ESO+ Auction house

Shadowasrial · July 2023

One feature I think would be a great new feature for ESO+ members would be to have access to an auction house. These would be located in the 3 capital cities of the three alliances. These auction houses sell the total consolidated listings of all the guild traders in the game. You would still have to have access to a guild trader to sell but having the perk from eso + to search one “trader” and finding the all time lowest price for the item your looking for out of all the traders seems like a really awesome feature. You wouldn’t be able to sell your own items at the auction house only buy. This would make having a premium guild trader location still important for the guild who owns it so that non eso+ players can still search the individual traders.

This essentially cuts down the travel around the world to try to find the item you want in return for your subscription. And for those that say it’s pay to win it’s simply doing the extra work of finding the best deal from one location saving you time and frustration of finding the item cheaper 5 seconds later in another zone. Guilds would still need to buy guild traders for items to show up in the auction house and this would also make sales go faster. Because now you can more easily find the price your item is worth and helps you to set your price more accurately

thorwyn · July 2023

It has been said a million times: a central AH allows controlling the narket and dictating the prices by pressing F5 (and basically by using a bot or macro to do all the work). We have been there before in other games. The annoyance of travelling around is the only way to at least make it a little more tedious for those who are playing the market monopoly game.

Braffin · July 2023

thorwyn wrote: »

It has been said a million times: a central AH allows controlling the narket and dictating the prices by pressing F5 (and basically by using a bit or macro to do all the work). We have been there before in other games. The annoyance of travvelling around is the only way to at least make it a little more tedious for those who are playung the market monopoly game.

I could think of another way to stop the flipping game: Simply make all items bought at traders Bind on pickup.

thorwyn · July 2023

Or we could accept that the traders are one part of the game and the community just like pvp'ers, housing addicts or role players. Driving them away from the game by restricting their activities for the sake of buying one or two items a bit cheaper does more damage than good IMO. Not to mebtion technical issues like not being able to stack crafted and bound potions etc.

Braffin · July 2023

Well, stopping the flipping game doesn't stop trading in general.

But honestly, I don't care, as I stopped feeding them long ago. Just wanted to point out the options, as an auction house seems to be one of the most requested features and I share your concerns about a broken market. I experienced that in swtor for example under similar circumstances.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · July 2023

thorwyn wrote: »

Or we could accept that the traders are one part of the game and the community just like pvp'ers, housing addicts or role players.

Some of us are all of them!

Khenarthi · July 2023

Why auctions though? The guild stores we have now do not have an auction option (thankfully).

kargen27 · July 2023

thorwyn wrote: »

It has been said a million times: a central AH allows controlling the narket and dictating the prices by pressing F5 (and basically by using a bit or macro to do all the work). We have been there before in other games. The annoyance of travvelling around is the only way to at least make it a little more tedious for those who are playung the market monopoly game.

There is no market monopoly game. With over 200 trade locations all with changing inventory players, even a good size group working together, can't monopolize the market.

Ph1p · July 2023

Technical issues with megaserver-wide trading hubs aside: What I disagree with most is gating this behind an ESO+ subscription. I am a subscriber myself, but trading is a important element of the game and everyone should be on equal footing. After all, traders don't need pay2win accusations on top of all the cries about macros, bots, guild monopolies, price-fixing, etc.

karthrag_inak · July 2023

The materials market has become absurd - 200-300 gold per unit for refined platinum ounce? There are 2 issues, at least, with how the market currently is :

a) it's too easy to visit every merchant and purchase all "low-priced" materials - khajiit routinely visits all merchants, it is not difficult to do solo, let alone with "a good size group".

b) unlike the real world, there is no downside to holding onto inventory. List something for stupid high price, and if it sells it sells and if not, just list it again in 30 days. No big deal - listing fees are trivial to the folks doing this, who have literally many billions of gold.

There is no game mechanic to fight this kind of arbitrary player-driven inflation, and prices are going to continue to be absurd.

Best thing they could do to put an end to this is sell raw and refined mats at npc vendors for some reasonable price - 50-100 gold for raw, 5-10 gold per refined, perhaps. That's how the prices were 5 or 6 years ago. even after summerset came out, at least for a little while.

karthrag_inak · July 2023

The sad thing about this is that the real winners of the current market ultimately are the bot farmers/gold sellers. This rampant inflation just plays into their hands.

