A few years ago I played Puzzle Pirates, which has an elaborate economy using bid-ask pricing. Going into a marketplace you would find various commodities with a bunch of various sized lots listed at various asking prices, and also a bunch of offers of various sizes at different bid prices.

Going into a market as a buyer, you can make a bid which will be immediately filled to the extent available at the lowest available prices (if you bid higher than the current asking prices) or your bid will be added to the list of market bids that will be seen by sellers coming to the market. Selling works the same way. (Crafted items are handled differently, since they are usually custom made to order.)

I know WOW is bigger and has many more items available, but I still think something like this should be able to work, or at least have a separate bid/ask commodity market for raw materials that will be bought in bulk like ore/herbs/cloth/leather, and keep the existing AH for unique items like weapons/armor.

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