The six ways to sell your items
1. Open Auctions
Open auctions are conducted in a fashion that everyone can see who bids, and how much they bid. Open auctions list the item(s) for sale, and has an opening bid/Minimum bid. Increments are sometimes stated, however common sense must be used when incrementing. For example, an item currently priced, or valued, at 120k gold should have increments of 5k gold, and an item priced or valued at 2mil(lion) gold should have increments of 100k gold. Whomever bids higher and first will get the current noted bid, once the seller sees it. Open auctions are typically sold if no one else bids higher than the current noted price over the usual "once, twice, sold" postings. Some auctions may have bids that squeeze in under the seller's "Sold!" post, and it is up to the seller to accept the bid and continue the auction, or to reject it to end the auction. Just remember one thing: your posts will always show up before others.
Open auctions have nothing to do with PMs, thus any bids in PMs will be disregarded and go without noting.
Some open auctions have "auto"s placed upon them. "Auto" means that if you bid the specified price, you will automatically win the auction for that amount. You cannot remove an auto, or raise the auto amount, but you may lower it's amount.
If you bid on an item, you MUST be prepared to pay the price you have bid, or else you may harm your integrity. If you are selling an item, you MUST be prepared to sell your item for the ending bid, or else you may harm your integrity, as well.
Those who are in clans should ask in clan chat if any of their clan members would like to buy their item(s) before auctioning them in sales, as some may regard it as "price inflating".
2. Silent Auctions
Silent auctions are held solely in PMs, except for the opening post, stating the item(s), the opening/minimum bid, and how long the auction will last, usually a matter of a few minutes. No other posts in sales chat are needed, and the current bid MUST NOT be told to anyone until it is at last sold to the higher bidder and the auction is over. Any bids in chat for the item(s) will be disregarded as it would be considered not part of the SILENT auction. If two players or more bid the same amount, whomever PMed the bid first will get the item(s). If a player asks what the current price on the auction is, whether in open sales chat, or in PMs, you MUST NOT give out the current highest bid. The item(s) is/are deemed "sold" once time runs out in the silent auction.
Due to popular demand, I will show an example of what you may see on your screen. To start it off, say you are auctioning an amethyst*** to start at 30k, and you want the auction to last 5 minutes. You would say...
Masmune Myst says: Silent Auction: Selling ame***, opening bid at 30k, 5 minutes. Go.
The only bids you can accept are those in PMs, and anything in open sales is to be ignored. You may post again to remind people on how much time remains, say...
Masmune Myst says: Silent Auction: Selling ame***, bid opened at 30k, 3 minutes remain.
So the time has ended for the auction, say Test won the auction with a PM bid of 45k. You would say...
Masmune Myst says: Silent Auction: Ame*** sold to Test for 45k.
By the time your silent auction is done, your screen should be similar to this...
Masmune Myst says: Silent Auction: Ame*** sold to Test for 45k.
Test1 says: 36k (May 28 12:00:00)
Test2 says: 50k ((Note that this is NOT a PM))
Test says: 45k (May 28 11:59:23)
Masmune Myst says: Silent Auction: Selling ame***, bid opened at 30k, 3 minutes remain.
Test3 says: 31k (May 28 11:57:55)
Masmune Myst says: Silent Auction: Selling ame***, opening bid at 30k, 5 minutes. Go.
I hope this clarifies silent auction for some of you. If you need more assistance, contact Masmune Myst in-game. I wish you the best of luck with them!
3. First PM
First PM sales are just as they sound; whomever PMs the specified price for the specified item(s) wins the item(s) for that price. This includes sales with the words "all for ___ gold". It is dishonest for a buyer to change the method of selling to an auction, or accept any other offers higher than the specified price even if two or more people offer the same amount. This will damage your integrity within the game.
4. PM Offers
When players ask you to "PM offer", they do not mean to PM them with the phrase, "How much for the ______?". They want an offer that you are satisfied giving the other party for their items. From there, both the buyer and seller can negotiate a price they are both satisfied with, or break off talks. This way of selling is commonly used, as the seller can decide when they can sell their item, and for how much.
5. Smash
Smash price is typically known as the price the shops in almost each zone will buy the items for. The shop smash price is half of the price the regular weapons, armour, spells, and shields sell for in the shops.
