Activision Blizzard has opened the real-money auction house for Diablo III players after nearly a month-long delay. As the name suggests, the service allows gamers to buy in-game goods using real-life currency, albeit in a limited capacity for now.

Blizzard announced on their blog that players in the Americas game region, which Battle.net defines as North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia, are the first to have access to the new feature. Supported currencies include the US dollar, Australian dollar and the Mexican peso.

The company says that real-money auction house will open for the European game region (European Union, Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa, and Middle Eastern countries such as Israel and the United Arab Emirates) in the near future.

Home game region is determined by the country of residence that is registered to a player's Battle.net account. The service will automatically select the most appropriate auction house for you but note that gamers in certain regions will have access to multiple currencies in their region. For example, Latin American players can use the US dollar, Australian dollar and the Mexican peso.

To use a real-money auction house, gamers will have to attach a Battle.net Authenticator or use the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator app with their account as an added measure of security. Additionally, should you want to link a PayPal account to buy or sell goods, you will need to register for the Battle.net SMS Protect service. SMS Protect will occasionally send text messages to your phone with codes that must be entered online to complete transactions.

Once inside the real-money auction house, players will be limited to equipment-only trading for now (weapons, armor, etc.). Blizzard plans to eventually provide commodity trading but they want to take one step at a time to ensure that everyone has a smooth and enjoyable experience.