What does ‘the auction house is closed’ mean in WoW The War Within?

WoW The War Within had its full launch on Aug. 26, but it hasn’t been without its woes. Prospective traders are being met with an unusual error message saying “the auction house is closed,” and it’s throwing a wrench in the works for would-be moneymakers.

If you want to know what the error message means or whether there’s a workaround, you’re in the right place.

Is the auction house down in WoW The War Within?

In WoW The War Within, the error message “The auction house is closed at the moment. Please try again later” means the auction house is down and currently inaccessible. There is no solution to the error message other than waiting it out.

As of Aug. 30, players have been reporting issues accessing the auction house for a few days, but not everyone is seeing this error message. It might be a server-specific issue, it might only be happening for certain players, or it might be happening intermittently due to the high volume of players trying to access the auction house.

An Aug. 29 Blizzard post says the auction house is experiencing issues but should be up and running. However, having checked myself a few moments ago, I can confirm the auction house is down—at least for me.

In the meantime, there’s nothing you can do but resort to the old-school method—buy and sell items using the dedicated Trade chat channel. This is how we used to do it back in the day, and players on Reddit are poking fun at what would otherwise be a frustrating situation.

Next, check out our DPS tier list for WoW Patch 11.0.2, or read up on how to farm Crackling Shards so you can unlock the Alunira flying mount.