How does AH really work.Follow

Anyone know exactly how it works? This is what i've heard:

Lets say 0 things of Lumber are in the AH

Player A puts a pack in for 1000, player b then puts a pack in for 900, then player c then puts a pack in for 1000.

If someone bids 1000, they will get player A's, if someone bids 900 they will get player B's. If someone bids 1000, then 1000 again they will get Player A and B's.


Now, that is what i heard, and it isnt exactly what happens. Heres what ive observed

0 Things currently at AH, i put 4 packs in at 4500 each. I recheck- still 4 in. A cuople days later I come back, notice there are about 6 sold at 4500 each, none which are mine. Now this breaks the rule completely. Also, i noticed if one of your items sells, then all of them will sell, for example if you put in 4 sheep leathers at the same time, if opne of them sells, all 3 will be next. What determines when yours gets picked?

So if i pu a bunch of things at 4499 instead of 4500 mine would sell first?

Ryoga is right.... you can sell something like fire crystals where there are about 80 stacks.... you sell the first one... :P

Can anyone tell me how you actually set the price? I mean I usually pay the 1 gil fee and watch it sell for almost nothing sometimes..

Reading this gives some hope that I can get good gil for my stuff or at least what everyone else is getting. An example would be:

I see grilled hare selling for 100 gil, I figure good enough to get a payback for materials. I put it on, pay the 1 gil fee and then find out someone only pays 10 gil for each one I put. That bites, so if any of you can tell me how to set fee's aside from opening a bazaar I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

In the first post,


This is not a correct assumption, in the case above, person A and C went for 1000, person B went for 900... Person 1 Bids 1000, and will get person B's wood (lowest offer under the bid) person 2 will bid 900 and be unable to buy, person 3 will get person A's wood (First in at that offer)

If you put an item up you pay a fee in gil, you then set a low value, you can choose to set that value at 1 gil so yours will be the first to sell, but you may get just that, 1 gil for the item... I will admit I have tried to bid 10 on some items just to see if I get lucky... I have not, but I have not won the lottery either.

If an item is going for 4500 gil (or there about) it is best to put yours up for a few gil less (4496 to 4499) you will get the 4500 gil most of the time, and it will sell before all the folks who put up items at 4500.

One thing to remember, Armor and weapons are more like rented then bought, you buy an item, use it until you can upgrade, then sell it... at that point you can (we all hope) make back what you spent (or close) if you offer up an item for a lot less then it's normal selling price, while yours will sell faster, you are raising the rental fee on the item (greed here folks, I would like to sell the rented items for something close to what I paid for them).

Crafted Items cost money to make, either time or gil, you lower the price and you hurt the crafters... they lose money as they try to ply the skills... no profit motive, less of a reason to craft, less chance for that +1 item you want so much...

Here's a strategy, and yes cheapest item sells first regardless of price offered,

A) Consistent sale at same price, i.e 400 gil, history full of same day transaction at that price. If you set at 400, people at 399 will sell before you. I usually sell at 396 to undercut people at 399.

B) Average sale volume, low stock, fluctuating price, i.e 2500-3500 in history. I'd set my price at 3010, that way you'll sell before the ones that insist on getting 3500, and if someone tries 2500, 3000 and then jumps to 3500 you're the first seller to get his 3500.

You have to factor in Supply/Demand. Don't make the mistage thinking that something that sold high can make you rich if it's a low supply/low demand item. Got burned buying tons of stuff for cheap because I could sell it for 15 times as much at another AH, only to find out that only 2 had been sold the whole month of december.

One more thing, if something you have quantites off are close to the price you get from a vendor (or below). Buy it out and sell it at the vendor. You can also buy that last one for more in hopes that people will stop devaluating the product. Example : I sold massive quantites of hare meat last week at unit prices of 50 gil. Market fluctuated and dropped. I could buy all of those at 20 gils to empty the market, then buy the last two for 50 gil, pushing people to set it for sale at 50 gil. If market subsists I reintroduce slowly the stock I bough @20 for 50 gil.

Edited, Tue Jan 27 12:56:02 2004 by Euler