I don't care how many times this has been brought up. There is no reason why we have to spend so much time trying to buy something that we need on the Global Trade HQ. You either have to be a bot, or extremely lucky after 20+ tries to get anything that isn't metal or wood, and that's because it seems like things are taken mere milliseconds after you see the posting.
To say the trade is just fast-paced or you have to get there first is a lazy response. I don't think most of us would even complain as much if the game servers updated the postings as fast as they're gone. In the time it takes to load someone's city (which I don't care to see half the time) the item is already gone. FIX THIS!!!
And while you're at it, add a search tool and categories/filters. Without it this joke of an auction house is just a sloppy, lazy attempt at making an economy.
I have just timed how long it takes from selecting a product I want to buy up 'til the moment when I reach the trade depot and the item is either available or it's already sold : 10,3 seconds on my Nexus 7 with excellent internet connection.
This does not include loading the global Tade HQ and searching for the item, neither does it include traveling back to my city and entering the HQ again.
I also ran another test where I wanted to buy bricks (any amount, any price). I quit after exactly ten minutes of constantly refreshing the Trade HQ and searching for bricks. During those ten minutes, I visited 5 cities (the only 5 selling bricks out of numerous HQ refreshs), but I was always too late.
This just demonstrates how useless the trade center is.
I hope EA addresses the elephant in the room and will announce a trade center update very soon!
