Auctions have entirely replaced all trading, making MD closer to a boring "convenience" RPG.

TAX THE AUCTIONS!

My suggestion is that, for any auction ending over 10 silver, a 1 silver tax should be taken and paid to the Treasure Keepers. Any auctions higher than this would be subject to a 10% convenience tax (rounded down).

This would continue to help remove coins from the market and also discourage "evo trading" auctions.

To make an Eggdar style quote, I love a solution which helps two problems, coin inflation and evo trading.

how wluld this prevent anything since the coin would be taken only after 10 silver

I agree with a tax, but perhaps not a percentage.

There needs to be a cost to putting up a listing. Perhaps a silver that gets refunded if the item doesnt sell after the timer runs out or if it gets pulled within 10-15m?

why pay the Treasure Keepers from an automated system that doesnt need their intervention???

If you say there is "evo trading", maybe you could start calling names and stating why you believe their are evo trading......

2 hours ago, Chewett said:

Auctions have entirely replaced all trading, making MD closer to a boring "convenience" RPG.

TAX THE AUCTIONS!

My suggestion is that, for any auction ending over 10 silver, a 1 silver tax should be taken and paid to the Treasure Keepers. Any auctions higher than this would be subject to a 10% convenience tax (rounded down).

This would continue to help remove coins from the market and also discourage "evo trading" auctions.

To make an Eggdar style quote, I love a solution which helps two problems, coin inflation and evo trading.

I'm not tipping the mcdonalds worker for the fully automated mcdonalds ordering machine. I'll go back to trading person to person if this happens. It's all the same to me.

People, please, calm down!

There is a solution here you are all not seeing.

How about we... murder the Treasure Keepers?

Hmm... I might put that up for auction.

3 hours ago, Muratus del Mur said:

how wluld this prevent anything since the coin would be taken only after 10 silver

If you ignore the evo aspect, it still removes coin.

People should pay for the convenience of being matched with buyers IMO.

totally agree that taxes should be installed. I do not care if it is automated or not, as long as the given percentage lands in MD treasury - I am fine with that.

Edited 14 hours ago14 hr by Eara Meraia
typo

You are not asking for a little gold, you are asking for A LOT OF GOLD.

Being tax free moves the economy and gives live to the game

Actually, I have come around to the idea of a tax.

It could be used to hand out cartons of Grasan Milk to new players, and be used to pay those who have nothing.

In all seriousness, the game does need a way to drain gold out of it - the screesnhot Else has provided shows there is a good bit of gold around, and it has only inflated prices.

Besides, if people believe the value auctions offer are not justified by the tax, they can use less... reputable means to acquire their goods. I would never deal with someone outside the auction house.

1 hour ago, Else said:

You are not asking for a little gold, you are asking for A LOT OF GOLD.

Being tax free moves the economy and gives live to the game

Speaking as the person that spent a third of that, I'm happy for taxing it for the ease of selling and buying.

Did you mean to tax the buyer or seller?

If you meant to tax the buyer (you), are you saying that you are happy spending extra 50+ gold coins?

If you meant to tax de seller, ofc you are happy, its not your problem as the buyer lol

Let's look at the mechanics of the Auction House plainly... from the perspective of those who actually manufacture and sell goods, rather than just those who buy them.

The Real Pros of the Auction House

1. Asynchronous trade. Matches buyers and sellers across incompatible time zones without requiring both to stand at the Gazebo for six hours.

