[Article] A Common Sense Guide to Successful Auctioning by Wynthyst

[Dralspire]

This thread is for commenting on and discussing A Common Sense Guide to Successful Auctioning on GuildWarsGuru (GWG) Auctions by Wynthyst.

[WLlama]

Overall, the guide is very well done as usual.

I'll get to the nitpicky stuff shortly, but first a few topic notes.

Shared Accounts: Another one of those headache-inducing factors. I have contacted a number of people who have indicated they aren't the ones that purchased the item. They typically suggest I should try again later when the person who actually ordered the item might be on. That should be fine, however, I've had instances where this repeated over four times before I snagged the correct person. (In fact, I've also contacted people with shared Guru accounts, which causes a whole other gaggle of issues. but I'll leave that one alone for now.)

Perhaps a suggestion to either communicate with the other people sharing an account so that any user will buy/sell the item then pass the item/cash along to the owner may be included in the guide? I can't think of another solution at the moment.

Multiple Accounts: On the other end of the spectrum, users with multiple accounts may contact you from an account not listed on GWGuru. This has always made me a bit edgy as I like to guarantee the item goes to the individual that ordered it. Usually it becomes clear as soon as I get feedback for the auction but in game there is no way to know two accounts are used by the same user.

Perhaps suggest that people make sure that the valid IGN is also the one they intend to pick items up with? Another option I have seen recently is to provide multiple IGNs separated by a semicolon. This option is viable but can clog up the Friends List.

Unicode: Due to the worldwide nature of GWGuru and the hazards of using certain character sets on browsers, users who do not use a typically shared character set should use unicode to encode their character name. There are plenty of converters on the web which will translate back and forth and this should allow most users to copy and paste your user name into the Friends List.

Auction Abandonment: This may be a good chance to include a short paragraph about relist practices if contact can not be made. Suggested wait times before relisting or repurchasing. I only suggest this because I know it has been coming up on the forums recently.

Invoices: I know a few people have mentioned invoices causing sold/won items to be undeletable. Can we mention that here? I honestly can't see the need for invoices for electronic items that are paid for in game, but for the people who would be compelled to use this feature, perhaps the side effect should be noted.

Some of these may be better placed in the Help or FAQ but I'll plant the seed here for now.

Alright, now on to the nitpicky stuff:

... fluxuate ...

Spelling correction: fluctuate

... at today's values, and leaving there ...

leaving it there

Use images that focus on the item.

As wiki images tend to be a great source of these uncomplicated item close-ups, perhaps a suggestion to use this option? This saves the user the need to edit and host images. (Though there was some debate earlier about hijacking other servers' bandwidth but that is a question of implementation.)

...simply ask them to contact you when they are.

simply ask them to contact you when they are done.
or
simply ask them to contact you when they do.

Also, if your initial contact is NOT responded to, wait a period of time, I recommend a minimum of 15 minutes. Then repeat your greeting.

Suggestion: Also, if your initial contact is NOT responded to, wait a period of time (I recommend a minimum of 15 minutes) then repeat your greeting.

... problematical.

A matter of style. The more common choice is probably problematic. I have no proof one way or the other though. *shrugs*

As I noted before - nitpicky stuff. Again, great job and thanks for the guide.

[Wynthyst]

All good points.

And I never claimed to be an English major

I'll see about making some amendments to the article, and I'll get Dralspire to clean up my grammar etc.

Thanks for your comments!

[Cavalier]

Excellent guide! That is how I conduct my auctions and it's going very well (90+ positive feedback, en 1 negative. I hope this guide will help people get more succesful, and with that, the auction community in general

Thanks!

[WLlama]

Originally Posted by Wynthyst

And I never claimed to be an English major

Neither did I.

Originally Posted by Wynthyst

I'll see about making some amendments to the article, and I'll get Dralspire to clean up my grammar etc.

Good, good. Dral definitely needs more work to do.

I realized I forgot an item yesterday...

