Reselling With a Twist

I've been investigating one of the suggestions left to me in a comment: find items that can be bought, re-worked into something else, then sold for a profit.

The results are going to disappoint you. Given the variable pricing of different servers, different factions, even different days, prices are just too variable to say: "Here are some items that can be bought low and crafted and resold, always."

Really, the best way to approach this kind of thing is on an individual level. I can say, with some authority, that there are very few instances where you will be able to reliably make a big profit by buying materials and crafting them into new items to sell for profit. There are some notable exceptions, aside from just hoping someone stupidly sells something for too low:

Rare Crafting Recipes. Yes, those blue and purple schematics, plans and patterns that you see selling for hundreds of gold. If you're really going to make it work, you need a rare crafting item. Everyone else can make the vendor recipes, and do, so even if you do find the materials for a good deal, the new item will be worth very little. Actually, it's often the case that the new item is worth LESS than the materials, because demand for raw materials tends to be higher than for individual items.

Okay, so let's say you have one of those rare patters, either bought (easiest), or found (pain in the #!@%$). I hope you did some research on what the item requires to be made, because you can get screwed here with a final product worth less than the materials. A good example that I am familiar with is shield spike recipes - these recipes sell for a lot. I almost never see the spikes themselves for sale, simply because so few people bother to farm or buy the recipe. The same holds true for other professions. If you see a recipe for sale, and notice that you rarely see that ITEM for sale, consider the market wide open. It does take some individual research, and you'll be out a chunk of change if you buy the recipe, but over time you stand to make it back and then some!

Really quickly, here are some little deals to keep an eye out for:

• Motes. Sometimes you can buy 10 motes for less than the 1 primal.
• Unworked Cloth, Ore: Sometimes you can find the raw form, work it into a bolt of cloth, fel iron, whatever, and sell it for a profit.
• Uncombined enchanting items: Anything that can be used individually, or turned into something else when you get 3 of them, 10 of them, etc.
• Alchemy ingredients to turn into potions

It's a small list, and I'm sorry for that. If you want me to add stuff, leave a comment and I'll add it. Unfortunately, if it were easy to turn a big profit from buying-crafting-reselling, the market would be flooded with those items, and so balance itself out.

Dirty, Dirty Trick

I was debating with myself if I should even post this Auction House trick. It takes advantage of the competition, which is fine. It has a decent success rate, also fine. However, it is very, very dishonest, and generally pretty bad form. I've only done this once, and I felt really bad about it, so I don't do it anymore. Unfortunately, it IS somewhat amusing on an immature, sneaky level, and it's an example of out-of-the-box thinking. So, here we go.

I made a post about an Auction House tactic where you find an undervalued item on the AH, and then post it in /trade for a normal sell value, or higher. The hope is that someone will offer to buy it without checking the Auction House to find the actual price. When you see people selling a plethora of blue items at one time and wonder where they got them, they either bought them and are now trying to sell them, or they're using this trick. Most of the time, people are smart enough to not fall for this. BUT: a lot of people still try to make this work, and that is what we're going to take advantage of.

Make 2 characters and jog their weak butts to an Auction House. Take a decent blue item, and list it on the Auction House for, oh, 25 or 30 gold higher than it should go for. Stay with me, I'm not crazy. Now, log on to your other toon. Get in /trade, and say something like "want to buy ****", whatever the item is, for even HIGHER than what it was listed for. Now, if you're lucky, someone will try to pull a fast one with the first trick I listed: they'll hit the AH, see it for sale for less than what you're buying it for, buy it, and try to resell it to you for your price. (It must be the ONLY listing of the item, or the person will just buy the one that is listed for the real price instead of yours!). Here's the dishonest part: once they buy that item (the one you posted on the other character), just log off, say you don't need it now, whatever. Now you've sold that item for way over its value.

