Neutral AH - They stole my lootz

[Verriit]

I know it's a risk we take to transfer over the neutral AH's but I've been doing it for 3 months now and never once had an issue until today. Typically I only transfer at off peak hours but I needed to move some mats tonight so I figured I'd give it a try. I posted a Faces of Doom for 1 copper buyout (like all my other auctions). I had faces of doom typed in the search on my other toon, and as soon as my horde posted my alliance toon searched. The faces of doom was already bought by an <Away> level 2 orc in winterspring.

Now I know it is possible that he could've been searching for my items at the exact time that I posted, but I have a 50 ms latency and a fast computer. It was literally 1 second between the time I posted and the time it got bought out. I'm not familiar with all the add ons or bots that can pick off auctions like this. Maybe it was legit and I just learned an expensive lesson. Anyone had this happen before? Do I open a ticket or chalk this one up in the loss column?

[Sajuuk]

I doubt they would do much, although you could insinuate automation.

[jinkobi]

They are auction bots. I follow the customer service forums and have seen some people complaining about it on there. You can call a GM and see if you can get something done. But it seems like you aren't alone and it's happening to others,

If I have to transfer stuff I always put it in for like 50g instead of 1c to be less obvious. Chances are they probably don't have 50g on their bot either. Or they have it to a set amount like value of the item vs cost like the way auctioneer works. I'm sure it's just a bot that reads auctioneer and acts accordingly.

[Zub]

>.< that can't have been a manual search

when i used to do this kind of transaction however, i never put the items for 1 copper, it's just too obvious.
Put it for 35s or 1g24s or whatever, it's not like the cost means anything.
Don't know if it would fool a bot though

[Hivetyrant]

>.< that can't have been a manual search

when i used to do this kind of transaction however, i never put the items for 1 copper, it's just too obvious.
Put it for 35s or 1g24s or whatever, it's not like the cost means anything.
Don't know if it would fool a bot though

Fraid that wouldn't work, the way these bots work (or so the ones I have seen work) is by scanning the auction house, just like Auctioneer would and then getting a base cost of X item, it then constantly searches and searches until if find's an underpriced item.

The user will likely set a percentage rate for price, this means if X item usually costs100g, and the user has their purchase percentage at 50%, if the scan bot finds item X for 50g or less it will automatically buy.

Hope that makes sense.

In this case i'd say you got really unlucky, as far as I know, there is no way they could have pre-empted your auction, it is likely that they are searching with parameters to look for all auctions set to 1-99 copper to catch people trying to quickly move stuff

[Zub]

In this case i'd say you got really unlucky, as far as I know, there is no way they could have pre-empted your auction, it is likely that they are searching with parameters to look for all auctions set to 1-99 copper to catch people trying to quickly move stuff

That's kinda what i meant :-)
to snatch his AH so quick it can't have been a AH scan, it must have been a shortlist of common "cross-faction moves pricetags", for which most people put 1c.
Use a higher pricetag and you might not end up that quick-pick shortlist, and save your goods from snatching

i mean, if i were to write a bot, i'd just AUTOMATICALLY buy EVERYTHING priced at 1c.
Just from vendoring it i'd be rich, since everything sellable ingame is at least worth 1c to vendors.

[OzPhoenix]

I'd personally prefer to take the neutral AH cut on my profits than to see some bot buy something out for 1 copper.

[Iceorbz]

As a multiboxer, you really should have alts at all the auction houses. Scout them all before the items go up, really the only way.

[Maxion]

Indeed.

Guildie of mine lost a wodin's necklace that got bought instantly when he posted it for 1g.

[Khatovar]

Do I open a ticket or chalk this one up in the loss column?

You can open a ticket, but they're pretty much gonna say "You got the price you asked for it." It's as old as the neutral AH itself. Never price anything you actually want to keep for less than vendor price. You're not saving yourself any money if you have to go out and buy it again.