Buying/Selling with the Auction House - FFXIOnline

It's worth elaborating on the auction house system, since this is someone sort of new to how it works.

When Firewind spoke of a "blind" auction, what he means is that the buyer has no idea what price the sellers have set their price at (nor does each seller know what price the other sellers have set at).

Say for instance you want to sell a stack of 12 Earth Crystals on the auction house.

The auction history might look something like this

3800
3900
4000
4000
4000
3900
3100
4000
4000
4000

That just tells you what the last 10 successful sales were. A sale is successful when a buyer bids enough to at least match the minimum price set by at least one seller. That part is the obvious bit.

What isn't obvious is that the buyer is matched with the seller with the lowest reserve price.

Let's say there are 4 other people selling a stack of earth crystals already, and (unbeknownst to you), they've priced their stacks like so:

3500
3800
3901
4100

Let's say you put your stack up at 4000.

So what happens when someone buys a stack? Well, it depends on how much they bid.

If they bid 3500 or higher, the first stack at 3500 will be sold to them at the price they bid, no matter the price offered. Even if someone offers 5000, it will still choose the person who set their reserve at 3500 first. On the minus side for that seller, if someone is smart and starts bidding at 3500, that sale will also be valid, and they'll only get 3500 for their crystals.

So now there are 4 stacks left including yours, and the lowest acceptable price is 3800. That 3800 stack will get sold next. Then the one at 3901. Then your stack at 4000. (these are all assuming people bid at least these amounts natrually).

Note that the one at 4100 is the last to be sold, and if no one offers at least 4100, it won't be sold unless someone gets desperate and raises their bid because now a 4000 bid won't get that last stack, so until someone offers at least 4100, those crystals won't get sold.

This is why you see fluctuations in the auction price history. People who are interested in moving their wares faster can set lower reserve amounts, but that means buyers can offer less, which drives the price history down and devalues the item being sold. Conversely, if demand is high, sellers can choose to do what the hypothetical 4100 gil seller did, and try to drive up the price to take advantage of the increased demand.

In other words, lower price = faster sale, but risks making the market weaker. Higher price = slower sale, maybe even a risk of getting the item returned to you and not selling at all, but for items in high demand can also increase your profits if the item does get sold because of impatient buyers. That would be why your 4000 price stack won't sell even though you might see a whole list of sales at 4000, because maybe people are pricing at 3999 or something.

Icemage

Source: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/ffxi-frequently-asked-questions/81040-buying-selling-auction-house.html

Tyrann Mathieu noaa Jessica Ridgeway ipad mini Kevin Krim Autumn Pasquale ann coulter