Tradespot?

[Death Adder]

Hi all,

I'm returning after a few years off, and I wonder what became of Tradespot? I just checked it and it's dead, but back in the day it was a great place to sell/buy items, especially high end ones. Is there a new equivalent site, or anything that fulfills that function? I'm not having much luck with the Stratics Shard forums, since it doesn't look like too many people look at the buy/trade thread there (plus I could use some commonly found but rarely sold items that might very well be owned by people not actively looking to buy/trade anything and therefore never look at the stickied thread).

BTW, if anyone is on Chessy, I'm looking to buy as many Oak Runic fletching kits and Melisande's Fermented Wine that I can get! Feel free to PM or icq me at 560-105-909.

Thanks!

 

[Aran]

Tradespot is simply a reflection of the playerbase. No players, no Tradespot.

 

[Derium of ls]

I use to broker back in the day on TS for a bit, that place was perfect IMHO. My memory doesn't serve very well, but I remember TS was sold off to new owners and I think at about the same time some of the brokers scammed a few people. It's credit went downhill fast. The new owners started to restrict what people could say on there and banned all sales for real life money (except for their own).

Also on these forums I do remember a buy/want list for every shard, I have no idea what happened to that though. There are shard forums, and general trading being done, but it's a shell of its former self sad to say.

man... I do miss TS *sigh*

I think the best you're going to get now is *EDIT* some websites *EDIT*. It searches Luna vendors for what they have for sale. I know it's not what you want, but I feel it may be what we are reduced to.

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

Tradespot is simply a reflection of the playerbase. No players, no Tradespot.

actually...the advent of those search programs put an end to things.

/trollfail

 

[Derium of ls]

also, when the new owners took over tradespot some of the credible brokers left and started rpgtradespot, however that never really caught on. And I think MarkeeDragon took over it.

Even MarkeeDragon pretty much went dead once stratics people and others started claiming the markee staff were duping, so they shut down some of their forums during all of that crap.

 

[Nexus]

also, when the new owners took over tradespot some of the credible brokers left and started rpgtradespot, however that never really caught on. And I think MarkeeDragon took over it.

Even MarkeeDragon pretty much went dead once stratics people and others started claiming the markee staff were duping, so they shut down some of their forums during all of that crap.

Actually Markee got some of his accounts banned for having duped items in their possession...not saying he was doing it, but many of the brokers and item sellers obtain items from other groups or certain players, and it's likely he was fed the duped items instead of doing it himself.

When that happened he closed up shop for UO, he did a Video where he talked about it or there was a post about it on his site that I remember reading.

 

[XLaCeDX]

Tradespot had some of its brokers accounts banned for dealing in duped Doom arties a few years back. I'd think that had some effect on their credibility.

One TS broker actually posted an apology on the TS website and explained that they HAD to deal in dupes because the price of gold had fallen so low, *cries*, and that, although their UO accounts had been banned, as long as customers would continue dealing with them, they PROMISED, they'd never EVER deal in duped Doom arties again.


Markee Dragon had his 11 year vet account banned around August 2008, when EA banned and deleted the houses and accounts of anyone in possession of 30 or more valorite hammers.

He posted about it in a blog on his website. Of course he claimed it was some other innocent reason he'd been banned.

He demanded that EA reimburse him the thousands of dollars he claimed his 11 year account was worth, apparently it held some valuable items, (possibly a castle stuffed full of transfer tokens that someone on the inside at EA was selling him for cheap and he then resold at a profit).

He told how he had emailed EA repeatedly asking who was the new person inside EA who could sell him cheap tokens. Something else had happened around this time I think, Mythic offices moved from Cali to VA maybe? and he'd lost his inside EA contact.

EA finally put him on ignore so he decided he was done with UO for good.

It was all fabulous reading in my opinion.

Two thumbs up!!

 

[Derium of ls]

anyone have links to that? looking through his youtube channel is rather annoying ha. (markeedragon I mean)

 

[kelmo]

What is this? 2002? Those days are done.

 

[kelmo]

It is a game people. Nothing more. Pixels are worth nothing. The friends you make are priceless.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

How ANYONE could have had 30 Val hammers and even believe they were legit is beyond me.

 

[UOKaiser]

It is a game people. Nothing more. Pixels are worth nothing. The friends you make are priceless.

Online friends are never as good as real ones or as bad Anyway pixels are worth as much anybody wants to pay for it. Just like the mona lisa ugly painting I would toss it in the fire as soon as I saw it and yet it's priceless cause people want to pay for it.

 

[UOKaiser]

Which reminds me wasn't that WOW mount was worth alot to a couple of females that were willing to exchange something fun for it?

