A Warning for Buyers

[Jpec07]

Our Story

I saw a party in Party Finder advertising sale of a house for the first player to trade the owner 3M gil. Since my small FC has been in the market for a house for a long time, and since we've been stockpiling gil for an eventual purchase, I highlighted this to the officers and other members, and they told me to jump on it.

So I joined the party, and after retrieving the gil from the FC Chest, ported and sprinted to the designated plot. The seller greeted me, and I eagerly traded him our gil. Once he'd received all of it, the seller pulled the party from PF and said that he needed to see how to do it.

The title was relinquished, and the plot went up for sale on the market.

I asked the seller what was going on, and they said that was how it worked. I asked what our 3M was for, and they said it was for the fee to relinquish the land. Then they left the party while I stood, gawking at the plot that could have been ours, up for sale for more than we could afford.

[MysteryNotes]

Our Story

I saw a party in Party Finder advertising sale of a house for the first player to trade the owner 3M gil. Since my small FC has been in the market for a house for a long time, and since we've been stockpiling gil for an eventual purchase, I highlighted this to the officers and other members, and they told me to jump on it.

So I joined the party, and after retrieving the gil from the FC Chest, ported and sprinted to the designated plot. The seller greeted me, and I eagerly traded him our gil. Once he'd received all of it, the seller pulled the party from PF and said that he needed to see how to do it.

The title was relinquished, and the plot went up for sale on the market.

I asked the seller what was going on, and they said that was how it worked. I asked what our 3M was for, and they said it was for the fee to relinquish the land. Then they left the party while I stood, gawking at the plot that could have been ours, up for sale for more than we could afford.

I don't understand?

The agreement was for the house, and he delivered his end of the bargain which was to make the house available to purchase. Its you that didn't do the research, and prepare the requisite sum of money beforehand to purchase it.

It looks to me like you didn't bother find out what happens during a transfer, and are blaming the seller for your own ignorance.
AFAIK there is no way to directly transfer a house to another person(Unless its via taking control of an fc?)

Did you really expect someone to sell you a plot of land for 3mil gil and give you the extra money you needed to purchase it?

[Whiteroom]

I don't understand?

The agreement was for the house, and he delivered his end of the bargain which was to make the house available to purchase. Its you that didn't do the research, and prepare the requisite sum of money beforehand to purchase it.

It looks to me like you didn't bother find out what happens during a transfer, and are blaming the seller for your own ignorance.
AFAIK there is no way to directly transfer a house to another person(Unless its via taking control of an fc?)

Did you really expect someone to sell you a plot of land for 3mil gil and give you the extra money you needed to purchase it?

This is pretty much it. They haven't at least that I've heard, put in any method of transferring your house directly to another player. AFAIK someone could just camp the sellers spot, and as soon as he relinquished it, scoop it out from under you. All you are doing is paying him to give up his claim on the land. You don't get the land, the house or the building permit from the deal. Sounds like he was the legit one. Sorry to say.

[Jpec07]

<snip>

Well that's exactly it. There is no information about housing available within the game for prospective buyers. Pricing, fees, costs incurred, processes - there is nothing unless you've owned a house, or done research outside of the game. We didn't know that there was no way to transfer the house. The seller also implied with the party comments that they were going to transfer the house to us for that cost - there was no indication that we were just buying the opportunity to buy.

We weren't expecting them to relinquish the land and pay for our purchase: we were expecting a fair trade of 3M gil for the deed to the land. This does sound absurd now, but it seemed like the seller just wanted to get rid of it.

I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm looking to warn other newcomers to the market away from these scams, where they might rush headlong without this information and get burned the same way.

[Sylfaein]

Well that's exactly it. There is no information about housing available within the game for prospective buyers. Pricing, fees, costs incurred, processes - there is nothing unless you've owned a house, or done research outside of the game.

There isn't information on this process in-game because it was developed by players and the market, rather than SE. Private land sales are completely player-driven. That said, there is a lot to be said for research, like coming to this forum. I posted a question a while back, asking how much to expect to pay for a relinquish, and got a lot of great information. It paid off.

[Jpec07]

There isn't information on this process in-game because it was developed by players and the market, rather than SE. Private land sales are completely player-driven. That said, there is a lot to be said for research, like coming to this forum. I posted a question a while back, asking how much to expect to pay for a relinquish, and got a lot of great information. It paid off.

Even so, there isn't anything about how much a house actually costs to purchase. There isn't anything that says that players can't transfer land directly to one another. Even with either of those things clearly stated somewhere, this whole scam/misunderstanding/whatever you want to call it would have been avoided.

[Sylfaein]

Even so, there isn't anything about how much a house actually costs to purchase. There isn't anything that says that players can't transfer land directly to one another. Even with either of those things clearly stated somewhere, this whole scam/misunderstanding/whatever you want to call it would have been avoided.

I was given these links when I asked about buying houses:
http://imgur.com/a/n7wzC#2 for housing grades my lot.
http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Personal_Housing for lot prices by server.

I found several sources through Google that showed there was no direct transfer.

It's unfortunate that this happened, but the information is out there; you just have to look.

[Jpec07]

I was given these links when I asked about buying houses:
http://imgur.com/a/n7wzC#2 for housing grades my lot.
http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Personal_Housing for lot prices by server.

I found several sources through Google that showed there was no direct transfer.

It's unfortunate that this happened, but the information is out there; you just have to look.

I'm not disagreeing with you - I'm just saying that this information isn't available in game. We were operating in a time-sensitive manner, since we thought this rare opportunity of a house sale would evaporate. You and everyone else who is saying to have researched it first are correct: that is the thing to do. But that's also why I'm posting this, to hopefully help people like me avoid my mistake. Like I said in the first post, it was incredibly naive in hindsight.

[crc0427]

Even so, there isn't anything about how much a house actually costs to purchase. There isn't anything that says that players can't transfer land directly to one another. Even with either of those things clearly stated somewhere, this whole scam/misunderstanding/whatever you want to call it would have been avoided.

You're right - there isn't anything that says players can't do this and that, because the list would be too long. The help menu only says what you CAN do. if it's not listed, you should assume you CAN'T do it, or research online how it could be done. It just would not be possible to list all of what you CAN'T do in game.

If land is legitimately up for sale, the cost is displayed. There's no cost displayed to relinquish the land, as that's not part of the actual purchasing process and therefore not in the help menu. The help menu only reviews purchasing land the way the game intended.

I think what's happened here is that you just simply didn't understand what was happening and didn't review the help menu, or you would have seen there's no mention of purchasing from another player. The "seller" assumed you knew how it all worked, and likely meant no scam.

I wouldn't blame him here, as I don't think he's at fault.

[MsCroc]

I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm looking to warn other newcomers to the market away from these scams, where they might rush headlong without this information and get burned the same way.

This wasn't a scam though. The seller was legit and was even offering a rather afforable price. Due to how limited the availability housing is, most servers have no houses available so the market is all player driven. The selling of plot relinquishment is not just common, for most servers it's the only option. It is a completely, fair assumption that due to the rarity of houses, you probably know what you're getting into if you are wanting to buy a house. I do not even fault this other player for not expounding; he should not be expected to.

The only "warning" here should be for players to do research before buying. Is this your first MMO by any chance? Most MMOs usually have at least one player driven market that the developers did not intend. It's not really uncommon. (For example, paying for speed runs or 'runs' in general in GW1)