Diablo 3 news » Real-Money Auction House Reminders

In preparation for the launch of the real-money auction house, we wanted to take a moment to remind players of some important information regarding how the auction house will work and what to expect when using it once it's available in your region.

Account Security and Using the Real-Money Auction House

If you intend to use either Battle.net® Balance or PayPal™ to buy and sell items on the Diablo® III real-money auction house, there are a few important security measures you'll need to have in place in order to access certain auction house features. We highly recommend that you set up your Battle.net Balance or PayPal account ahead of time, so you'll be ready to use the real-money auction house once it's live.

• Battle.net Balance: Players who wish to use Battle.net Balance to buy and sell items will need to attach a physical Battle.net Authenticator or Battle.net Mobile Authenticator app (free for iPhone, iPod touch, and Android) to their Battle.net account. Specifically, an Authenticator is required in order to charge up your Battle.net Balance through Battle.net account management or to select Battle.net Balance as the destination for your auction proceeds.
• PayPal: Players who wish to use PayPal (only available in certain regions/currencies) to buy items or receive the proceeds of their auctions will need to sign up for our Battle.net SMS Protect service. With Battle.net SMS Protect, you'll occasionally receive a text message on your mobile phone when making PayPal-related transactions; this message contains a code that you must then enter to proceed with your transaction.

Even if you don't plan on using the real-money auction house, we still encourage everyone to consider adding these extra layers of protection on their Battle.net account.

Note: Please keep in mind that players will be able to purchase items on the real-money auction house with other forms of payment, including major credit cards, that do not require the use of an Authenticator or Battle.net SMS Protect. Additional payment options are listed here. If you wish to sell items, however, and receive the proceeds of those sales, you will need to use either Battle.net Balance or PayPal.

Region Auction Houses and Global Play

As we've stated before, players will only have access to the real-money auction house while playing in their home game region (The Americas, Europe, or Asia), and characters created outside of your home region will not be able to buy, sell, or use items from any real-money auction house. Your home game region, along with which real-money auction houses you have access to, are determined by the country of residence registered to your Battle.net® account. By default, Battle.net will automatically determine the most appropriate real-money auction house for you, but players in some regions may be able to access auction houses for additional currencies in their region via the in-game Options menu.

Item Delivery and "Processing" Purchases

Occasionally, players may have to wait for a period of time before an item they purchased in the real-money auction house arrives in their "Completed" tab. While we expect the majority of real-money auction house purchases to be delivered to buyers immediately, in some circumstances, we will need to hold items for delivery while we conduct a review of the transaction. Held items will show as "Processing" until the review is complete.

Commodities on the Real-Money Auction House

As we prepare to launch the real-money auction house, we want to make sure that commodity trading (recently re-enabled in the gold auction house) remains quick, stable, and reliable. To that end, it's possible that the real-money auction house will launch with equipment trading only (i.e. weapons, armor, and other such gear) and commodities would come online at a later date. The team is hard at work getting commodities ready for trading in the real-world auction house, and in the event it doesn't launch with the real-money auction house, our goal is to activate this feature as soon as is feasible.

To learn more about the auction house system (including how to select your currency), check out the comprehensive Auction House Guide and Auction House FAQ.