Haenk · July 2023

I would like to see an *auction* house (not fixed price trader), every player (account) may offer up to 3 items, with a strting price of 1 gold. A bid will prolong the auction duration by e.g. 15 minutes.

This will offer a great choice of items (most likely rare stuff), also allow anyone, independent from their trading guild location or membership, to sell for a fair price. And also will prevent scripted trading.

RevJJ · July 2023

Can we get a sticky to consolidate the weekly auction house threads?

Danikat · July 2023

I think one of the biggest problems with the current system is only the minority of players willing and able to deal with being in a trade guild can sell things. It wouldn't surprise me if the majority of ESO players have never used a guild trader, either to sell or to buy and so a huge percentage of items, including valuable ones, are excluded from the market.

I suspect if they opened it up so everyone can sell without needing to go through a guild we'd see big shifts in the market. I think it would lead to a lot more buyers too because at the moment a lot of players entirely ignore guild traders - they're not in a trade guild so they think it's nothing to do with them.

Khenarthi wrote: »

Why auctions though? The guild stores we have now do not have an auction option (thankfully).

I think World of Warcraft calls their global trading system the auction house (I assume they do actually sell items by auction) so some people use that as a general name for it even if it's nothing to do with auctions.

It's kind of annoying because I've previously tried suggesting an option to auction off items through guild traders (where the seller does not set the final price, buyers offer what they think it's worth and it goes to the highest bidder) and so many people are incapable of reading beyond that one word or remembering it's actual meaning the topic just got flooded with people raging about how terrible they imagine a global trading system might be, even though it was nothing to do with that.

Haenk wrote: »

I would like to see an *auction* house (not fixed price trader), every player (account) may offer up to 3 items, with a strting price of 1 gold. A bid will prolong the auction duration by e.g. 15 minutes.

This will offer a great choice of items (most likely rare stuff), also allow anyone, independent from their trading guild location or membership, to sell for a fair price. And also will prevent scripted trading.

I think there would need to be a maximum duration for auctions (probably shorter than 30 days). Maybe the seller could choose from a few options, based on how quickly they want it sold or how popular they expect it to be.

LalMirchi · July 2023

The present system works well enough and there is no need for an auction house in this game.

kyatos_binarini · July 2023

The main disadvantage of current system is that players without trading guilds have only one way to sell things: spam in chat. and no, joining guild with trader is not a solution (not for everyone at least)

woufff · July 2023

thorwyn wrote: »

It has been said a million times: a central AH allows controlling the narket and dictating the prices by pressing F5 (and basically by using a bit or macro to do all the work). We have been there before in other games. The annoyance of travvelling around is the only way to at least make it a little more tedious for those who are playung the market monopoly game.

This ^^

.

barney2525 · July 2023

thorwyn wrote: »

Or we could accept that the traders are one part of the game and the community just like pvp'ers, housing addicts or role players. Driving them away from the game by restricting their activities for the sake of buying one or two items a bit cheaper does more damage than good IMO. Not to mebtion technical issues like not being able to stack crafted and bound potions etc.

You forgot the ' part of the game ... that a very small percentage of the community likes, but somebody on the dev side likes. So it's like the design of the zones where you are at X on the map, need to get to y, which is right next to you, But there is a Wall that prevents you and you have to travel across half the map (or more) to find some way around it... just wasting time for literally no reason whatsoever..

BlueRaven · July 2023

With the amount of guild vendors in game (around 200 at this point) that means there should be at least an equal amount of guilds out there that have vendors.

Just join a guild with a vendor.

4 out of my 5 guilds have vendors and only one of them actually has an additional “requirement” to stay in the guild beyond simply being online once every two weeks.

Taggund · July 2023

I'd prefer a central market for trading, and there are ways it could be done and keep the traders. With some rare exceptions, I'm only shopping the guilds I'm a member of through the banker. That is even painful as this system is so bad, so I often start to search for things and then just quit. I know it will not change, so it's an aspect of the game I mostly don't bother with anymore.

SpacemanSpiff1 · July 2023

only if there is the micro-machine guy as an auctioneer.

id prefer to buy items though, not bid.

LittlePinkDot · July 2023

thorwyn wrote: »

It has been said a million times: a central AH allows controlling the narket and dictating the prices by pressing F5 (and basically by using a bit or macro to do all the work). We have been there before in other games. The annoyance of travvelling around is the only way to at least make it a little more tedious for those who are playung the market monopoly game.

