Well could we remove the number of FF owned created mares that have not proven themselves?
I notice that many of the highly overpriced are owned by smaller and newer stables, the ones that don’t last in the long term. I’m not really sure how to solve that problem. It may be the fact that we have so many good horses? Over-breeding? Lackluster broodstock being bred to high quality stallions so one can turn a profit? I think its really just FF’s economic cycle. The only way that you can raise prices of VERY good horses is to make their bloodline less…available? yet there is no surefire way to drive down prices of those that are overpriced though. There will always be those horses whose prices make you chuckle simply because they are so high and they sit there for ages. But there are people that pay those prices, simply because they don’t know or are willing to take a chance. The idea of a time limit would be the best idea for the time being. Personally I’ve had horses sit on the saleboard anywhere from a couple of hours to weeks and still sell. So I agree with Nan. A month sounds good to me. And a listing fee is fair.
Well, this would be replacing the flat 5% tax you pay at year-end when the horse sells. However, the listing fee could be 2% rather than 3%…that way you can list the horse 2x and still pay less than you would have with the 5% sales tax, but any more than that and you start overpaying because you priced your horse incorrectly.
There’s also nothing preventing people from posting a generic “This horse is available, let me know what you’d offer” post on the forum, which some stables have done.
I have noticed horses over priced, but I feel that same way as already stated, that if they’re over priced than they won’t sell. People will either realize their horses are over priced and change it, or just be stuck with the horse. If someone feels an unproven filly is worth 50k than let them pay 50k. If you don’t feel the filly is worth 50k than don’t buy her or message the owner offering something you feel is more reasonable. I just don’t think there’s really a code to solve this issue. This is part of what makes the game interesting and challenging, for me anyways.
Maybe there could be a guide, or way to estimate a horse’s value? Just to get a range, not an exact price obviously and just merely a suggestion, you wouldn’t have to abide by it. Kinda like when you appraise a house? Not exactly a code, but just something a person could use to estimate a horse’s worth? For people like myself who don’t know much about horses, pricing can be harder than those that know horses/racing and more in depth about the game. I mean I know there was the suggestion about basing price on a horse’s earnings, but that can be hard if the horse is just two years old and only had 3 starts. I feel something like this will be a better way to try and get people to give more fair and accurate prices than adding or changing the fees involved in selling a horse.
I have an auction going right now… I use a base price system to price my auction horses…
Broodmares I price at a flat $75,000 (this is for unproven mares) and add the price of the stud fee if they are bred…Race horses are based on how well they are doing… usually not more than $50,000…
to date the races horses are the only ones who have sold… 2 2 yo geldings that have placed… both fairly well bred… and no reseve have sold for $50K each… 2 2 yo fillies… reserved at $25K… one is placed the other a multi-winner… the placed filly sold for reserve… the multi winner sold for over $100K… none of the bred broodmares have reached reserve…
In my humble opinion… bred mares are well worth $75K… and the price of the stud fee… I loose by listing them $5K each… then again a 5% sales tax… bringing the price back down…
so the market is not supporting averaged price horses… people are not willing to spend like they did in the future… shipping cost and taxes cause us to be more carful on our spending…
There was a newbie auction a few years back…Unfortunately, there was still angst, because some people didn’t get any horses, some didn’t get as many as they wanted, some didn’t get the kind of horses they wanted, etc. So it created some hard feelings here and there.
Personally, I think that it would be a better solution to emphasize good buying habits/what to look for in a horse, and encouraging/reminding newbies that they can always approach larger stables for specific horses. Key word is specific, there. The fact that we don’t see very many posts saying ‘I want cheap horses!’ is very good, after all. But, if you feel you need more horses for your stable, research your potential purchases/leases and don’t be too scared to approach people with bids. I remember having to do it and it was scary, but I’m still alive, so I’m pretty sure anyone can do it, too.
So, basically, if what you see on the sales page doesn’t interest you, or you find you’re not hitting the auctions as much as you’d like to, but you still want horses – you can still do your legwork and go shopping privately. There’s nothing wrong with that, IMHO.
If new members want horses they’re welcome to buy one of the 646 geldings FF has for sale at the moment. Granted, every one of those geldings is 7 years old, but still, they’re also only $1,000.
When I was a newbie I bought some of the older geldings. Some were past it but a couple were amazing and earned me quite a bit of money. And i had some fun racing them and learning more about how the game works .
you could also come up with say a retirement home for handicapped kids and horses that meet certain qualifications(age,record,jockey comments from the past etc)could be donated (with a specified fee by Shanthi) to clear up some of the really older , retirees, And i dont mean oh here comes spring cleaning, i mean horses that in the real world would be the correct type for this.
But, if you feel you need more horses for your stable, research your potential purchases/leases and don’t be too scared to approach people with bids. I remember having to do it and it was scary, but I’m still alive, so I’m pretty sure anyone can do it, too. 
Private shopping got me my leg up in the game. It really is the way to go.
Granted, every one of those geldings is 7 years old, but still, they’re also only $1,000.