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To the shock of most observers[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/everyone-hates-d3s-drm-rmt-and-no-modding], in July 2011 Blizzard announced that the Diablo III Auction House will have a real money aspect to it. The real money is only usable for item (and eventually character) sales for softcore (non-[[hardcore]]) characters, and it operates in tandem with the in-game gold trading auction house. Players may list items on either service. Blizzard charges a flat fee for each item listed (to discourage players from flooding the market with junk items), then takes another fee from successful sales. Proceeds can be spent on Blizzard merchandise and games, or withdrawn in actual currency, after another fee is paid to Blizzard and the financial partner.
See [[Auction_house#Method_Behind_the_Madness:_Why_RMT.3F|the RMT section of the Auction House article]] for full more details.
===RMT Fees in Diablo 3===
While the fees have not yet been finalized, they are $.15 for an item listing and $.65 for an item sale, in the Diablo 3 Beta. Thus an item sold for $1 would only yield a $.20 profit, which is hardly worth the trouble. Given the costs, such an item would probably be more profitable to sell in the gold auction house, as the fees there are a percentage of the gold, rather than a flat fee.
[[Bashiok]] argued back against criticism of the RMAH fees in a forum post in late December, 2011.http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blue-on-rmah-fees
<blue>The listing and transaction fees, which are flat fees, are being kept as low as we possibly can keep them. Right now in beta it’s 0.80 ‘Beta Bucks’ total if you list and sell an item, and it’s possible it’ll be around that in USD for North America at launch. We still don’t know yet, though, but we’re trying to keep it as low as possible. And of course keep in mind that we still intend to offer a number of free listings per week. If someone wants to just use their free listings every week, they’re more than welcome to. We anticipate a lot of people will go this route as it’s a no-risk situation and no fees are taken if the item doesn’t sell.</blue>
As some fans pointed out, the "low as possible" figure is whatever Blizzard sets it to. After all, they're handling the entire transaction -- there are no outside fees -- so they could set the price to zero, if they wished. Obviously they need to cover their costs for hosting Battle.net and developing the software in the first place, and moderation and support, but that would surely cost a lot less than eighty cents per sale.
There are other factors, of course. Since there's no subscription fee for Diablo III, Blizzard is using the RMAH to generate income off of Diablo III long term, or at least clear enough to cover the hosting costs. Also, if auctions were all free, players would post everything without any judgment, entirely spamming up the process. Some cost keeps the system from being clogged by junk, and provides a basic check on the lowest level of the economy.
Time will tell if the eighty cent fee is viable in the final game, and Blizzard will surely be responsive to player needs and economic functions, as they have no previous experience running this sort of system either.
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==RMT in Other Games==