 

[Tek]

It is a game people. Nothing more. Pixels are worth nothing. The friends you make are priceless.

how much does a Kelmo go for these days?

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Not to take anything away from what you meant Kelmo, but... well...

pixels are worth as much anybody wants to pay for it

^ that.

 

[kelmo]

...

Not to take anything away from what you meant Kelmo, but... well...

pixels are worth as much anybody wants to pay for it

^ that.

*nods* I saw a Luna house sell for major dollars. Real dollars. This was Siege by the way. It was OK back then to sell for real money.

Now... Luna is a ghost town.

 

[HD2300]

No thank you.

Trammel didnt ruin the game. It was people who regularly sold things for real live cash, the ones that resold gold, runics and dupes.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Well, most people probably did take more value with the memories they have from the game... you can see it from time to time when a UO thread pops up in non-UO forums. However, the market goes as the game does... if there are no people for the market, there's not going to be much of a market for the people.

I miss the pre-Luna days myself... when you would see smaller clumps of vendors outside Vesper, by Brit gate, etc. Even my cabin which is a little bit out of the way did well for traffic (on LS). Now... not so much... it's Luna or bust.

I don't have the easy answers though... times change... sometimes faster than others as peeps back in my hometown just found out in the past week.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Duping, scripting, and exploiting ruined the game. RMT sales did not affect the game materially in any way... it's an EXTERNAL event... but it does make a good scapegoat, doesn't it? Yeah it provided a motive for people to dupe/exploit/script, but in the end, it's the duping/exploiting/scripting that is the REAL evil, not a legal transaction.

 

[kelmo]

Man. I feel for you. It is rough there.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Don't want to derail and go too far OT, but if I could have gotten away from work and afforded the plane tix, I'd be up there in a heartbeat... luckily family came out of things ok. Only one extended family member had any issue... main one being the trailer of a semi being washed into their back yard.

 

[UOKaiser]

*nods* I saw a Luna house sell for major dollars. Real dollars. This was Siege by the way. It was OK back then to sell for real money.

Now... Luna is a ghost town.

Yea Kelmo things are changing in terms of monetery value.
With the old DEV gone who might or might of not capatilized and made themself real rich or extra money compared to the little bit EA paid them from the market of UO,The changes the new DEV are doing who probably werent told they could make serious personal cash from UO and are towing the company line to The loss of more Vets and same rate of new players coming in, the availability of items becoming very common from old dupe and DEV changes,as well as the crafting system which used to be the basis of all wanted items changed to a imbuing sysrtem where the only 2 items of value left are POF and essences,collapsing all the old PVM system,The ease of availability of high end items from faction,to imbuing to special events that give everyone everything, To the loss of the old PVM system which doesn't have any loot worth getting or getting a chance for, To players able to make there own imbuer and high end items in less time than it takes to pay 1 month bill, to the lack of challenge left or goals to accomplish that keeps players playing and striving for years.
Hmm missing anything that was just introduced this past year?
Well all that has contributed to the ghost towns of Luna and the rest of UO world. Eventually leading to UO end this time I smell it coming it's never being this bad. Even me who had fun playing for over a decade trying to achieve my goals have just reached my limit I just ran out of goals in the past few months because of changes. Im now officialy bored. Nothing is worth doing and everything is easily accomplished by anybody. i can't even provide help as everyone can do it themselves.So im getting more excitement from reading these forums than playing in game.

 

[Derium of ls]

It is a game people. Nothing more. Pixels are worth nothing. The friends you make are priceless.

pixels are still a $2,000,000,000 a year thing. just a shame not for UO anymore =(

I made a RL living and so did my girlfriend at the time playing UO, we bought and sold, it was actually too easy to do. The best was when she had to go to work one day right after Lake Ausin (I think?) opened, so we figured out our money per hour on UO compared to her working... she called in and quit... God I miss those days *sigh*

/Rant

I knew one other person making a living from UO IRL (with a wife and kid) and many people I spoke to did as well (mainly from brokering). And we normally are the scapegoats it seems. Yes a higher demand will entice people to figure out dupes, scam more ect, And trust me, the people who wanted that stopped were the honest people who made a living off UO, it went beyond a game and became a lifeline.

I know I made my living honestly, so I do not feel I was a part of the downfall of UO.

 

[Derium of ls]

sorry to further derail the topic.

 

[HD2300]

...

Duping, scripting, and exploiting ruined the game. RMT sales did not affect the game materially in any way... it's an EXTERNAL event... but it does make a good scapegoat, doesn't it? Yeah it provided a motive for people to dupe/exploit/script, but in the end, it's the duping/exploiting/scripting that is the REAL evil, not a legal transaction.

