Auction House Crash Course! (NEW PLAYERS READ THIS!)

[letalis]

Originally Posted by Monthar Since a lot of folks still don't understand the WHY behind the blind auction system, perhaps adding this link to the guide is in order. All You Know About Me’s What I’ve Sold You

I ve been a Crafter in most MMO I ve played and it s really a brilliant approach I must say.
The constant undercutting was always frustrating only the first Players to reach Max Crafting Level were able to rake in some decent profits until the big crowd came in and destroyed all the prices.

I m still getting used to the Blind AH system but now i realize the idea behind it and will look at it from a new perspective.

[velliss]

im a bit confused i wanted to buy gold, it said there was 1 quantity so i bought it, i then went to the port to pick it up but i would click and nothing would happen? am i doing something wrong? and if i want to buy more gold do i just have to keep searching?

[waterhouse]

You went to the port and you clicked where?

Yes, if you want to buy more gold you have keep searching or post on your servers Market forum that you are looking to buy gold.

[velliss]

ah its ok guys i worked it out thanks!

[Owen GrimJaw]

I'm a big supporter of a player driven economy. As with any economy in any type of game (MMO playable) its bound to be slightly complicated or complex. That's what makes an economy an economy. Its a system in this game (PotBS) that allows other players to explore another aspect of the game, simply to help suppliment their income. There are other ways to make the dubs in the game if you don't mind grinding in ship combat or surfing through the NPC missions.

Overall with the economy, its really not hard to figure out if you take a day or so to set aside a time for the AH and what not. In game is slightly the same as in RL, if you've pondered the idea of setting up a business, you really don't know how well whatever you're making is going to sell, so its a gamble. The game already does specify a bare bare minimum at which you can sell something in order to break even. Look at the cost it takes to produce the raw material, then onto the next step of manufactured goods, to the final product. Its only a matter of some addition and one step of division.

I can say that the AH does have a whole different feeling from other player ran markets. (For those of you who have explored other MMO's, then Lineage 2 or *EVE* might ring a bell) but if you ever are looking for a product that you need and you feel like you might be paying too much for it, perhaps that's a good indication that maybe you can start a business for yourself instead of nickel and diming yourself to death by upping your bid 1 dub everytime. A good rule of thumb I use when buying from the AH, is look at the area average and the global average and sometimes the port average if the product seems to sell consistently. Whichever one is lower, start your bid slightly under that and like the original poster put it, don't be shy to accept partial orders. Even though someone might have put an item up for 20db when the average everywhere is 50db and you pick up 10 items and that's all you need, for 40db, well then, you got the product cheaper than the average so you win. If you treat the AH as a slot machine then you will get frustrated because the payout of buying something thats normally 200db on average and hoping to pull it out into your hold for 50db or 51db or 52db or 53db is low.

If you feel like exploring the selling aspect of products you create, don't put all your products into one port. The map is dynamic so the demand fluctuates as ports flip. Its like fishing, the more lures you have out the more chances you'll get a bite, and if you find a hotspot stay with it for a bit until you're forced to move on.

The economy is a challenge and I'm glad it is. Not everyone will make millions at the market. However, for all those that take the time and don't get discouraged by looking at stats and numbers, and supply and demand, and area market readings, then you will be justly rewarded for your time paying attention to what products go where.

[Bipto]

Just a (hopefully) simple question re the AH.

Can you have an alt place an Item on the AH and buy it with your main. eg I want an alt to mine iron (as the WH cost is smaller than having a main do it). Can I put the ore on the market so that my main can buy it?

Bipto

[Xavin]

Originally Posted by Bipto Just a (hopefully) simple question re the AH. Can you have an alt place an Item on the AH and buy it with your main. eg I want an alt to mine iron (as the WH cost is smaller than having a main do it). Can I put the ore on the market so that my main can buy it? Bipto

Yes. Some people list things in an out of the way AH for 1db, switch characters, and then buy it with their alt. Alternately, you could list for market price, and buy it with your alt, which would in effect be a money transfer. The problem with this method is that you pay the listing fee, so you will be losing money in the transfer. The best way to transfer between characters is to either find a friend who will hold onto the items while you switch characters, or get a second account, so you can do it yourself. A decent computer can easily run two clients at once, at least in port, and you can alt-tab between them. Wouldn't want to try and fight two characters on the same machine, but for the economy it works great.

[Harmon Bigsby]

I'd just like to say thanks for this guide. I haven't messed up yet and bought a whole bunch of items at a very high price, but I could have. I had no idea what the partial buy button was for. I could have ended up losing a lot of money. I did the economy tutorial but at the time I was more interested in exploring than reading about the economy. So thanks again for helping to clarify some things. I think the system is great. I sold a small ship deed for double what I had it listed as because of a last price listing.

[Rollin]

Ahoy

I just joined last week. I'm an adult of 33 who did pretty well in school and Uni and I have to say I didn't get this system before reading this guide. I did get most of it. The only part that really had me confused was the price listed not being the actual price.

Yes I do get it now, but here is the thing. The advantages are far out-weighed by the learning curve needed to use this system. I think a good number of players won't get this far. If you need to search out guides to use something as fundamental as the AH then the system is badly designed, regardless of how cool it is. Surely the game designers must have at least considered these factors.

In my opinion this is system is definitly causing account cancelations. It's just far more complex than it has to be, and to make things worse the in-game guidance just doesn't cover it. I'm not sure why the designers decided to do it this way. It's just one big minus for the game when a new player first comes in contact with it.

Now that I understand it, it's ok with me. However I really hope they change it.

Rollin Tailspin

[Captain Henry Morgan]

Seems pretty easy to me, sure, if you want it cheap....you gotta do a lil more work, but, if you want to pay more for it.....go ahead and overshoot the price it last sold at. Those prices are just benchmarks to give you an idea of how its been selling in the past. Think of it like real life, you dont know how low a car salesman is willing to go....but, he will always take more than what he sold the last one for. You just have to work down.