If you’ve spent any time selling in the auction house, you’ve undoubtedly encountered spans of time where your items just don’t seem to sell, even if priced below typical “market value.” The reasons can be numerous, so let’s look at your options in order of what you should try to make your sale.

• Price too high: First, double check that the price really is at or below market value. Find it at wow.allakhazam.com for a good measure of whether it’s at or below the median price. Even if your server is a little different, this is a good baseline to follow for the current market. And if your item is above or even at, try going anywhere from 5-10% lower and relist.
• Competition undercutting: For some reason, even though you picked it up when there were no others and knew you had a winner, there suddenly appears one or more of the same item listed below your price. Well now you have no chance until they sell first. So, your options here are to either a) buy them out if their price is significantly lower and you think you can resell theirs as well as yours, b) undercut them by 2-5% and get rid of yours – only good if you will still make a profit and believe the market is slowing for your item, or c) delist your item or let it run out and wait for there to be less competition. If you delist, then theirs might seem more unique and therefore attractive, and that competition could be out of the game sooner. If you let your auction run out, the same might be said that others see a lower priced bargain and grab it quick. Both have worked for me in the past.What you don’t want is an undercutting war, or if it becomes one, have enough money to then snatch theirs up and then relist one at a time for your original markup.
• Horde Side = Less Demand: This is currently happening to my main auctioneer on the horde side, for my main priest. I have very desirable items listed and they simply are not selling anywhere near their market value and haven’t sold for many cycles. I actually still have three (3) Spaulders of Egotism and none are selling even 500-1000 below the median listed on allakhazam. Reasons could be numerous, but mostly it boils down to demand. For example, server population is less and high competition for items isn’t occurring as it does in the alliance. People find one of the only guilds that are doing raids, and then simply use them for the typically slightly better items rather than bother themselves with the auction house. So what do I do? I simply keep reposting until one sells. I had to buy three because I was being undercut so heavily that I figured I could at the very least make a little profit on each of them when I sell one at a time.Occasionally I have been undercut to a minor degree and now am returning the favor, for lower than I really want to sell but while still making a profit, and that’s ok. Since I have three, I simply want to sell them off now and move on, but only at a profit. Not much else I can do except really accept that I will not make as much profit on them as I had hoped and just keep the money moving.
• No apparent reason: So let’s say you’re on alliance and your item is below market, there is no competition and it’s still not selling. What to do? My advice is to hang in there. One example. I had, like one of my readers, bought some Benefactor’s Gauntlets for 1500g thinking I’d resell for about 2400 (then the current median) and make a quick 800g or so with the AH cut. Well no sooner than I bought them that the next time I checked, there was another listed a couple hundred below mine. Pretty soon there was another, and even my undercut seemed to be getting too close to what I paid for them. Days passed literally with mine occasionally being the lowest priced and well below current median, but none were selling. Then suddenly I saw a pair for 900g-1200g, extremely low. That’s when I just took them back into inventory and decided to wait it out. Here’s what I’d do in this case. Every time I logged on to check on other things I’d simply post a “Selling (benefactor’s gauntlets). Negotiable” in the trade channel in case someone wanted to deal in person, even though there were some in the AH. None took the bait this time but they have before. Finally, there came a time when my listing would be the only one, so I listed them for about 1499g and guess what, they sold. I lost about 150g in total on the item, but compared to what I have made on just about every other item, I was happy to get rid of them.

To close, I’d say simply to weather the storm and do what you can to limit loss. It always ends on a clear day… whether that’s one listing or several away.

Tags: auction house tips, wow