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Rift Auction House Basics

Rift has one of the most extensive auction house setups in any game I’ve played. However, it appears that most of its functionality is ignored by the majority of players. This leaves the Auction House boiled down to a self-service kiosk rather than a functioning auction by the players. Most items are listed with buyout prices rather than letting people bid on an item. Maybe this is because we want it now and if we have the money we will grab it and run. I don’t mind bidding and waiting if I have the option. Either way, the Auction House is a great way to buy and sell items with other players.

You can find auctioneers in Meridium (Defiant only), Sanctum (Guardian only), Tempest Bay, and Draumheim in Margle Plaza west of the Porticulum and the Choreburg District (crafting area) attached via a blue portal northeast of the porticulum. Prophecy of Ahnket’s Celestial Realm does not have any auction houses. I think they are scared to commit to a comet that will supposedly annihilate Telera.

Buying (Browse Tab)

Talking to an auctioneer automatically opens the Auction House window in the browse mode (tab is highlighted on the bottom left of the window). There is a menu on the left and further search criteria selection options across the top. The right hand side will give you a preview, if available, of how your character will look wearing the item. The center area will show any item that fits your search criteria.

Narrowing the search options:

If you are looking for a specific item, you can type the name or part of it into the search text box at the top left and then click the search button near the bottom left. All items containing the text will show up.

Many times we may be looking for armor or a weapon that simply works for our character and is an upgrade. There are quite a few ways to narrow your search and I will list the primary ones to use first and then list the rest as secondary.

Primary

Choose a category from the menu on the left. The example in my screenshot is Armor - Cloth. This now limits anything else I put into the search options at the top to cloth armor.

Type in the level range to help narrow things further. There are two boxes to type in for the range at the top of the window under Level. Since Teicneo is max level I put it as 70 and 70, but if you are still leveling I suggest going from a couple levels lower to your level to see what is available.

The Calling is your class. I suggest this one to be sure you are buying something you can use.

Secondary

I never bother picking the stats, but you can pick one from the drop down list and the boxes below allow you to put in a range. If you are not sure of a range for the level you are searching for, I would leave the boxes empty.

Rarity is another drop down box where you can keep it at the default (All Rarities), or chose one specific level. If you want to see more than one level of rarity, you need to leave it at All Rarities. The drop-down list goes from most common to rarest.

There are two check boxes on the top right. Check Usable Only in order to make sure the list truly lists only things the character can use. If you check this, but have selected a level range going above your character’s level, it will not show anything above your current level. Make sure this is not checked if you are looking for future gear to wear.

The other check box limits you to seeing Buyouts only. You will not see auctions that do not have a buyout price set. Most people, even if they set a bidding price, will have the buyout price listed. I prefer not to check this.

The last thing you can use to narrow the search is to set the price range you will pay for a buyout. I don’t use this as I usually have no idea what to expect to pay for the item I am seeking.

If you don’t like your search options, you can hit the clear button. If you are satisfied with the options, click the search button and a list will appear if there are items listed on the Auction House that fit your criteria.

Making the Purchase

Once you have successfully completed your search you will have a list of items in the central part of the window. To select one simply click on it. Two things can happen when you do this. One, the buttons below the list should light up depending  if you can bid, buy multiples, or do a buyout. Two, if it is a wearable item to be seen on your character, the preview screen on the right will show what it will look like.

For most items you will only have the buyout option, like shopping at a store rather than being at an auction house. Buyout only is the preferred option of players at this time. The first price seen is the unit price and the second is the buyout price for the entire stack.

In the previous screenshot I highlighted the only item in the list that is set up for bidding as well as a buyout so you can see how the bid and buyout buttons light up, but buy +1 will not, due to it being a single item. Sometimes you will see the option to buy more than one on a single item even if no others are available. I am not sure why this happens.

If you wish to bid, click the bid button. If you are the first person to start bidding, you will be asked if you want to go with the starting price or cancel. If the bidding has started, it will ask what value you want your bid at. Never bid more than a buyout price! I will note that bidding is a rare thing. Of all the level 70 armor available for any class at the time of writing this guide, this one in the screenshot is the only one I found and no bidding had started.

The buy +1 is great for stacks of consumables. For example, if someone is selling a large stack of an item, but you only want 10, you can click this button and enter the amount you want. If you want the entire quantity, simply click buyout to complete the sale.

You will find all items you acquire from the Auction House in your mail.

Selling (Create Tab)

To open the side of the Auction House where you can sell items you need to click the Create tab at the bottom of the window. The item you want to sell must be in your inventory and when you right click on it, it should appear in the upper left of the window. My example shows I am thinking about selling some Faecap Mushrooms..

You can have up to 200 sales on the auction at one time. Your total is noted at the top over the large central block of the window where your items will be listed. The main thing to watch on the item information is the time in the center to tell you how long is left for the item. The item I have in the screenshot, already set for a simple buyout price, still has 5 days and 8 hours left. When the time runs out, any item not sold will return to you via the mail.

Buyout is the recommended way to list items, but you can also make it a bid only or both. If you choose both I recommend you put the buyout at what you really want and the starting bid price at something lower, but reasonable to similar items already on the market. A price will be suggested automatically and will follow the trending chart.

To see the price trend of the item, use the Legend on the right of the window. I told it to track everything (boxes are checked) for the last month. Faecap Mushrooms are used in crafting and you see that the unit price for one over the month of January varied quite a bit, like a real market fluctuates as supply and demand changes. The suggested buyout prices per unit of 1 platinum 18 gold and 90 silver is based on the current day’s average and the trend of at least the past week of it increasing in price. I love this tool because I don’t have to go browsing to see what has gone on with sales of the item and will see if an item I want to sell has not had a sale in 30 days. That actually happened with the essence I have listed in the shot, so I picked a price based on similar essences on the market for the day.

