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!

This is an exciting podcast. The lessons are bigger, the money is bigger, and it’s multiple sessions of “work” all condensed into one podcast. Enjoy!

To listen to the 5th Podcast, go here:
WoW March to 1000 Gold: 5th Podcast, 25g14s

Thanks for listening, and see you the next!

Tags: auction house tips, Just Starting, march to 1000 gold

Thanks again to those who have given feedback, and that even if you haven’t, it’s my hope you’re getting something from this tutorial series. This is 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!

In this podcast, things start to heat up financially. Though I begin not having spent all the remaining money in my account for the first time (97s was in my account when I checked the mailbox), things are looking up fairly quickly.

To listen to the 4th Podcast, go here:
WoW March to 1000 Gold: 4th Podcast, 2g97s

Thanks for listening, and see you the next!

Tags: auction house tips, march to 1000 gold

Thanks again to those who have given feedback, and that even if you haven’t, it’s my hope you’re getting something from this tutorial series. This is 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!

In this podcast, which is significantly shorter than the last, I make several more buys and play a little more with searching in the very early stages of having a lot of money… which is inevitable!

To listen to the 3rd Podcast, go here:
WoW March to 1000 Gold: 3rd Podcast, 1g95s

Thanks for listening, and see you the next!

Tags: auction house tips, Just Starting, march to 1000 gold

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

Tags: auction house tips, Just Starting, march to 1000 gold

Welcome to the first of the series where I take a brand new character on a new server in World of Warcraft to 1000g, explaining everything I do in the process without using the help of an add-on or other characters. I’ve decided that this will be a podcast. It’s actually my first, so I ask that you understand that the quality and/or professionalism will likely (I hope) improve and I’m hoping that you’ll provide constructive feedback on how it can be better or what you’d like to hear.

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.

Tags: auction house tips, Just Starting, march to 1000 gold

Getting the basic logistics down of how I’m going to deliver this, but I’ve created a Night Elf Druid on a PvE server. Night Elves and PvE were the clear winners of the votes, and having never played a druid before (and it getting a few votes), figured I’d have the most trouble making a fast run to level 9 or 10 until the 1st investment.

At this time I’m not going to list the server name since I want to keep this as experimental as possible. When this is over, I’ll name the server, my character name, etc. Also, I’m going to be podcasting this! And posting the links here and images on the forum along with descriptions when helpful/necessary. Just bought a new mic yesterday, one of those usb plug-in ones, but seeming to have trouble with huge static on the Windows XP desktop and not the Vista laptop. Anyway, I’ll sort that out and will be starting very soon! Stay tuned.

Tags: auction house tips, race to 1000g

I realize this site is barely off the ground but there are already a lot of tips and I’m ready to get started. I’m thinking of perhaps doing a podcast or just posts on my progress to 1000g from absolutely nothing, with no help, and NO add on. But first I need a new character in WoW. You can help by voting for what that character and server type will be:

• Race (any)
• Class (any)
• Server Type (PVE, RP, PvP, RP-PvP - I will begin on the type voted on using a server I currently have zero characters or friends on).

My mission: achieve 1000g by using only the techniques I’ve extolled here on this site. No add-ons, no help from other characters.

Your mission: Please vote with a comment on this thread and tell others about it to vote. The majority of votes for each Race, Class, and Server type will win, and that is who I’ll play and on which server I will play on. If you have a comment, great. If it’s just Race: xyz, Class: xyz, Server Type: xyz, then that’s fine.

I’ll keep this open until New Year’s Eve, midnight, and will begin the next day, January 1st ‘08 with a new character.

Looking forward to the votes, and if there aren’t any, I will still choose something and let you know! So let’s hear from you.