Sounds like not a console problem.
PC is the problem

How about I have the ability to sell so I don't have to be in gold poverty as a solo player waiting for the next gold drop from daily rewards.

I just deconstruct gear people pay ridiculous gold for just because I have nowhere to sell it.

The whole stupid guild trader nonsense is discriminatory and exclusionary.
If it were happening in real life it would be called racketeering.

_Zathras_ · July 2023

thorwyn wrote: »

It has been said a million times: a central AH allows controlling the narket and dictating the prices by pressing F5 (and basically by using a bit or macro to do all the work). We have been there before in other games. The annoyance of travvelling around is the only way to at least make it a little more tedious for those who are playung the market monopoly game.

It has also been said a million times that fallacious AH statements like these only work in forum discussions, not reality.

There are already flippers. It is super easy to manipulate the market with the current 3rd party addons as well. The truly dedicated guilds, and those of the top wealth in the player community, make their fortunes by making ESO economics their passion.

The mechanics of the AH already exists. TTC has off-site listings that all the interested guilds and individuals scour.

kargen27 wrote: »

There is no market monopoly game. With over 200 trade locations all with changing inventory players, even a good size group working together, can't monopolize the market.

Exactly. This, and other arguments, are regurgitated time and time again whenever this discussion is brought up. There aren't monopolies in other MMOs that have AHs. Competition in pricing still exists.

LalMirchi wrote: »

The present system works well enough and there is no need for an auction house in this game.

"Well enough" is a low bar. It works because it is the only system in place.

Again, I find that the loudest voices that are against the system are the ones who benefit most: the large trade guilds, and those that have made a personal fortune off the current system. And that's fair. Why upset the current order if it works..for them.

In games with an AH, I use the trader system every day. Buying and selling in an easy to use, and very convenient system.

The guild traders are, to be polite, cumbersome. It is a very user unfriendly system, brought forward because it was one of the original developer's love child in DAoC. Psst.. Matt? Just because it was an improvement over EQ's economic system doesn't mean people liked it. It was a chore running around to individual sellers in the player housing market then, and it's still a chore now.

Tandor · July 2023

Ph1p wrote: »

Technical issues with megaserver-wide trading hubs aside: What I disagree with most is gating this behind an ESO+ subscription. I am a subscriber myself, but trading is a important element of the game and everyone should be on equal footing. After all, traders don't need pay2win accusations on top of all the cries about macros, bots, guild monopolies, price-fixing, etc.

Agreed, and just as importantly trading shouldn't be locked behind guild membership and auctioned trading spots.

Taggund · July 2023

_Zathras_ wrote: »

thorwyn wrote: »

It has been said a million times: a central AH allows controlling the narket and dictating the prices by pressing F5 (and basically by using a bit or macro to do all the work). We have been there before in other games. The annoyance of travvelling around is the only way to at least make it a little more tedious for those who are playung the market monopoly game.

It has also been said a million times that fallacious AH statements like these only work in forum discussions, not reality.

There are already flippers. It is super easy to manipulate the market with the current 3rd party addons as well. The truly dedicated guilds, and those of the top wealth in the player community, make their fortunes by making ESO economics their passion.

The mechanics of the AH already exists. TCC has off-site listings that all the interested guilds and individuals scour.

kargen27 wrote: »

There is no market monopoly game. With over 200 trade locations all with changing inventory players, even a good size group working together, can't monopolize the market.

Exactly. This, and other arguments, are regurgitated time and time again whenever this discussion is brought up. There aren't monopolies in other MMOs that have AHs. Competition in pricing still exists.

LalMirchi wrote: »

The present system works well enough and there is no need for an auction house in this game.

"Well enough" is a low bar. It works because it is the only system in place.

Again, I find that the loudest voices that are against the system are the ones who benefit most: the large trade guilds, and those that have made a personal fortune off the current system. And that's fair. Why upset the current order if it works..for them.

In games with an AH, I use the trader system every day. Buying and selling in an easy to use, and very convenient system.

The guild traders are, to be polite, cumbersome. It is a very user unfriendly system, brought forward because it was one of the original developer's love child in DAoC. Psst.. Matt? Just because it was an improvement over EQ's economic system doesn't mean people liked it. It was a chore running around to individual sellers in the player housing market then, and it's still a chore now.

