A simple request.

[GuardianKnight]

I ask that everyone avoid bidding on auctions that refuse to set an end date. I feel that if you are waiting on a certain amount of money, you should just set a minimum bid and a buyout. It sucks to bid on an item and wait weeks because the seller is overly greedy.

It's not fair to the bidders if you are just bumping your thread every day in hopes of getting more money.

Another thing that I feel might be dirty is private bidding. Private bids pretty well screw anyone bidding publicly in the forum. If you say " ITEM SOLD" and it isn't to the person that bid on it in the forum ..... people need to avoid you.

[Karik Verlee]

I do agree. I've bid on a few weapons and been expected to pony up to my bid three weeks later because the seller finally realized they weren't worth much.

On auctions that don't have end dates I put a 48 hour time limit on my bid.

[Mikel123]

Who says the seller is overly greedy? I say YOU are overly greedy for not just giving them what they're ultimately looking for. Lawyered!

I find these practices annoying, but I don't think there's anything wrong with them. Accepting private bids only hurts the sellers themselves, so I obviously don't have an issue if someone else wants to sabotage their own sale. And as for end dates... well, make a better offer! If there's a premium you put on having an auction end early, rather than taking weeks, then make an offer they can't refuse and put your own end date on it.

Give a bid, and say it's only good for 24 hours. That way the onus is on the seller to end things quickly, or risk losing out on your offer. The only reason they hold auctions indefinitely is because they don't want to risk losing a potentially bigger offer. But if you turn things around and limit the time your bid is good for, you'll potentially make it MORE risky for them to keep an auction going.

Of course, this only works if you're actually making good offers. So if you're just whining about people waiting (and getting) a better offer than yours, you're probably out of luck in any instance.

But yeah... expiring bids. Two-way street. Use them.

[Kelektra]

But yeah... expiring bids. Two-way street. Use them.

Gk i would have to agree. No seller should make you wait days for something if you are the high bidder but i do not put an end on my house sales for the exact opposite reason, i dont want someone not to bid on my sale because i am not ending the auction for another 4 days.

basically i put someone up for sale. I bump until i get a buyer or two. Once the latest bid is in, i figure another 8-12 hours and i am ending it. I hate to see people having to wait and wait and wait for something that they want. Also i think it helps in the long run with rep. Sure i might not make "top dollar" on things i sell but people will start you know you and want to deal with you which = more profits long term.

[SJane3384]

I agree and disagree. Private bids are complete crap, no argument there. UNLESS, however, the item in question is housing. It makes sense to keep your home location private, if you have reason to believe someone would target you for home invasion *cough*cA*cough*. I think most players don't have to worry about this, but for the few that have really pissed someone off for some reason or another, it's reasonable for them to want to keep their privacy.

As for end dates, I agree that making your potential customers wait days on end (and possibly miss other bidding opportunities), is not good business practice. The flip side though, is that people will camp and last minute bid, which can hurt your income potential on the item. I don't think it's unreasonable for a seller to try to get the most out of their auction, and it seems like most often the overly-greedy start auctions way too high anyway. Buyouts are a good compromise, although on some of the rarest items, it makes sense not to set one (because there's really no previous price to compare it to).

[Flash Hardstar]

If you are looking for a more regimented way to buy and sell goods, i'd suggest "vendor sell" "vendor buy".

I'd also like to note that my auctions nearly disprove this entire thread :/