UPDATE: As of 12.24 7am, votes are as follows: Night Elf (Drae 2nd), Warrior (Druid 2nd), PvE (RP-PvE 2nd)

UPDATE #2: As of 12.27 5:34pm, it will likely be a PvE server, race uncertain but Night Elf in the lead. Also, another tip that I will again reinforce: perhaps *the* most important aspect to keeping your gps high (that’s gold per second!) is making deals with others. Can’t count how many times talking to others has made a huge difference, whether mail or chat. One of my previous posts goes into that a little, but it’s something I will come back to.

UPDATE #3: Here’s how it’s going to work, roughly. I’m going to attempt a podcast. Have audacity and am actually able to (woohoo!) talk while in WoW, so will be recording sessions as I play. The first podcast will be an introduction to the character, why I chose it and my first adventures in getting enough money for an investment. As I have a family and other life, updates aren’t going to happen every day, but I will make every attempt to keep them fairly frequent and even if a shorter session, it should still prove valuable. My main fear is that anyone on the server I’m on is going to make me find a new job after the advice! Hehe, I’ll survive.

Also, there will be pictures! I’m going to create an images section for just this experiment and reference the set of images during the podcast, with links on the site. Not that they will be all too exciting, but they should help reinforce. Happy holidays, again. Really looking forward to starting this.

UPDATE #4: Happy New Year everyone! It’s 7 hours away from the new year, and I’m really looking forward to starting this. Unless more votes come, it is going to be a Night Elf on a PvE server. I am not promoting the site tonight so I don’t expect any more votes to come in. We shall see!

Tags: auction house, race, world of warcraft

You’ve decided to either corner a market or buyout a stack of items and are wondering how best to resell them.  Here’s how to maximize your profits.

You may have noticed that when looking for herbs or materials for your profession, that there’s usually one person who has several items up individually for typically more money than if you would have bought them in a stack… sold by others. There’s a reason for this.  Oftentimes, people actually only need one or two to either craft a particular item or skill-up in a profession, or turn in for a quest.  While there definitely is a need for stacked items, you’ll do better to split them up and sell them either individually or a couple to few at a time, for a higher profit.

Now say you actually have that market cornered and have lots of supply to get rid of.  You’ll still want to roll them out in bits since less supply means more demand.  Do you have 20 thorium bars you want to get rid of. Do what a lot of other small timers do. Get rid of only a couple at a time until your supply is used up. Don’t put all 20 there, because people won’t grab it as fast, knowing it will likely be there tomorrow. Take a lesson from the video game companies when they release new consoles.  Create demand by lowering supply.

Also, if you’re on fairly frequently, don’t make the mistake some others do and put 10 individual items up.  That’s almost as bad as putting up a stack of 10.  It’s roughly the same demand as a stack of 10, only now it’s more money, which won’t sell as well.  Just put up a couple to few at maximum, then check back and always keep a small supply up. Another reason against this is that there could very likely be someone who comes in an undercuts you, then you’ll either have to restock the items after yours don’t sell, or at the very least, sell yours after their item(s) sell.

Tags: auction house, cornering market

Sure, they have more money than you, but it doesn’t matter… at least for me it didn’t. I didn’t want to be like them, was, and is willing to negotiate almost anything, and enjoy being honorable much more than infamous. Different strokes…. Yes, I realize I may be able to make more the other way, but I’m well satisfied.

So how can someone buying up rare items and posting them for insane prices really help you, the typical auction house guy/gal? Let me count the ways:

They make the market more volatile. These guys, especially in World of Warcraft, are infamous for buying up lots of items and reposting them at exceptionally unreasonable prices. What this means is that when you find a deal, especially when you find an item that they’re already posting for below avg, you can post yours for average or higher and will likely get that because of the other insane price making yours seem like a good deal. Even if another exact item isn’t up for sale at a huge price, typically due to the others in the same category being higher than yours, your item will sell.

They help raise average prices for the server’s entire economy. It’s odd to think that just one person can affect an entire economy, and in fact this is largely only by a small %, but over the course of a few weeks, especially in a newer, existing volatile economy, the insane price auctioneer can help stabilize things higher than they would have been if he wasn’t there in the first place. This means that people will and do often post items for “average” or below average prices based on other servers or sites like Allakhazam, when the actual economy is a bit higher, meaning you can resell yours for the higher price and make amazing money.

