Auctions

Auctions are the only method by which Items may be traded to other players. Items may be posted for sale at any town's Market. An auction ends when the set auction length expires or someone bids the immediate purchase price. When the Item is sold, the buyer must travel to the Market where the Item was posted to pick up the Item and the seller must travel to the same Market to pick up the cash paid for the Item.

Selling Items

In order to post an Item on the Market, a player must be located in a town with a market. You must set a minimum bid, immediate purchase price, or both, with the Item's sell price being the lowest price for which it may be sold. The Auction length may be set anywhere from one to seven days and you may choose to make the Item available to members of your Town, members of your Alliance, or anyone. You will receive a Report when the Item is sold.

To be sold on the Market, an Item must be flagged Auctionable. If the Item is not Auctionable, it will not be shown in your Inventory in the Market window.

Setting a Price

In setting the price for an Item, you must consider a number of factors including how it was acquired, demand, buy and sell prices, usefulness, and rarity. If it's a useful item you no longer need, you may either attempt to sell it for the buy price plus a markup to get as much money as you can, and possibly recoup what you paid for it. If you prefer, you could instead opt for the sell price, sell price plus fees in order to get the same money you would selling it to a shop, or somewhere in between, depending on how urgently you need the money. It's not uncommon to purchase high demand Items from your Town's shops or your Trader and sell them at a profit, reasonable or otherwise. In the case of rare Items, e.g. a Bear or a named Item, you might wish to do a little research on what that Item has sold for in the past.

The minimum and maximum prices allowed depend on the item. For items which can be bought in shops, the minimum is the item's sell price and the maximum is the item's out of town buy price, or eight times the sell price. For items which cannot be bought in shops, such as job product drops or named items, the minimum is the item's buy price and there is no upper limit.

Fee

The fee for posting an Item is based on the level of the Market; the minimum price set by the seller, which is the minimum bid, or immediate buy price if no minimum bid is set; and the length of the Auction. Fees are doubled if the seller is not a member of the Town in which the Market is located. Fees are paid when an Item is posted and are not refunded if the Item does not sell.

The fee is equal to the minimum price set by the seller divided by (Market level times five) plus the auction length times (three divided by Market level). Fees are rounded up.

Pickup

In order to pick up your cash when an Item has been sold, or your Item if it does not sell, you must travel back to the Market where the Item was posted. The Sales offers link in any Market lists all of your open Auctions, as well as closed Auctions in which the cash or Item is still awaiting pickup. Distance shows the travel time to the town where each Item was posted and links that Town's window. Once you have returned to that town, you can pick up the Item or cash by clicking the icon in the right column. You may also pick it up from your current location by use of the Item delivery premium.

There is no limit to how long you can wait before picking up your cash, so you may wish to leave the cash on the Market until needed to avoid paying a deposit fee to put the cash in the Bank, especially if the Market is in your own town.

Buying Items

To buy an Item you must first search for it. Your location doesn't matter, you may search for Items using any Town's Market. By default, opening a Market window takes you to the Offers page.

Searching for Items

To search, simply select the category of Item from the first drop-down list on the Offers page and the specific Item from the second. If there are no open Auctions for the Item for which you're searching, it will not be included in the second drop-down list. Additionally, you may sort the search results by Price, Distance, or Expiration date. Price is the default and sorts auctions by the lowest price you may bid, which is either $1 more than the current bid or the immediate purchase price if no minimum was set.

Bidding

To bid on an Item after searching for it, click the icon in the right column. You will be prompted to enter your bid, with the minimum possible bid being the default. If the Item has an immediate purchase price set, you may buy it immediately by bidding that price. You also have the option of selecting to bid using cash on hand or in the Bank. Money will first be drawn from your selected source with the balance being drawn from the other. If you are outbid, your bid will be returned to the same source you selected, so be wary of choosing the cash option for making large bids.

You will receive a Report when the bid is placed, another if you are outbid by another player, and one more when you win an Auction. If you are outbid, you may place a new bid on the Item if the Auction is still open. To bid again, you may locate the specific Item from the Bids for purchase page in any Town's Market.

Pickup

In order to pick up an Item purchased in an Auction, you must travel to the Market where the Item was posted. The Bids for purchase link in any Market lists all open Auctions on which you have bid, as well as closed Auctions in which Item is still awaiting pickup. Distance shows the travel time to the town where each Item was posted and links that Town's window. Once you have traveled to that town, you can pick up the Item by clicking the icon in the right column. You may also pick it up from your current location by use of the Item delivery premium.