Welcome to the 25 cent club

Apparently there's a thing called "the 25 cent club". It refers to those who sell (or have sold) items on Diablo 3's Real Money Auction House for the minimum amount of $1.25. After Blizzard's cut of $1 per sale (this only applies to items, commodities have a different tax structure), you are left with $0.25. But this is only if you choose to have your money deposited in your Battle.net account. For Paypal deduct an additional 15%.

Well, quite unexpectedly, I had my first sale on the RMAH today. I placed a new batch of items last night and one of them (some rare leveling weapon with decent stats) sold. I posted all items for the minimum $1.25 buyout because I wasn't very optimistic that any of that crap would sell. I simply took a shot in the dark. Besides, the RMAH is convenient for extra storage, if nothing else. Cancelled auctions go to that temporary limbo space which can hold 50 items. And if they happen to sell, hey, that's a bonus.

As you can see, I'm not one of those who only think of ways in which to make real money on the AH. I've got better things to do. One of them is to simply have fun playing the damn game. You know, killing shit and stuff. Which leads me to refer you back to my Make $1 an hour playing Diablo 3 post.

It's no accident that it is my most popular article. Though there are blogs and bloggers who hope to make 10-20 times that amount in an hour, most people realize subconsciously that it is unrealistic for everybody to earn that much. Hence, the much more modest amount that I proposed. Sure, there will be people who will make a lot more than you or I. But they are enjoying the AH aspect of D3 while you and I are enjoying the gameplay. The way things are moving, though, I'm afraid that even my $1/hour figure was perhaps too optimistic. I'd be content to make this guaranteed amount. If nothing else, I can cover some additional expenses.

It baffles me that people are - allegedly - spending hundreds of dollars on the recently-opened RMAH for a single item. Looks like there are either too many idiots or too many millionaires, or both, in this world. I kind of understand the logic of paying for a virtual item that would take you 10 hours of play to find, with real money earned in one hour. But even then, I would ask, are you telling me that you are paying not to have to play the game? I thought that was the entire point of this game: to kill endless hordes of monsters in the hopes of getting a rare and valuable drop.

To each their own. Maybe I'm the idiot for not seeing the true rationale behind paying so much money for virtual items but it would take a lot to convince me of the benefits. $250 can buy a hell of a lot of real stuff.

So how about you? Sold any stuff for real money lately?