My Auctioning on Monday-Thursday is fairly limited. On any given day I scan the Auction House about 3 times: morning, afternoon, night. After each scan, I immediately check for auctions almost finished, and place my bids if the profit is high enough. On Friday afternoon/evening, I do a scan and put up everything I have. This is when the most players will be logging on for the weekend. I do the same on Saturday evening and Sunday evening.
Having just moved to the Kil'Jaeden server, I'm still feeling out the economy. With my current data, the top profiting items are always "Savory Deviate Delight", because my data is not built up enough. It's very frustrating, actually, having the market skewed like this. In time, and with more data, it will reflect correct market information. Until then, I'm walking carefully so I don't get burned. Still, I've made about 150g profit on very modest auctioneering in a couple of weeks. This number has gone a lot higher, but I'm back to work for the summer and working on leveling my main, so I'm not in profit-overdrive. Once I hit 70 and need money for the epic flying mount, THEN I'll be having some fun, and probably do a more detailed log of my auctions.
In my experience, the highest profit items are almost always blues, and crafting items, usually in stacks.
I check the blue items for how often they've been seen at Auction - items that have only been seen a few times are either rare, or just very poor sellers that people know better than to put up. Or, they can been seen many times, in which case they either move very quickly, or barely at all; either case will have it appearing in many scans. So, it does take a little bit of market knowledge to know what's in demand. The easiest way to gauge blues is to just look at the item. If it's a great item, take it. If it's something you'd probably never want on a character, let it be. Some blues are just not that good. One important thing to remember is that if you're putting a blue item up is that you'll be paying a lot in deposits, and you aren't likely to sell the item in the first few auctions. They do take some time to move. To avoid the fee, I usually check the Auction House for duplicates, and unless they're priced too low for me to undercut, I advertise in the /trade channel that I'm selling one for cheaper than the Auction House. If you don't have time to sit around and do that, just post that you're putting it up for auction at less than all the other competition. Be patient! Wait for the weekend to sell -- more people are on, more money is moving. If someone undercuts you, or a bidding war drives down prices, wait for them to come back up. I've got a level 70 blue dagger that I'm waiting to sell, because the prices have dropped from 100+ gold to 40 gold! I could still profit if I sold it at 40 (I bought it very low), but I'll make much more if I wait for prices to go up. If you see an item is going to become harder to get in the next patch, or have its stats boosted, BUY IT. Prices are going to go up.
The other items I make the most profit off of are generally stackable items like Nexus Crystals, other enchanting items, crafting items, and recipes. Buy low, sell high, simple enough. I bought a stack of 4 Nexus Crystals yesterday for about 20 gold. I broke the stack into singles, and sold them each for about 10 gold, which was still 2 gold under the market. When you buy in stacks, it's easier to sell them individually, because people don't have to buy more than they want.
Any time I buy items, I advertise the better deals in /trade. Some people just aren't browsing the Auction House when you're on, and you don't want to miss them, so spend at least a couple minutes doing this. Also, keep your eye on the trade channel yourself. Some good deals can be found there!
When I play the Auction House, I generally do most of my buying/bidding on high profit items, as I just started new on the server and don't have as much money as I'd want if I'm going to buy tons of items. Still, the better option is generally to buy even the low-profit items, so long as you buy according to market needs. The gold does add up, and fast. Don't be afraid to try moving new items. But I do advise that you find a niche and corner it. Specialize in certain items that you KNOW sell well. If it's a small market, monopolize it. If you're the only one ever offering the item, you can set the price. I'm thinking of doing that with a couple of blues I'm seeing fairly often, but it's a significant investment, so I'm not decided yet.
When I'm done hawking my items or sharking others, I get on a different character and check some vendors for recipes and the like (see my PPP posts). Usually I can snag at least a couple, and I send them to my banker to sell.
I'll do a more detailed post when I have the time to sell more, and a better idea of Kil'Jaeden's economy!
