I've just been thinking to myself how I tend to utterly discount any auction that is set for 20+ days or any other ludicrous amount of time, and apparently everyone does that, because they never have any bids. ;)

So, would it be possible/desired to lower the time you can set on your auction to say.. a week at most? Personally, I think 5 days would be even better, but 7 days is plenty of time to get it sold, especially if an auction cancel option is implemented for people who put things up for too much/too little or get an outside offer that they want to take.

Yes, no, maybe so?

TL;DR version: 7 day long auctions at most - to move things along because 20+ days seems just a tiny bit excessive.

Support! People are also using auctions as storage, and I was thinking the only way to stop that would to be to have a staff member go through and clear out any extremly overpriced (ie. 48590684) item. If the user didn't have enough space in their inventory, it would be held in limbo (A tab under Trading called limbo) for a week, and unless it was claimed by the owner, deleted. Owners would receive a message in reports when an item was removed from sale so that they knew to go pick it up.

I don't support this. I post all of my auctions at a month because I place my starting bid and buyout the same -- essentially using the auctionhouse as a shop instead of an auction house. Having them max set at a week would just mean I'd have to re-auction items. If an item does end up back in my inventory after a month, I just re-post it at whatever the current rate is.

Plus auction houses need a sort of cost scale in order for people to guage what an item is worth. Without the longer-running auction setting the pace, so to speak, item prices would spike significantly more.

Not that I'm expecting everyone to understand economics, but limiting people to an auction time at a week doesn't seem like it'd be good for the economy, personally.

I don't support but I do think the items, if this hasn't been changed yet, should take up space in the sellers inventory. I think Angel did say this is on the to-do list but I don't know if it's been done.

So if someone wants an item to sit in their inventory for a month while no one buys it because they over priced it, that's their problem.

However I do think it would be helpful if people could withdraw their bids if there is more than 120 hours (5 days) remaining in an auction. Some people will set the initial bid much lower than the auto buy, or not have an auto buy at all, and auction something for a month. So far (I think) I've managed to avoid bidding on these items but sometimes people have. It would suck to basically have to wait a month to get your money back if that happened to you.

@irrimn - The auction house is an auction house, not a shop. ;) I get what you're saying about your personal style, but I'm with Ankokou in the concern that people who bid accidentally on something with a month or a similarly long time would end up sitting without their money for all that time.

What is convenient for a few people's storage needs is not always the best for the economy, and honestly, re-evaluating price after a week or two seems more sensible than waiting 30 days to do it. And I'm not a teenager, like a lot of gamers are.. I'm closer to the age of a lot of players' parents ;) So I do understand the workings of an economy quite well, because I am old and decrepit.

@Ankokou - Agreed, it'd be less annoying if the items still took up space. I think it is being used currently as a way to circumvent the inventory system, though more often I see that with the items priced at 998989879898 silver.

I also agree that it'd be handy if people could withdraw bids in the event that they bid on something with a long lead time or just found a better deal.

I still just honestly feel it's too long. Even two weeks would move things along better and get people to actually price things in a way so they'll sell and you're not relisting constantly. I've never listed anything for longer than 2 days, and I think I've only had to relist once. ;)

Edited to add: I do think this issue and several others might just take care of themselves by making it so items up for sale still take up space in inventory. But I'm still of the opinion that a month long auction time could be cut in half to encourage people to compete and make a more interesting economy.

@Mouse: I hope you have that rant in a suggestion thread all its own ;)

I don't support 7 days only. I set some items at 10 days with a low starting bid (to me) with no exact buyout. I do think 20 and 30 auctions are excessive, though, so I support the general idea.

Agreed, Mouse you should make that a suggestion and get some feedback. I think the idea has some merit.

@NiteThorn - Yeah I would support something more like two weeks as well. I just really feel like 20-30 days is ridiculously long and it tends to discourage competition a bit. Making things shorter means sellers are likely to be more competitive in pricing and it also makes bidders watch auctions a lot more closely and be more likely to bid against each other more aggressively.

I would have forgotten I'd even bid on something if it lasted longer, or I'd just cancel because I don't want to wait a month to get an item that will probably drop in Explore in the meantime.

Auction buys are about convenience for me.. get the item that I want now vs waiting for it to drop.

@Kayana - I know the auction house isn't a shop, but all auction systems that support buyout are capable of being used as such, and and typically better than other usershopt type systems on other sites because of the flexibility and advanced function a typical auction house extends.

I don't feel the need to re-price my items regularly because I auction so many items that it allows me a sort of market control. If an item's price dips below what I feel is marketably acceptable, I will buy them out just to keep certain items at an appropriate price range for the amount of currency earnable on the site. A lot of people do this so overall one person cannot control the economy, but they may influence buying and selling trends. Auctions that last for 30 days set the trend, eg bar, for other auction's buyout prices and typically result in lower starting bids. Since you said you understand economics I'm sure you know all that anyways.

Still, I think 30 days is a perfectly acceptable length of time for an auction. Furthermore I wouldn't care either way if the items I put for auction stayed as items in my inventory since I have every building built save for warehouse 5. I haven't built that yet simply because there hasn't even been close to a need for it, yet.

If items were rare and not often seen, I'd agree that setting market prices over a long term would be more sensible.

However.. they are not. The odds of a desired schematic just dropping in explore or being traded to you from one of the scriptorium buildings is pretty decent. I get probably 2 or more schematics every day if I make an effort to explore more pets than just my few favorites.

That's really my main disagreement with the system at the end of the day. The items aren't rare, it's just about the convenience of getting the particular level that you need without having to wait for it to drop in explore. So conversely, instead of helping the levels adjust more quickly to a good point, longer auction times just extend the period of items being overpriced and pointless to buy on the auction vs just exploring.

It's not going to ruin my day if it stays the same. ;) I just think it's inefficient. Especially when there's no buyout, because no one wants their money tied up for 30 days. There isn't an item on the game worth that at present. So I figured I'd see what the various opinions were and get some feedback.

If money was returned to you after you were outbid, I wouldn't mind this horribly.  But the idea that my money might be tied up in an auction for weeks even after I've dropped out of the bidding is awful.  I won't bid on anything more than two days because of it.

I personally don't see the point of a 30 day auction and agree that 7 days is sufficient.  However, for the sake of options I don't really care if it is changed or stays the same.

Support. I hate seeing my 30k stuck in the auctions for another 9 days :/ especially if I am outbid....