I've had several people now come and tell me that they really benefited from and enjoyed my Marketplace Tips post, and I feel badly for the people getting scammed in the Marketplace by unscrupulous sellers. That's my motivation behind adding this second Tips post for buyers.
Basic things to know BEFORE you buy anything from the Marketplace:
**You do NOT need a vending pass to BUY things in the Marketplace, only to SELL them. All you need to buy items in the marketplace is a trading pass.
**If you don't want to get scammed and pay more for an item than what it is worth, ALWAYS know the value of what you are looking for ahead of time.
Links for learning the value of various items:
Commons (These are always available in NPC stores for set prices which never change.) Gaia Items Database Store Item list in the Marketplace FAQ (For common items, it will also list the store price for you in the bid window.)
Uncommons/Rares/Donation letters and items/event items (These fluctuate in value, depending on the supply and demand and how much people are willing to pay for them.) GEN online databse Sticky with list of commons and links to all three price guides
Advantages:
** In the marketplace you can search for the exact item you want to buy and find a list of people selling that item.
** If you use the 'buy now' option when buying things from the marketplace, the sale is instantaneous, just like purchasing something from an NPC store... no need to wait for trades to be confirmed, etc.
Disadvantages:
** Your only bargaining chip in the marketplace is pure gold. Most marketplace vendors won't accept PMed offers containing items instead of pure gold.
** If you bid on an auction in the marketplace, your gold is automatically taken immediately, and you cannot retract your bid.
Tips:
Now, to get into details...
{notes while this is in progress...}
Watchlist can only be used by vendors. (That's a little unfair... hope they change that one of these days...)
Points to cover:
Keyword and searching for items.
Price Range Search.
Sort By options.
Buy now options.
Auction options - Time left on auction, bid increments, being outbid, gold taken as soon as bid is made, auction canceled, winning an auction.
Checking store price inside bid/buy window.
And that's it. Hopefully at least a few people will find this helpful. ^^
