Lich King Auction House - Current Lessons
Nov 29th, 2008 by tyson
So how are others faring in the auction house in the expansion’s infancy? For me, the server has cooled down a bit, with Celwyn still at around 1500g above what he started out with and about 3k in the auction house. I’ve had to lower prices a bit on some items due to competition.
However in an amazing twist, my horde side character on another server had 8 of 10 things sell in just one night, netting me an instant 1200g profit. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a mailbox full of successful auctions (as I don’t deal in lower price commodities and have a basic threshold for how much profit I want).
Here are the lessons I’ve had to practice over the last couple days:
- If something gets too low below average due to undercutting competition, just hold onto it until all the others are bought off and then put yours up for below average to get rid of it.
- Learn which items are fast sellers or fairly rare. An example is the blue leather “chain gang” leggings with +117 to stamina and also some agility. I won an auction for about 82g, relisted for an immediate 299g and profited within hours.
- Speaking of auctions, perhaps others out there has had wide success with them, but unless you are already starting your auction at a point where you are happy with the profit, then don’t bother. The auction house and general game design is simply not yet set up in a way that encourages heavy bidding unless you get lucky. Now if proxy bidding were implemented… it might become more lucrative and a fun thing to practice. Only auction during peak times and start from a profit in WoW as it is currently.
- Be patient. The auction house is all about swings and finding deals. There are lots of times where you’ll log on and will find several, and many others where you’ll just log back off with nothing. I have never had a dry spell where it didn’t eventually rain, and occasionally pour.
All good tips and indicative of my recent experience. I’ve netted about 5k gold since in the last couple weeks (since dumping 20k on the Tundra Mammoth) and have had success on higher level blue armor and weapons. I concentrate on world drop, rare items and recipes particularly jewelcrafting recipes. Unfortunately since the launch of the expansion the old world recipes have been slower to sell. I expect this will change when most people reach the cap and start leveling their professions again or taking up new ones. I’ve also flipped the odd stack of eternals or dream shards here and there as the opportunity has arisen. One thing that you have mentioned in the past and which ought to be emphasized here is the opportunity for deals in trade chat. People will utilize trade chat for quick sells and will often sell at 50% or less of the market price. I’ve made some of my biggest profits off of such deals. Never underestimate the allure of a quick buck; it can you rich if your patient.
Hi Sean, it’s definitely good to reiterate negotiating with people in trade. I actually have overlooked deals in trade chat myself since I’ve been back so thanks for the reminder!
How can u learn which items are fast sellers?
Hi Mitch, fast sellers are usually non-crafted items that you’ll find just one listing of in the auction house. For example, you scroll through the pages of blue weapons and notice that several types have 2 to 6+ listings of the same weapon at different prices, then notice one that doesn’t have any competition. When that happens simply look at the stats and the price. If the stats look especially good (for example the chain gang leggings have +117 to stamina… a very high, noticeable number but also comes with other decent stats too) then it is a likely candidate.
Basically the first check is that the item isn’t commonly seen with others like it in the AH. The second is that it has good stats and usually fetches a high price compared with other similar level items. You can always check the price immediately at allakhazam or wowhead. Then when you see the item next time, you can react if it’s got potential for profit.