The last item to chose is the duration of the auction: 12 hours, 48 hours, or 7 days. Most items I have seen are listed for 7 days and is the best thing to do as the player base is worldwide and busier on weekends as well.

The Deposit shows the cost to list the item with the Auction House. I have seen this vary, but never more than around 3.5%. In the case of my Faecap Mushroom the deposit is 3.3% of the unit price. I have to play with it more as I get items to sell to see if it stays about this amount. This charge is not returned if the item does not sell.

Once everything is set how you want, click on the create auction button and the item will show up in the list under My Auctions. I did not create the auction for the Faecap Mushrooms, but my essence is a good example of how the item is listed.

Browse Buy Orders

This tab allows you to see orders that have been created, but have not been fulfilled. This is a great tab to check out before selling. You can use the search text at the top left to name the item specifically, or give a list of items by using the menu.

Like the Browse tab you can narrow the search further with options along the top of the window. Rarity will narrow it to one type of rarity unless you keep it at all. The next item has two check boxes which is great for crafters wanting to make some money. You can make sure you only see what you can craft and even narrow it further to what you have materials for. If you check ‘Ready To Fulfill Only’, the item will need to be completed and in your inventory. Again, I tend to ignore setting a buyout price when doing a search.

Once you are happy with your search selection, hit the Search button on the bottom left. If you don’t like your settings, clear everything with the Clear button. In my example I made it list all the buy orders for consumables.

You will see a trend of the pricing of the item you select. In my example it is a Soul Slice. Just like when browsing to buy, you can set how the trend information shows with the options on the right. In my example, I wanted to see all the trending information for a month.

If you want to sell your items at the price listed, you either click the Sell 1+ button and chose the number you want to sell or you can chose to sell the largest stack currently in your inventory. Stackable items can have a max of 99 items per stack. The transaction will be completed when you okay it and the auction house will send you your money.

Create Buy Orders

If there is something you really want to buy and want to keep it to a certain price level, this is where you can do that. There is a five percent fee for each buy order you list and you can have a max of five at one time.

The Auction House automatically looks for the item on the market matching your willing price to pay, and buys those up first when filling your order. This can be convenient in a few ways rather than just going and buying directly. You can set your top price and give it time to find the amount you want. In my example shot, my Salving Pod suggested price was below any on the market by two silver. If there are any of the item requested on the market in your price range, it automatically buys it for you. Even better is that you will not be charged at your set price if that item shows up cheaper and the difference will be returned to you when the item is bought.

You must have access to the item you want to buy, for instance my examples are stackable items to help with stats and health regen and they were in my bag. I simply right clicked on the item and it was listed, but you can also do a drag and drop as per the instructions seen before an item is selected. However, you might not have the item. In that case you need to have a link to it that you can do a ctrl-shift-click on. This latter is when it is good to have friends that might even give you some to help you out, but if they don’t have extra they can at least link it for you in chat.

Once you have the item you want showing in the upper left of the window, the next thing to do is determine the number of units you want and what price you are willing to pay for it. Like several of the other screens you can choose on the right what trending results you want in order to help determine the price. The suggested price is really close to the trending price, but may be a little low if the trend is going upwards or a little high if you are lucky to see a downward trend. I usually pick suggested price and then tweak it based on the trending information.

Pick how long you want your buy order to exist, I suggest to go for the max of seven days due to how the market fluctuates based on game activity and to be sure it is filled. The buy order ends when it is fulfilled or when the time runs out. If the time runs out, the funds for the unbought items will be returned to you.

I would like to note that where it says stacks for your order list is not the number of full stacks, but actually the number of items to be fulfilled yet by the buy order. This made me do a double take at first knowing that the Salving Pod can stack to 99 and I definitely did not want 5 stacks of 99.

If at any time, you do not want to keep your buy order open, you can cancel it with the Cancel Buy Order button just below where your list of orders shows in the window.

Bids

As I stated above when buying, there won’t be many times you have the option to bid and will only be able to go with the buyout price. However, if you do find something to bid on, while the auction is going, you can check this tab to see how the bidding is going and if you need to increase your bid or quit if the highest bid is already beyond what you want to pay.

Conclusion

Despite it mostly working like retail shopping rather than a real auction, the Rift Auction House is definitely the best way to buy and sell many of the items in the game.

Published: May 19th, 2017   |  14,513 Reads

About the Author

Althea "Briseadh" Damgaard
Senior Editor

Althea joined Gaiscioch back in October of 2009 and has been here ever since with only a few month hiatus between Warhammer and Rift. As soon as she knew they were in Rift, she jumped ship to Faeblight and has followed them onward through every chapter since with a few side games thrown in for spice.

She has been an avid player of RPG style games since 1980 when she first played Dungeons and Dragons. Since then she has created her own tabletop gaming world used with various rule sets as D&D progressed. Once she could get online she played MUDs. Her MMO days started with Everquest and have moved through over a dozen games with some lasting only a month's time in her life and others going for years. She has tested several games from the perspective of a disabled gamer with hand issues due to her multiple sclerosis.

When not writing about or playing games, she can be found writing novels, reading and doing various art projects. She also writes items based on her faith and is working on publishing a novel. She also does editing for a gaming developer.

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RIFT is an epic fantasy adventure set in the magical world of Telara. As an Ascended hero, you’ll battle against legions of elemental invaders, purge evils from dungeons and raids, and explore your way across the vast planes of existence.

Whether you’re fighting titans at the edge of the cosmos or building your very own Dimension, endless adventures await.

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