Here's an example. Get Ced's Carver on one toon. It sells for, oh, 50 gold on my server. So, I could list it for 80 gold or so. Then I'd get on another character and say in /trade "WTB Ced's Carver, 100g". The victim checks the AH, sees it for 80, buys it, and tries to sell it to me, at which point I disappear. Voila, Ced's Carver sold for 30 gold over value. Of course, this wouldn't work with Ced's Carver, because EVERYONE is trying to sell one (mostly because of Rogue treasure chest farming). Try to do this with a more rare blue that people don't see frequently.

I do NOT recommend using this beyond maybe once to see that it does work. I do encourage this sort of unconventional thinking, though! Be creative and you can stumble upon some trick no one has thought of, and ruthlessly exploit it!

Get the Edge in the Auction House

Something few people take into consideration in the Auction House is the ORDER that items are listed in. The major factor in this is what the BID is set to. So, if you're undercutting someone's buyout, and they have a lower starting bid, their item gets listed higher up on someone's search results.

Now, no one is going to buy an item they don't even know is on the Auction House. Every little edge counts, and this one is easy to apply. Before listing something, check to see what your competition is. You'll already be undercutting their buyouts (you'd BETTER be, if you're listing it with competition!), but make sure you undercut their BID price as well. It only needs to be a little bit, and that will ensure that your item gets highest priority in someone's search! Every little bit counts.

Wowecon.com

This website is a fantastic resource, often left unused and unknown to many players. The people running it collect all kinds of useful market information for you: prices of items over time, prices on different servers, items that sell too low, etc. It's a fantastic way to learn more about your market! I can't stress its usefulness enough to you all. The more you know, the more deals you'll find, the more efficient you'll be in your money-making. So, go surf Wowecon!

Price Manipulation For Easy Profits

Update: This method simply will not work. There are too many rich players out there, using the Auction House just like you. If they see your low prices, they'll snap it all up and relist it for 5 times your price. Even if you flood the market, it will all be gone. Unfortunately, the economies are too full of legitly and non-legitly rich players to pull something like this off. =(

So, this occurred to me as I drove to work today. I've been trying various things on the Auction House lately, and I plan to try this over the next week or so.

The way people make money in the Auction House is to buy low, and sell at actual value or even higher. But what if the low bids aren't low enough to turn a nice profit? If the market isn't gigantic (like Linen Cloth, or other low-level crafting items), you can tilt the market just enough to really make a killing.

Find your market of choice. The items must be frequently bought on the Auction House, but not so huge that you can't control it a little. Mid and high-level crafting materials usually make good candidates. Again, I'm using Mithril Bars. I buy all of the bars available at auction. I then relist a small portion of them for significantly less than they are actually worth. Seems crazy, I know, but bear with me. Now, when someone decides to post more Mithril Bars, they are forced to undercut you to sell them. Buy those, too. Buy all of them you need to in order to keep your auctions in the majority, and force the overly low prices. When you've built up a good amount, let your auctions expire/sell out, and post no more.

What we're doing here is deliberately driving down prices. If all went well, you've now got a decent stock of whatever item you chose, and you acquired them rather far below market value. Now, simply allow the prices to rebound to regular levels. It could take a day or two. To speed it up, buy out all of the auctions again, and relist them for the prices they went for before you drove them down. Now you can re-sell the items you bought at rock-bottom for their actual worth. You can even undercut for more than you normally would, because your profits will still be huge! If you try this, let me know how it works out in the comments. I'll keep my results posted.

Some things to watch out for that are occurring to me now that I'm checking out the Auction House:

• It must be an active market! If no one is posting items in competition, people are just going to buy your low listings, and prices will go back to normal.
• There is a risk that the market is smart enough that competitors will simply wait for your items to be sold, rather than lose their own profits to underbid you. For this reason, a gradual slide down in price might be necessary.
  

My Ore Experiment

Okay, so here's my latest experiment in the Auction House. I'm taking Mithril Bars, and buying every one I see. Usually, there's only 8 or 9 listings, so it's not a huge investment. Then, I break them up into smaller amounts (1-6 bars) and re-list them, but raise the price of each individual bar. For example, I bought 20 bars for 17 gold, which puts each bar at a little less than 1 gold. I re-listed them in smaller amounts, with the prices per bar at 1.5 gold. This way, the total amount is less, but I'm actually making profit. Also, I can now cater to people who only need 1 bar, or 2, or whatever, who might not buy if I listed in stacks of 20.


