Right now we have 2 categories for auctions: - common, that requires 9 stacks or 9 items (for non-stackables) to be auctioned - rares, that can be auctioned in any quantity I would suggest a non-common category for those items where getting 9 stacks might not be feasible without some month-long work, but also where getting 1 stack is well within the realm of possibilities with some mild/significant time investment. The auction limit for this category would be 1 stack minimum, or half. Examples of what I would put in this new category: - sherds as getting 9 stacks of one type might be undoable for a while (even getting a single stack of arms up/brewer might take several waste resets. I got less than 4 each and I scoured plenty). - I would probably move nether stars/beacons here, given how easy it is right now to get one with the smp7 wither skelly farm+ wither station - maybe smithing templates. 1 stack requires 448 diamonds (9 stacks require 448 diamond blocks, not exactly easy to get that amount of diamonds after the recent loot table change) - allay spawn eggs and/or sniffer eggs maybe? breeding this guys is not necessarily straightforward
The Sherds and Smiting Templates fit in the suggested category but the Nether Stars, Allay and Sniffer eggs are easy to farm so should be in the regular group. Other items that would fit your suggestion would be the Heart of the Sea, Taste of Freedom and the other piece of meat the pigs dropped. All these items are in short supply and require a waste reset to replenish or for the right season.
I'm looking at this from the perspective of a new player (but also based on my average playtime, admittedly). 1-2 stacks of nether stars are achievable in a few weeks. 9 might take a couple months or more. I might agree on allays, but sniffers need so much time between gathering the torchflower seeds and being able to breed them. At least, imho. I did not include Hearts of the Sea/conduits because finding a stack is again, not exactly trivial. But I do not claim to have perfect vision/market understanding. I would guess that if the category is set up, chickeneer and the rest of the team would have access to the numbers necessary to make a more sensible decision.
I should clarify that this is a good idea, in part because prior to the 1.19(?) update, shulker shells would have been on this list and post-update they could be moved to the regular list. So emerald ores, and ancient debris and netherite ingots/scrap could be on this rare list for now. Re-evaluate in 3-6 months and move them if necessary. Sherds, armor trims, elytra, 2 tall grass, enchanted apples and other loot items can also be evaluated in the on-going basis due to loot table changes from Mojang/Emc. Surely I forgot something on my example list here...?
Indeed. Only emerald ores (regular or deepslate) should be in a new auction category, though; emeralds and even emerald blocks are very easy to get a lot of! Someone could pretty easily get 9 stacks of emerald blocks (equivalent to three full barrels of gems) if they tried, or possibly even without trying.