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

Don’t be afraid to sell off an item for slightly less if it looks like you won’t make a profit. Don’t hold onto it forever for a few % profit. Just dump it and find another deal. You want your money to be in circulation, working for you, not static.

I can recall several times where I got caught spending most of my money (when not having a ton) on one item I thought would sell, having it up for a few days, and then during that few days seeing other, more lucrative, smaller priced items go on sale. That’s when it was frustrating. Just sell off your item for a smaller profit if this is the case and get back working.

Here is when you need to cut your losses:

• Money is locked up: You’re running short on money and have had the same item up for a few days without being able to take advantage of other offers, potentially more lucrative.
• Cornering a market isn’t working: So you find a niche which for a little while works. Perhaps it is enchanting supplies in relative high demand, and you buy up all of them at a discount, and resell for a small profit. (This is micromanaging and what I no longer do, but did once.) Well along comes another person who significantly undercuts you and the demand, due to higher supply, suddenly dwindles. It’s now his or yours and of course they’ll choose his. Only problem is, that he keeps putting them up and doesn’t seem to run out of supply. It’s time for you to move on to greener pastures.
• Your one of a kind item is now two: You spent a lot of money to buy up an expensive item, one that you figured would take a little while to sell anyway. Now there’s two on the market. Where’d that other come from? No matter, undercut the other person, get rid of it, and move on. You can wait it out if you have the time and extra money to spend on something else, and there are techniques to make the process go faster, but I’ll get to them in another post.
• Market has changed: here’s one that happens on occasion and will happen to you, too. This is actually a huge topic that I’ll just summarize at this time. I used to make a lot of money in rare set pieces. I knew how to search for them, exactly what prices were good and would sell. In a gold buyer’s market I’d make a fortune from people who would put theirs up according to some average - like auctioneer or allakhazam - and since the market wasn’t really like that, but instead prices were super inflated, I’d snap it up, and would easily sell it for a huge profit. This is a case where your auction house smarts are absolutely better than any other tool. Anyway, you have a surplus of inventory, or even one or two items that you know have changed from desirable to less than desirable, or you know they will soon enough.Take the case of a new expansion coming out, or a new patch with new items. You buy one of these newer items or have a leftover great item for what seems a good price, and you know that since there are much better items overall that people will begin using, the price of this item will go down, and soon. Get rid of it as soon as you can. The longer you hold onto it, the less you’ll make.I made the mistake of buying an epic enchanting item called Void Crystal when they first were on the market. There was a frenzy for them at around 200g per crystal. In just a few days when the rarity settled, the price went to about 100g for a few weeks. Then it was 70. Now you can find them for less than half that. Don’t get caught up in the flood of a new hot item unless you know for sure it is a good deal that will last or you’ll be able to sell it quickly. Most likely there are others who are caught up as well.

Here’s how to cut your losses. Put the item(s) up immediately (if not too many of them, definitely not more than a couple per bunch), undercutting any others there. If it’s already at too low a price, advertise in the trade channel “[item] for sale, cheap! Just whisper. CoD available.” Do what you can to get someone to agree to a CoD without looking at the auction house, and give it to them for a fair, if not slightly higher price than those undercutters already there. Begin looking for new deals immediately to offset your losses. Good luck.

Tags: auction house, losing money

When you’re looking for deals, beware of what seems like a reasonable or even good deal, especially on armor, at least in World of Warcraft.  WoW’s professions have always been extremely broken.  I was in the alpha and remember when Enchanting actually used herbs. Seems strange doesn’t it? Well at that time you could also distribute points into stats as well.  Ever since those days, professions have been broken.

Time for a temporary rant. I’m playing a game where as you level you have absolutely no use for the items you can craft pre highest level (70 currently). How is this good, or fun in the slightest?  Now in general, WoW is fun. Not nearly as fun as EQ was when I was playing that way back when, but that’s another story. I’m talking EQ 1.  Professions in WoW suffer from one major thing: that you level too fast for your gear to mean much of anything. You barely put on an item, crafted or not, and you’re ready for an upgrade.  This of course stops at level 70 (currently) where you’re capped and where items mean just that much more for the hardcore player.  I could write an entire article on professions and how they could be fixed, but it wouldn’t be appropriate for the front page. Maybe in the forum. I’m sure the designers are well aware, though why they aren’t doing anything about it I have no clue.

Back to the task at hand. When you’re looking for items in the auction house or trade, beware of items, especially pre-60 armor, that seem unusually low in price. Ask first if it’s a player crafted item. At level 70, it’s not as much an issue, as rare or epic level 70 craftable gear is actually desirable. But lower levels, it’s very selective and since you’ll often have multiple people who are making it, not worth as much.  Rule of thumb. Always be sure whether the item you’re getting is crafted or not, both at lower levels, and at the epic level.
Set Pieces. In World of Warcraft, set pieces pre level 60 were often worth quite a bit and were worthwhile to search out on their own as hot items. Now, set items are mostly crafted or bought from faction vendors. Since you outlevel that kind of gear much faster now, pre-60 set pieces in Burning Crusade+ mean almost nothing. They are useful for reminiscence mostly, and actually are better than what you can get… for a few levels at least.

If you’re playing another game, set pieces are probably going to be worth it to consider searching for deals. They were big money makers for me in the past and if not outdated, are definitely a hot item in any game. Look for them in your game of choice.

Tags: auction house, set items

Farmers want one thing, to get rid of their stuff. Fast. For the highest profit. But even better, fast trumps profit.

Never be afraid to open up negotiations with someone. Always /w them if they advertise, or if they have something up that you know you might be able to put up for more, and ask for the same item, even if it’s at a deal already, for less. I’ve probably saved thousands this way. With farmers, you need to be firm. They will negotiate but you need to have a low-reasonable offer in mind. How do you know you’re dealing with a farmer? One, they don’t speak english well, or very abrupt with little tact, straight yes/no answers, and something like this:

farmer: you want [item]? yes?
you: yes, I do
farmer: [item]?
you: yes, I would like that item
farmer: 100g, yes?
you: I will give you 60g
farmer: no reply for a minute
farmer: [item]? yes?
you: yes, 60g
farmer: no, 100g
you: I will go 75g, and that’s it
farmer: 90g, yes?
you: 75g and that’s all
farmer: 85g yes?
you: [now be firm] 75g and I’ll meet you at the ah
farmer: 75g ok
you: ok

Don’t be excited whenever you get a good deal. Two, you started up communication because you saw them advertise their wares in the trade channel. This is by no means foolproof, as there are way more non-farmers advertising than farmers. Three, they’re pushy. Four, they will negotiate. Many non-farmers want the best price possible, even at the sacrifice of a deal. There’s an epic I’m currently bargaining for through mail. It’s being sold for 1500 but I’m asking 1100. He replied that the lowest he’d go is 1300. So I replied that I’ll go 1200. It’s actually an item I want for my priest so I’m kind of cheap that way. I will not go another 100g because the item’s already slightly overpriced, and he may not go down to 1200g even though it will guarantee him a sale. People are stubborn. Non-farmers are stubborn. Farmers negotiate.

Tags: auction house, farmers, People Skills

When this site gets slightly more mature, I’m going to start my own new character and chart my progress here on the site.

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.

Tags: auction house, Just Starting