3 reasons why Diablo 3’s real-money auction house is doomed: Reason 1

1. Too many sellers!

An efficient market, one in equilibrium, has many sellers and many buyers. That’s Econ 101. If you look at the picture above (You might have to click twice to see it full screen.), you’ll see there are over 280 listings for one “legendary” hand crossbow on Diablo 3‘s real-money auction house. Does that look like a market in equilibrium to you?

There are so many listings for one legendary weapon you have to ask why you would pay anything for it. Dawn looks like a common drop; why not just go out and farm it?

Too many sellers means the market is flooded with goods which means an extreme downward pressure on prices, meaning no one’s going to make any money on this. And if no one is going to make any money, what’s the point of  a real-money auction house?

Reason 2, tomorrow.