Guild Wars 2

The 5% listing fee is shown clearly in the sell item on trading post window. The additional 10% cut of a sale is not, it’s not even mentioned anywhere save the wiki, which most players do not check.

I could get all ranty and complain about the fact that I just lost 2g over several transactions because I didn’t realize that fee was there and thought the delivery was just slow. But I’ll take that one on me and just suck it up.

The fee also seems like a terribly bad idea, given the current state of the TP and the already high difficulty in making a profit. But I’m no John Smith, so just my two cents.

Just add the info to the window so no one else gets burned. Thanks.

I 100% agree that the UI needs to communicate the additional cut.

However, removing it would not cause any real change to the difficulty in making a profit; people would cut margins to the bone still, it’s just that those margins would come in at a different price point.

I agree it really needs to be communicated, I didn’t know about it for the longest time and was selling more than one thing at once so I didn’t keep track of what was coming in until I read it somewhere that it’s 15% rather than find out in-game.

The first time I listed an item of any significant worth, it was some sword for 4g50. When I went to collect and saw 4g5s, I was so mad at myself for accidentally missing out that zero.

Heh.

I’m starting to see it mentioned more and more in LA chat, people wondering where the heck their money is going.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a fair amount of the 1c undercutting/selling below or very close to vendor is simply because people don’t know they’re getting charged an extra 10%.

Hiding this information is simply unacceptable. In fact, had I noticed it before someone told me, I would have contacted support since it looks more like a bug than something intentional.

Next time you see someone complain, don’t tell them about the tax, tell them it’s a bug and that they should contact support. Hopefully flooding support with people who don’t understand will clue ANET in that this is a problem.

This x 1,000!!!!

I am not one for out and out complaining on forums. Really, I love MMO forums except for the fact that they tend to be on the negative side. Normally I try offset that with helpful suggestions that I hope are useful ideas to the devs to make the game more fun for the majority of players. If there is something I’d like changed about the game I try to support my suggestion with logical reasons, and if folks disagree I am always open to a good discussion!

But I was REALLY irritated when I discovered this. I understand it’s just a game, but even still. I honestly feel cheated. This tax was implemented horribly.

Calling the 10% tax “hidden” is quite accurate; it is not something that is immediately obvious unless you list one item, and do absolutely nothing but wait until it sells, and then pick it up and compare. But often you list multiple things at a time, as you are running around the world, some without too much thought if you acquired the item for free as a drop, and only pick up your profit in bulk when you are in the vicinity of a Trading Post.

This is what happened to me. I’d list a bunch of stuff, and pick it up later. I didn’t count pennies (er…coppers!), and I had no idea that the carefully calculated bag that I crafted and expected a particular profit on wasn’t accurate because when I made my way to a trading post mixed in was profit from random mats I decided I didn’t need and also sold.

Therefore I would argue that the implementation seems particularly sneaky/negative for crafters. You might not know about this yet, and spend a fair amount of time calculating the cost of mats and to decide whether you can make a profit on an item. You might even (speaking from personal experience!) take the time to price out other mats on the Trading Post, and buy them, all based on a flawed logic of what your profit will actually be. It is a nasty lesson if you add up all your mats, check your listing fee, and then find out later your profit is not what you calculated.

To make matters worse, as others have mentioned, when you go back and review the “Items I’ve Sold” list, it shows the amount you listed the item for, NOT what you actually took home when it sold. There should be two columns, depicting both amounts, and the fact that there is only one does make me question ArenaNet’s reason for implementing the tax this way.

Ok fine. Now I know, and to sell things I have to constantly ALT-Tab to my calculator and figure out the additional amount I will lose when listing items that is not conveyed to me up front. Lesson learned, right? No [more] harm done?

I think…wrong! Because while I now know this, many people out there still do not, and will list their items at a price where they think they are making a profit but actually they aren’t. How does that impact me? Well, if I carefully figure out what price my items should sell for, maybe even only making a profit of a copper or two, but people never wise up, my listing is now stuck out there, FOREVER, at the reasonable price I set, because my listings never expire. If I want to recoup at least some of the money tied up in that listing I have to remove it, losing my listing fee, and then re-list my item at a loss or vendor it. Again, this is particularly bad for crafters with some items (like food) that has no vendor value. If you are a crafter that doesn’t know about the 10% tax, you end up totally short-changing those that do know, because you are accidentally undercutting for no profit items made only to sell that can’t even be vendored. And you might be listing these items for a long time without realizing they are listing at a loss, if you post other items alongside, and do other activities such as, say, repair your armor.

This means I will always be paying for lessons that others have yet to learn.

I understand gold sinks. Fine, no worries. But for waypoints and gear and everything else, the price is upfront and clear for all of us to see and plan for. This hidden cost can’t be planned for until you are aware, and even then it’s a pain to figure out (not the “fun” that is supposed to be the goal of this game) and you can be negatively impacted due to others who are NOT aware. This needs to be fixed ASAP. Please, for the sake of my blood pressure. This, more than anything else I’ve seen, smells of “let’s lower the gold pool so people will buy gems” and it saddens me to no end. I’ve been really enjoying this game (and was waiting and waiting for the forums to open to give rave reviews about the changes from beta) until I found out about this tax…and found out that i had been getting fleeced by it for some time.

(con’t. due to character restriction)

I have always enjoyed the challenge of making money in MMOs, although I’ve only been truly successful in Aion. I dabble with the market, try to predict what items will be desired, etc. I’m not an economics expert but it is part of the fun for me in a game like this. I am sorely disappointed by this issue with the Trading Post.

/rant

OK back to my normal, helpful self. How would I suggest it be fixed? Well, if the large fees are necessary to impose on sellers to keep the economy healthy (like I said: I’m not expert enough to judge, although it seems high to me), I’d suggest the full 15% be taken from you and reflected up front. It should show listing fee and tax when posting the item. If you remove your listing, you get the 10% back, which can be picked up at the Trading Post along with the item, but not the 5% listing fee. I now know up front the total amount I will be paying the Trading Post (cough ArenaNet cough) to list my item, and my “Items I’ve Sold” will reflect the proper take home amount, while still being penalized only 5% for an unsuccessful listing instead of 15%.

Perhaps my anger has clouded by usual logical thinking, and this suggestion is not viable for some reason, but that would be my recommendation!

100% agree.

I had to calculate it myself. It’s one thing to have it in there to control exponential monetary gains, it’s another thing to hide this hidden fee from people.

I actually believe that adding this information may help the economy, because there are a slue of people selling items at a loss (even high quality items). I’m curious how many people are aware of this. People might actually think twice about selling, marginally increasing the chance at at least breaking even or heaven forbid make a profit.

I agree. I mean, a lot of players now know about the 10%, but I think it should be added to the interface, or mentioned somewhere in game. For people who don’t look at forums or wiki.

Definitely needs detailed or removed; I lost a decent bit before I realized this was even in place. Why charge both to list and to sell? Charge one or the other, but two fees to sell something is a little much for a game.