Real Money Auction House Fee Change Was A Bug

I wrote previously about a stealth change to Diablo 3 RMAH Fees Patch 16. In fact, this change is so stealthy it’s a bug:

RMAH Bug
We are aware that, in the Diablo III beta, a 15% transaction was previously displayed when selling items in the Beta Bucks auction house. This was a configuration error, and has been corrected.

We do not currently have plans to alter the auction house fee structure for the beta, as previously discussed here: http://us.battle.net…opic/4062879314

It’s still worth reading the discussion/comments under my original post – there was some very intelligent observations about what the proposed change (fees for RMAH items becoming 15% instead of $1.25) would mean economically. 

At first glance, this increase appeared to be negative. Everyone has hopes set on getting those rare drops that you can sell for $20, $50 and more. A 15% fee is only better when you go below $8 or so an item ($1.20) so a lot of people first felt that Blizzard was trying to get a greater cut of those items that might go as high as $200 ($30).

Part of what made me so happy, was that my commentators quickly saw the positive in the change – all those items under $8 would have had a lesser fee. In fact, it was debated (and I think this is a very valid point) that the majority of transactions on the auction house would be under this $8 mark. Probably under $4. At $4 a 15% fee works out as $0.60 instead of $1.25. So that’s a more than 50% reduction in the fee you’d be charged.

So, from what appeared to be another step towards ‘unprofitable’ we salvaged hope. For me this is what’s becoming so exciting about the Diablo 3 RMAH. Since I’ve been tracking the beta and associated auction houses, we’ve heard much about changes that seem to make things tougher - 10 auction limit per AH, $250 cap on battle.net balance, the fee structure (when first announced) – and yet, at every turn, negativity has washed away.

I have a simple explanation for this: Perhaps, were the RMAH released in an earlier beta form, we would make more money than we would with it’s current incarnation. That’s nearly impossible to say with 100% certainty. It’s possible … but it doesn’t matter.

We’re still going to be able to play a videogame for money. We’re going to have the chance to make a career out of Diablo 3. We’re going to be given a tool with which to strike back at the industry that’s ever trying to squeeze more micro-transaction, day one dlc money out of us.

Maybe the first beta RMAH would have netted full time, intelligent and informed players $200 per day… the current iteration still has the potential to give those same intelligent, informed, dedicated players half of that or more (a good day mind you). You will still be getting cash for playing Diablo 3. There are very few other games out there that you can say the same thing about.

Ray

Tagged as: Diablo 3 Fee Structure, Diablo 3 RMAH, Diablo III RMAH guide