Gadrian and Closmaydn have posted a nice selection of goodies in the kinship auctions. (Really!) Please feel free to stop by and shop or to post auctions of your own. Have a great weekend!

Memorial Day Weekend Auctions

Gadrian has posted some very nice items indeed! If you have stashed away some choice weapons or gear or have other extra goodies lying around in your vault, please feel free to add them to the kinship auctions this weekend.

Many thanks to Ateara for her very generous donations this week, and to Bana for his continuing contributions.

Thanks to the generosity of our members, especially Tibult!, Gadrian has a backlog of items once again. Look for lots of auctions this weekend, and post your stuff too if you have time.

Well, no. Th' object was t' give th' WHOLE KIN a chance t' see what folks would otherwise offer up free t' whoever was online at th' moment, an then sell to a NPC if there wasn't no one wantin it just then. Since th' item would've been totally free t' anyone that DID say, "Sure, I'll take that," th' general idea was t' post it fer a very low price.

Now, there's been some disagreement on whether t' put a buy-out on such items. On th' one hand, if th' object is t' have as many people as possible see th' offerin, then a buy-out is detrimental t' th' purpose. On th' OTHER hand, since these items was goin t' be given t' th' first person that responded in chat (assumin anyone did) then havin a buy-out price is just sort o' doin th' same thing: First person t' respond can take th' item. 

What seems t' have happened, from what I can tell, is that th' operation has raised th' awareness o' th' Kin AH t' such a degree that folks is usin it t' empty their storage o' stuff that (t' them) is just clutter, but might actually be valuable t' some other folks. An this has raised all sorts o' issues about who's makin excessive profits, an whether Kin ought t' be biddin against Kin, an so on.

Well. I ain't got any perfect solution, but as th' project evolves, my thoughts is these:

1. If y' have  something that ye'd offer fer free t' th' first person that asked fer it in chat, but no one online at th' moment wants it, put it in th' Kin AH with a low buyout (perhaps 1C over th' postin price), at 48 hours. AT ANY TIME. Don't wait fer th' weekend. Folks is now aware o' th' Kin AH (I'm pretty sure... =p ) so they can go look at any time they'd like, an see if anyone's left something they can use, fer a low price. NOT havin it just on weekends removes th' problem o' folks not bein able t' see what's there if their weekend don't allow 'em th' time. This is as close t' th' original intent o' th' deal (as stated in th' first line o' this post) as I can think of.

2. If y' have a item o' substantial worth that fer some reason y' don't need, post it on th' Kin AH with NO buy-out, an let th' Kin members bid on it. One problem with doin this in th' past is that many folks never went t' th' Kin AH, so items'd just be returned t' th' poster (minus th' postin fee). But now that there's a fuller awareness o' th' Kin AH (a good thing) I think that more o' these sorts o' things'll attract buyers. Th' advantage here is NOT that th' item is cheap, but that yer item goes t' a Kin member, instead o' bein tossed out t' Crickhollow at large. But it's STILL a AUCTION house, an if there's items that are o' substantial worth, there's no shame in puttin 'em up fer bids.

(Shameless Plug: Th' OTHER thing y' could do with Items o' Substantial Worth that y' don't need is t' send 'em t' Priyzgard, who'll hang onto 'em fer use as prizes fer Kin Events. Items that ain't class-specific would be th' best sort.)

3. If th' above two points is adopted, then th' whole sense o' some kind o' "Event" will be lost. Sorry about that, Bibli. But I think that this might be th' best way t' accomplish yer original proposal.

I received the following input and will share it anonymously so the member may be heard by all:

I have to say I did not enjoy the new no buyout auction rules.  I expect people in regular auctions to behalf selfishly, but it was a genuine disappointment to see my kin act that way.

One example.  There were really only 2 items I genuinely hoped I'd get.  One was selling about 200s or so, when someone outbid me.  Since (by coincidence) I was standing in an AH at that time, I bid back and the responding bid was to take the item up to well over 1 gold.  Seriously??

And the general guild chatter about how those of us without bags of money to throw around can't really compete with those kinds of prices (I thought the object was to help kinfolk get things they couldn't easily get on their own), there were a lot of comments about those of us that are not well off were ''whining''.  Whining.  Nice.

Needless to say, I felt like I'd been put in my place.  Ask [member] or [member] if anyone was ''whining''.  I can say I'm not likely to participate in another auction like this one.

