Housing still being sold by gil traders...

[dspguy]

It is not legal to sell house plots for more than what they are worth, also submercibles/airships, not worth that much either.

What is illegal only matters if it is enforced. Consider you own experience in this game while also considering the common forum complaints about RMT. The average players' perspective is along the lines of:

- SE takes limited or not enough action on gathering bots
- SE takes limited or not enough action on MB bots
- SE takes limited or not enough action on gilsellers
- SE resolved placard clicking bots by removing placard clicking entirely
- but SE doesn't appear to be taking action on suspicious FC sales at this time

[SweetestLily]

The tos literally says they may ban us for any reason or no reason at all lol.

Yes youre right if someone wants to mess with you, thats terrible, but... if they get that and can check that theres 1000 MILLION gil going from (lets face it, most likely rmt) to an player and an house wanders shortly after.... thats like catching you with the smoking gun still in your hand.

Show me where the TOS says "we can ban you for no reason at all".

[Sindele]

FC smalls on Mateus still took several cycles to fill out. If you didn't have any backup bids placed and just kept plowing into the biggest thing available, you're the reason you're homeless, not anyone or anything else.

[Jojoya]

You guys make it sound like making a lot of gil legit is impossible.

Some believe that because they don't understand all the different ways to make gil.

But that's not what they're questioning here. They're questioning whether it's legit to make gil by selling a house. And the answer is: depends.

The English ToS now refers players to the Prohibited Activities policy for examples of what players are not allowed to do. The housing related policy listed there is simply:

・Purchasing a plot of land with the intent to resell it
Key Points
Please note that Square Enix may conduct investigations and issue a penalty in its discretion even if a report has not been filed.

If you buy it just to sell it, then it's a ToS violation.

If you bought it to use it, used it for a reasonably long period of time then sold it, it is not a violation unless real money was involved (RMT being covered elsewhere in the policy).

For the OP's example, it's still possible but unlikely it was purchased with the intent to resell based on the age and member count of the FC. The FC may have owned that house since patch 4.2 (it was created a few weeks before SE announced that wards 12-18 were being added that patch). Or they might have picked it up in the May or June lotteries with the plan to resell. We can't know. It would be up to SE to investigate.

[ijuakos_xqwzts]

Either start tracking this discord and banning accounts linked with those FC's being sold for hundreds of millions or billions of gil, or make new wards so those of us who do not have a house who want one can finally have the honor of owning one.

1) They'll just move the venue to some other location, and
2) The "gil traders" will appreciate more lots to get their stinky claws into

The bad people will always find a way to market their product and there will always be potential customers willing to overlook the shady/questionable conditions that gil sellers subject them to (not knowing firsthand, but it seems like a "dude, trust me" market); SquareEnix never seems to be fast enough to catch them, either. The best way to defeat this market is to saturate it with so much product that gil sellers don't make any cash off from it. "Adding more wards" will only kick the can down the road.

"Purchasing a plot of land with the intent to resell it"

That policy is poorly written. How does SquareEnix prove intent? Do they question everyone who "sells" a house? If someone is maliciously purchasing a house for reselling purpose, will they really be inane enough to admit their intent? Or will "intent" really be "if some random GM at SquareEnix assumes that was the intent"? Do they base "intent" on how long the house was procured and/or how it was otherwise used? Not very good for transparency. I can think of at least one instance where someone buys a property and sells it relatively quickly, so I'd have to assume others exist. This wording suggests that SE either could potentially ban someone who wasn't being a bad actor in the housing market or they're not enforcing it nearly enough.

[Sotaris]

I agree, how can you determine intent?

[Condygurl]

First of all that is just one house on that site. There are dozens and dozens of houses MOST of them are level 6 FC's with nothing, most not even having the workshop open. Yes some are selling older FC's but the vast majority are in Empyreum and are level 6 FC's. Made during the entire zero bid glitch. Selling for 400 million or more. My point is if there is an ad on that site, and it is a new FC, they should investigate not only the sellers but the purchasers too. And maybe I will get a house this time, but with over 290 bids right now on the house odds are not in my favor. But here's hoping. I just really want Square Enix to realize that there is an entire underground market for houses in the game. I went thru hell clicking on stupid placards and not winning because of bots. That was bad enough, but to find that there is an entire black market of houses just is upsetting. You do not have to agree, that's your right, but someone really needs to look into the entire deal.

[Crystal][Mateus]
[Sell-FC][Small]
[Empyreum][P36]
Rank 6 with no workshop....

And that particular seller has 5 houses up there right now all with different FC's all rank 6, and all on Mateus. They also have a bunch on Goblin, and Marlboro. So I doubt they have that many FC's they own on one server let alone 3 different servers.

[Jojoya]

SE is aware of the underground markets for housing. That's why the rules like "intent to resell" exist. If they didn't believe it was happening, they wouldn't have made the rule.

But they don't have the manpower needed to monitor every sales website and Discord that exists then investigate everything listed. They rely on player reports of suspicious activity.

Some they'll ban for sales but they'll be right back in business in a few days. The cost of getting a new account is a minor expense compared to the profit already in their pocket by the time SE takes action.

I honestly have no idea what they do about the buyers but my personal belief is game companies should come down hard on the RMT buyers. If they made players afraid to buy because there was legitimate risk of losing not just what was purchased but everything on their account, fewer would do it. That would make it harder for the sellers to stay in business.

[NightHour]

Show me where the TOS says "we can ban you for no reason at all".

As you wish...


Section 1 of the user license agreement -

[Drakengarde]

They would generally not do that as if people make enough noise it will be very bad PR for them. But they technically can as it is in tos.