Economy

Auction House

True bidding auctions with buy-outs, anti-snipe, and escrowed crate-key listings.

The Auction House (AH) is Imperium's server-wide marketplace - and it is a true bidding auction, not a fixed-price board. You list an item with a start price and an optional buy-out price; the server bids against it until the timer runs out or someone buys it outright. It is the safest and busiest way to sell gear, resources, cosmetics, and rare drops - and the only place to buy other players' virtual crate keys.

Opening the Auction House

Type /ah (or /auction) to open the AH menu. You can also reach it from the main /menu under the Trading section.

The menu has a few key views:

Browse - every active listing on the server, sortable (ending soon, price, newest).
Your Listings - items you currently have up, with the option to cancel (no bids only).
Claims - sold-item payouts and expired items waiting for you; they also deliver automatically when you next log in.

How to List an Item

Hold the item you want to sell in your main hand.
Type /ah sell <start> <buyNow> - for example /ah sell 50000 120000 starts bidding at 50,000 with a 120,000 buy-out. The buy-out is optional; omit it for a pure auction.
Pick the currency (money, tokens, or beacons) and the duration (24 or 72 hours, default 24).
Pay the listing fee (1%, capped at 5,000) and your item goes live for the whole server.

You can also open the sell-setup GUI with bare /ah sell while holding the item. Prison pickaxes are soulbound and cannot be listed.

Duration	When to use it
24 hours	The default. Good for most gear and resources - catches the daily browse crowd.
72 hours	Premium or niche items that need a full weekend to find the right bidder.

Fees (and Refunds)

The AH charges one small cost, and it comes back when you sell:

Cost	How it works
Listing fee	1% of the start price, capped at 5,000 - paid up front when you list (in the listing currency).
Fee refund	The full listing fee is refunded the moment the item sells - by buy-now or by winning bid. You only eat the fee if the listing expires unsold or you cancel.
No sale tax	There is no commission on the sale itself. The buyer pays the price; the seller receives it (minus nothing).
No fee on claiming	Collecting sold-item payouts or expired items is always free.

How to Buy: Bid or Buy-Now

Open /ah and browse, or use /ah search <term> to find a specific item.
Bid with /ah bid <id> <amount>. The minimum bid is the start price, or the standing bid + 0.01 once bidding has begun. If someone outbids you, your money is refunded automatically.
Buy-now with /ah buy <id> to win instantly at the buy-out price - but only if the standing bid has not already reached it.
The item (or your payout) is delivered instantly, or held in Claims for your next login.

Bids can never reach the buy-out. A bid at or above the buy-now price is rejected with a pointer to use Buy Now instead - and once the standing bid somehow reaches the buy-out, Buy Now is refused too. The two paths can never cross, so a listing can never pay out twice or strand a bidder's premium. When the timer expires, the highest bidder wins and pays what they bid.

Anti-snipe: a bid landing in the final 60 seconds of an auction extends the timer by 60 seconds, so last-second sniping never wins. Budget for the war, not the ambush.

Virtual Crate Key Listings

The AH also trades virtual crate keys. Your keys are escrowed the moment you list them and returned if the listing expires or is cancelled. Key listings are buy-now only (no bidding): browse with /ah keys, buy with /ah buykey <id>. Example: /ah sell key epic 2 50000 money 72 lists two Epic keys for 72 hours.

Claiming Your Earnings

When your item sells - to the winning bidder or a buy-now - the payout is held for you. You do not have to be online when it sells.

Payouts and expired items deliver automatically the next time you log in.
You can also collect them any time from the Claims view in the /ah menu.
Expired listings return the item; sold listings return the full sale price in the listing currency.

You can have multiple pending payouts stacked up. Claim them whenever convenient; they do not expire.

What Sells Best

The Auction House is where players trade everything the server shop will not:

Enchanted pickaxes and books - high-level enchant books are the biggest sellers.
Pre-built gear - armor and weapons with good enchants or custom names.
Rare cosmetics and pets - exclusive trails, tags, and pets from crates or events.
Banknotes - physical Denarius notes (/withdraw) for cross-currency deals.
Crate keys and LootBoxes - trade keys to other players.
Bulk resources - stacks of valuable blocks for crafters and builders.

Auction House vs Player Trading

The AH is best for asynchronous selling - you list and walk away. For face-to-face deals where both players put items in at the same time (and you want to bundle money plus items), use /trade instead. See the Player Trading article.

Need	Best tool
Sell to the whole server while you do something else	`/ah`
Trade items + money together with a specific player	`/trade`
Quick cash for unwanted loot	`/ah sell`
Trusting a friend with a free set of gear	`/trade`

Tips for Auctioneers

Price check first. Search the AH for similar items before listing yours so you do not undercut yourself.
Use the right duration. High-demand items in 24h; niche gear in 72h.
Set a buy-out you would accept. Bids can never reach it, so the buy-out is the ceiling bidders will push toward - a fair one speeds up the sale.
Cancel and relist if stale. If an item sits with no bids, pull it and reprice (cancel is free while unbidded; the fee only burns on expiry).
Watch the Claims view. Payouts deliver on your next login, but you can collect them sooner.
Never list your pickaxe. Prison pickaxes are soulbound and cannot be listed anyway.

Quick Command Reference

Command	What it does
`/ah`	Open the Auction House menu (aliases /auction, /auctionhouse).
`/ah sell <start> [buyNow] [currency] [24\|72]`	Quick-list the held item. Currency: money, tokens, or beacons. Example: /ah sell 50000 120000 money 72.
`/ah sell`	Open the sell-setup GUI (hold the item you want to list).
`/ah bid <id> <amount>`	Place a bid on an active listing. Minimum is the start price, or the standing bid + 0.01.
`/ah buy <id>`	Buy-now: instantly win the listing for its buy-out price (listings with a buy-out only).
`/ah cancel <id>`	Cancel your listing - only allowed while it has no bids.
`/ah sell key <crateId> <amount> <price> [currency] [24\|72]`	List your virtual crate keys (escrowed, buy-now only).
`/ah keys`	Browse active key listings.
`/ah buykey <id>`	Buy a key listing at its listed price.
`/ah cancelkey <id>`	Cancel your key listing - the escrowed keys come straight back.
`/ah search <term>`	Open the AH GUI filtered to a search query.
`/ah help`	The full in-game command reference.