RMT sales is to blame, because if RMT sales were banned, there would be less duping/exploiting and scripting. RMT sales drove the duping/exploiting and scripting.

 

[Derium of ls]

RMT sales is to blame, because if RMT sales were banned, there would be less duping/exploiting and scripting. RMT sales drove the duping/exploiting and scripting.

I think it would have maybe made it worse, less honest people working, leaves only people who are willing to break ToS. So their goods go UP in price because the demand far outweighs the supply. WoW has been perfect seeing that imho

 

[HD2300]

...,as well as the crafting system which used to be the basis of all wanted items changed to a imbuing sysrtem where the only 2 items of value left are POF and essences,collapsing all the old PVM system,The ease of availability of high end items from faction,to imbuing to special events that give everyone everything, To the loss of the old PVM system which doesn't have any loot worth getting or getting a chance for

Obviously things werent thought out very carefully. I mean what is going to happen when everyone has an imbued uber suit? nvm lets put in systems to kill the end game for the majority of subscribers.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Banning RMT sales has done little to NOTHING to slow down RMT sales regardless of game.

People have duped, scripted, and exploiting LONG before RMT sales became an issue. When I started UO in Jan 1998, there is was in the aftermath of a HUGE duping bug and YEARS before Ebay or any RMT sales came onto the scene.

Sorry, you're pointing your finger in the wrong direction on this one.

"Banning" RMT sales is impossible because an RMT sale takes place OIUTSIDE the game... the ONLY thing the game sees is player A giving the ingame item to player B for "free". So me giving you a stack of gold, a Doom artifact, a Val hammer, whatever it may be, for free, of my own free will, has the EXACT ingame effect as me selling you that item via RMT.

The problem comes when people dupe, script, or exploit, REGARDLESS of reason.

Also remember, people were NOT using house break-in exploits so they could put stuff they looted on Ebay, nor do they speedhack in PvP to be able to sell the items won in PvP.

Because Ebay and PvP are not the problem... exploiting is.

 

[HD2300]

I think it would have maybe made it worse, less honest people working, leaves only people who are willing to break ToS. So their goods go UP in price because the demand far outweighs the supply. WoW has been perfect seeing that imho

Then EA can sell things online to supply that demand. If a scripter can pay for their account and make real life profit, it means that if EA supplies what the scriptor is scripting, they will make more money than what the scripter pays for their subscription.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

If EA "supplies" what the scriptor is scripting, then they are even worse as they are making the item from NOTHING in no time whatsoever. They in effect BECOME DUPERS, and you'll see the market crumble faster than you can blink.

"But they sell items now people turn into gold"... yes, but the thing is that they are not selling gold or resources DIRECTLY. What people do with those items ingame is not the same. When they buy a Spring Collection Widget for $12.95, then sell it for 15,000,000 gold ingame, the gold ingame comes from an ingame source (PvM, crafting, trading, etc). If EA sold the gold directly, it would be made from thin air... duped effectively.

 

[HD2300]

...
If EA "supplies" what the scriptor is scripting, then they are even worse as they are making the item from NOTHING in no time whatsoever. They in effect BECOME DUPERS.

What is the difference if EA does it or a scriptor? If EA does it, they get more profit which means could spend more on developing UO, which is good for players.

Too much gold? EA could just stop selling it for a while, or increase the price, or put in gold sinks.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

What is the difference if EA does it or a scriptor?

Nothing, and that's the point. BOTH would be VERY detrimental to the game.

Well ok, there IS one difference with a scriptor... EA gold could flood the market FASTER than scriptors can.

DUPERS and EA in your idea would be equal... and equally devastating.

 

[HD2300]

...
Well ok, there IS one difference with a scriptor... EA gold could flood the market FASTER than scriptors can.

Like I posted "Too much gold? EA could just stop selling it for a while, or increase the price, or put in gold sinks" and some of the extra profit can go into making UO better like more GMs, more content, client improvements, more expansions.

 

[Derium of ls]

In before lock


I think Second Life and Entropia Universe has it figured out. They both buy and sell in game currency. In Second life the price of their in game currency goes up and down all based on how much people are buying compared to selling. That game has been out for a long time and prices have stayed about the same due to that. With entropia they have a set price for their in game currency so it never changes, of course entropia is nothing but a "gold sink" game.

If EA sold ANYTHING they would be adding to the problem of flooding this game because they take in NOTHING. And as said, they would be worse than dupers because it would all happen right away, on a larger scale at that even.

 

[Derium of ls]

I forgot to add, that if EA did buy in game gold, there would be a balance now if they were to sell gold. But with that comes many issues. Then dupers would go NUTS because there would always be a buyer at a large amount.