Really, it's just a way of tricking the consumer. Like how everything is $xx.99. The fact that it's 1 penny less than a whole new number doesn't matter, because it LOOKS cheaper, as long as the front numbers are small. So, this is kind of a dirty trick I'm trying, to see if I can short-sight the buyers and make easy profit.
I'll keep you updated on how this works out!

A Typical Day in the Auction House

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!

Recycle Raw Materials

It's amazing to me how many gold earning guides don't cover some of the less obtuse, more subtle ways to earn gold in World of Warcraft. Here's one of my favorites!

If you've got a crafting skill, you need to go to the Auction House and check out the prices on some things: Raw materials. The goal is to find unworked materials, buy them, turn them into something else, and sell that for more than you spent for the materials. This works, everyone, it just takes some careful planning or market information.

For example, a leatherworker might check out the price for Knothide Leather. If the price of buying 100 knothide leather is 60 gold, and the price for a stack of 20 Heavy Knothide Leather is 100 gold, you can buy the raw materials, rework it, and sell it at a profit. This gives you more skill ups, and free profit. You can do this for as long as you can find the raw materials in the auction house. It's especially useful for crafting skills, because stuff like this example don't have cool downs.

Open up your craft window and find an item you think people need. Search it in the Auction House and get an idea of average price. Then search out the components, and see what they cost. Even if the average prices come out to be the same, if the market is undervalue on the components (if people keep undercutting each other) or over value on the final product, you can still make a profit before the prices even out. You just have to make a point to look for deals like this.

So go to your Auction House and sniff around a bit! There are plenty of people waiting to be taken advantage of!

Technorati: Wow Gold Guide , World of Warcraft Professions , Auction House Tricks and Tips

Understanding the Auction House

The World of Warcraft Auction House is kind of like an entire game within the game. It's a system that is simple on the surface, but wonderfully complex with a little digging. Here are some tips to keep in mind when using the Auction House, to maximize gold earned.

Buy on the weekends, sell on the weekends. Weekends are the biggest time to play for most people. That means more people on the Auction House. Weekends are also the most common time to raid hard instances, so if you're trying to sell something needed for the instance (protection potions, for example), the weekends is the most likely time for them to get snatched up!

If you're saving money, you don't need to buy from the Auction House. You can keep yourself relatively well geared through quests alone, with a few purchases here and there. Be frugal! Those little bits add up.

Always set the auction to 24 hours. Anything shorter will only lower your deposit by a few silver, but will cut the time people have to buy it dramatically.

Always post a buyout that is slightly above your minimum bid, and slightly below the competition (Auctioneer can do this for you, and much more!). 90% of people on the Auction House will take a reasonable buyout, rather than bid and risk losing. Wouldn't you? Setting a good buyout will move your items more quickly.

Don't be a wimp. If you see an item up for 100 gold, but you know you could probably wait and sell it for 200g, don't be afraid to buy it. It might not move quickly, but it will eventually sell. It just takes patience (and knowing the market!).

Don't rely solely on Auctioneer. I'm looking at the AH right now, and there are 20 listings for Savory Deviate Delight. Auctioneer is listing the profit at 10g+ for each one. But I know that can't be right, because that means EVERYONE selling them is putting them undervalue. What it means is that the market is flooded with them, and prices are down. Learn to spot situations like this and skip them for now.

Study the market. Know what is selling quickly. Know what will probably never sell. Use your own experiences to judge what is worth money and what isn't. If you'd buy it, others probably would too.

More World of Warcraft Gold Earning Tips and Guides at Technorati

Understanding Your Economy

Each server in WoW has a uniquely balanced economy. A successful Auction House shark needs to understand the laws of supply and demand for their server. Some things to consider!

