "5 day auction" sitting side by side