AH novice insights

[ASURay]

I'm not sure if these have been mentioned before, but I have spent and hour or two playing around in the auction house today and have come across some frustrating mechanics which inspired me to make some recommendations. I don't play much (or any) MLB: TS, MUT/FUT, etc. so these may be fairly novice CC auction insights.

(1) Allow us to remove auctions that have ended from our "bid history" list

(2) I'd like to be able to hit "enter" with the cursor in any filter text box to update the search rather than having to click the green button

(3) I have to imagine there will be a "watch list" eventually rather than having to bid in order to follow an auction

(4) Add "buy now" price as a sort option

(5) Allow us to save our filters for later use like we can in other game modes

(6) Allow us to filter/sort by player ratings rather than just OVR, price, end time, etc.. I'm looking to find very particular types of players (great MOV/CON pitchers to pair with a great defense position players, for example) and it's extremely tedious having to click through every player to see the ratings.

Other than that, things look really good. Keep up the great work!

EDIT:

Three more --

(7) Add the ability to withdraw a bid. This might be impossible and it also might not be necessary if we can get a "watch list." I occasionally bid on multiple copies of the same card so I can follow the auctions but don't want to be stuck buying duplicates.

(8) Allow us to follow particular cards and be notified if they come up for auction (maybe add some filters for max price, etc.).

(9) The timer really needs to reset to some minimum (30 seconds? 1 minute?) each time someone bids. The system is nowhere near streamlined enough to ask us to try and get in new bids in 2 seconds.

[mikezone13]

3, 6 and 8 are key IMO

[BrianSul]

(7) Add the ability to withdraw a bid. This might be impossible and it also might not be necessary if we can get a "watch list." I occasionally bid on multiple copies of the same card so I can follow the auctions but don't want to be stuck buying duplicates.

When you are winning the auction, you should be able to reduce your maximum bid. And you should get back the points that you reduced your bid by. I hate to bid high on any long running auction because it ties up your points for the length of the auction.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Thanks for the feedback!

We will implement to add 30 seconds to the timer if someone bids in the last 30 secs. Also, a watchlist is a great idea, as is filtering by ratings. Will be implemented soon

[pstrickert]

No withdrawing bids, please. That’s not fair to the seller or potential buyers. What would happen if a bid was withdrawn? Would the auction have to start all over again? Or would the next highest bidder suddenly be informed that his bid, which he presumed had been surpassed, was now the high bid? What if, by then, he had committed the points to a different auction? No, I think withdrawing bids would create too many problems.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

No withdrawing bids, please. That’s not fair to the seller or potential buyers.

Agreed.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Thanks for the feedback!

We will implement to add 30 seconds to the timer if someone bids in the last 30 secs. Also, a watchlist is a great idea, as is filtering by ratings. Will be implemented soon

What happens if there is a bid in the last 30 seconds a second time... or a third? Will auctions go until no one cares anymore, or will there be only one overtime? Frankly, this is fixing a problem that doesn’t exist.

[Yarideki]

I'm seconding the no withdraws, it sounds like a nightmare unless there's a sealed bid style auction. Multiple auction types like this could be really fun to add too, one day.

Originally Posted by Orcin

What happens if there is a bid in the last 30 seconds a second time... or a third? Will auctions go until no one cares anymore, or will there be only one overtime? Frankly, this is fixing a problem that doesn’t exist.

I imagine that it would continue indefinitely until there are no more bids are placed in the final 30 seconds. Of course, as you previously mentioned, properly valued bids would render a bid in this time period pointless. IMO, I don't see why we shouldn't implement this. I feel it would only improve the AH experience since not every bid is properly valued and the determination of value is as much as the user wishes to bid.

[Orcin]

Allowing people to up the bid by only a dollar or two to buy a second chance drives down auction prices. Bidders must be willing to put their best bid on the table with a firm end time. After you lose a couple of sniping attempts, you won't take a chance on something you really want.

I would be fine with this system if the second chance cost something. For example, if your second bid is 100, you have to pay 110 (a 10% fee for the buyer also). That would prevent people from sneaking over by a dollar just to grief other bidders and keep the clock running hoping to outlast someone.

[Orcin]

Quoted from an ebay discussion about auction sniping:

"Reactive bidding is a losing strategy. Just bid your true maximum bid. That's what snipers do, since they know that they won't get a chance to place another bid.

Thus, the bidders who are actually deflating prices are not the snipers, it's the reactive bidders who have failed to bid their true max even though they know when the auction will end."

[Fyrestorm3]

Madden Ultimate Team uses a system where the timer gets reset to ~20 seconds every time a new bid comes in, and that system does work fine. The difference is that Madden doesn't utilize the Max Bid function. They're more like a standard auction, where each bid increases the bid amount by a set number.

