Auctions...

The only problem is that players want them as soon as possible, meaning they're usually done as soon as the timer ends. This means that if you miss auctions due to your schedule being clogged at that time, then it may be very hard to participate in auctions because it's done at the time when you're busy. This is also the issue with Ec uploads. It's basically a "Miss one, miss all" situation, which really sucks in my opinion.

And then their close friends will ask them to host this and that.
That's what I'm worrying about. :(
Auctions are every 2 weeks according to jeni, just leave it there.

Layerd oversees auctions, the only other options I can think of would be predetermined/scheduled times which will also result in higher participation and thus higher prices. If you have ideas, I would recommend you note them in Future Improvements or pm him here at the forums as we are obviously constantly evolving this process.