Game! - Where the stick is mightier than the sword!

I was just trying to sell something in the "Items in Demand" section of the market (an Apple, to Drane, at 1000 gp), and I was told to "Come back when I can afford the stocking fee."

I would've thought that Drane would've paid this "stocking fee" as part of his reservation fee, or, more likely, that the 50 gp would come out of the sale price. Requiring that a seller have 50 gp available when there's an automatic, immediate buyer seems like unnecessary bureaucracy.

Stocking fees are only paid by the seller, not the buyer, in this case you're the seller.

Having said that, I agree that in this case, the Market should take the stocking fee out of the gold you gain from the sale, if necessary and possible. The reason it doesn't is because the current interface is really just a convenient way to stock that particular item at that particular price, and as such, doesn't know that it's going to sell immediately yet.