The problems with item seeking are myriad:

1) You must have the exact item and quantity that you are seeking

Want a +1 weapon? You must already have that +1 weapon. Want to buy 50 lightning crystals? Better already have 50 lightning crystals.

2) The item being sought is put into your bazaar

Thus if you have 50 lightning crystals, they must sit in your or your retainers bazaar until the sell order is complete. Further, since items cannot be put into a bazaar unless at 100% repair, you cannot seek an item unless the one you have is fully repaired.

3) Bulk purchases are "all or nothing"

If I am willing to purchase up to 500 lightning crystals, and list an item seek for 500, ONE person must sell me all 500. A far more usable system would allow smaller sales up to a maximum of 500, say one person sells 7, another sells 4, etc.

4) Item seeks cannot be found with the retainer search function

I just tested this today. Listed "seeking silver nuggets". With no search function, no one will ever find that you are attempting to purchase anything.

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SE has made some significant progress with the ability of retainers to sell, but the abilities of retainers to buy is still sorely lacking.