Invisible bidding

Harsha..

Well-Known Member
Proposal
Create a new system of market trading, where the bids are invisible

Current Workaround
Things can be traded in the market through instant purchase OR real-time auctions

Details

Right now, there are two methods of selling stuff on the market

1. Instant buy
2. real-time auctions

The second one is unfair because the items typically go to the most active player, the player with the faster internet connection, or someone who lives closer to Germany. (People in timezones closer to Germany get their bids recorded faster)

If an item you need badly is on the market and the auction is set to end at 2 AM, or when you are travelling, or when you are at school, it can be a real bummer. So, I propose that we have a third option...

3. Invisible Bidding

A player decides to sell Effago's vest and sets the base price at $400,000. There is a 3 day window, where people can place bids. No one (esp the seller to prevent "egging") knows what the bids are, it will be a completely invisible progress

Within that time, its also possible to increase your bid price, and possibly to reduce it. After the time period expires, all the bids are tailled, an example is like this

Tom Moz bid $420,000
Effago bid $400,001
Anna Z bid $500,000
Deez bid $605,000

So, Deez wins the item


Abuse Prevention
No one, including the seller is aware of what the bids are during the auction (when the auction ends, only the winner is revealed). This is to prevent the seller from egging on the top bidders to pay more, creating unhealthy competition

This system has been tried and tested with success in real life

Summary

This system will ensure that activity or internet - or time zones will not be a factor in determining auction outcomes. It will also ensure that the player who needs - and values the item the most gets it

Administration
Does this idea meet the Ideas Guidelines & Criteria? Yep
Does this idea appear on any of the Previously Suggested Ideas List? No, don't think so
 

DeletedUser30224

Against this. It hurts the seller who wants to sell the item at the best price. If the buyers do not know what price is bidding on the moment, they will not bid allot of cash on the item and will most probably bid an affordable price instead of going the extra distance to secure the item. In certain cases this can be more than the item is trending on the market but unlikely.

Also ingame moderators might not be so happy with this proposal as you can mask the transfer.
 

Harsha..

Well-Known Member
Players will adapt. They will realize that just bidding at affordable cost wont get them the item, so they will raise the stakes. Besides, this is optional and up to the discretion of the seller

Sometimes, in cases where the item is not as popular and there are only a couple of bidders, this can help to bring the seller more money

As for moderation, well - to be honest, mods can see everything, every penny of money you transfer, they will know about it. I'm only asking for the bids to be masked to the public
 

DeletedUser22493

Don't like it at all. Bidding blind, are you kidding me?

Ill agree that something has to be done about last second bids tho. It's annoying an unfair.
 

DeletedUser

+1 to this idea..there should be a base price below which bids should not go though...
 

DeletedUser34767

I don't like it either. Mostly because when you place your "blind" bid your money is deducted from your bank at the time you place the bid and will remain tied up until the auction ends. This will be the case even if at the time you place your "blind" bid someone else has already out bid you.

It is going to turn out the same as the current type of auction where everyone waits until the last moment to place their bids so they get a quick response on whether or not they won the item and don't tie up their cash.
 

DeletedUser

The second one is unfair because the items typically go to the most active player, the player with the faster internet connection, or someone who lives closer to Germany. (People in timezones closer to Germany get their bids recorded faster)

I don't think any of those reasons are sufficient for the idea. Activity should be a big advantage, but that's not even entirely true. You don't have to be on 24/7, you have to be on when the auction ends. Even when I was very active, there were still auctions that ended at horribly inconvenient times for me. And I've never had any problems sniping 5k miles/8k km from Hamburg, Germany.
 

Harsha..

Well-Known Member
Bidding blind happens in real life all the time - in government tenders. It is used to ensure that the person who values an item the most gets it. My feeling is that it will be a new dimension in the game, something exciting. Remember, how we all once laughed at the idea of trading, saying it would spoil the game...now we all agree that trading is important for the game's surival. Some of you might not like the idea, but i know it works - hell, governments use it :p

Yes, Elmyr - but I'm talking about when a dozen of people are after the same item, all of them are active and place their bids at the very last second. The ones closer to Germany get it, I'm not sure about this - but its what Good feather once explained

We can all be in agreement that last minute bidding are annoying - there is one way we can solve this - by limiting the number of times a person can bid on an item. But this wont solve the problem entirely
 

DeletedUser30224

From the time I used to play online football manager games, the auction was always extended by one minute if the bid was made in the last minute. Therefore the auction ending time was almost always shifted by 5-30 min and the highest bidding party took the item. But I think this was discussed already on the forums, not sure if it was proposed.
 

DeletedUser

If you want the item so badly just out bid it that much so no one else want to spend that much cash on that item.

If you want to suggest something I think fair change to out bidding in market it setting some minimum for out bidding. If the current bid is 1000 and I out bid it with 2000 I think it's not fair to let next player out bid me with just 2001, maybe 2100 or 2200 is a fair minimum price to pay to out bid me.
 

DeletedUser

If you want to suggest something I think fair change to out bidding in market it setting some minimum for out bidding. If the current bid is 1000 and I out bid it with 2000 I think it's not fair to let next player out bid me with just 2001, maybe 2100 or 2200 is a fair minimum price to pay to out bid me.

Already suggested.
 

Harsha..

Well-Known Member
From the time I used to play online football manager games, the auction was always extended by one minute if the bid was made in the last minute. Therefore the auction ending time was almost always shifted by 5-30 min and the highest bidding party took the item. But I think this was discussed already on the forums, not sure if it was proposed.

That sounds like a reasonable alternative. I'd support this, if people still think my idea is unwise. I just want to see an end to the menace of last minute bidding
 

DeletedUser22493

I suggested something similar some time ago. It never made it a vote.
Minimum market bid raise (
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DeletedUser

The minimum bid raise and the extended auctions are both plausible ideas (sorry, blind bidding is not a good idea in this game). Might I throw another idea in the mix: have some sort of automated bidding system, where you set your max bid, and the system will automatically bid for you until you hit your max bid. That way, you don't have to be online to win the auction. You can also choose to make manual bids if you skip the automated bid feature.
 

DeletedUser

The minimum bid raise and the extended auctions are both plausible ideas (sorry, blind bidding is not a good idea in this game). Might I throw another idea in the mix: have some sort of automated bidding system, where you set your max bid, and the system will automatically bid for you until you hit your max bid. That way, you don't have to be online to win the auction. You can also choose to make manual bids if you skip the automated bid feature.

Suggest it. I thought proxy bidding had been suggested, but I think I was thinking of this post.
 

DeletedUser16628

I like it and I don't.Right now I have bids on a little over 4 million in items on Dakota and I prefer to buy right away I hardly ever bid because I mostly lose and hate to wait.It's not a bad idea because those last second bids are annoying.Worth discussing more sure.
 

DeletedUser30224

There are some bids that have a minimal bid and also "buy it now". You can have a bid war or buy it for the "almost always exaggerated price".
 
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