I want to talk about one of the key aspects to this site and why I still have it up, and plan to use it in the future. The idea of maximum profit with minimal work in any auction house. If you go back to my first posts, you’ll see that absolutely that has been a theme throughout – no micromanaging commodities, no add-ons, just pure knowledge and manipulation of the buy low / sell high system for quick scans and maximum gain – typically less than a minute or two of work per session. Sound like something you’d want for your virtual life?  There is tons on this site to help you achieve that – and the info does not really go out of date regardless of your game (EQ, WoW – any game with an auction house or trading system), so dig in.

So, do I plan to continue to update this site? Absolutely. The next thing I’m planning on will hopefully be coming real soon, and will be free.  I hope that many of you, especially new users, will be able to benefit from the experience that’s provided.  Again and again, I’ve said playing the auction house and/or trading for your virtual items by far is better than grinding. Who wants to grind? I mean really – do you find combat that fun?  Why not get the best items you can possibly get simply by spending a few minutes each day in an intelligent manner rather than hours gathering and selling materials for profit?

If you read the comments of past posts – many of you have really benefited and are already making thousands of virtual gold.   I have taught this technique to several people in person and it became just as addictive to make easy money for them as it was for me.  The goal of the site is to be a great resource for those who want to take advantage of any game with virtual currency and do what most really don’t care to do – buy low / sell high. It’s not quite as simple as that, but it’s a great journey learning the process and eventually becomes second nature. Just read the comments and you’ll know that it really works – for anyone.

Yes and no.

Differences:

• I saw level 80 items (even if they were just crafted)!
• New categories added: glyphs are amazing for actual gameplay! But they’re crafted, so I expect to be keeping an eye on them to see if there are differences in rarity and therefore price
• Some new stats on items like “spell power” which requires some investigation on how it’s different than the old “damage and healing” modifier

Similarities:

• Prices of older items are actually taking a little while to go down as more people get the new stuff… so I’m still seeing maybe a 10-40% drop in overall value of most pre Lich King items on first inspection with definitely several exceptions in the 50%+ category. I expect this will keep going down fairly linearly.
• No new auction house filters which I thought was odd. It would be great to have a “skill level” filter for searching out crafting recipes for example.
• Still huge server differences in item/quality density
• Still big differences between alliance and horde in item quality and density, with alliance having the big advantage

Observations:

• Pet prices are inflated… some oldies like the White Kitten are already going for up to 100x the amount they sold for pre Lich King. I’d try and fit checking out pets into your routine somehow.
• Extreme sales are already happening! On first logging on with Celwyn (from the podcast), within 1 minute in checking out the epics I saw the epic lvl 70 robe “Will of Edward the Odd” selling for 6 gold. The other two were still selling in the upper 600′s so I think I’ll make a profit here.
• Insane jump in item powers post level 70, just as in Burning Crusade. Item modifiers are incredible and having played a priest through Karazhan several times (but not really further than that), I’m seeing things that are already competing with my epics in some ways and blowing them away in other stats.

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

What I’ll do is link to its own thread in a special forum where every one will be listed for download at the top, along with screenshots. In this way, people will be allowed to reply to them.

Summary of 1st Podcast: Introduction, and taking a brand new Night Elf Druid through level 9 all the way to Stormwind… the big city.

Without further ado, please go here for the 1st podcast:
WoW March to 1000 Gold: 1st Podcast

Preview of 2nd Podcast: What I looked at for the first sale, what I bought and was I successful? This will be the first time where I actually podcast as I’m playing and looking through the ah.

But let’s talk about you. You’ve made the plunge. Your friends / co-workers are on another server or you’ve just began playing this huge game for the first time. You’re level 1, 2, 3, 4… 5….. 6 on your first character on a new server. And you make it to bigger city and discover a) the trade channel by default with people hawking their wares, and even more, if you explore a bit, the mighty thing that is the auction house.

In the auction house, the revelation comes that with a little money you could significantly increase your gear, even at your level. That nice new magical sword will definitely kill things quicker. Or perhaps that wand. What, you didn’t know as a caster you could use wands and that they completely out damage any of your spells at early levels? Ah well, you’ll learn.

So how do you get the money for these items? At this point there’s not much you can do. By 10 to 13 or so, however, you’ve probably amassed enough to get started on a career of wealth. Don’t purchase that overpriced dagger for 1g just because it’s way better than what you have. A) the number one reason: you’ll be ready for an upgrade in less than an hour of playing, and B) you could use that 1g you’ve saved up for something that could make you another 1g and jumpstart you to having more than you could spend for gear at any level, at least from the auction house. Let’s hold off and wait for a deal.

The first thing you’ll want to do is search for rare (blue) items, by buyout price. In any MMO’s auction house, there are likely to be categories and item rarity. Make sure that you’re searching for a higher rarity but not the highest, and that you’re going one major category (armor, weapons, trade goods, etc.) . It is very likely, at least in World of Warcraft, that you’ll find your best initial deals in the blue trade goods, specifically enchanting supplies. Many times you’ll see some kind of deal to be had whether it’s small brilliant shards, or a single large radiant.

On one of my brand new characters I used this exact method, and scored a large radiant shard for 1g and resold immediately for under average, which at the time was 6g, a 600% profit. That 6g in turn allowed me to buy a rare lower level staff for 4g and resell it for 8g, and then I was on my way. If I would have bought that 1g sword I wanted, I’d be out of money, and would have to scrap enough together for new skills at my next level, and it would be a never-ending process.

Back on topic. You’ve sorted by category, now sort by buyout price making sure the lowest is at the top. This step is crucial. On each category you’ll get the lowest buyout price for some of these rares. Only look at things within your price range, assuming about 1g at the moment. Anything more well you can’t afford. Doesn’t hurt to look if you have time, but first look for the deal, then browse. If anything is under 1g, immediately scan the list for others like it and notice the average price, if there is one. If yours is significantly lower, snap it up, and then re-auction it for less than the next lowest by about 10%. Make sure to have your minimum and buyout the same price. As I’ve mentioned, and especially at this level, that means confidence.

If someone is interested in the item the last thing they want is a minimum with no buyout, especially at a low price. They want it now. So give it to them since you won’t be getting higher than the others up. And at this level of item, the actual rarity of the items you’re dealing in is low anyway, despite them being listed as “rare”.

Once you make a little profit, perform the same scan again and buy something within your price range. When you start to make a little money, move on to rare weapons and armor, looking for the same deals. How to search for them to find whether they are indeed a bargain has been covered in some of my first five posts. In a later post I’ll discuss how to begin using the auctioneer addon for World of Warcraft.

Note though that these techniques have been used many times without the aid of any addon. I’ve amassed my fortune using just smart searching and knowledge of the auction house. Not that they wouldn’t have helped, but as I’ve said, I’m a “casual” and I like to think – fairly smart auctioneer. I have a family and do not like to spend hours micromanaging my deals. I want to find them fast, large, and then get back off. That’s just me, maybe you have the time or desire to use both smart techniques and an addon for maximum profit. These are the things that will be helpful to others in the forum.