Who is "we"? Are these not your items? That being said, if you know how much you want for something, why play games and keep your buyers "in the dark" as to how much you want for an item????? There are 7 pieces that I was very interested in, but since I apparently I need to be a mind reader to know how much tobid on them, I will pass. Good luck.
I understand your concern. Please allow me to explain:
I do not own these items myself, but I do have the items myself, I am selling them on behalf of the owner who is not playing UO, and is unable to do so. I am keeping in constant communication with him regarding major offers and purchases. We have multiple options and comparing them all, such as many people buying one or two items based on their offer, a few people buying large lots, and at least 3 cases of players considering buying the majority as an investment. As you can imagine, these are tough to weigh out given the nature of the items because there is not a set market value for these, and there never has been. The majority of the best items are controlled by a handful of very in game wealthy players, with no desire to sell them. In many cases, players quit, and these items are left to rot in bank accounts never to be seen again, but the owner has a great respect for these types of items and does not wish to do that.
I typically agree with you regarding auctions and setting prices so they "sell for what someone will pay for it", but because the desire is to sell all items in a short window, a full blown large quantity auction isn't his best course of action because many items listed are multi-plat items. In the threads current state, I am simply making the player base at large aware of the collection that is available while we make our evaluation, and should an offer come in above very rough expectations we can act on that.
That all being said, barring any last minute changes, we should be making sales beginning today. Specific items such as the LT sash/cuffs and that incredible clean legendary bracelet will most likely be set to an auction because they are much easier to gauge. I expect the most valuable of the items to be purchased quickly.
For example, take Gorget #1 - give me a price you'd think it should go for. I'd imagine you would have trouble, as well as anyone else, myself included. I know what he paid for it, I have an idea in my head of what it should probably actually go for, and as a very interested person myself I know what i'd be willing to pay for it. But here is the problem - one person offers 100m (less than a slither, a very common item gotten daily) and me thinking I'd pay north of 3p for one of the best gorgets in game, creates a very large divide. So if that was an auction, where do you put the reserve? Where do you put a buyout? Many of these items will sell for much less than their true rarity value because of bulk purchases and the speed at which we'd like to operate. I know the owner does not wish to have his accounts up as a storage container, and I do not wish to make it my part time job to sell an item or two here and there to maximize their value.
If you do not care for this course of action, that is up to you. I am not keeping anyone in the dark. The players that have contacted me (as requested, multiple times) asking me for a price without an offer because they do not know, I have been up front and honest and given them my general personal estimate if required ( a few items I had no clue so I've been tracking those offers and even researched myself to give a better guess). I have received messages from more than 50 users in one day. I do not have a desire to have 50 conversations in a forum thread. If I were selling 5 items at a time, this would be run very simply (here is a reserve, here is an end date a week from now, this is an auction, 10min rule applies) but this course would take 14+ weeks just for what is listed here, and there are other unlisted items to consider.
Let me know if you have any further questions, I'd be happy to discuss.