 

[HD2300]

Dermott, ignoring what the TOS allows or not, do you believe UO should allow RMT sales by players and brokers?

 

[Derium of ls]

Dermott, ignoring what the TOS allows or not, do you believe UO should allow RMT sales by players and brokers?

I know this was not directed to me, but IMHO I think it should be allowed. It adds more 'hype' to the game, brings in people who want to make some extra cash (seeing most games now don't allow sales) and also allows casual players easy access to items/accounts they can just log on and play. I feel it follows a sandbox game, gives you even more options on how you want to play.

with that said, this is one of the few games where dupes/exploits/scripting is on a rampage. Every game has that, but seems most people in UO can get away with it for years, if not forever. That's where the cause for concern is, but that would be the case with our without allowing a secondary market to take place.

If I was EA, I'd open my very own eBay just for UO items. So then they get a piece of the secondary market without actually selling/buying items.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Yes, I believe it should be allowed in one of two ways:

1. Neither condemn nor condone. (i.e. hands off the issue itself, the way UO has handled it)

2. As a moderated "official marketplace". (i.e. EA hosts a "marketplace" website that offers an Ebay style page to sell items for ingame gold OR of out game cash. The use of the page is tied to your account, and they can then use those transactions to conduct internal investigations as necessary to catch people selling more than what should be possible (i.e. if you auction off 30+ Val hammers on multiple shards in a short period of time, you'd trigger an internal investigation)

I am very pro-RMT, but anti-exploit. Targeting RMT as the "bad guy" is just targeting the symptom, not the actual problem.

 

[AesSedai]

I am very pro-RMT, but [/and verily more] anti-exploit. Targeting RMT as the "bad guy" is just targeting the symptom, not the actual problem.

- That [insightfully including the "[]" -part] is how I feel about this... That is truly External.

Do not point at scapegoats...
Target the true issue...

I know plenty enough about Tradespot and its methodology to know it is best that it is no longer (if that is truly the case, as I stopped looking at them many years ago)...

& thank you UOKaiser. Now I finally feel that I understand the whims and ways of your whirl (~insight is fully appreciated~).

 

[XLaCeDX]

anyone have links to that? looking through his youtube channel is rather annoying ha. (markeedragon I mean)

Pretty sure this is the Stratics link I followed that led me to read his 'I got banned blog', although all I see there now is current day info.

I do lack any form of serious internet search skills, however.

Too bad Fayled Dreams isn't around, I envied them their awesome search skills.

Keep in mind that Markee emailed EA for some time trying to get compensation for his deleted account and a new inside connection to buy tokens from before EA put him on ignore and he finally threw in the towel.

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=118045&highlight=markee


Since the duped Doom arties incident happened Before Stratics great crash or whatever happened, there appears to be no posts left about it.

I recall a guild on Great Lakes got banned after they posted screenies of their castle filled with chests full of duped Doom arties, I can't find those old posts by typing in duped doom arties in the advanced search for UO Stratics.

As someone mentioned when it was learned that the guild had been banned for duping, 'there's only about 25 areas in each facet(?) that are large enough to hold a castle", so it wouldn't have taken GMs long to find that castle full of dupes after the duper posted his screenies (duh on him).

The TS broker bans happened around then also with that one broker begging for forgiveness and anyone visiting the site could read the blog on the home page. We did read it and some of us lolled at TS here on Stratics, so TS closed the open blog, (bad for business?), and afterward to see it you needed to make an account with them, which I refused to do.

None of those posts seem to have survived Stratics crash from awhile back.



http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=52543&highlight=brokers+banned

 

[JC the Builder]

Tradespot, and most UO trading forums, have died because of how the game has changed. You no longer have to meet other players to conduct trades. Resources used to one of the biggest reasons to use Tradespot. Then they introduced commodity deeds, letting you put as much as you want one vendors. So that was done.

Another factor is how worthless it is to spend the time to seek out buyers/sellers for items worth literally pennies. Unless something is worth a couple million, it isn't worth putting it on a trading board. You have a silver broadsword? Guess what, I got 100 Undead Slayer weapons of all types. Your once valuable item is now junk.

 

[Petra Fyde]

Any posts naming brokers would have been removed under our 'no personal attacks' rule.

Can I remind everyone that the mentioning of those two search sites is also against the rules because of the methods they use to collect their data?

 

[Aran]

Like I posted "Too much gold? EA could just stop selling it for a while, or increase the price, or put in gold sinks" and some of the extra profit can go into making UO better like more GMs, more content, client improvements, more expansions.

They already raised the rates on us once to do just that.


OOPS!