Dude, thats a nice theory... But I know for a fact, it doesn't work that way in real Practice...

as for the 1st part: I would only "buy" an item I had an abundence of "only" if it was discounted "enough"... If it was only discounted like 10 gp, I wouldn't even consider it... I think that would be kinda foolish on my part... and especialy if my "abundence" wasn't selling very fast, in other words it would be a "Bad" investment, no profit to gain, so why do it? When there is surplus, that means "no Sales" or "No Demand for" that item... or it's common and/or over priced...

A 25% discount would make me think twice about turning the deal down... At 50% discount, I don't think twice, I buy before someone esle does... and I have hesitated looking at an item on WoW and lost the oppertunity to buy... and I have lost many a'bid to ppl buying at a high price, whereas I won't...

Dude, that's why it called a "free market"...

Buyers can "freely" buy anything they can afford and only they, know how much they are willing to pay...

Sellers can "freely" sell for whatever price they choose, but I think they take a "Gamble" on doing so... If the price is too high, the "buyer" won't buy... and he ends up with a surplus gathering dust... If the price is too low, your competitors may or may not buy you out, before another buyer does... either way you end up with a shortage of the item and no more sales...

Who cares? If you freely discounted the item to sell it, who cares, who buys it? Your competitor or another buyer... You made the sale, so walk away a "happy camper" and stop complaining about "what the other guy" did after they bought your item...

You got money in your pocket now, so go spend it on something.... hehe...

and the 2nd part: I take it that you have never studied Economics before or you wouldn't make such a statement...

Dude, you left out a bunch of facts and came to the wrong conclussion...

You forgot to mention the fact that prior to Starbucks openning, the Cafe had been the only "Cafe" for miles around... and was doing Business before the Collage openned...

They offered Booth style sit down Dining with waitress... along with counter seating... They have a Breakfast, lunch & dinner menu that hasn't changed in like 15 years, all good foods too... and they have an exellent Cook too... But the place has gotten raggedy over the years...

Now Starbucks moves in across the street, and you say "the Cafe was put outa business"...

Wrong conclussion, Dude...

The Cafe owner made the free choice, to close up the Business... Instead of competing with Starbucks... The Cafe owner had sometime to watch as Starbucks was being built, to do some research as to how much it would cost him to modernize his Business form...

In order for the Cafe owner to compete, they would have to invest alot in their Business...

-ReModel the place to new condition...
-Change their BLD menu to Latta'Grandes & Buns & Cookies...
-Invest in equipement/stock to make Latta'Grandes...
-Trash & take a loss on all existing food stocks..
-Convert from Waitresses to Line ordering Self serve...
-Fire the Cook..
-Get used to charging $5.00 per cup of coffee, $4.50 for buns... (who would have thought someone would pay that much?)...

Basicly the Cafe owner had been doing Business for a long time and just passed it to the next generation of merchants...

Instead of investing more, to compete... and stay ahead of the game... He looked at the Profits he's made over the years and decided to retire...

The Collage must have been small, not to have had enough students to support both Businesses... and I bet if you looked today, the Building that was once the Cafe has been demolished and a Denny's resterant has openned... Right across the street from the now raggedy Starbucks... and Both are thrieving...

It's a game.

This gets put in and it becomes a job.

(Yes, I know, people would still play the game for the game itself, others though would do what you're talking about just for the $$$ which is a big reason why there is scripting/exploiting/etc.)

I've Played WoW since beta (Not trying to sound cool either), I was Hardcore into UO as well, the AH would serve of Worsening the Community as a whole, I mean UO is a Game of Community and I know the argument is "They Can see the name of the person is they are buying from" But I remember playing UO and there was a guy I bought Regs from constantly Going out of my way to his house, and I would see him stocking regs at time, and I would have a Great Chat with him! AH is just another way of Unpersonlizing UO... That my Opinion about it, I agree with Dip about it, Its great for WoW, and Games of that Magnitude, but Not UO, WoW isn't about a Community as much as it is about Leveling and Getting the LEWTS that Make you Epic...

Plus Some people have great Placings for their Homes, Like outside of Dungeons and such so People Who ran out of regs or Bandages, can shop there, and Its smart even if the prices are high, Its smart Marketting... I remember Going to Houston, TX a couple weeks ago and There was a part where we hadn't seen a gas Station for miles, and then we see this one lone 24hr Gas station and the Price was insane, but he knew he could get away with it as he was Miles away of Other Gas Stations around!

And don't forget a big portion as to why some people like/play the game.

Customizable housing.

This would kill Vendor Houses and there would be no use in decorating/designing anything other than a square plot with "containers" (vendors) for the auction.

Dude, What does "Customized" housing got to do with it?

-There are "Vendor Malls" right at this very moment that are nothing but an 18x18 plot with 50 vendors standing around "lagging" the area out... I hope you know how long it takes to "click" through 50 vendor inventories, "Vendor Look" only floods the screen with 50 packs all at once... you still have to click all the sub packs, then close each one...

-as far as Killing "vendor malls", I hope it does... But with "freedom" to choose remaining, I dought that would happen all over everywhere... Guilds & Pay sites, will still want/need to condense all their stuff in a single local area... its just that with a vendor search "Location, Location" is no longer a pre-requesite for Selling/Buying...

-No need to rely on foot traffic, No need to mark/drop runes everywhere every 4hours... No need to stand for hours "spamming" at the Bank, trying to find a Buyer... Who knows when they'll be on, if at all today... The alternative is to place the item for sale on a Vendor and "Hope" it sells before you need to feed your vendor Gold... If its a High priced item your paying through the nose per/day... At the very least an Auction Style sales, would take its fee after it sells... and here again the "Seller" has the "option" to "Auction or Buy" pricing...

IMO, its a Win, Win for Buyers/Sellers... and Yes, it will revolutionize commerce from that point forwards... at least for UO... Other games already have it and their Markets are Fast paced too... a complete success, IMO...

Ask that to the Vendor House owners, they'll give you an answer or two.

*calling Baldguy, you should be all over this!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm disappointed in you!*

While you're asking the Vendor House owners what "customized" housing has to do with anything, make sure you take a stop by the Auction House owners too, this idea would kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Oh wait, the actual player run auctions would be useless too, make that 3 birds.