Buyer beware in the Auction House
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 2nd 2008 at 7:30PM
After a player complains that they mistakenly paid 75g for wool cloth in the Auction House, Drysc confirms that Blizzard is all about caveat emptor: the auction house market is all about open trade, so if you buy something for the wrong price, it's all on you.This, of course, leaves the system fairly open to rampant fraud -- I know someone on another server who would often buy anything epic on the AH, day in and day out, and inflate the price an extra thousand gold. In many cases, the free market (which I'm pretty sure this is, right economists?) can usually correct itself -- you have to stay on top of a certain market if you plan to dominate it, since if anyone posts a lower price than you, you'll lose out on a sale. But in terms of a fraud -- the original poster in the thread claims that no one would ever have a serious reason to sell wool for 75g -- it's always "be careful what you click." Blizzard isn't completely laissez-faire when it comes to the economy, of course; they control the flow of gold in all kinds of ways. But when it comes to the auction house, you're on your own.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Making money
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
mattarin Apr 2nd 2008 7:37PM
i once bought a lvl 22 1h axe for 30g. i could of sworn it was 3g but then i saw have my money was gone and checked my mail and saw i payed 30g. luckily it was just an alt. the axe was no way worth 30g and i never even used it.
Lockpain Apr 2nd 2008 7:44PM
Auctioneer helps relieve these kinds of issues with a column called "PCT". While I don't know exactly what it stands for what I do know is that it will identify any item priced beyond the bid/buyout average. Anything above 105% PCT changes from yellow to red and automatically pushes to the bottom of the list. This nifty little feature guarantees I never have to worry about accidentally purchasing wool cloth for 75g.
matt Apr 2nd 2008 8:02PM
Another awesome feature of Auctioneer. :) Don't buy anything without it! (Of course, the people who have it installed are the ones likely to double-check anyway, but....)
I always thought "pct" was just their abbreviation for percent. Like, percentage of average market price. Or whatever.
xenothaulus Apr 2nd 2008 8:25PM
I think it just means 'percent' as in "percent difference from the last known price." It could mean Price Change Today I guess.
All I really know about it is "blue means buy buy buy!"
Lockpain Apr 2nd 2008 8:44PM
The only thing I hate about players that post "wool cloth for 75g" is that it blows up the average, and may take a day or two to correct itself. :(
Todd Apr 3rd 2008 12:13AM
I'm new to the game but I could have sworn I saw a post a little while ago saying that auctioneer was installing a key logger to steal passwords.
Emil Apr 3rd 2008 9:43AM
PCT on the auctioneer means percent from the average(or median) price on the market for the current item.
For example if you have 5 stacks of wool cloth for 50 silver, 5 stack for 1 gold and 5 stacks for 1g 50s, it will show the first 5 stacks on 50% the second 5 stack on 100% and the last five stack on 150%...
AlmtyBob Apr 3rd 2008 4:29AM
First off, auctioneer is completely safe.
Secondly, addons by themselves do not and CANNOT contain addons. Executable files that claim to be addon "installers" or "automatic updaters" CAN. As long as you're downloading your own addons that contain zipped up folders rather than executables you are 100% safe from malware (addons-wise).
You could get XSS attacks or other browser vulnerabilities on some sites that claim to have addons for download (auctioneer's site is NOT one of them). Firefox + noscript + curse/wowace/wowinterface = reasonably safe.
Zali Apr 3rd 2008 11:35AM
I'm guessing that since all the "percentage of average sale" numbers are in this column that the PCT stands for "Percentage."
Auctioneer basically scans the AH and has 3 and 7 day averages for that product and keeps a running average of completed sales, as well as what percentage of AH posts for that product actually sold. Most of this information is even available to you by just mousing over the item. So, what you might see when you mouse over an item is that it has a 3 day average buyout cost of 5G, and a 7 day buyout cost of 5G 80S, and down there at the bottem is field called, (I think) "Confidence, which might show a number like 0.87. So at those prices, an average of 87 out of 100 would have sold. A few other tidbits that it will have is how many times that item has been seen during the past week, what it disenchants into, the disenchant value, the vendor value, etc. Lots of great info.
The screne that you're talking about is actually in the AH itself though. I think the tab is called "Appraiser" or something similar. When you highlight a item, it will pull up all of those items currently for sale, for example "Silk Cloth." You might have 20 entries for Silk Cloth. Auctioneer will take a look at the average cost of Silk Cloth and give a value to each stack of silk cloth currently up for auction and then color code it for easy recognition. If Silk Cloth is in a blue font, then the auction is bid only, with no buyout price. Green font is 90% of average price and less. (could be 89% or 95%, but I think it is 90%.) If the font is yellow then the price is 90% - 10% of average price. If it is in red then it is rediculous. (You can spot the people buying gold this way. An AH for Wool Cloth goes up for exactly 1000G. Someone buys it. Fair transation, right?) All the way over to the right is the PCT column. This will give you the exact percentage of average cost.
