Tag Archives: too expensive

So the European real money auction house got launched yesterday. I was initially quite excited at the prospect of being able to trade items for some extra cash, and then being able to buy others for the same.
Unfortunately the auction house seems quite crippled by a few problems at the moment, one that seriously needs to be addressed before the new auction house van become effective.
The main point is the cost involved. At the moment there is a €1 “transaction fee” on all auctions. Combine this with a 15% fee for paypal transactions and you end up with the most basic items having ridiculous prices. Midlevel or medium-specced items HAVE to be priced at at least €2-5, and good items seem to be flooding the market at €40-50.
Now don’t get me wrong, but €50 for ONE item in a game that cost a fifth of that price is a bit ridiculous.
The mere fact that Blizzard imposed that €1 minimum removes the opportunity for 99c specials, a pricepoint that most people will still happily click buy without blinking. Suddenly you really have to think about whether you really need that item or should just grind the few million gold it would cost in the normal AH.
And for sellers it’s the same problem – how do you sell your stuff at a price that will sell and still make a few cents on it?
Does Blizzard really need that extra source of income? Does it cost that much to host the AH? If there were a smaller transaction fee, perhaps a percentage or a few cents, then the sales would go up. More successful transactions would mean more revenue for them, more revenue for the sellers, and more incentive for the buyers to actually spend time on the AH looking for bargains.
Which begs the question – have any of you actually either bought or successfully sold anything on the real money auction house yet? Do you plan on buying anything? With the already dwindling player-base, can you justify spending small fortunes on virtual items? The current model may work for the very best of items, but surely not for your average yellows or midlevel legendaries…