Dutch auctions: A great way to list multiple of the same item without needing an auction for each individual item. However, how the bidding/winning process works might need some further explanation in the help/FAQ.

[bilateralrope]

My musings on running auctions here:

- I Always start the auction instantly because, apart from some rare exceptions, prices will only shift downwards over time.

- I try to have the auction end just before a weekend, since weekends are when its most likely to catch that person online for the trade.

- I always set the minimum bid to 1k because I can't be bothered learning prices and the theory is that the price will be bid up to market value from there no matter how high it goes. I have had one auction go all the way to 150k, which was about what the price checks were going for, so I'm pretty confident in my theory here. I only set the minimum to 1k because any less isn't worth doing the trade for me.

- I never use the reserve price as I see no point in hiding the minimum accecpted bid.

- For the rare (and thus expensive) items I doubt there would be many people wanting them in a hurry. So a longer auction duration should get you a better price, so I use the 1 week duration option. But for the more common items you aren't likely to get any bids until the last day or two of the auction.

- I assume that anyone browsing the auctions will know what the skin looks like, or knows how to look it up on one of the wiki's. So my picture is usually a picture of the stats (alongside them being in the description), while fixed stat items (greens, tomes, etc) don't usually get a picture. I only give a picture when the same name is shared by multiple skins.

[WLlama]

Originally Posted by bilateralrope

I Always start the auction instantly because, apart from some rare exceptions, prices will only shift downwards over time.

One of my biggest flaws - I tend to stockpile things until my inventory explodes. However, that was mostly carryover from when the servers were slow or down. The new auction system helps move it along. Great advice though. I've probably lost a lot of cash due to procrastination.

Originally Posted by bilateralrope

I assume that anyone browsing the auctions will know what the skin looks like, or knows how to look it up on one of the wiki's. So my picture is usually a picture of the stats (alongside them being in the description), while fixed stat items (greens, tomes, etc) don't usually get a picture. I only give a picture when the same name is shared by multiple skins.

If they are already in the description, why bother putting the same text in the image?

[bilateralrope]

Originally Posted by WLlama

If they are already in the description, why bother putting the same text in the image?

Partly to catch typos if I make them (I haven't made one yet), partly to show I actually have the item, partly to catch any missing information the person wants. But mainly out of habit.

[Quaker]

I've seen many people (and the guide) refer to the length of the auction. For example, the guide says "Three to five days is a reasonable length of time to expect a buyer to wait for an auction to close."
While I agree with that partially, I must point out that the only people who would have to wait the full term of the auction would be people who bid on an item the moment it was posted. The reality is that, over the length of a 5-day auction (for example) some people will first see the auction when there is only 4, or 3, or 2, or 1 day (or less) to go on an auction.
What I like to do as much as possible is to set the auction for 5-days or 1 week and have a reasonable buy-out for those who can't wait.

Also, as a general thought on the guide:
I think the original bullet list should be rearranged a bit to put the part that starts "Use images that focus on the item...." right after the part about "....See picture.....". It could also begin with "If you use images, try to use images that focus on the item...."

[Dralspire]

Wynthyst has posted an updated version of her article. Yay ...

[WLlama]

Originally Posted by Quaker

What I like to do as much as possible is to set the auction for 5-days or 1 week and have a reasonable buy-out for those who can't wait.

Would 'Three to seven days...' resolve this issue?

I've been setting three day auctions in recent history because I'm trying to clear out my inventory and I procrastinate until it is breaking my bag seams.

To be honest, the choice between 3 to 7 days as a seller is usually more of a matter of how often I want to log in to relist (I've chosen to do it manually for now) or get massive numbers of e-mail than how long I think people are willing to wait. I've had people use Buy Out options on auctions with just hours left to close and people bid on 7 day auctions as soon as they are posted, even though no other bidders ever come along. *shrugs*

A few more...

Look to see what other comparable items are not only being starting priced at, but what prices are actually being bid for them.