I admit I was tempted to try and get into a bidding war with a few items myself but then I pulled myself back after reading some people in chat and decided, no, this is my kin, not the open AH, I really don't want to get into that with them over some items that really aren't that important. I'm not criticizing people who would do so as such, merely that well it does rather detract from the purpose if it happens IMHO. And when I say bidding war, I mean gotta run back to the AH when you've been outbid, rinse and repeat. For many items I couldn't even tell if there was a real bidding war as such or merely just lots of different people coming across them later, so how much actual of a bidding war happened seemed unclear.

As to price listing, I really feel it's up to the individual as long as it's not some high starting price that is better suited to the open AH and I never did see that really. Myself, I keep them low but not always the min for everything but rather low in general and even then if an item is popular and you can't just post another of the same to meet demand (I couldn't with most) then I will end up with more than the original bid price anyway. But, I understand others just don't like getting any profit and that's fine, we just need to accept some differences in style and really unless an item gets rather high on the bid amount the differences in style aren't that big.

Finally, most of my items could likely be found in kin storage, however I wanted to contribute and very little of my things were not of that sort, so for myself it was a matter of merely offering items I had or made and that I felt people might want at all.

I do feel it was a huge success tbh and was rather pleased!

I know some of you have limited auction hall spots, and there may be some overflow on Gadrian's side.  So I am also always willing to share my very large allotment of slots.  If you'd like to send something my way, it is best to mail it to Josephine or Marie as Rosalie's mailbox always keeps the Shire post busy.  Now as to the other points, particularly Star's...

There is one problem with the 48 hour no buyout option--it means that those who would play only on Friday or Saturday have no shot at winning a "bidding war."  Those who play on Monday or Tuesday might have opportunities that weekend-only players do not.  There is some luck involved no matter what the time and no matter what the system.  Perhaps it would be good to put buyout prices but think of this as a sort of need/greed system.  If you must have an item, buy it out.  If you would simply like to have it, bid.  Maybe this is the best of both worlds.

Last week I posted two sturdy steel keys at different times.  They were purchased swiftly, but by different members.  I posted each one for a 3 silver buyout.  Yes, I could've gotten far more on the open market.  If I wanted to get the going rate, I would sell it there.  I posted it for that price because I only wanted to give members the opportunity to get it for free.  If it was an open kin auction and someone won the bid at 12 gold, they would be promptly met with 11 gold and 97 silver in their mailbox.  If you pay me more than that 3 silver, I feel like I am stealing from you.

This is how I feel--set the price you believe is fair, whether it is at market value or below.  But I hope you will also respect the price I have set.

I know some items will be rare.  I doubt very many of us have 10 keys lying around, but when I get one (other than what I've sent to Priyzgard), I will post it on the kin AH.  I'm sure some of us are paying attention to the most sought after items, and I for one will try to focus on getting more of them into the system.

This kin AH is a very much a work in progress, and I know Willowing is grateful for the feedback.  There is an ongoing discussion on how this fits in with our current warehouse structure and what should go into the system and what should not.  Please know that many of the items that we've seen on sale are available 24 hours a day, every day in our warehouses.  We work so hard to keep these houses stocked.  Our work goes to waste if these items only gather dust.  Most of these items can be found in our own Greyheight neighbourhood (which you may visit every hour with your kinhouse port), with the exception of the easily accessible crafting warehouse in the Merbry neighbourhood of the Thorin's Homesteads.  Please visit, and please take any of these items as you need them (save for cosmetic items, as these should be returned to the house after putting the item into the cosmetic tab or wardrobe).

Also--welcome back, Star!  I was thinking about you just last week.  It's great to have you and your always strong (but very welcome) opinions around here again.

What I did was post the first item at bid only and the extras with a buyout option (with the exception of the symbol I listed and task items I don't need anymore because I have so many stacks). This way people can bid on the original so everyone gets a chance, but have buyouts for the extras as I only have 5 slots on my main account for auctions.

Before I begin, let me just say, I LOVED your BID-ONLY AH idea!

Forgive my spelling errors, word mistakes, and sentences that are totally missing words or don't make any sense.  I'm not very good in English and don't have time to proofread everything I'm about to type.  AND these are just my opinions, they aren't meant to offend, upset, create anger, hate, malice, distrust, or cause someone to leave the kin, they are just OPINIONS.  I will let the leaders use these opinions and add them to the salad/mixing bowl of other opinions and mix them up to help them come up with better ideas they may decide to bake up in the oven for us to try out.  Hobbits do like pie!

