WoW March to 1000 Gold: 2nd Podcast, 95s
Jan 7th, 2008 by tyson
First, a huge thanks to those that have replied and given feedback, either in the comments here or on the forum. Welcome once again to this tutorial series where I take a brand new character (Night Elf Druid) from scratch on a brand new server and earn 1000 gold in the game World of Warcraft. This is without the help of any addons, extra characters, or of course, begging!
The 2nd podcast is a big one, and I take it live as I actually am searching through the auction house, and discuss what I see, what I buy, and what I do with the limited money I currently have after the 1st episode (which was 95 silver after collecting all the earnings from the first). You’ll find all the podcasts right on the forum with images. Feel free to reply to the posts with commentary, discussion, or advice of your own.
To listen to the 2nd Podcast, go here:
WoW March to 1000 Gold: 2nd Podcast, 95s
Thanks and looking forward to the 3rd! Will give those auctions a little time to sell 
Haven’t checked the MP3 (downloading now), but after watching the pics, I have two questions:
1) Why the Bid=BO?
2) Why don’t you save the herbs to sell in full stacks?
From my own experience as a buyer, I will most always ignore bid-only buys, so I always set a BO, but I usually set the bid to be the lowest value I’m interested in and the BO as a nice value that is within market values, but not equal to the bid value… Also, again from my buying experience and I do that for selling stuff as well, I favor those full stacks rather than buying one or two items, even if they’re priced slightly lower. When leveling a skill or replenishing stock, I usually think in terms of stacks, rather than units, so buying full stacks helps keep track of bag space required to store those…
Great comments. I do actually address the min=BO price in the podcast and on my site, but it doesn’t hurt to say it again. It’s not a law by any means, just a standard that I usually go by, and sometimes do break myself just to try out various strategies. For the most part though, it is my theory that people not only like to get in and out of the AH in a timely manner, but that seeing a min=BO price they feel that the seller is more confident and/or “firm” in the price of his/her wares, especially if it’s not a super round number (I like to make my silver number usually 45s), and overall has a moderate psychological effect, especially if the price is within range or even below avg. which is what I usually sell for. I have had great success with this.
All other things being equal, if there were only 1 stack on the market which averaged 20s per stack, what would you do as a buyer: bid on the stack that was min 14s 50c with BO of 20s, or simply buyout a 19s 45c item? Bid right? But as the seller you’re likely losing money and in addition, waiting longer for your money since you need to wait for the auction to expire to collect (if they don’t BO). I’m saying that by putting your min=BO price slightly lower than average or even undercutting everyone, you will not only have an instant buyer, you are almost always guaranteed a buyer due to price and psychology. With items in the hundreds of gold, it becomes less sure and is more time/price sensitive but the same theory has still worked exceedingly well for me.
Now, the not in full stacks is a matter of not *having* full stacks.
I was just beginning after all and not actually going out of my way to farm herbs. But it really doesn’t matter in this case. I had a few to get rid of, and there are always buyers at the right price, even if you or I say, wouldn’t touch non-stacks when leveling up all at once. Someone will, and that is a lesson I’ve seen over and over. There will always be someone who thinks that your price (even if slightly below avg. which is what I like to do) is too high or unaffordable or not worth it because they can easily get it themselves or a better version, if not cheaper. However, to those I say, go for it. There will be almost always be someone who finds the price acceptable.
Listening now so I’ll make a few comments along the way!
1) Weapon: not really needed unless it has some nice +STR/AGI because if you do most your fights in bear/cat form, the actual DPS of the weapon is meaningless.
2) This is a VERY long podcast and doing it “live” also doesn’t improve much. Maybe this is not the proper subject to podcast, maybe it’s just me, but following along is hard when you’re trying to do something else (the main advantage of a podcast!), in part because of the “live” recording rather than research/recording in separate steps, and in part because it’s hard “follow” along listening to the podcasts. I think it would be much clearer to have it in written text later edited for size with pictures showing up in the proper places about stuff being talked about…
Thanks, appreciate the comments. As for weapon, that was a grey weapon I used to help level up to 10. Would not fork out the cash for a green one unless I planned to level beyond that and/or had another character to lend the money. Would definitely like to hear from others if the “live” thing isn’t working. I can always sum up and that might be better in the long run but I am sure that some of the thought process comments won’t be there as well as I’ll miss some of the teaching. Maybe it’s a good tradeoff though for brevity?
We’ll see. They will likely get much shorter as time passes. This one did have a lot of content.
So far I’ve enjoyed the podcasts and of course the site in general, keep it up. As far as the “live” question, I do like the “live” feeling, but it may help to have a few bullet points written down ahead of time that you want to hit on as well as a general organization of the ‘cast planned beforehand. i.e. “I want to talk about what sold and what didn’t from my intial auctions, then about scanning for epics, then looking for deals on my 95s budget, then sum up and close.” That might help to cut down on tangents and keep the time lower. Good work, and thanks for all the tips.