Might want to indicate that the only way to see final bids (unless you are the buyer/seller) is through the supersecret full Advanced Search. (I know, I know...I keep poking about the supersecret search. )

If using the Auto Relist feature, make sure you monitor your auctions carefully as duplication/deletion of auctions during this process has been reported.

May also want to mention this multiple auction snag can show up in Sold/Won Items even if there was only one auction and one buyer. This is especially unfortunate for feedback considerations where you can receive multiple feedback on the same auction item from the same buyer/seller. More a matter of etiquette than anything else. Maybe just a simple suggestion that you should only provide one feedback per item even if the item is listed multiple times?

That being said, I haven't seen or heard reports of this happening since the memory reallocation.

..., (I recommend a minimum of 15 minutes), ...

Commas and parentheses? I'd suggest killing the leading comma or both commas.

Well done on the added sections.

[Wynthyst]

Originally Posted by WLlama

Would 'Three to seven days...' resolve this issue?

I've been setting three day auctions in recent history because I'm trying to clear out my inventory and I procrastinate until it is breaking my bag seams.

To be honest, the choice between 3 to 7 days as a seller is usually more of a matter of how often I want to log in to relist (I've chosen to do it manually for now) or get massive numbers of e-mail than how long I think people are willing to wait. I've had people use Buy Out options on auctions with just hours left to close and people bid on 7 day auctions as soon as they are posted, even though no other bidders ever come along. *shrugs*

I personally have gone from 3 day auctions with a 5x auto relist to a 5 day auction with no auto relist. Now that all closed auctions are actually showing up in Closed and can be relisted enmass, it's working well, and I'm getting few duplication problems.

May also want to mention this multiple auction snag can show up in Sold/Won Items even if there was only one auction and one buyer. This is especially unfortunate for feedback considerations where you can receive multiple feedback on the same auction item from the same buyer/seller. More a matter of etiquette than anything else. Maybe just a simple suggestion that you should only provide one feedback per item even if the item is listed multiple times?

I was trying to avoid a lot of specific problems when I wrote it, with the belief that these problems are being worked out. The image issue however appears to be a long term problem that may/may not get fixed anytime soon.

Commas and parentheses? I'd suggest killing the leading comma or both commas.

nitpick nitpick nitpick

btw... did you notice the credit????

[WLlama]

Post nitpick...

Originally Posted by Wynthyst

{/QUOTE]

Curly bracket instead of square bracket?

Originally Posted by Wynthyst

...it's working well, and I'm getting few duplication problems.

Just curious, does this mean you are getting relist issues even when manually relisting?

Originally Posted by Wynthyst

I was trying to avoid a lot of specific problems when I wrote it, with the belief that these problems are being worked out. The image issue however appears to be a long term problem that may/may not get fixed anytime soon.

Aye, I didn't know if the multiple relists and sold logs were also longterm issues so I thought I would at least suggest it. Seems to be doing a lot better since the memory fixes. I question if the last few relist duplications are actually leftovers from before the fix. I guess the biggest questions is: Did it get worse when you got category happy?

Originally Posted by Wynthyst

nitpick nitpick nitpick

That's my job. Those who don't do, critique!

Originally Posted by Wynthyst

btw... did you notice the credit????

You didn't need to do that. Anyone who wants to know who poked you about your work can just look here.

Thank you though.

[Jennalee]

Originally Posted by WLlama

Dutch auctions: A great way to list multiple of the same item without needing an auction for each individual item. However, how the bidding/winning process works might need some further explanation in the help/FAQ.

They're not great when you repeatedly forget to switch the auction mode to dutch auction and sell a lot of items as one lot for cheap :P

Originally Posted by WLlama

Just curious, does this mean you are getting relist issues even when manually relisting?

...and yes you get problems with manual relist sometimes when the server load seems high or you relist tons at once - auctions tend to go "poof" if you know what I mean.

