Topic

About the auctions

It has come to my attention that sparklies are now being sold at a lower price in the auctions than in the game. Much lower, in fact:
in the game, you can sell it for up to 6 currants per sparkly. Which means for every 50 sparkly you can get 300 currants. In the auctions, they go for less than 300, which ultimately results in the auctions taking a posting fee and percent of the money, so in reality, the seller only gets about 4 to 5 currants per chunk of sparkly. Anyone else notice this?

Posted 13 months ago by estarner Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • I used to sell sparkly at the 4-5 current rate at auction because I wouldn't have to leave the mines, whereas going to a tool vendor requires some time spent running and jumping around.  

    Now that I'm out of the mine 'n' grind mode of play, though, the game is way more fun!
    Posted 13 months ago by Sloppy Ketchup Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Many items in the auction sell for fewer currants than vendors would buy them for.  

    People find it easier to make more money by selling cheaply on the auction than by trudging over to a vendor to sell.
    Posted 13 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yep. I noticed that early when I started (very recently). It was my main money maker while I was learning the AK skills. Buy low in the auction, sell high at the vendor. It's not like there is a vendor in almost every streets.

    You can buy meat for less than 8 currants each (resell for 8 at tool vendor).
    You can buy grains for less than 1 each.
    Same goes for planks and milk.

    Although I don't understand since you're losing 8% per transaction along with the 1.5% posting fee. Even if you were to sell at current vendor price, you would see be in the negative compared to them.
    Posted 13 months ago by BTS0x0 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "I don't understand"

    Since it does not cost any currants to acquire those items, only time, you can never "be in the negative".  You can  only make more or less money, depending on your choices for how to play the game.

    If I start with 100 currants and then mine 50 sparkly, I still have my 100 currants.  I can then acquire more currants by selling the sparkly.  How much more depends on the method I choose to sell them.  But I never lose actual currants.  

    In this game, acquiring currants isn't a very high priority for many players.  So they choose the method that makes their game play the most fun for them.  Traveling across the world to maximize currants isn't a lot of fun for them.

    If one of your goals is to maximize the amount of currants you have in your game account, then you may be willing to go through all that hassle.  Otherwise, why bother?
    Posted 13 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • nicely said, windborn.

    one of my game goals is to be insanely wealthy.

    my best strategy for that goal depends on what i'm doing at the moment and where i am.

    if i'm near the tool vendor, i'll sell there. if i need to empty my bags for quicker turnover, i sell low at auction. some items are always sold higher at auction than at the toolie, so those go to auction. some things wobble above and below a vendor's price, so if i have time, i'll compare and decide.

    adn it's not worth my time to travel across the world for the extra 2% the toolie pays. i need to MOVE THAT INVENTORY, boyos!

    and most days of casual play AFTER expenses (tithing to a full set of icons included) i clear about 20k. if i'm really working at it, i can turn 90k easy.

    so i may not be maximizing every item for current value, but i'm doing well enough.
    Posted 13 months ago by flask Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would say most things in the auctions sell at something of a discount - crafted items far more than raw resources.  There's also a huge swing in market prices in almost any 24-hour period. (At this moment dullite is selling for 6.75, for example. That won't last.  Sparkly is at its usual 6.)  But over time most raw items hover around their vendor prices, which means sellers are just losing the commission fees.  I mostly auction when I need to empty slots in my bag, and if I don't see anything selling high, that loss is fine with me.  

    There are several interesting API tools if you want to check them out.  Zog's auction tool tracks prices over time with some nice little charts, for example.
    Posted 13 months ago by oscarette Subscriber! | Permalink