the CS is a lie!

[Fusionstrike]

Now that the subject got your attention, I wanted to point out that the consignment shop in balefort castle isn't actually a consignment shop at all. Don't believe me? Read up on how a consignment shop actually works:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consignment_shop

Ok, so nobody actually did that. I'll boil it down for you. True consignment means the shop doesn't make any fee on the item until it sells. The shop in PL, on the other hand, charges its fee whether or not the item ever sells. So, it's actually more accurately a classified ad service than a consignment shop.

Why am I bringing this up? It's not just that I'm being anal about the term (although it should be rather embarrassing to the PL dev staff that they actually don't know what "consignment" means). It's that I think PL would be better served if it actually were a real consignment arrangement. Right now, people frequently take not-insignificant losses when an item doesn't sell. This tends to suppress listings by those without a lot of money to throw around. The result? Rich players can make the market (since they can afford to take losses more easily) and supply from poorer players is artificially suppressed.

Why does the shop need to collect a fee up front? It's not like it needs the money to run its business. The CS really just serves the need of linking buyers with sellers so players can have the fun of playing rather than standing around shouting their wares. This is a very good thing for overall enjoyment of PL. Let's make it even more useful by only charging fees on sales, not listings. It's a simple way to improve the PL experience and give the PL economy a boost. It's a win for everyone.

[Fallscreek]

I totally agree and I did read the
Definition lol I played world of Warcraft once and they had thing called auction
House and it charged you a fee too but atleast it was a AH not a CS :)

[Udiemorenoob]

Thumbs up!;D! Thanks for taking the time to research this info, it seems like a good reason to change the fee...if you are infact correct about the definition of a "consignment shop". Personaly i have lost a fortune do to my items sitting for 3 days and not selling in cs. Not really fair huh? Seems how nobody gets the profit of the money it took to post the item, the item should technicaly sell before you can pay the consigne right?

[Acecount]

Good idea hope this goes in the game one day

[maiohwmai]

Isn't that risk versus reward though?

I actually like it the way it is. If I know I have a good item listed for a respectable price, it shouldn't sit for more than 12-24 hours. If it's an expensive item or one that maybe only a few collectors want/need, it might need to be up for 3 days.

If there was no fee associated with the CS, everyone would spam it up all the more. There'd be pages of garbage items that we all know won't sell, but because it's free to list them many players would. There's no fee for clogging the chat with "S>X level Whatever" 50 times, and that's what the CS would become.

No, it's fine just the way it is. If you don't want to pay a fee, then merch it the old fashioned way.

[Flippys]

Isn't that risk versus reward though?

I actually like it the way it is. If I know I have a good item listed for a respectable price, it shouldn't sit for more than 12-24 hours. If it's an expensive item or one that maybe only a few collectors want/need, it might need to be up for 3 days.

If there was no fee associated with the CS, everyone would spam it up all the more. There'd be pages of garbage items that we all know won't sell, but because it's free to list them many players would. There's no fee for clogging the chat with "S>X level Whatever" 50 times, and that's what the CS would become.

No, it's fine just the way it is. If you don't want to pay a fee, then merch it the old fashioned way.

Agreed. It's fine the way it is. Only thing I would prefer is an AH instead.

[Ixillicus]

I know that it is improrperly named, but I feel that it serves us better to have it the way it is now then to have only a percentage taken if the item sells. By forcing us to pay upfront... it serves a number of benefits:
1. Keeps prices reasonable, since you list too high doesn't sell, you wasted money.
2. Avoids clutter (imagine if everyone could list every item for any price, the CS would be loaded)
3. It promotes trading/in-game selling and the ability to get better deals by trading

[adidaman]

No police/grammar/pointingouterrors threads until your over 1,000 posts :p (jk) in all seriousness, great point dude. Funny how true it is

[Fusionstrike]

