Blizzard has confirmed on its Battle.net site, that the auction house for Diablo III has officially been shut down.

Blizzard has also posted a FAQ, explaining how the shutdown will affect players. It states that all existing auctions have been settled, with items either going to the highest bidder, or were returned to the seller.

“All active auctions will expire as normal following the shutdown of the gold and real-money auction houses on Tuesday, March 18. Once the shutdown is complete, items will either be delivered to the current highest bidder or returned to the seller, appearing in each player’s Completed tab. Unclaimed gold will also appear in the Completed tab. Players will be able to claim gold and items and from this tab until June 24, 2014.”

Blizzard also said that the shut down process will not require any maintenance, however the shut down time currently overlaps will Tuesday’s scheduled maintenance for the Americas region.

(via GameInformer)