This is my absolute FAVORITE addon feature. If I need cloth for my tailor, just check the AH and grab everything in green. If I'm desparate, I might grab some yellows.
If you don't have Auctioneer then RUN, don't WALK, to your nearest Auctioneer download site and get it. Actually, just type WOW Auctioneer and their web site will show up at the top of the list.
andrea Apr 2nd 2008 7:44PM
That's not fraud.
AlmtyBob Apr 3rd 2008 4:34AM
Yah, the resaling-the-epics example is definitely not fraud. That person is taking a huge risk (especially if he's buying epic armor/weapons) of being quickly undercut and losing money overall. I used to do something similar, but not as lame, with the enchanting market. If I wanted to sell some Essences/Dust and I saw there were only a handful on the market at less than average I'd buy them all out and repost them along with mine at 110-120% of the average. That's not fraud, it's good business sense. By your example the FTC better go raid Wall Street and arrest all those dirty con artist stock traders.
Gessilea Apr 2nd 2008 7:49PM
While it ticks me off that people try and trick other players, it's totally avoidable if you're careful. Blizzard has done a lot to make the game idiot proof, but a few slip through. Not that one has to be an idiot to accidentally buy something (buying herbs at 4am... bad idea), but part of being a mature adult is taking responsibility when you goof up, not expecting someone, in this case Blizzard, to hold your hand and make everything all better.
heartless_ Apr 2nd 2008 7:59PM
I would not call it a free market. If anything it is more of a Monopoly. Blizzard controls everything. If an item, prismatic shards for example, becomes overpriced, with a simple patch Blizzard can change the Supply (Void Shatter).
A lot of players will get loss in the idea that players are setting prices and therefore it is a free market, but that is completely forgetting WHO is driving demand. Once again, Blizzard manages everything that makes its way into the economy.
The TRUE price setting is done by Blizzard. If something becomes out of line they cut production or supply. Examples:
Prismatic Shards and Void Shatter
Tyr's Hand farming pre-TBC vs nerfed loot tables in Tyr's Hand
Gold farming vs Blizzard banning gold farmers accounts
Players arrive at their prices because of the system, which is run by Blizzard.
Lockpain Apr 2nd 2008 8:14PM
While I agree that it is monopolistic, the simpler answer is this is a player driven economy. Case in point one of my alts has 380 jewel crafting. I don't like going out and mining adamantite ore because it takes too long on my regular flying mount (e.g. 35-45 minutes to complete one harvesting circuit in Netherstorm). So instead I purchase the ore from the AH. In the beginning a stack of adamantite ore went for 20g. I've seen this average slowly increase it over a few weeks to 27g. I have really have no control over this. Blizzard also doesn't have any control over that as well. Oh I'm sure they could come in and "patch" stuff, but the fact is they let players dictate the market... as it should be.
samiam Apr 2nd 2008 9:58PM
Please go study your economics. Blizzard manages supply, not demand. The only prices they set are at the vendors.
Auction House buyouts are are set by the person auctioning an item. Some people manipulate the AH market by posting outrageous prices, such ash 75G for a stack of wool, to manipulate the average price for an item as calculated by programs like Auctioneer; they know this works because people are letting the mod think for them - an item is expensive if acutioneer says so.
Similarly, people manipulate supply by buying all of an item and jack up the buyout or limiting supply.
But there is an easy solution - don't buy the stuff!!!
Xade Apr 3rd 2008 3:06AM
actually, by the mere fact they set what items are required for combines in tradeskills show they can control demand. Do you not recall the patch where Khorium was added to quite a lot of recipes? Price before and price after was a big change, because the demand was now there since Blizzard implemented it as such.
heartless_ Apr 3rd 2008 12:14PM
Yes, I should go back and study economics so I can find this fabled "player driven economy" you speak of. Go back to your cage troll, and can someone please bring my original post back from the grave?
Whats sad is that I even noted that people would get lost in the idea that players set demand because of the ability to set a price. Yet, here we are with my comment voted down, because a couple trolls DON'T HAVE A CLUE ABOUT ECONOMICS.
Zali Apr 3rd 2008 3:12PM
WARNING: EDUCATIONAL CONTENT ALERT
After reading three pages of economic misconceptions, half understandings, and total economic noobism, I’ve decided to boil things down into a more understandable view of economics within WoW.
First of all, everyone so far is pretty much half right and half wrong. The WoW economy is NOT a free market, so those said that can have a gold star on their forehead. WoW is also NOT a Monopoly, so those who said that may also have a gold star.
What is an Economy?
This is the whole pie right here. An economy is simply the system of activities that relates to how goods and services are created, transferred and consumed within defined set of boundaries. The boundaries as relates to our real life experiences are typically geographical and are associated with a particular country. There are also political boundaries, such as the European Union, which geographically, covers many countries. And don’t forget the ever omnipresent Global Economy.
What is a Market?