[WLlama]

Originally Posted by Jennalee

They're not great when you repeatedly forget to switch the auction mode to dutch auction and sell a lot of items as one lot for cheap :P

Isn't this circumvented by the fact that the only quantity allowed in standard auctions is 1? Or do you type the total quantity available in your title/description? I can see how that might lead to a massacre.

I always keep my title and description to a single item title on Dutch auctions and let the quantity do the work.

Originally Posted by Jennalee

...and yes you get problems with manual relist sometimes when the server load seems high or you relist tons at once - auctions tend to go "poof" if you know what I mean.

Hrm...that's too bad. I hadn't noticed it since the tweaks. Maybe I should watch more carefully.

[Wynthyst]

ok ok... so I have been doing a bunch of stuff on the wiki and the curly brackets are becoming a habit.....

and no, I'm not getting any duplication with manually relisting, but I do still get the occasional duplication of sold items that you mentioned.

And I'm just poking back

and... and... and...

[Schuldig]

Nice guide, nothing new to me tho... some of my ways:
For Firefox I use the Addon ImageBot https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/1174
With ImageBot I can easily upload as many pictures at once and manage them as I want. You don't need to have an account in ImageShack for that, but if you have you can add your login data to ImageBot and it'll automatically log you in.

The interface looks like this: http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/9...blage01oh7.jpg
Opens as new tab in your window.

For pics from Wiki I just rightclick on the wikipic and choose 'copy to clipboard' from the browser menu and in ImageBot I rightclick and choose 'upload clipboard' and have the pic leeching the bandwidth of the ImageShack servers than the wiki servers.

Rightclick on a uploaded pic in ImageBot and 'copy' will copy the URL to the clipboard. So it's easy that way to add pics to your auction within the descriptionfield via the image button.

---

About taking pics in game.

If the item isn't pitch-black itself I like to go in the building on the Nameless Isle (enter from great temple of balthazar). It's the building with the Zaishen chest in.
There you can have your items on a nearly black background. So there's nothing disturbing or distracting.
Only thing to consider is the angle. Most items looks best when the view is with the light source (the the shadow drops behind your character).
Unfortuately when you face the backwall of the building your view is against the light source. When you turn around you've the stairs and entrance with its blue sky as background but the right angle.
To still have a black background just go to the eastern corner. There's a closed gate which is perfect. The background will look like this: http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Image:White_Moa.jpg (I took the pic).

Few items look good against the light source and with some it doesn't matter.

[Jennalee]

Originally Posted by WLlama

Isn't this circumvented by the fact that the only quantity allowed in standard auctions is 1? Or do you type the total quantity available in your title/description? I can see how that might lead to a massacre.

Well, I usually have it in the description but you actually need to manually set the mode to dutch before you can change the number listed from 1 rather than typing in a different number and having it automatically switch and I tend to forget that <_<...

Originally Posted by Schuldig

If the item isn't pitch-black itself I like to go in the building on the Nameless Isle (enter from great temple of balthazar). It's the building with the Zaishen chest in.

The problem with this is if the item is dark or has bits at the edges which are dark, it will not show well - this is only ideal for items which are like, uniformly light in color.

[WLlama]

Originally Posted by Jennalee

Well, I usually have it in the description but you actually need to manually set the mode to dutch before you can change the number listed from 1 rather than typing in a different number and having it automatically switch and I tend to forget that <_<...

Well, as long as you don't put it in the description you would only be dutch auctioning a single item so it would turn out okay. I understand your point though. Maybe in the long run, a script can be made to change to dutch when the quantity is above 1.

[Schuldig]

Originally Posted by Jennalee

The problem with this is if the item is dark or has bits at the edges which are dark, it will not show well - this is only ideal for items which are like, uniformly light in color.

Well there's a bright white (snow) background just out of the Harbor on the Shing Jea island (northern portal). But so far I only used it for pics of mini Lich Lord because I don't like white backgrounds :P

For items that don't look good or cool on black bg I choose either the blue sky from the Nameless Isle or some fancy normal landscape background.

But dark items work well on black bg too because of the light source... see:





And those items all got sold already.