Ok... so before I don my flame proof suit, yes, I have read the sales rules which very clearly say "price must be listed, as "auctioning" the item is not permitted".
But a Dutch Auction (wikipedia) isn't an auction where a price is bid upwards, it's a process for selling an item where an initial price is set, and then there's a schedule or "clock" that counts down until the price drops, and drops, and drops, until eventually the item sells or a reserve price is hit. It seems like a lot of members are already doing this manually since it's common to post a watch for sale at a price at or just below the TD price, and then if it doesn't sell, the OP will post an updated (lower) price, and so on, and so forth, until the item sells.
I think it might be good / useful to formalize this type of price-time-discount style of sale. For example, I could list my VSF Cookie Monster for $500, but in 7 days the price will drop to $450, and then 7 days after that the price will drop to $400, and 7 days after that it'll be $350.
This feels like the kind of thing that could be implemented with a bot account, that a seller could call upon in the initial post of a sales thread:
@PriceBot(Period_Between_Price_Changes_In_Days, Initial_Price, Price_Drop, Reserve_Price)... I don't know if a bot account can take arguments, but it's an idea.
So @PriceBot(7, 500, 50, 350) would activate the price bot to post into the sales thread (and perhaps update the flair) in 7 days with a reduced price, starting at $500 and stopping at $350.
And perhaps it doesn't need a bot, but just a blessing from the RWI staff to allow members (or perhaps supporters / patrons only) to list the price of an item for sale with a schedule of pricing. E.g. allow members to post in a sales thread that the price is currently $500, but it will drop by $50 every 7 days (from the time stamp of the post) until it is sold or the price hits $300.
Food for thought.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to put on my asbestos underwear.
But a Dutch Auction (wikipedia) isn't an auction where a price is bid upwards, it's a process for selling an item where an initial price is set, and then there's a schedule or "clock" that counts down until the price drops, and drops, and drops, until eventually the item sells or a reserve price is hit. It seems like a lot of members are already doing this manually since it's common to post a watch for sale at a price at or just below the TD price, and then if it doesn't sell, the OP will post an updated (lower) price, and so on, and so forth, until the item sells.
I think it might be good / useful to formalize this type of price-time-discount style of sale. For example, I could list my VSF Cookie Monster for $500, but in 7 days the price will drop to $450, and then 7 days after that the price will drop to $400, and 7 days after that it'll be $350.
This feels like the kind of thing that could be implemented with a bot account, that a seller could call upon in the initial post of a sales thread:
@PriceBot(Period_Between_Price_Changes_In_Days, Initial_Price, Price_Drop, Reserve_Price)... I don't know if a bot account can take arguments, but it's an idea.
So @PriceBot(7, 500, 50, 350) would activate the price bot to post into the sales thread (and perhaps update the flair) in 7 days with a reduced price, starting at $500 and stopping at $350.
And perhaps it doesn't need a bot, but just a blessing from the RWI staff to allow members (or perhaps supporters / patrons only) to list the price of an item for sale with a schedule of pricing. E.g. allow members to post in a sales thread that the price is currently $500, but it will drop by $50 every 7 days (from the time stamp of the post) until it is sold or the price hits $300.
Food for thought.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to put on my asbestos underwear.