In strictly economic terms a market is a social structure in which entities (individuals or groups) exchange rights or ownership of goods, ideas and services. If an economy is a system of activities, then the markets are The Activities. In real life we have many markets that we are familiar with. We have very big markets such as the Stock Market, and we have very small markets such as the local Flea-Market. Both have a similar goal, the exchange of goods, services and currency. Both go about it in very different ways, have very different products, and both are part of the same economy.
No Free Lunch, No Free Market?
Simply put it is a market free of any sort of regulation, tax, or interference from any outside entity. Transactions are arranged and agreed upon by the parties involved, and are self regulated. The only free markets in existence are single transactions between a buyer and a seller where neither is misleading or coercive, and no third party is involved. So, as a social structure in the practical economic sense, these only exist theoretically.
Economic Identification, or What’s What?
Well, there are two main schools in Economics, Capitalism and Socialism. Capitalism can be loosely defined as Private Ownership. Socialism is far more difficult to sum up because even socialists tend to disagree as to what they mean by Socialism. For simplicity sake, lets just lean towards State Control of Industry, Production and Distribution of goods and services. Yes, I know the waters are quite muddy here so feel free to flame away.
Reality Light:
In reality most, if not all, economies are considered Mixed Economies. A little of this, a little of that.
WoW, Econ 101 – AKA: WoW That’s Complicated!
Lets start by saying that there is a Global Economy in WoW that umbrella’s all aspects of the in game economics system. The currency of the global economy is, for all intents and purposes, defined as “loot.” It is upon the foundation and backbone of Loot that all other aspects of the games economic health is built. Loot is anything that you can harvest for personal gain, such as money, Badges, Marks, and other drops from NPC kills or chests, or items gained from skilled gathering crafts such as fishing, mining ore and picking herbs. Loot also includes honor points and arena points, because these too can be used as currency to purchase goods and services.
There are two main markets within WoW. First is the vendor, or PVE market. The currency for this market is usually considered “Gold,” but you may also use spirit shards, or Apex shards, and Honor Hold marks, and Honor Points and Arena Points, etc. There are may sub-markets within the PVE market. I say PVE because you are a player purchasing something from an environment vendor. This would be a socialist aspect of the game. Prices are set and basically can’t be negotiated with. You can’t demand better products or customer service. The “state” has set, and locked the bar in place.
The PVP is mostly tied up in the AH, but there is a lively bartering economy as well. The prices are set by the seller and will either be met or rejected by the buyer. If people jump to buy a product faster than it can be prepared for sale, then the price will rise until people stop buying. If nobody buys, the price will drop till they do. This is a very capitalistic school on economics of course.
The fun of the economy is that there are aspects of the economy in WoW that are both faction exclusive AND inclusive at the same time. The AH in Gad in relation to the AH in the main cities, for instance, gives an example of one instance where a tool is faction specific on the one hand, but is inclusive on the other. There are also PVE vendors that only cater to one side or the other, others that cater to players based on Rep, or other factors. It really is a fascinating web of connections.
A note on Blizz being a Monopoly because they the rates in which “loot” is introduced into the economy: This is the natural way of things! In WoW, as in real life, there is not an infinite supply of raw product. There are a limited number of gold veins on Earth, just as there are a limited number of Fel Iron veins in Outland. There are only so many barrels of oil buried on earth, just as there are limited numbers of Prismatic Shards. Over time as society grows, technology grows with it and it becomes easier to gain access to natural resources. The same applies in WoW. As we all get ready to push towards 80, there doesn’t need to be such a struggle to get the most useful economic fuels because we will soon outgrow them. Large Prismatics will go the way of the buggy whip and the Large Brilliant shard. If Blizzard sets artificial drop rates on the in game loot, it isn’t anything nefarious… it is simply the natural course of economics for as long as man has traded goods and services. There is never an infinite supply of anything of great value. Historically man has used gold and gems as currency in one fashion or another. Mostly they are purely decorative and useless… but rare and difficult to get possession of. That gives it value. On the other hand, leaves are very useful. They scrub the air we breath and help us to keep alive from day to day. By far, they are a much better product in terms of value and usefulness in their natural state. They would be useless as a form of currency though due to their abundance and the fact that they literally grow on trees. If Blizzard nerfs or buffs the value of an item, there is nothing insidious going on. It is the most natural thing in the world, and quite important to maintaining a healthy and vibrant economy… virtual or otherwise.
If you made it this far you really need to find something better to do with your day. (I already know I need something better to do with mine.)
Tekkub Apr 2nd 2008 8:19PM
Some time back an auction like that would show up as "75g" amongst a bunch of "75s" auctions and easy to miss. It was changed, for this exact reason, to list as "75c 0s 0c" instead. The player has no excuse for buying it except their own error.
Tyranor Horus Apr 2nd 2008 8:44PM
WoW is anything but a free market. The whole soulbound thing, as well as the rampant inflation, kind of screw that idea over.