What is the Auction House in World of Warcraft?

The Auction House serves as the primary player-to-player economy source in the game.  It works just like a real Auction House does.  Players place items up for auction at a beginning price, and other players can either bid or buyout an item.  Any item that is not soulbound can be placed on the Auction House.  Auction Houses are typically faction-based, however there are a few neutral ones across Azeroth.  There are three neutral Auction Houses located in Booty Bay, Everlook and Gadgetzan.  Every capital city has an Auction House that is linked to other cities so that players can easily browse items, make buys and put new items up for bid.

The Auction House offers players a form of control over a realm's economy.  Since each faction has their own Auction House, they can easily buy and sell items to one another without trying to find a buyer in Trade Chat.  However, many sellers will also alert players they have put a popular or hard-to-find item up on the Auction House in the hopes of selling it faster.  Since auctions last anywhere from a few hours to a few days, it is in the best interest of players looking to buy or sell to monitor the activity of their realm's Auction House to see when the best uptime is to use the system.

The Auction House has two primary benefits for players: It allows them to quickly sell items they do not need or drops that may benefit other players and it allows them to purchase items they need to exchange their game play.  Depending on the item being bought or sold, prices might be quite high.  This price fluctuates depending on the realm so it is important to check out similar prices and carefully scrutinize the item being presented to make sure it is a good, solid buy or sell.  The Auction House can be used to very quickly turn a profit for players in such professions as skinning and mining, but it can also be beneficial when looking to add recipes, plans and more to your repertoire.