Auction house is unfair to buyers.

Let's say a seller accidentally forgets to put a zero at the end of their bid, and are unable to cancel their auction. They end up getting screwed over because they will get less than they actually wanted.


What if someone over WC advertises they want to buy that exact item for more than what they put it up for auction at? As the seller shouldn't they be allowed to cancel the auction, forgo the fee, and get more for the item?


The problem with allowing bids to be retracted is that they system works by requiring the amount bid be deposited to ensure the bidder can pay for the item should they win. If that player gets outbid, they are refunded their coin. This creates the problem that if the high bidder retracts their bid that the second high bidder no longer has anything deposited, and there is no guarentee that they can still afford their bid.

Lolas - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Let's say a buyer accidentally adds a zero at the end of their bid, and are unable to cancel their bid. They end up getting screwed over because they will pay 10 times more than they actually wanted.

What if someone over WC advertises they want to sell that exact item for less than what they bid for at auction ? As the buyer shouldn't they be allowed to cancel the bid, forgo the fee, and pay less for the item?

The problem with the fees could be solved by just never returning anyones money until auction is totaly over. If that is to inconvenient, I return to the option of not allowing canceling for anyone.

When you bid on an item it automatically enters the minimum amount needed to win the item. Putting a higher amount is actually unneeded unless you wish to bid more.

There is no fee for bidding on an item, only selling an item, and should you win the item you have the option of re-selling it and recovering some of the cost of buying the item since you now have two.

There is no fee: you are depositing the amount you are willing to pay for the item should you win the auction.


The buyer loses nothing if the auction is canceled early.


The seller loses their deposit for canceling an auction early.

The seller gets part of the winning bid taken by the AH.

The seller only gets half of the deposit back if the item doesn't sell.


The buyer gets an item they can re-sell if they find a better deal and buy that too.

They should set a system like eBay...incremental bids til ur max reserve. Instead of one big lump sum on reserve. Wastes time checking on AH every second

aensidhe wrote: »

They should set a system like eBay...incremental bids til ur max reserve. Instead of one big lump sum on reserve. Wastes time checking on AH every second

Then they'll require that much to be deposited.

Getmoneyson - Harshlands wrote: »

yes you can cancel auction whenever you want if you are seller. i had an item with 2 mins left on it someone offered me a rediculously lucrative trade cuz they had no coins. i cancelled.

the real problem with auction is you get charged a fee to list the item and then you get charged again if the item sells... wtf are there 2 fees?

I believe that is there to make sure people don't put stuff up for auction and repeatedly cancel their auctions.

Lolas - Heavens Tear wrote: »

OMGLAZERZ - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Let's say a seller accidentally forgets to put a zero at the end of their bid, and are unable to cancel their auction. They end up getting screwed over because they will get less than they actually wanted.

Let's say a buyer accidentally adds a zero at the end of their bid, and are unable to cancel their bid. They end up getting screwed over because they will pay 10 times more than they actually wanted.

When a seller places an item on auction, there is no confirmation. The item is immediately available for bid/purchase and the prices you entered are the prices that are listed. The entered prices have no commas so it's easy to leave out an extra zero. You have to check the actual listing to verify the price (with commas) is correct. I picked up some really nice arcane legs (+6 mp regen, two average shards) for 15k. It was at the top of the list when I checked the Auctioneer, so I probably got it literally seconds after it was listed. I'm pretty sure the seller meant to list it for 150k buyout.

When a buyer places a bid, you get a confirmation dialog saying you are about to bid/buy the item for X amount of coin, are you sure? The number includes commas so it's rather difficult to make a mistake placing a bid.

I do agree you shouldn't be able to cancel an auction after it's been on for an hour or so. That should be plenty of time for the seller to notice a mistake. But since the seller currently pays all auction fees, I don't have that much problem with the seller being allowed to cancel. In RL auctions, the buyer pays the auction house fees (that is, they pay a certain % more than they bid).

Mothergoose - Sanctuary wrote: »

Overwhelming majority of auctions do not get a single bid on, and expires. The way auction works currently is broken. The auction fee should be far higher, based on starting bid price, not npc price. But if the item is sold, the fee is refunded in full. If the item is not sold, seller lose the large fee. This will ensure that only items that sellers wish to sell will end up in auction, and all auctions will be actively bet on. The max auction period should also be more than just 24 hours. This should all ensure the starting price is low, but winning price is high, which is the way it should be at an auction house.

Right now, it's just a large amount of goods clogging the system, but few transactions.

What would help is to be able to see the deal prices of the last 10-20 copies of each items that sold. If I get a rare mold, I waste a lot of time trying to find another of the same mold on auction. If I can't, I have to list it starting at a much higher price than I think it's worth, then gradually lower the price as I re-list it again, until finally it sells. It's probably easier to shout on WC asking for a price check or bids, which completely defeats the purpose of the auction system.

When a seller puts an item to the auction he still owns it until someone buys it and therefore it exchanges owner. Till then it's property of the owner and he can do whatever he wants with it incl. removing it from sale. Simple.

The fact is that AH is for selling items. The AH exists solely to benefit the seller.
It happened to me once as well, and then I learned better and never made the same mistake again.

Buyers get an advantage too. When the seller makes a mistake, and that item which is missing a zero or has the wrong amount appears on the AH list for 10 seconds before the seller realizes his mistakes and cancels it, you can spam that buy button like no tomorrow.
I've got quite a few great (and I mean stupendous) deals out of this.

So there are advantages and disadvantages to the current AH, but I don't believe the system needs fixing.

Wow necros are getting out of hand nowadays.

I am reading these thread from my phone, then decide to post a reply. b:thanks

As someone who always use auction house i know that :
1. You can't cancel selling your item if the time left for bidding is less than 2 hour.
2. If you bid an item when the timer is less than 2 hour but receive a message refunding your bid, that mean someone outbid you.
3. When the timer changed to 3 minute left it actually not really 3 minute but 3 minute 59 second. Or other example when the timer changed to 2 hour left actually still 2 hour 59 minute.

There a trick to always outbid other people . . but need patience. b:victory
(But if he decide to bid huge amount of money, you shouldn't follow him to suicide just for outbid.)
@ Airyll btw i love necro.

Airyll - Dreamweaver wrote: »

You all just got necro'd.

damn it... i was just about to post something too <_< b:cry

and no wonder one of the quoted person's avatar read 90 even though he/she was mentioned as a lv72

anyways... i didn't see this anywhere else... if a buyer can cancel a bid, this would allow the seller to fake bid his own items to jack up the price, and if no one bites, he can just cancel the bid.

/in before necro lock

First I was a bit unhappy last week when I bid 1.1 million on a reflect scroll. At the last minute the seller canceled the auction. Then relisted for higher starting bid. I eventually won it for 4.1 million.

Never knew you could cancel , cause when i tried it said "one hour before the end of this auction u cannot cancel it," so its kinda strange he could do that in teh last minute.