Monkeysnarf

The market ward would be just fine if you could actually avoid wasting time and lag and buy and sell stuff from the item look-up counter...
THIS!!!

Talk about a simple and elegant solution...maybe not for every issue, but certainly for the majority of them.

Yes, yes, it's basically an AH at that point, but isn't that the point?

Keep what we have, and add this on top. For those who want to go wander through the mall and actually see what they're buying, go to it; and for those who want it quick and dirty, done and done.

Also, +2 to Ivy re: details about rate of sales and limiting the number of items for sale.

For one, listing the prices that other retainers are selling items for is not helpful for the seller (though it's wonderful for the buyers). The FFXI system of showing the last couple of sell prices is a much better system because 1) it tells the seller how often the item actually sells and 2) it limits crazy undercutting.
While I disagree with your conclusion under #2, I wholeheartedly agree with #1.

I disagree with #2 because undercutting was rampant on Ramuh in XI. When buying, I would always start well under the most recent price; and when selling, I would ALWAYS undercut, even if only by 2 gil, just to get the next sale, because I want my mfing money!!!

I also liked the 7 item limit for the FFXI auction house. While putting Mistletoe onto my retainer, someone else was selling 56 of them. Should I even bother with my measly 2? I guess I could put them on for 100 gill less and try to undercut, but that's only good until someone else undercuts me, which is easy to do in this current system. If we limit the number of items to sell to a small number, people will be selective about what they put up for sell and we won't have hundreds of the same item up for sale.
THIS THIS THIS!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Brilliant! Couldn't have said it better.