Starting February 21st at 7 pm EMC time and going forward, the new auction and reverse auction rules are in effect. Please read over them. Ignorance of the rules will not excuse you from following them. The primary changes you will notice are: Official adding of Special Event Items to the Auctionable Items Page The Custom Items section on the Wiki has had an update and items are now better categorized to streamline the auction process. Reverse Auctionable Item Guidelines have their own page on the wiki This allows a more seamless representation of the rules for Reverse Auctions opposed to normal Auctions. Addition of 'Expected Delivery Time' to official Reverse Auction Forum Rules There are some other minor changes to fix formatting etc.
Community Auctions, Supporter Community Auctions, and Reverse Auctions each have their own topic under the Empire Economy section of the forums, and auction rules are posted as the first thread of each. There is not a single link to all auction rules in general. Hope that helps
Glad to see all of the various auctions rules laid out directly and very clearly stated. I do have a question about one specific item however. In the reverse auction "Rules for Reverse Auctions Hosts" it reads... You must provide a secure pickup location in the Town world for the reverse auction winner to sell you the items. We recommend you use [ACCESS] signs to do this. It maybe just the way this particular bullet is worded but it sounds to me like the sold items must be delivered to the Auction Host's "secure pickup location" and that they cannot be pickup up from the Reverse Auction Bidder's (winner's) facility (by [ACCESS] signs). Could a little more clarification be made on this bullet. Everything else that I read through was very straight forward and clearly understandable. Thank you in advance for any additional guidance that can be given on this point. P.S. I also like the addition of expected delivery time within the reverse auction section.
That bullet, to me, is as straight forward as it can be. Reverse auctions work basically the exact opposite way that regular auctions do, in that the host of the reverse auction should expect to have the items delivered to them, since they're buying the items.
In a normal auction should I expect the items delivered to me since I am buying them there too? It doesn't matter if it is a regular or reverse auction... You still have a buyer and a seller. Method of delivery should be defined as part of the deal similar to "expected delivery time" or like it is posted in the regular auctions stating what type of delivery is preferred.
Seen from one point of view, this seems to make sense. In a regular auction it is required that the seller provide a secure location for pickup of the goods. And so it would seem that in a reverse auction, the person providing the goods would be the one to dictate the pickup location. However, since the reverse auction is under the control of the buyer, it makes sense that they would dictate where the goods would be delivered. It also makes sense that the buyer could stipulate in the original post that they would accept picking up the goods at an alternate location, the specifics being spelled out exactly. For example, the buyer in a reverse auction might say that they would accept delivery in an access chest on their res, or would be willing to pickup the goods anywhere on SMPx. Or they might stipulate that they would accept picking up the goods on any Res, for an additional x Rupees being subtracted from the bid. It really ought to be up to the buyer in a reverse auction, just like a seller in a regular auction can stipulate that they will deliver the goods for x Rupees additional charge.
Oh... I'm not disputing the fact that it should be up to the buyer weather they want to have the merchandise delivered or if they prefer to pick it up... What was unclear to me was in the text of that bullet of the rule for the buyer it sounded like the buyer had to provide a place where the seller would delivery and that was the only option the buyer had. If I am a buyer in a reverse auction I may prefer to pickup the merchandise as opposed to having it delivered especially if I am the type that do not let people "move" onto my res. That was really my point. But I do agree with you on it being the buyer's market within the reverse auction.