I've been off for awhile, around 3 months, to return this weekend to find a new way of listing kin-only auctions, bid only, no buyouts.  I must say, I LOVED IT!  So much, it inspired me to list some of my items which I've never felt it was worth to do before, knowing that everyone had a chance at my items, not the select few who are on all the time and watch the AH for 24 hours for all the buyout deals, leaving those of us who can't be online a lot out of a lot of good items.

I chatted with some in kin chat when I noticed some bids going really high though, but that's what "BIDDING" is all about, it's an auction house for crying out loud.  Some were thrilled to see it happening, others wanted to vomit in disgust.  There were some people listing their items for only 2 silver buyout, that I would have gladly given 100 silver for.  I ended up buying them for 2 silver buyout, but felt I was stealing at such a cheap price.  There were some BIDS I did do and posted what I felt they were worth, whether it was silvers or gold.  IF I got outbidded, I did not drive up the bidding price anymore, and I'll just wait until next weekend auction and hope same item will get listed again.  Those who complained they got outbidded, ask the seller if they have more of the same item, for free or to list on kin-only AH.  I know, some kinnies don't have that much cash and some said bid wars only benefited the super rich of the kin.  But I stressed my point, if kinnies would post more of those high bid cash items, it would meet supply/demand, keeping the bids a lot lower.  Bids only go higher when there is fear there isn't enough to go around.

Some kinnies are worried about other kinnies profiting off others when it's meant to be a "free" thing and help other kinnies.  In kin chat some were speaking about donating what they make off the kin auction bids to the kinhouse rental fees, that they had no plans to profit anything from the listings because they were listed for the kin, not for their pockets.  If you want to make a profit off your items, list them on NON-kin auctions, nobody is forcing you to list in kin-only if you don't like helping kin with free stuff.  I liked the idea of donating money you do make off bids, helping the kin with rentals and purchasing of more items to help kin list more free items on kin-only AH next weekend.  I agreed with some who believe everything listed on kin-only auctions should be for free to the kinnies, BUT if the bids go really high, so what, allow kinnies to bid on them, knowing that their bids are going back into the kin to support it, hopefully if kin player is honest.  Or even taking the money you do make off "bids" and buying more items off the public AH to list in kin-only for free and at super low buyouts the next weekend.

BIDS - Great idea!!!  Gives everyone a chance to bid on something they might like.  Gives everyone a chance to see the "demand" of the items posted so the guild officers have a better idea of what items kinnies need the most.  Some complain the bids are unfair and get to high, but if the bids are getting too high, maybe we should be posting MORE of those items on the kin-only AH so supply meets demand.  If some want to bid(pay) more for an item then you think it's worth, why should it bother you, maybe they want to help out so kinny is getting something back for their efforts.  Set a low buyout price to prevent a bid markup, but understand that if item gets bought in first hour, it denies other kinnies a chance at the auction.   If some kinnies want to bid more for the item then you listed it for, list more of the same items or set buyout prices to prevent a bid war.

BUYOUTS - If you want to do buyouts, go for it, nobody is stopping you.  Just hope you got more of that item so when it sales within the first hour of posting, you plan to post more to give other kin members a chance later on in the weekend who can't be online watching the auction house for 24 hours and actually want to play the game and go exploring, fighting monsters.  I don't want to hear complaints from anyone to me if I buyout a lot of your 2 silver buyout items, since I play on 9 toons(all always needing something), when I would have gladly paid 100 silver to 1 gold to help kinnies or the kin itself through a bid.

Bid Wars - As I spoke of above, bid wars are happening because not enough of those items are getting listed to meet the supply/demand curve.  Let's take the sturdy key for an example that started at 100 silver, is up to 12gold current as of this post, but it's the ONLY one listed.  If you did a cheap buy out, someone would have gotten lucky within first the hour on a great steal, while every else missed out.  By bidding, it gives everyone a chance at the key, not one lucky player who happens to play all the time and watches AH for 24 hours for quick deal steals.  Don't want it to go so high, why not list 10 individual keys instead of just one or create a decent buy out price that won't allow bid price to get so high.  Luckily, the player has already said, all proceeds from key sale will be going back to the kin to help with kin house rentals, so they won't be making any profits off of the high bid price.  Sounds like a win-win situation to me.  Player gets item they desperately wanted due to a kin-wide shortage and kin makes much needed money to help pay for expenses or use money to buy some more sturdy keys to list for free/low buyouts to kinnies next weekend.