Server age. Is it a new server? If so, try to consider what YOU needed when first beginning on a server. Low level crafting goods, for example, would be in demand. High-level goods and items you might want to hold onto, until demand increases and drives prices up! If it's an old, well-established server, don't be afraid to raise the price on your good, low-level gear, especially good twinking gear like The Butcher. People will be rolling new toons, funded by high-level alts, and they can afford to pay extra for the convenience of buying good gear rather than finding it.

Patience! Before putting an item up for auction, consider the competition. If they are under value, don't sell yet, because you won't make maximum profit. Bidding wars can drive prices of items down for weeks at a time, especially for items in high supply like crafting materials. But eventually, prices will go back up. Wait for this! Don't be so focused on making a profit that you limit yourself. Alternatively, BUY LIKE CRAZY when prices are down. Then when they go back up, you can sell at a profit. It's risky, and can sometimes take time to come to fruit, but it can be worth it.

World Events. When a new instance is opened, do some research. What kind of monsters are in it? Before AQ opened up, the most expensive +resist gear was fire, because it was essential to surviving in Molten Core. After AQ opened up, the price of +nature resist gear skyrocketed, because it was suddenly in high demand. Also, the price of all the items needed for the turn-in quests to open AQ jumped by around %1000. Medium leather that was going for a gold a stack suddenly costed 10 gold a stack, and it was selling, because EVERYONE wanted it.

Do your research, everyone, I can't stress this enough. It isn't sufficient to simply use Auctioneer blindly. Yes, you can make a profit this way. But if you are able to understand, predict, and take advantage of the demands of the market, you stand to really make some serious gold. Just remember, you're a player too. If you see a shortage of something, or wish there was more of something available, you aren't alone - a lot of others probably agree with you. But if you're the first to take advantage of it, you win.

More World of Warcraft Gold Earning Tips and Guides at Technorati

Monopolizing on the AH

No, not THAT Monopoly. Microsoft-esque monopoly.

A monopoly is what it's called when one entity has control over an entire market. In the real world, it's illegal. In World of Warcraft, it's just MEAN. But it's also effective, so who cares!

This is the EMBODIMENT of the buy low/sell high mentality. Except in this case, you buy EVERYTHING (everything in your niche, at least), and sell even higher! This does require some startup gold, but if you've got it and you're bored, have at it.

The basic idea here to control the market. If you do, you can keep supply low, by only allowing the item to appear in small quantities, which will keep demand (and prices!) high.

Beginning the Monopoly - Choosing a Market
First, and most importantly, you need to find a niche or particular item you want to deal with. It has to be in high demand! In my opinion, crafting materials are perfect for doing this. I once cornered the market on Medium Leather. You can choose whatever item(s) you like, but heed this warning! It cannot, CANNOT be an item that is in too much supply! I'll explain why in the next section.

Make People Hate You
Now, get onto the Auction House and find all of the postings of your item of choice. Buy them all. Now, if you know your market (or even if you don't), you can now decide on a new price for this particular item. Was going for 4g per? Set that to 8g per. If anyone undercuts your price, buy it and repost it for a higher one.

Hopefully, you see why you can't choose a highly supplied item. If you do, as soon as you log off and stop buying new ones out, people will underbid you. And until you log back in to buy those out, people will be buying those lower price ones. Also, competition will keep the prices on these items lower than we'd like. For this reason, monopolies tend to work better with higher priced, rarer items, like higher-level crafting materials. And remember: as long as you have the market, you can control supply.

Another GREAT method is to pick a particular blue/purple item, preferably one everyone will need at some point, like Ced's Carver, a level 70 blue dagger. 60% of all level 70 Rogues seem to have Ced's Carver. And since it's a world drop and can't be farmed, that means almost all of them have to buy it. That also means the demand will always be high, and quantity fairly low, which means you can consistently own the market. Make a habit of inspecting people and seeing what they're using. If you see the same item all the time, and also see it at the Auction House all the time, it means lots of people want it and will buy it.

Happy monopolizing!

More World of Warcraft Gold Earning Tips and Guides at Technorati