There is currently a heated debate in the Burining Crusade Classic forum regarding the AH and what is considered breaking the rules.
The situation:
A seller posts an item with a low starting bid, but a rather high buyout. The buyer makes a mistake and pays the buyout price. They realize their mistake and open a ticket.
The question or debate:
Thank you!
No
No
They have always been hands off when it comes to the AH and market prices and mistakes.
Blizzard tends to be hands off when it comes to the AH since they realy cant control what players mark a item for even if its a mistake. I rember back in wrath when the mechano hogs were 10k and the seller accidently sold them for 1k suffice to say they were gobbled up.
This is my understanding as well, but I am making this thread as a means to get the matter settled (or hope to)
Thank you for the response.
Your not realy gaurenteed a blue response this is a player to player support forum they will only intervene if more information is needed.
That’s not really what this forum is for - given the fact the AH is a free market. Here’s a blue posters on the matter:
The intent behind the players’ actions isn’t a factor. The Auction House has always been a free market, where accidental expensive purchases, have always been possible. That really hasn’t changed over the years, only the design and UI for the Auction House.
Would we like to see everyone operate with the best interest of other people in mind? Absolutely, that would make the world a much better place to live in. Unfortunately, that level of micromanagement of player behavior is a bit beyond our scope.
It was a suggestion from an MVP.
If I am incorrect and this is not appropriate for this forum, my apologies.
An MVP is just another player and I posted a link to the blue on the matter. The blues here ain’t going to say much about it.
No. The Auction House is considered a free market and anyone may place any item for whatever price they wish.
No, I’m afraid not. Though we try to help in situations where someone may make a mistake with a vendor, disenchanting an item, etc… accidental purchases from the Auction House don’t generally fall into that category.
That isn’t entirely correct. While Darthwraith is accurate, that a blue response isn’t guaranteed, we do try to provide what insights we can on the policies and procedures that Support follows if we can. In many cases other players answer sufficiently, but we try to add to the discussion whenever we can. 
Thank you very much. My hope is to at least make sure everyone is clear on this aspect.
I appreciate your timely response and assistance in this matter. As well as all the other responses. You have all been VERY helpful!
Then let’s clear this up.
Posting a stack of healing potion injectors (or any other item) for a low bid of 5 gold and a high buyout 2500g+, doesn’t violate our policies. Again, players may place items on the auction house for whatever prices they would like.
Not really. The specifics aren’t really important since it is the basic functionality and policies that are the focus. It doesn’t matter which item, it doesn’t matter what prices were involved. Sorry, Arielba.
It’s not about one specific item. It’s about unscrupulous AH sellers who list 10 identical items, 9 being around market value, and 1 being grossly overpriced. They do this because the AH only orders things based on the bid price, not the buyout price. So people who are not paying attention will buy all the items and end up getting scammed. This is the specific behavior we are talking about. Are you saying there’s nothing wrong with this?
Again, thank you for your responses. I do not wish to have anyone be uncertain or have things seem ambiguous.
The main concern is knowing what is and is not something to open tickets about.
I will consider the matter answered to my satisfaction and offer one more thank you to all the responses and participation in this discussion.
I wish that these matters did not require this level of verification, but when game rules are in question it is often necessary to get clear answers to prevent misinterpretation or error.
Feel free to close and or lock this thread if you feel it is appropriate to prevent the discussion from bleeding over into the CS forums.
Thank you
So as a followup:
Would Blizzard consider limiting buyout prices to a factor of the bid price? Say: 10x? That would solve the vast majority of these problems.
As the blue said, it’s a free market - they’re not going to limit things.
That would be better off suggesting in the ingame suggestion feature vrak woudnt know what the developers have in mind you could also tweet them.
If someone is not paying attention, yes, they could make the mistake and buy an item for a price they didn’t intend. It is unfortunate, but it is not considered a scam where we would get involved.
To answer your question, counting on the inattentiveness of others isn’t the more moral of behaviors, no. Correcting the failings of human beings try to take advantage of their fellow humans is a bit beyond the scope of Customer Support though. The Auction House was set up with specific bid and buyout mechanics, with some checks to hopefully avoid mistakes and get folks to double-check their purchases, but we can only do so much. \
I can’t speak for our Development team, Maus. Generally speaking, they let the free market operate as a free market.
If you feel the Auction House should be changed to help avoid such confusion you’ll want to submit that suggestion to our Developers.
Thank you for the response, I will do
I’ve never fallen for one of those, but I also use good AH addons to prevent it. I can imagine how frustrating it is, and ultimately that sort of frustration detracts from the game.
Well, all you have to do is allow the AH to order things based on the buyout price. That would stop this scam completely. I hope you can forward that to the devs.