Thanks, I think that’s a great idea. At the end of a podcast, I’ll recap the main points and techniques. Finished the 3rd last night but will post it later today and add something. This one is a significantly shorter session.
Tyson – Great podcast. Listened to the whole thing. What I liked about the podcast was:
- Your enthusiasm. You’re having fun and it shows.
- The raw, behind-the-scenes thought process on your strategy and buying/pricing decisions.
- The teasers of what’s to come – wheeling and dealing Epics. Woot!
- A different strategy. This early in your journey you’ve made some completely different buying decisions that I would have. Bravo! I’m excited. Even though I think my way is the ONLY right way, life always takes great joy in proving I’m wrong in spectacular ways.
- You’re ability to talk for nearly 50 minutes, off the top of your head, without straying off topic, extensive pauses or an army of Um’s and Uh’s is amazing.
Some opportunities for you to make sure people are getting the most out of it.
- Like others have said, make it shorter. Your podcast should be about 5 minutes long. Maybe 10. Maybe.
- Keep it focused. Most readers will want to know about how to go from 95 silver to the next level. I find the back story, Epic browsing and other stuff interesting but most will get frustrated.
- Don’t recap what you did the day before. Let people know where they can get the series and they’ll catch up themselves.
- Highlight the topics and learning points in your post. People will get more out of the podcast if you set their expectations.
Keep it up. Looking forward for the next one.
And the next.
And the next.
Og
Thanks, very thoughtful advice! Much appreciated. Will definitely make them shorter, and what’s great is that this is going to evolve to something better thanks to yours and others’ feedback.
As an aside, would be nice to know at some point how you would have started sans an addon. In the 3rd podcast, coming soon, I make mention that I haven’t done the new character thing in probably well over a year, before BC, and that a lot has changed both in economy and with the actual AH, so I’m relearning the no-money march too, but at least I’m sticking with techniques that I’ve tought about. It just takes some creative searching at the beginning
. I think it’s going very well so far as you’ll see in the next couple PC’s.
Hmmmm, how would I do things differently at this stage…
Weapons and armor are a fickle and a narrow market, heavy on the later part. For example, if you are flipping a level 9 piece of weaponry or armor the only ones who will by it are about the same level as the item and who can use it (there’s a 2-3 level window which is a small slice of your realm demographic).
The key is guaranteed turnover within 12-24 hours. I target items that have a large market with steady demand. To that end, my purchasing decisions early out would have focused in Trade Goods, Consumables and Gems (mats, bufs/enchants and mats/bufs/enchants). Sans add-on I would start looking for deals on the cloths (linen, wool, etc.), metals (ores and bars…primarily copper, silver, bronze), meats (clam, tangy clam, spider), spider’s silk, low-volume healing/mana/defense/swiftness potons, armor kits (anything above light), power-leveling enchanting mats (in small quantities) and mid-level/high demand herbs (briarthorn, swiftthistle, goldthorn, etc.).
The nice thing about mats is that there’s no toon level requirement so the demand is higher (at least that’s how my feable mind justifies it). Since there is usually a lot of competition for these items, and this is where an add-on, like Auctioneer, can help me quickly determine what the best deal is both historically and in relation to the competition.
I would do weapon and armor, but would do it if I couldn’t find anything anywhere else.
I have no doubt you’ll succeed. I’m counting on it! And it will be cool to see it done using a different strategy.
Oh, and watch out for Somone. He’ll keep you on your toes!
/grin
Og
Oh, just to clarify my “no toon level requirement” for mats. There definitely are requirements for leveling in professions. I should have rephrased it so that what I meant was that what level requirements there are for professions do not drastically cut down the size of the markets for those goods. Plus the goods in these categories are not restricted to a particular level.
Still not sure if what I’m writing is conveying what I mean, but hopefully you get my drift.
/facepalm
Thanks for sharing your alternate strategy! We definitely agree on “guaranteed” turnover in 24 hours. There’s no real guarantee but that’s what we go on. For me, I target things that have a smaller market (low supply) but a higher demand (the right stats / rarity)… I think that you prefer to target a large market but moderate demand, so my thought is that it nets out and that both work. However without addons, it’s also my thought that the large market items are more work to figure out what to buy and you’ll recieve lower profit unless you buy in bulk, which I can’t afford to do quite yet.
Higher demand but low supply/rare items naturally have better profit margin (exceptions to every rule of course), so I like that aspect as well. Weapons/armor with the right stats are very much in high demand and that’s why I target them first. It’s easy to see if there’s a deal there. If you have an addon, and have it set properly with accurate database, I can see buying large amounts of consumable/trade goods becoming very profitable and I definitely intend to read your guides!
My strategy changes depending on where I’m at in creating wealth with a new toon in a new place. Since we’re talking about what I would do in the same situation on day 1, those items I mentioned are my kick-off items to get the kitty growing. Once I get to about 30g or so I’ll start seriously looking at blues.
Still need to make time for the second pod cast – 28 minutes. Jeepers!
Thank you