The Rule That Is Ruining PRO Auctions

[Teerav]

This rant is about my disappointment is people retaining their right to cancel an auction if they do not like the final offer.

 

I UNDERSTAND WHY YOU DO IT

 

First off, I want to tell you I understand why you do it. And I understand it is rarely enforced. A smart auction starts low to get multiple people invested into bidding with the hopes to selling high. But you of course fear that if only one or two people bid you will end up selling your epic pokemon for half the value you expected to get for it. The comfort of knowing you can stop the auction saves you from the fear of doing it. You are thinking about yourself here, but you should be thinking about your buyer when trying to sell something.

 

WHY IT IS HURTING YOUR AUCTION

 

Now consider the buyer's point of view. The average auction lasts about 2 or 3 days. A pokemon worthy of an auction normally sells for 500k or more. This is not cheap and many times the buyer will have to invest their feelings into this. When a buyer sees that their offer may be rejected, the fear of being rejected may turn them way from investing their feelings into the auction. Remember, you are doing an auction in hopes of luring people in at a low price to get their feelings invested into the auction so they will outbid others. But by including a rule that puts their feelings at risk of being hurt, you drive away potential customers from starting or joining in on the auction.

 

WHY YOUR AUCTION DOESNT GET BIDS UNTIL THE LAST HOURS

 

If you've hosted an auction, you get two common responses. "Whats the insta?" and "When does the auction end?" Many times people will wait until the auction is close to ending to bid, because they know bidding early requires investing time and feelings. And when they see the rule that you could cancel the auction whenever will absolutely stop these specific individuals who are already timid to investing time and feelings from bidding. The less time their money sits in auction, the less time and feelings are invested. You want them to invest all their money and feelings into the auction, so you want them to bid early. If you state that people's bid will always hold up, you remove the fear of people getting their feelings hurt and time wasted.

 

So the next time you consider adding this rule to your auction, understand that you are scaring off potential customers for your own comfort.

Edited March 8, 2019 by teerav

[Darkvader]

I agree with this opnion but the only reason why players are using it is because they have the power to use it and almost everyone else does it. Its just about following the others sadly...

 

this rule gives sellers ofc alot of power and advantages and thats why it will mostly be used by many players on auctions. But this not the same for potentional buyers indeed . For buyers like my self its indeed not worth bidding if i know they will propably cancle it anyway.

 

Removing this rule will cause alot of discussion because many will complaint that they are forced to sell even if they dont want to.

 

A best solotion is just adding a min price you want for it at the start so you dont have to cancle it and not have to use this rule due to low offers since the start was already near the price you want.

[Teerav]

A best solotion is just adding a min price you want for it at the start so you dont have to cancle it and not have to use this rule due to low offers since the start was already near the price you want.

Technically speaking, there is always a minimum price to start every auction.

 

But yeah. I do not blame sellers for adding this rule. And as stated, I rarely see it enforced. Guild mates have told me they suggested to staff to restrict sellers from cancelling auctions, but they denied the request. I am not sure how they pitched the suggestion, but I agree with you how removing sellers ability to add this comfort rule would cause a lot of frustration for some people and staff is too afraid to face these complaints.

[Xavier]

100% agree should not be a rule. once an auction starts and minimum price is met should not be allowed to cancel

[Madtrainer]

I never understood why the auctioneer had the right to cancel their auction.

I have never seen this rule in real life auctions. I could possibly be wrong, maybe that exists.

But I would still be happy to not see this rule anymore during auctions.

Maybe that one day...

Edited March 10, 2019 by Madtrainer

[Namelesshero27]

The rule is ridicolous.

 

I suggest we all start doing what I'm already doing since lot of times: an auction has this rule? I don't bid. Even if I need that poke.

[Squad]

I've used this rule twice in 1200H playtime and mainly because it's allowed. It's ridiculous that this is allowed so i can't blame people for doing it.

 

I don't bid on auctions mainly to avoid unfortunate situations.

[Purplemauth]

If you aren't willing to sell it for a certain price (that you, as the auctioneer can decide at will), that is fake selling. Rule 11 clearly reads:

 

11. Fake Offering/Selling/Bidding with no intention to buy/sell is prohibited.

 

Auctions that are put up with an intention to see if they can start low to raise the price and get in a bid-off mean that the minimum offer they are posting is thereby fake. If they have no intention to sell for that price, that should be considered a fake and punished as such. Allowing people to cancel auctions because of "low offers" is a controlled situation in which the seller set a price that they were not actually happy with.

 

The necessary channels exist for people to get an accurate valuation of their pokemon (Price checks exist in game, on the forum, and on multiple Discord servers). If they disagree with the valuations given, they should set their minimum as what they believe, rather than fishing for more money. It is dishonest and as bidders have commented above, ultimately hurts the auction and the people who are willing to participate.

[Abygaelle]

I agree, this rules should be change.

 

When i see this rule on an auction, i just close the topic. Don't want to participate

[Teerav]

If you aren't willing to sell it for a certain price (that you, as the auctioneer can decide at will), that is fake selling. Rule 11 clearly reads:

 

11. Fake Offering/Selling/Bidding with no intention to buy/sell is prohibited.

 

Auctions that are put up with an intention to see if they can start low to raise the price and get in a bid-off mean that the minimum offer they are posting is thereby fake. If they have no intention to sell for that price, that should be considered a fake and punished as such.

This is an amazingly strong argument to not allow auctions to be cancelled.