2. Liquidity & Fair Value. Public exposure allows natural market competition to determine the price of rare items.

3. Transaction security. Eliminates courier trust issues, multi-step trades, and escrow scams.

The Real Cons of the Auction House

1. Zero bulk trade support. Moving 40 candies, 20 pickles, or resource crates one lot at a time is completely unviable.

2. Escrow paralysis. Currency and assets are locked in limbo for days during active Sudden Death 12 hour bidding cycles.

3. Zero trade discretion. No blacklist or privacy options to prevent bad faith bidders from tying up your lots.

4. Information exposure. Public ledgers expose merchant margins, inventory volumes, and supply lines to competitors.

~~~

Regarding the Proposed Tax:

A Transfer is Not a Coin Sink:

@Chewett claims this tax is meant to "remove coin from the market." Yet the proposal states the tax is paid directly to the Treasure Keepers.

Funneling gold into the pockets of a player role is not a currency sink... it is an automated tithe. A true coin sink removes it from the realm outright (IE the Pickle Man or Willows Shop).

Furthermore, the Treasure Keepers exist to handle realm events and distributions. When they need backing for official events, quests, or holiday rewards, they are already directly funded by other more reliable sources. They do not need, and should not have, an automated commission siphoned off everyday player commerce. Paying a player role for an automated script they don't even operate makes zero sense.

The Only Logical Destination would be Sovereign Land Treasuries.

If an automated convenience tax must be implemented, it should serve the geopolitical reality of the realm, not a player role.

Route the tax directly into the Land Treasury of the citizen paying it.

- If a Golemian conducts the transaction, the tax goes to the Golemus Golemicarum Treasury.

- If a Marind Bellian conducts the transaction, it goes to Marind Bell.

- If an Easterner conducts the transaction, it goes to the Lands of the East. Etc and so on.

And if you need to make new treasury's, make them. A lack of capitol or Treasury is no excuse.

This solves multiple long standing issues simultaneously. it actively funds the Lands and the theorized building expansions we've talked about sparsely over the years, provides rulers with resources to finance land projects and citizen initiatives, and ties economic productivity directly to land allegiance. It turns an annoying administrative fee into meaningful factional fuel.

The Producer's Reality.

Else pointed out that 1,615 Gold moved through the house in 30 days. A 10% tax would have extracted 161 Gold in a single month.

Chewett admitted he accounted for a third of that purchasing volume (~538 Gold). If this tax is implemented on the sellers, high tier producers and bulk craftsmen will simply close their stalls. We will walk off the auction floor and take our high value trade back to private, direct exchanges where there is no 10% penalty. The Auction House will become an abandoned lot hosting nothing but sub 10 silver scraps.

If buyers want the convenience of an automated matchmaker and are willing to pay a premium for it, make it a buyer's surcharge that funds their homeland's Treasury. But do not tax the producers to subsidize an administrative role that is already backed by the System of the Realm.

I'm still against this tax overall. But if you feel a need to implement it regardless, that is the only form I would accept.

"Did you mean to tax the buyer or seller?If you meant to tax the buyer (you), are you saying that you are happy spending extra 50+ gold coins? "

Auction tax does not have to be about paying extra, but buyer getting x% less of the final bidding price.

Funneling gold into the pockets of a player role is not a currency sink... it is an automated tithe. A true coin sink removes it from the realm outright (IE the Pickle Man or Willows Shop)."

It seems you got it all wrong. This was not about getting tax into my inventory (or any other future TK member). It is about it getting into TK treasury – an independent place – a reliable source as you call it. If it is done automatically - I don't mind.

 "They do not need, and should not have, an automated commission siphoned off everyday player commerce. Paying a player role for an automated script they don't even operate makes zero sense"

Again, this was never about a TK role. Chewett mentioned TK because the manage the treasury. And it is not about Treasury needing the tax. It is more (as Chewett correctly stated) about managing the coin and preventing inflation. TK can sponsor from “reliable independent sources” but this means new coin on the market. I rather use the existing coin to prevent those coins losing its value completely.

"Route the tax directly into the Land Treasury of the citizen paying it."

Land treasuries is an interesting idea. The only problem is making sure that taxes that go there are spent properly and not disappear in pockets of those who manage local treasuries instead of supporting quests or beginning players. This is exactly the role that TK fulfil for MD treasury. If you figure out the way to manage that  - I think it is fine.

"If this tax is implemented on the sellers, high tier producers and bulk craftsmen will simply close their stalls. We will walk off the auction floor and take our high value trade back to private, direct exchanges where there is no 10% penalty."

Of course you can move to your private tradings, but auction is not only about automating your trade, it also gives you an opportunity to reach the public and therefore sell your goods for higher price that you would, if you were trading privately. So strictly taken you still don"t lose anything, but gain a bit less. 10% was a proposal by the way, can also be negotiated.

I was absent for a long time and currenty figuring out the ways for TK to be more visible and supportive for those who need them. Ways that would involve people get rewarded more for doing selfless and non-material deeds. This might seem off-topic here, but I feel introducing the tax might be a step in that direction - instead of hoarding, grinding and depleting into more sharing and giving.

Edited 7 minutes ago7 min by Eara Meraia