There is another type of smasher in Neflaria. Smashers are players that are a part of a clan that has the miscellaneous structure "Black Market" in which they can sell their items for 65% more than what the shops normally offer. Smashers USUALLY buy items around 20-30% of the normal smash price to shops.
6. The Marketplace (Currently down)
This is an automated service offered in Neflaria where you can buy and sell items, and you need not to stay online during the auction. When a seller puts up an item, it is taken from their inventory and held in the Marketplace. When a buyer places a bid, the bidded amount of gold is subtracted from their bank. If the bidder loses, they receive all their gold back.
The auction ends when the time has expired, or one hour from the last bid, whichever is the latest. To finalize the transaction, the seller receives the highest bid of gold, minus 10% for commission, and the buyer would receive the item when they are online and when they have space in their inventory. Once an auction starts, it cannot be cancelled.
The Rules
If you start an auction, finish it!
Pulling auctions is seen to be dishonest, as it depicts the seller as greedy; wanting more for their item(s) than what they are getting. This is frowned upon, and may get the seller Blacklisted by other players. The seller should learn from their mistakes, sell the item(s), and next time set a higher opening/minimum bid so that they can get what they want.
If the item(s) you stated in your commencing auction line is/are wrong, correct it, and restart the auction.
If you bid, you must be ready to buy.
If the buyer simply bids on an item and they have no intention on buying the item, it is seen as "price inflating" as they are driving up the price just to make other players pay more. Even if this is a game, players must follow guidelines as if it were an auction on eBay. Withdrawing from the auction will damage the buyer's integrity.
Make sure to know how much gold you have, how much time you have left, and what item you are bidding on BEFORE you place your bid.
Do not spam or flood sales
Only post what you are looking for, or selling, once per chat screen in Sales chat. This also applies to clan advertisements. You can repost the item if the price has changed.
Give a reasonable amount of time for an auction.
Players cannot expect other players to get their posts too fast as there is always delays in the server that prevents some players getting messages faster than others. A set of "once, twice, sold!" posts separated by only a minute total is an insufficient amount of time for some to reply. As well, do not stretch out "once, twice, thrice, etc..., sold!" posts, or spend like 5 minutes in between the set of posts, each.
Be reasonable on the amount of time you give between posts, as you do not want it too short, or too long.
Players cannot sell characters, clans, or participate in any cross-game trading.
All the above offences can have dire consequences, including banning from Neflaria. Selling characters are a scam, as players can easily gain control of their characters once again, by retrieving the password, whatever it is, through their e-mail, as players cannot change a character's e-mail address. Selling a clan can also be considered a scam as the seller may not live up to their end of the agreement, and simply pocket the gold for their own use. Cross-game trading is a typical, general rule of almost any online game, and is not allowed.
DO NOT BEG for gold or items
Other players have broken their backs, fingers, and even mice to get to where they are now in the game. If you start later in a round, it is even easier for you to get items than it was for players who started at the beginning. You should experience a bit of what they have went through. "Asking" for any items, gold, or loans is also considered begging.
Do not whine about prices.
Whining about prices will not get a player anywhere, has little effect on the market, and can be considered spam if it continues.
If you do not like the price being asked for an item, simply ignore the post.
Watch out for scams.
If a player is a victim of a scam, there is not much that anyone can do for them. They must learn from their mistake as it is their fault for falling into the scam. This includes Payment Plans, as not all players can be trusted. Payment Plans are at YOUR OWN risk, as there will be NO compensation whatsoever if the other player defaults on their agreement.
If a player is trading items with another player, and do not have complete trust in each other, then they must seek out a moderator to be the middleman of the trade to collect both parties' items involved, and redistribute them appropriately.
Advice: Read confirmation messages carefully, and make sure you can trust players before sending items and expect items in return.
Sales chat environment is for sales-related matters.
Sales was designed to keep out posting of sales in general chat, and thus the first priority of the sales chatroom is Sales. Other chat not regarding sales, auctions, and advertisements will be kept to a MINIMUM, and shall not interfere with auctions that are held in sales.
All other chat rules apply to sales.
View them here.
Summary
Well, that is what I feel should be included in my sales guide, and much, MUCH more. If clarification is needed on anything seen here, or want something added to this guide, do not hesitate to e-mail me or PM me in Neflaria, under Masmune Myst.