In my opinion, you only ever want to use either the Timer Reset system OR the Max Bid system. There's no point to having both. With a Timer Reset system, you counter the snipers by always allowing other users a chance to respond. With a Max Bid system, snipers are countered by the fact that no one knows how much has been bid already. If you're the highest bidder and someone tries to snipe you, whoever is willing to pay more will get the card, plain and simple. And if the sniper wins it for 1001PP and you're upset because you'd have been willing to pay 2000 for the card... why didn't you put 2000 as your max bid in the first place?

Both are valid auction systems, but personally, I think the Max Bid system works much better, simply because it's faster. If I'm willing to pay a couple thousand for a card, I can just enter that as my bid and see if I win, rather than having to sit around upping my bid by 100 at a time until I outlast the other person.

[Yarideki]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

Madden Ultimate Team uses a system where the timer gets reset to ~20 seconds every time a new bid comes in, and that system does work fine. The difference is that Madden doesn't utilize the Max Bid function. They're more like a standard auction, where each bid increases the bid amount by a set number.

In my opinion, you only ever want to use either the Timer Reset system OR the Max Bid system. There's no point to having both. With a Timer Reset system, you counter the snipers by always allowing other users a chance to respond. With a Max Bid system, snipers are countered by the fact that no one knows how much has been bid already. If you're the highest bidder and someone tries to snipe you, whoever is willing to pay more will get the card, plain and simple. And if the sniper wins it for 1001PP and you're upset because you'd have been willing to pay 2000 for the card... why didn't you put 2000 as your max bid in the first place?

Both are valid auction systems, but personally, I think the Max Bid system works much better, simply because it's faster. If I'm willing to pay a couple thousand for a card, I can just enter that as my bid and see if I win, rather than having to sit around upping my bid by 100 at a time until I outlast the other person.

Madden doesn't use that system? That's strange considering that both NHL and FIFA use (or at least used to use) both the timer reset and the buy now price, IIRC. However, perhaps things have changed since NHL 15.

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by Yarideki

Madden doesn't use that system? That's strange considering that both NHL and FIFA use (or at least used to use) both the timer reset and the buy now price, IIRC. However, perhaps things have changed since NHL 15.

They have a Buy Now price, which is different from a Max Bid system. Buy Now can be effectively utilized in either format.

[ASURay]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

No withdrawing bids, please.

I agree as long as there is a watch list. Right now I’m having to place a bid in order to easily monitor the progress of a particular auction.

[ASURay]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

And if the sniper wins it for 1001PP and you're upset because you'd have been willing to pay 2000 for the card... why didn't you put 2000 as your max bid in the first place?

Because 2,000 PP would be taken out of my coffers for an auction that might not be ending for a day or more. That seems like inefficient cash flow management. The smart move would be to add an auction to the watch list (assuming we get one) then to wait until the auction is ending before placing your max bid. I think adding a watch list could really solve multiple problems here. Also, your logic assumes that a bidder has a hard max price, which is rarely the case. In practice, most bidders use a kind of fuzzy heuristic.

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by ASURay

Because 2,000 PP would be taken out of my coffers for an auction that might not be ending for a day or more. That seems like inefficient cash flow management.

This in particular is a very fair point.

Overall, I think my point stands that combining the two functions would be a very odd design choice, but I'm starting to see why someone may lean more towards the Timer Reset system with static bids.

[thehatfield]

I'm finding it a little confusing as to if a card actually sold or not. I threw a bunch of bronze cards up and the only way I can tell (aside from manually checking to see if the card is back in the reserves) is if my PP have increased with no corresponding achievement.

Could the wording be changed with some information after it if a card sold rather than just "Ended" or am I missing a log or this information somewhere?

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by Purple Cowboy

I'm finding it a little confusing as to if a card actually sold or not. I threw a bunch of bronze cards up and the only way I can tell (aside from manually checking to see if the card is back in the reserves) is if my PP have increased with no corresponding achievement.

Could the wording be changed with some information after it if a card sold rather than just "Ended" or am I missing a log or this information somewhere?

I get a pop-up when my auctions end, telling me whether the card was sold or not. Are you not getting them?

Either way, showing "Sold" compared to "Ended" on the auction history would be a welcome addition.

[Lukas Berger]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

I get a pop-up when my auctions end, telling me whether the card was sold or not. Are you not getting them?

Either way, showing "Sold" compared to "Ended" on the auction history would be a welcome addition.

They seem a little erratic at the moment. Sometimes I get a popup and sometimes I don't.

[thehatfield]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

I get a pop-up when my auctions end, telling me whether the card was sold or not. Are you not getting them?

Either way, showing "Sold" compared to "Ended" on the auction history would be a welcome addition.

Do you get those if the auction ends while you're offline? If so, maybe I'm missing them when I initially log in?