Are some of the servers economies complete trash?

[Jojoya]

In runescape, you can make an offer, such as 30k to buy something. The system will check and a sale will be made if a seller was offering it at that price, or lower than what you offered it for. If no seller is offering it for 30k or below, your offer will remain on the market until someone takes you up on it, or you raise your offer.

Now why would I bother going to all that trouble when I could make the item in less time than it would take to play guessing games about what a seller is willing to accept as a price?

That sort of system only works when buyers are dependent on sellers to get the items they need or want. They have to hope a seller shows up with the item they're looking for.

It's not going to work when the player can choose to become self-sufficient and spend 5 minutes gathering mats and crafting the item on their own. That's what's happening in this game now. SE made it too easy for players to be self-sufficient.

If you want to sell on the marketboard, you either need to have an item a buyer cannot get on their own or you need to convince them that it's cheaper and more convenient to buy from you than put in the effort to get the item themselves.

Start hiding prices and you've just stripped away a substantial chunk of the convenience factor. That would be a pity if the price the seller was asking was one I would have happily paid if it had been listed clearly in the first place.

[Edax]

Now why would I bother going to all that trouble when I could make the item in less time than it would take to play guessing games about what a seller is willing to accept as a price?

It's really no trouble at all. Just bid high and you'll be sold the lowest sellers item at the seller's price and you have it instantly.