Here’s my favorite way they can mean more profits. This has happened to me lots of times in World of Warcraft and I laugh every time I visit the mailbox. I buy up a good deal, resell the item for usually around average, and then the insane price jerk (I have to assume not all of them are jerks but I have yet to see a non-jerk insane pricer speak out in public… maybe they keep to themselves) actually buys my item. Even really high priced items, I’ve had bought from these types of people, and then see back in the auction house. I’m just happy I made my profit.

It is easier on your reputation not to be the well-known insane price auctioneer. There’s usually a guy that’s made fun of for the prices, and you’re not him. Be thankful that people browsing won’t pass up your item just because of your name.

Tags: auction house, world of warcraft

You return to the game after a break, sure that you’ll see the “new mail” icon on the screen, a new sale, dollar signs for you. Hmm, no mail icon. A mystery to be solved. Why didn’t it sell? It was perfect, a good price, and highly in demand, and certainly by now it should have. So you check the auction house and confirm that yes, it’s still there. You do a search for that item and darn it! Someone has undercutted you and theirs hasn’t sold yet either!

Well you know the reason yours didn’t sell, don’t you. But now that two are up, especially at reasonable prices, the market feels safer and takes its time. No rush for either. What do you do?

Wait, it gets worse. You decide, like Pierre, “I don’t care.” You’re just going to wait it out. When you come back, no mail icon, and now there’s a third, barely undercutting the 2nd. It’s become war, you think. For this one item, I’m going to win. But now what do you do?

Here are the main strategies you can employ in an undercutting battle, like in this example:

• Wait it out: this first one I don’t recommend. You know that others are going to sell… eventually. But what is it I’ve been trying to communicate throughout this blog? Keep your money actively working for you. When it’s sitting as the most expensive on a heap of cheaper items, it’s not going to sell. Try a more proactive approach.
• Wait it out with a twist: now this one comes highly recommended in a few cases where it’s you vs. 1 or 2 others. Instead of waiting it out, actually give the buyers more incentive to buy your competitors’ items! Huh? That’s right, get theirs off the market in a hurry and make it so that yours is the only one up. How do you accomplish this? By putting your item up for a ridiculous price, but not so far out of reality or reason that people will only think that you are crazy. Example: you have an item that you believe is worth about 60g. You perhaps bought it at 40g hoping to make a pretty nice profit, and it’s now up for 59g 45s (that’s my trademark price… the 45s ). Well some schmuk (a smart schmuk maybe but since he’s working your territory, a schmuk nonetheless) comes along and posts his for 55g. Then another comes along and posts one for 53g. Ouch, you’ve been the victim of an undercutting war.

So let’s turn that into your favor. Put your item back up for around 95g. Now suddenly both of the others seem sort of reasonable, and they will go faster. This works especially well when there’s just one other item. Then, when they’re sold, in the likely case yours still hasn’t sold yet, you resell yours back for 59g, the original price. That’s called purchase incentive.

• Buyout the competition: here’s a common plan as well. If you’ve got an undercutting battle on your hands, if there are only one to a few of the competition and you’re pretty sure that the item isn’t going to be resold by more, at least in the near future due to its relative rarity… buyout the competition, but only if these conditions are true: a) you can resell them one at a time at either a slight profit given what you bought them for, b) a slight loss, but only if the original you had up can guarantee you a profit that offsets the loss by a significant margin, and c) if you’re pretty sure that you won’t be seeing the item up again from someone else. When you buyout the competition, be sure to only put one up at a time, else people will see this as a safety and not purchase as quickly. This is more true on higher priced items. Low priced items like profession materials or those with low relative profit can be put up in pairs or more, especially if the item is in constant demand.

Tags: auction house, undercutting