Strategy Informer  

Blizzard has announced the new Diablo III auction house policies and how players will be using them. Auction houses are run in a similar way to the houses found in World of Warcraft. For the first time, US and European gamers will be able to run real-money auctions.


When the player logs in, they will choose between a gold auction house, which allows any player to trade with any other player using in-game gold, and a real-money auction house. Players can access any region with the gold auction house.

However, if the player chooses the real-money auction house, they will be restricted to either a North American region or a European region. North American auction houses will support the U.S. Dollar, Mexican Peso, Brazilian Real, Argentine Peso, Chilean Peso, and, oddly, the Australian Dollar. It's interesting to note the Canadian Dollar will not be supported. For Europe, the auction house will support the British Pound Sterling, Euro, and the Russian Ruble.

Sellers using the real money auction house will be giving a portion of their earnings to Blizzard. According to the publisher, "Before you post your auction, you’ll see any fees that apply to your listing displayed in the center section of the Sell tab. These fees will only be charged if your auction successfully sells, and will automatically be deducted from the item’s final selling price."

For Equipment (weapons, armor, accessories, and other unique items)
* Transaction Fee (Gold Auction House): 15% of final sale price
* Transaction Fee (Real-Money Auction House): $1.00 USD per item / $1.00 AUD per item
* Transfer Fee (when sending proceeds to PayPal or other authorized payment-service provider): 15% of amount being transferred

For Commodities (gems, materials, dyes, pages, recipes, and other non-unique items)
* Transaction Fee (Gold Auction House): 15% of final sale price
* Transaction Fee (Real-Money Auction House): 15% of final sale price
* Transfer Fee (when sending proceeds to PayPal or other authorized payment-service provider): 15% of amount being transferred

Diablo III will be released on PC and Mac OS on the 15th May.

Related games: Diablo III (PC)