Just How Big is PlayerAuctions Anyway?

- Order volume: 40,000 daily
- Staff size: 30
- Traffic, visitors: 200,000 unique visitors per day
- Did PA grow, remain stable, or decline in 2014: It grew.

 

[Jake]

This is one thing I have started to hear more frequently with the increase in popularity for LoL markets and it is on our agenda to improve with product development this year.

I plan on starting a small "ambassador group" with users who are actively engaged in gaming secondary markets and who have ideas on how we can improve/add features etc.

One of the things that we experimented with last year, was changing the default listing. Currently, it is based on Feedback (which is another thing we plan on revamping, but that's another topic), however we had changed it according to price. Therefore, the sellers who had the best prices ended up on top.

This lead to 3 issues:
1) Large sellers began to complain, that with all the positive feedback that had acquired, it essentially amounted to nothing in the end (which I could argue against). This impeded their margins, because they found it difficult to compete with organic sellers (i.e. average Joe who had a ton of gold to offload from a lucky AH sale)

2) Sellers began to compete FEROCIOUSLY on price to stay at the top. A price war ensued were sellers were trying to reach the top spots by matters of a few cents. This drove the overall market value +DOWN+ (buyers. ,*loved* this), but in the end it presented some clear and present danger to the market overall as the price competitiveness ultimately lead to a diminishing value on a per unit basis for currency. Ouch:'(

Some of you may remember the price wars in RS + other markets from earlier 2014 in 2Q.

3) This lead to an ''unstable' user experience for the buyers. Instead of the solid, well established sellers getting the top representation, buyers began to see first and foremost 'low-medium' or 'organic' sellers which could match the level of service as the sellers with higher feedback (i.e. when buyers were accustomed to getting their gold in 20 mins, they suddenly purchased from the user in the top spot, which wasn't online, or delivered after 8 hours). In some markets, this lead to buyer attrition, who ultimately did not end up re-ordering. There was a loss to ecosystem which impacted not just PA, but also sellers around.

All of these issues are NOT insurmountable, they just need to be thought through well.

That being said, I would like to lend better support for the organic, low-midsized sellers as well and would love to hear thoughts on this.

Why not give individual users the ability to choose how listings are ordered?

 

Why not give individual users the ability to choose how listings are ordered?

They do have the ability to choose how listings are ordered. I think he's referring to the default listing.

 

[Jake]

They do have the ability to choose how listings are ordered. I think he's referring to the default listing.

Oh alright. There really isn't any point for people to be fussing over it then.

 

Oh alright. There really isn't any point for people to be fussing over it then.

The issue is that, if you are the highest feedback user in your section, you can flood it with enough items that literally the first 2, 3, 4+ pages are just your offers. That creates an obvious avenue for abuse, and as shown in the League of Legends forum, it is being abused.

There should be re-work on the multi-item listing sections. The way it works now, you can just upload basically an infinite amount of items and flood the section.

Solution: For the Items section, Account section, you may list 2-3 items max, and any further items need to be placed in your section-specific store. Users who click the link to your section-specific store will then be able to see all of your items for that relevant section, listed out with no maximum quantity. This will still give advantages to high-feedback sellers (their items / stores will list @ top by default), but they will not be able to flood the sections to the extent that other users' listings are drowned out.

It also gives the buyers a more simple shopping experience where they can compare between multiple sellers.

 

[Pain]

The issue is that, if you are the highest feedback user in your section, you can flood it with enough items that literally the first 2, 3, 4+ pages are just your offers. That creates an obvious avenue for abuse, and as shown in the League of Legends forum, it is being abused.

There should be re-work on the multi-item listing sections. The way it works now, you can just upload basically an infinite amount of items and flood the section.

Solution: For the Items section, Account section, you may list 2-3 items max, and any further items need to be placed in your section-specific store. Users who click the link to your section-specific store will then be able to see all of your items for that relevant section, listed out with no maximum quantity. This will still give advantages to high-feedback sellers (their items / stores will list @ top by default), but they will not be able to flood the sections to the extent that other users' listings are drowned out.

It also gives the buyers a more simple shopping experience where they can compare between multiple sellers.

I'l +1 that suggestion lol, This should be how it is.

 

[HotColdRush]

So just how big is pa....

 

[Gold Swapper]

Its quite big