Starting out in Vana'diel: The auction house
Hello adventurers! It's been a while, hasn't it? We've been put off track thanks to an anime convention and a certain holiday, but we're back and better than ever! Last time I said we were going to talk about the auction gouse, and that's exactly what we're going to learn about today!
Final Fantasy XI's auction house isn't your standard ebay-esque system. While there is bidding, there is no such thing as a buyout, and you can't actually buy from a specific person. Items are put into the auction house, you can see if there are any of a certain item in-stock, and you can choose to place an amount of gil for that item. This type of auction is a variant on the silent auction, where there is no auctioneer and rising bidding price. Interested? Keep on reading and we'll get into the specifics of how this system works -- it's a little tricky at first.
The art of the silent auction
The first thing to note about the auction is that a "bid" is more like a buyout. Once your bid meets or exceeds the amount of gil a seller wants for an item, you will get that item and the seller will get your bid.
How do you know what to bid in the first place, right? Well, by selecting an item in the auction house, you have the option to look at the price history. Looking at that, you'll most likely see that an item will bounce around between a few prices, or perhaps just sell at a flat price. Knowing what the item has recently sold for is a good indication of what it will sell for in the future.
However, there is incentive to a seller pricing an item lower than everyone else -- that item will be sold first. The item with the lowest asking price will always be the first item sold, regardless of when the item was added to the auction house. This means a fire crystal with an asking price of 50 gil put up 5 minutes ago will sell before the fire crystal with an asking price of 100 gil put up a day ago.
Buyers, please note, however, that if the asking price is 50 gil and you bid 100, your full bid of 100 will go to the seller. The game will not give the seller 50 gil, while you get the fire crystal and your other 50 gil back. The price the seller has set is simply the asking price, and not the actual price of the item.
What to do if you're buying from the auction
Buyers, find the item you want and check to see if it's in stock. (If it's in stock, there will be a number to the right of the item name. All auction houses are separate, so what's not in stock at one may be in stock at another, most likely the Jeuno auction because everyone goes there.) Once you find it, find the price history and see the prices it has sold for before that, and start bidding lower than those. There is no penalty if your bid is refused, you'll always get your money back if you don't get the item. Keep increasing your bid slowly towards the previous prices until you win the item.
Sometimes it's fun to go around and bid 1 or 2 gil on a item to see if you win it. You'd be surprised at the amount of times you may win something.
What to do if you're selling an item on the auction
Think about how quickly you want the item to sell, sellers. Check the price history and make sure your item is reasonably priced. Price it too high, and it will simply never sell. Price it too low, and a savvy buyer will find out your low price and take advantage of you.
A good tip is to price the item lower than the market history with an odd number attached. Instead of selling it for 50, try 53 or 54. Buyers will attempt to bid 50 gil, find they didn't win, and then immediately jump to 75 or 100 gil. Your item will now sell first as it's the lowest, and you still make 100 gil.
Great tools for the auction house
My website of choice for playing the auction house is FFXI-AH. Using that website, you can see if you've sold items while not logged into the game, check the selling history of the item from anywhere, and even see if an item you want is in stock at the moment.
Well that's all for this edition of Starting out in Vana'diel! Next time, we'll talk about the basics of crafting, and look at some great websites for getting your skill up. Until next time, safe adventures!