I went back to EQ when they had the 20th anniversary. It's current system is better than it was originally. There were still the individual traders, but you have a central bazaar system that includes all traders, and you could choose to go to the trader to buy or buy and have the item mailed to you for a fee. This is why I believe they could change ESO keeping an aspect of current separate guild traders, but still improve it with a central bazaar system. Current system is just built to be an inefficient and cumbersome system.

IsharaMeradin · July 2023

I just want a system where players without access to a publicly available guild trader (for whatever reasons) can still offer items up for sale. Even if it is for shorter durations, greater listing fees and less item slots.

Ratzkifal · July 2023

What we actually need:

twice as many traders in every major city, for less competition between guilds for spots
TTC addon becoming base game functionality (you still need to physically track down the trader)
more things to actually spend gold on (no, trading gold for crowns doesn't count, because that gold only shifts around, it doesn't disappear)

Anifaas · July 2023

The guild store is annoying when you just want to play casual and not have to join a club in order to sell stuff. Its so restrictive if you're not the right type of person who likes this closed system. TBH, its one of the contributing reasons why I struggle to remain engaged with ESO.

Ph1p · July 2023

Tandor wrote: »

Agreed, and just as importantly trading shouldn't be locked behind guild membership and auctioned trading spots.

It's so easy to join a guild and start selling that I don't see how it amounts to being "locked behind" a membership. Most guilds actively recruit all the time and, unlike raid groups, there are no upfront requirements. Whatever your appetite is for trading intensity or social interaction, there are options for you.

Still, some people strongly disagree for various reasons and that's fine and not the topic of this thread. But the current "requirements" for selling certainly don't compare to having to pay real-life money for a trading advantage. To me, that is truly unfair and that's the point I wanted to make.

wolfie1.0. · July 2023

karthrag_inak wrote: »

The materials market has become absurd - 200-300 gold per unit for refined platinum ounce? There are 2 issues, at least, with how the market currently is :

a) it's too easy to visit every merchant and purchase all "low-priced" materials - khajiit routinely visits all merchants, it is not difficult to do solo, let alone with "a good size group".

b) unlike the real world, there is no downside to holding onto inventory. List something for stupid high price, and if it sells it sells and if not, just list it again in 30 days. No big deal - listing fees are trivial to the folks doing this, who have literally many billions of gold.

There is no game mechanic to fight this kind of arbitrary player-driven inflation, and prices are going to continue to be absurd.

Best thing they could do to put an end to this is sell raw and refined mats at npc vendors for some reasonable price - 50-100 gold for raw, 5-10 gold per refined, perhaps. That's how the prices were 5 or 6 years ago. even after summerset came out, at least for a little while.

An auction house that is global won't resolve the issue.

Neither will selling mats to the npcs, because that would cause more inflation.

What is needed is more things to buy with gold in the game that players want such as cosmetics, houses, mounts, event tickets.

Another option would be to consolidate mats into a less complicated, less redundant, and more manageable structure... and then nuke the craftbag.

wolfie1.0. · July 2023

Shadowasrial wrote: »

One feature I think would be a great new feature for ESO+ members would be to have access to an auction house. These would be located in the 3 capital cities of the three alliances. These auction houses sell the total consolidated listings of all the guild traders in the game. You would still have to have access to a guild trader to sell but having the perk from eso + to search one “trader” and finding the all time lowest price for the item your looking for out of all the traders seems like a really awesome feature. You wouldn’t be able to sell your own items at the auction house only buy. This would make having a premium guild trader location still important for the guild who owns it so that non eso+ players can still search the individual traders.

This essentially cuts down the travel around the world to try to find the item you want in return for your subscription. And for those that say it’s pay to win it’s simply doing the extra work of finding the best deal from one location saving you time and frustration of finding the item cheaper 5 seconds later in another zone. Guilds would still need to buy guild traders for items to show up in the auction house and this would also make sales go faster. Because now you can more easily find the price your item is worth and helps you to set your price more accurately

You want to paywall a central auction house? Are you really sure you want to go down that route?

Yes, I understand that you want to attempt to curtail abuse by only allowing searching and buying. But sadly there are many ways to abuse such a system and manipulate prices. It would make price controls very very possible for larger guilds and players with the most money and hurt those without eso plus all the more.

On too of that it would still face all of the technical issues that a centralized market would have in eso that as far as we are aware still exist.