I know that it is improrperly named, but I feel that it serves us better to have it the way it is now then to have only a percentage taken if the item sells. By forcing us to pay upfront... it serves a number of benefits:
1. Keeps prices reasonable, since you list too high doesn't sell, you wasted money.
2. Avoids clutter (imagine if everyone could list every item for any price, the CS would be loaded)
3. It promotes trading/in-game selling and the ability to get better deals by trading

I don't really buy points 1 and 2 because the shop is searchable. It's true that the list would be very large if you just open up a list of, say, weapons with no filter, but who does that? It's already unmanageable to do so today. Instead, what everyone does is put in some kind of search criteria (level, name, etc) that filters the list down. And since the lists are sorted by price by default, ridiculously overpriced items don't even appear because they end up on page 100. I suppose you have a point in that the total load on the system would go up, so it would perhaps require some limits (e.g. maybe max listing becomes 24hours, which would be ok if you have to relist every day because it's not burning up large fees each time).

Point 3 is a matter of opinion I guess. Personally, I'm here to play the game, not run around shouting my sales or wading through the spam text of others doing the same. I want a system that helps link me with a buyer/seller efficiently and with no hassle so I can get on with the fun stuff. And I imagine most players feel the same. There are certainly those for whom the fun part is making deals and hunting up bargains, but they're in the minority. In my view, having an inefficient system on purpose just so a small group of people can run around shouting for deals is a poor decision. I'm sure the creators of PL set out to make a fun MMO, not a challenging commodities market simulation game.

In summary, the fees stifle a system that otherwise works reasonably well and keeps the focus on the actual game, where it should be. Change the way they're handled and the market suddenly gets much more efficient at matching up buyers and sellers, allowing the players to buy and sell the stuff they want and get back to the real game. It's nothing but upside for PL.

[Nick41324]

That CS that your talking about is a real life one. If there wasn't a charge on pricing items in game, people would troll hard and post items for 10m all day... And I doubt anyone wants to pay 100k to post a items for max money just to troll now.

[Elyseon]

Yeh cuz sometimes u cant list a huge priced items, when the fee should be taken from the income from the item.

Hehe were getting picky xD

[WoundedEagle]

I hope this gets change +1!

[Fyrce]

I'm gonna bet a real life consignment house doesn't take junk or anything you just want to put in the shop. I'm pretty sure they have limited floor space. Only consignment shops I've seen here are very specific and take only high-end items. If you can see it at the local garage sale, you're probably not going to see it at the local consignment shop.

Definitions are good. Reality's quite different. And games? Well, they're a whole different world.

[WoundedEagle]

I'm gonna bet a real life consignment house doesn't take junk or anything you just want to put in the shop. I'm pretty sure they have limited floor space. Only consignment shops I've seen here are very specific and take only high-end items. If you can see it at the local garage sale, you're probably not going to see it at the local consignment shop.

Definitions are good. Reality's quite different. And games? Well, they're a whole different world.
But I still think if anything, it wouldn't hurt to be a little more accurate. :)

[13lacklegionz]

I know that it is improrperly named, but I feel that it serves us better to have it the way it is now then to have only a percentage taken if the item sells. By forcing us to pay upfront... it serves a number of benefits:
1. Keeps prices reasonable, since you list too high doesn't sell, you wasted money.
2. Avoids clutter (imagine if everyone could list every item for any price, the CS would be loaded)
3. It promotes trading/in-game selling and the ability to get better deals by trading

The 'CS' will always have better deals than trading when you are selling items, with exceptions. That's the key in merchanting.

[13lacklegionz]

I know that it is improrperly named, but I feel that it serves us better to have it the way it is now then to have only a percentage taken if the item sells. By forcing us to pay upfront... it serves a number of benefits:
1. Keeps prices reasonable, since you list too high doesn't sell, you wasted money.
2. Avoids clutter (imagine if everyone could list every item for any price, the CS would be loaded)
3. It promotes trading/in-game selling and the ability to get better deals by trading

The 'CS' will always have better deals than trading when you are selling items, with exceptions. That's the key in merchanting.

[plmafiaboss]

It should just take the listing fee out of the income in the end