Auction House system to complement existing Market Areas (Discussion) [dev1019]

edit: following the forum reorganization, I have restarted this thread here

Let me open this by acknowledging that there have been several (and some long) discussions regarding auction house vs. market wards. My purpose here is NOT to re-open this same debate, but to make a proposal for an auction house that would complement and supplement the existing market areas (acknowledging that improvements will likely be made).

Regarding the roles that an auction house and market areas would fill, I make the following general suggestion:

1) The market area system fulfills the role of selling commodity goods -- that is, goods that are sold in (relative) quantity, and for which prices are relatively well known.

2) An auction house system would fulfill the role of selling specialty, rare, and/or unique items -- that is, goods that appear rarely, and for which appropriate prices are difficult to determine.

I'm deliberately avoiding discussion of how market areas should be changed/modified (and hope that others will not hijack this thread to that end), and will instead focus upon possible features of such an auction house system, and my rationale for the features I am proposing.

Auction House features:
a) The auction house is for auctions only.
There is no option to list an item with a "buy it now" price. Since the auction house is for items whose price is difficult to determine, true auctions are the rule. If a price is known, the item can be sold via the current market ward system. Bidding is 'open', in that the current bid price is known to potential buyers. To mitigate sniping, upon a new bid being received, the auction duration is reset to end no less than one day after the new bid is placed. To allow the auction to close, and encourage bidding, the seller can choose to end the auction and accept the current bid.

b) Auction listing costs are high.
I propose something like a 100k gil listing fee, along with a 10% tax commission. This prevents the auction house from becoming a duplication of the market areas. Ideally the items listed via auction will be limited in number, and of high value. The high cost provides incentive for players to continue to use the existing market areas for the tax advantages, as well as avoiding the listing fee. In addition, the cost provides a gil sink associated with high end items.

c) Auctions are common across all three cities
The purpose of selling an item in the auction house is to achieve maximum visibility, so auction houses locations will exist in all available cities (and possibly hamlets), and all auctions will be visible in all auction house locations. This also provides a justification for the high cost of listing an auction.

d) Items won are retrieved from an auction house location
Since there is no current mail system, items won via auction will be retrievable from any auction house location. This is another way in which the high cost is justified. Once an in-game mail system is added, this could be re-examined.


I think that this auction house system would provide a mechanism that is lacking in the game currently, without creating a 'doubled system' in which the auction houses are competing against the market areas. I would envision that, as items become first available, they will command a premium and be sold via the auction house. As more items become available and prices stabilize, these items would then migrate to being sold via the market areas.

Note that since the listing fee is fixed, if an item were sold via auction for 80k, after the 10% fee the seller would only recover 72k of the original 100k listing fee, thus selling at a loss. This 'risk' mechanism will help limit the number of items available via the auction house.

The current market areas do not (in my opinion) adequately provide a mechanism for the buying / selling of rare and unusual items. The market areas provide limited visibility, and prices can be difficult to determine. The only remaining options are shouting in a city, or listing the item on a third party site, neither of which seem satisfactory. The auction house system described above would provide a venue for these high end items, while not replacing or detracting from the current market areas system.

The following are possible enhancements to such an auction house system.

Auction house accounts:
A character can create an auction house account by speaking to an NPC at the auction house and depositing gil into the new account. This yields the following benefits:

a) An Auction House NPC linkpearl is supplied to the character
b) Bids can be made via this linkpearl, but only using the gil funds currently on account
c) For a seller, current status of an auction can be checked via linkpearl, and the auction can be closed via linkpearl. The resulting gil is place in the character's account
d) Depositing/withdrawing gil must be done in person
e) Initiation an auction must be done in person, to supply the item
f) Retrieving an item won must be done in person

Alternative Listing Fees:
It has been pointed out that having a high listing fee would likely make the auction house system the exclusive province of 'end-game' players, and would not enhance the playing experience at all for low and mid-game players.

To address this, the following alternative fee listing system is proposed:

Listing fees are determined by item availability within the market areas.
When an item is listed within the auction house, a check of all market areas is performed. The initial listing fee is 5000 gil per item found within the markets, with a maximum fee of 100k. This system explicitly provides deconfliction of the the proposed auction house with the market areas, and provides for lower rank crafters and buyers to participate in the auction house.

Well, you know I'm all for an auction system that supplements but doesn't supplant the market system. :) And I especially like the thought of an auction house that is actually an auction house, rather than a front for what amounts to a garage sale. :) I'm curious to see what other people think.

As I mentioned before, this implementation of an AH I wouldn't mind. Any system that keeps the market wards in place and fully functional while adding new functional is a win in my book. :)

I would support this type of Auction house. Buy it now does not belong on a true auction house. And it shouldn't be used to sell crystals.

The only things that need to be changed about FFXI's auction house are the number of items that may be sold, and the user interface/lag. maybe an upgraded UI for better sorting and searching.

I dont think i have anything that is valuable enough to actually sell in this style of auction house..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nephera

I dont think i have anything that is valuable enough to actually sell in this style of auction house..

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That's the beauty of it, it would make your normally not valuable stuff important in the wards.

@Nephera, Awesome sig. <3

I like the idea of an auction house for valuable items. That is a good idea and a way to utilize that wasted space they say is an auction house in Limsa.

Now that being said I think they are going to do some amazing things with the current Market Wards given the time to implement it and the upcoming content. For all we know Companies could have a huge role in Market Wards and give more functionality to our retainers. You will notice retainers are all "Level 1" right now, and chocobos aren't even in the game. Who knows what they might add...maybe a retrieve function or delivery from retainers on the field etc(Not really a thought out idea just an example).