Bid Wars #2 - I might have already said it, but also this helps kinnies to identify where more items are needing to be posted, to meet the supply/demand curve.  To keep bid prices down, post more of same items or set decent low buyout prices still below the actual AH non-kin listings that won't allow bid prices to go too high.  BECAUSE, the AH won't allow someone to bid more on an item then the actual buyout price.  (Example:   I wanted to give kinny 100 silver bid for an item, they had listed for 2 silver buyout.  I couldn't pay 100 silver, because 2 silver buyout was blocking me, so I had to end up grabbing the item for only 2 silver since nobody else got a chance to see and bid on the item that was only listed for less than 10 minutes.  I got lucky was surfing the AH when item got listed, so I grabbed it, it was a 2 silver buyout, no bid, had no choice.)   I just wonder how many kin-only auctions I missed this weekend due to dirt cheap buyouts and I wasn't online at the right time looking at the AH at the right time to see it and purchase it.

Okay, enough of my rambling.  Overall, I enjoyed the kin-only AH this weekend.  Not sure where it will go from this and I hope my "OPINIONS" shined a little light on my side of how I saw things.  Everyone else, put down your opinions and then give the officers time to take these opinions and give it some thought.  I'm sure this wasn't meant to tick off anyone on purpose, it was just an experiment from what I understand and I hope it continues, but if enough kinnies give it a big stink, I'm sure it'll get canned and we'll be back to the same ole boring kin-only auctions I won't be participating in, because it will only benefit the "select" few who play all the time and watch the AH like a hawk for quick buyout deals.

Star...  (/goes inside hobbit house, locks door, closes windows, HIDES and awaits for the sounds of pitchforks clanging, loud rude yelling/swearing, and sounds of many rotten fruits to hit the structure.)

Yeah spending 43G on 5 items is a bit silly, but I don't mind. If that's what it cost to make sure I get the chance to get them then it's worth it I guess :D (I'm glad the money is going to kinmates instead of random strangers)

Indeed the amount of pages in the AH is awe inspiring! I'm all for the listing of kin auctions on the weekends, however I am trouble about kin mates bidding over one another for items. That was not the idea I had in mind when I backed the kin AH on the weekend idea. I will be listing all my items with a buy now price. I just don't see the point in having my fellow kinmates having bidding wars on items I list. The idea, I thought, was to share the wealth, not make anything off the kin AH or to cause frustration. 

I was thrilled to see 17 pages of auction items when I logged out late last night! There was everything: crafting materials, dyes, furniture, cosmetics, buffs, legendary items, and so on. It was nice to know I could browse any time before Sunday, and put in some bids. I hope others feel the same way!

If you contributed this week, did you set aside some choice items for next week? I know I did! Of course, not everything up for sale this week will sell, especially if you posted duplicates, so be prepared for that. I imagine if we make this a weekend tradition things will calm down a bit and we won't always have 17 or more pages of goodies--but who knows?!

Many thanks to everyone taking part, and especially to those who sent Gadrian some very nice items to post.

EDIT: I was just scrolling through the items to see which had bids and which do not (it would be great to have someone track items which sell) and noticed one of Gadrian's was up for some serious gold. If anything he sells brings in a substantial price, he'll be sending the funds to Rosalie for kin housing maintenance.

Greetings!

I'm pleased to announce that we will be making kinship-only auctions a regular event each weekend, beginning this Friday, February 21. Here's how it will work:

• Please post items any time on Fridays.


• Click the Kinship-only box.


• Set a nominal price and do not include a buyout.


• Please let the auction run for 48 hours.

Since this is a kin-wide event, and we always try to schedule events in order to allow the most members to attend, 48 hours/no buyout gives everyone a chance to participate across our many time zones. Some folks were disappointed to have many choice items gone before they could even log in during our recent kinship auction--let's make this accessible to all!

If you have only a small number of auction slots but would still like to participate, please feel free to send item donations to Gadrian, who will post them for you. Many thanks to Graye, the Bana family, and others for giving so many items already--look for them on sale this Friday!