Why do you want an Auction House? (discussion)[dev1019]

[Haraldsson]

I enjoyed the AH system in ff11, I could see the history of items, being able to see what an item was sold at the last 15 times. AH would also save a lot of time in regards to traveling to the wards to pick up your item or to sell an item, this could be very time consuming if you are in the market for buying or selling multiple items.

The items stated above are reasons that FF11 economy didn't do well.

1. Item price history is a tool for price fixers and inflation. Price history is a great way to price fix, and prices don't flow naturally with the demand when every average consumer can instantly review past prices (real or faked).

2. If an AH is implemented it should be individual to that region. Such that, items placed on sale in one city should not be able to be purchased in all other areas of the game. This will add market complexity to the game -import/export, area specific materials- that people will enjoy, and keep the economy flowing.

SE can even use import export tariffs on goods to help fight inflation later in the game life.

[Chory]

Item price history is a tool for price fixers and inflation.

Oh please, gimmie a break. Item price is as high as much youre willing to pay for it. You can do same things in MW. If there is no supply at the moment you can put it on sale for price 2-3 times higher than its usual price and potential buyer will pay that much now even knowing its overpriced. Next person selling this item will set price close to yours and you got inflation. If there are 10 sellers price will probably drop a bit. Its a free market. Demand > Supply - prices go up, Supply > Demand - priced go down. And you can always buy cheap ones and put it on sale for your price. Dont need AH for price speculating.

If an AH is implemented it should be individual to that region.

Yeah, and Ul'dah MW will handle 95% of worlds supply.

[Kaedan]

Oh please, gimmie a break. Item price is as high as much youre willing to pay for it. You can do same things in MW. If there is no supply at the moment you can put it on sale for price 2-3 times higher than its usual price and potential buyer will pay that much now even knowing its overpriced. Next person selling this item will set price close to yours and you got inflation. If there are 10 sellers price will probably drop a bit. Its a free market. Demand > Supply - prices go up, Supply > Demand - priced go down. And you can always buy cheap ones and put it on sale for your price. Dont need AH for price speculating.
Yeah, and Ul'dah MW will handle 95% of worlds supply.

Wrong.

One of the big problems with AHs in general is the ability to buy up the entire supply of something. Someone can abuse and exploit the system by buying up every instance of an item (particularly rarer items) and then reposting them at 10x the price. This is exploitation... not free market.

In a real free market, that doesn't happen unless you have a monopoly (which is illegal btw...translated to gamespeak = exploit).

And the reason it works is because people can buy gil online, and if they really want that item, they will buy gil to get it... ruining the economy for the rest of us.

Now, I agree that it is certainly possible to do that with the current MW as well, but it's much more time consuming and is a hassle for the would-be exploiters. It's a deterrent. And honestly, I would rather spend a little extra time to reduce the chances of people exploiting and artificially manipulating the supply.

[Ciden]

Wrong.

One of the big problems with AHs in general is the ability to buy up the entire supply of something. Someone can abuse and exploit the system by buying up every instance of an item (particularly rarer items) and then reposting them at 10x the price. This is exploitation... not free market.

In a real free market, that doesn't happen unless you have a monopoly (which is illegal btw...translated to gamespeak = exploit).

And the reason it works is because people can buy gil online, and if they really want that item, they will buy gil to get it... ruining the economy for the rest of us.

Now, I agree that it is certainly possible to do that with the current MW as well, but it's much more time consuming and is a hassle for the would-be exploiters. It's a deterrent. And honestly, I would rather spend a little extra time to reduce the chances of people exploiting and artificially manipulating the supply.

How is that any different or going to stop me from buying up all the growth formula alphas in Gridania? Anything can be exploited. Have you ever seen a successful economic structure in place anywhere in the world working for anyone?! The whole thing works off of exploitation. Undercutting. Outsourcing. Fly by night trading. The list goes on an on.
Corruption is the norm. The only thing we're asking for is a way to sell our piles of crap and still have lots of time leftover to smash face in the game. Not the mythical golden System that will be failproof and completely fair to EVERYONE!