Everquest 2 style brokerage house

Here's how an MMO solved trading twenty years ago, without using an auction house:

Everyone had a bulletin board in their house they could use to list items for sale - you put in the item and the price. That item was then listed at the brokerage, where people could buy them directly. The buyer paid some gold for the transaction fee, and the seller didn't need to be online.

A bit later they added special furniture that could be used to list items. With this, the buyer to travel to your house, interact with your cabinet, and avoid the broker fees.

Now - Let's make that work in PoE 2:

1) It should cost some gold to list items for sale. That will help cut down on the number of bots (it won't eliminate them, of course, but it should help).

2) GGG has already monetized the ability to trade, so why not take it to the next step? Sell the cabinet to let you list items on the broker and sell offline. (Note: I'm not really in favor of this, but I'm a realist).

You list your items for trade, players go to a brokerage NPC, and buy the items. Or they go to your hideout and shop from your cabinet. If an item is listed for one exalt, it will sell for one exalt - no judging responses and then changing the price.

Another plus of the cabinet: People would come by for the one item they searched for, then see all the other stuff you have for sale and may find something else they want, too.

For players who really want online trading, trade chat will still exist.

Part of GGG's "philosophy" of trading (basically, convenient trading is of the devil) is that easy trading favors the elite players. Actually, it's the opposite - the elite players are online much longer, so have much more access to the market. Let people trade online and the market equalizes for everyone.