Sunday afternoons are the Strangtlethorn Vale Fishing Extravaganza. Everybody that's anybody attends. Sunday afternoons are also the best time to camp the auction house for the fresh catch of the day. Most of the anglers fish up at least a few stray unwanted fish unrelated to the prizes and dump them for cheap on the AH afterwards. It's one of the best time to shop for firefin snappers, oily blackmouths and stonescale eels.
There's no need to ever pay full-price for anything and fish can be particularly expensive. There is also no need to farm everything yourself and spend all your precious warcraft time farming. Slip into the AH regularly, know what you need and make a quick scan for bargains. Know when AH patterns - when the mats you want to buy are cheap and the items you have made or looted will sell for serious dough.
I can make over a hundred cold a day in less than an hour by scanning the AH at the right times for the right goodies. There's nothing else a level one, aka my auction toon, can do to make that high an hourly rate. The AH is your best friend, particularly if you play casually and tend to solo. It opens doors to loot that otherwise would have been locked and opens a window to novices who sell for cheap and provides access to the rich who buy for plenty. I'll say it again, the auction house is a casual gamers best friend.
Showing posts with label Auction House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Auction House. Show all posts
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Monday, 28 April 2008
Nothing is free
I hear time and time again in the general, guild and trade channel the advice "don't pay good money in the auction house, go and farm it, it's free". But it's not free and I am not talking about the flight costs and battle expenses such as potions, food and drinks, although those should not be discounted. Just because you didn't pay for something, does not make it free. Every item you use is an item that has a market value and could have been sold for real virtual gold in your pocket, I mean bag.
Nothing is free. You may not pay for it in a way that is easy to understand, but you pay for it by not making money from it. In effect, that's very similar than paying for since it's potential earnings out of your pocket. You make not have any less money right now, but tomorrow you will have less money than you could have had if you sold the item instead. Nothing is free.
That brings me to the second point. Time is money. If you are going to farm, then farm for the most expensive thing you can at your level. Don't spend hours chasing birds for a hundred or more feathers that could have been bought for a few gold, if not silver. Farm where the money is, sell your farmed goods and then buy the feathers on the AH if you must.
Whether you farm, craft or work the AH, don't forget the hidden costs: auction deposits lost, the auctioneer cut, postage (30 bronze a pop do add up), the cost of levelling up professions, the cost of recipes and mats, travelling costs etc. I am far from a penny pincher, my postage tallies up to gold very quickly, but I do watch for small savings when I can. I hand things over to someone I play with, log out, log in the alt and then ask the person to hand the stuff to the alt - postage saved. I quest and build up good rep so that my flights and goods are discounted wherever I go. I try to stock up my regular supply where I have the highest rep and the largest discounts. I loot for health and mana potions as well as food and drink - or ask my very local mage to supply me free of charge. I buy recipes from vendors and trainers and plan my route before I set out to minimize travelling costs. Small things that accumulate to save me money.
I don't play the game to stockpile gold, I accumulate gold to play the game as it should be played - with good gear, full supplies and life's luxuries (potions and enchants for me) for pure indulgence sake. I spend my solo time making money so that when I play for fun with C, we can not worry about the money. Now that's how the game should be played.
Nothing is free. You may not pay for it in a way that is easy to understand, but you pay for it by not making money from it. In effect, that's very similar than paying for since it's potential earnings out of your pocket. You make not have any less money right now, but tomorrow you will have less money than you could have had if you sold the item instead. Nothing is free.
That brings me to the second point. Time is money. If you are going to farm, then farm for the most expensive thing you can at your level. Don't spend hours chasing birds for a hundred or more feathers that could have been bought for a few gold, if not silver. Farm where the money is, sell your farmed goods and then buy the feathers on the AH if you must.
Whether you farm, craft or work the AH, don't forget the hidden costs: auction deposits lost, the auctioneer cut, postage (30 bronze a pop do add up), the cost of levelling up professions, the cost of recipes and mats, travelling costs etc. I am far from a penny pincher, my postage tallies up to gold very quickly, but I do watch for small savings when I can. I hand things over to someone I play with, log out, log in the alt and then ask the person to hand the stuff to the alt - postage saved. I quest and build up good rep so that my flights and goods are discounted wherever I go. I try to stock up my regular supply where I have the highest rep and the largest discounts. I loot for health and mana potions as well as food and drink - or ask my very local mage to supply me free of charge. I buy recipes from vendors and trainers and plan my route before I set out to minimize travelling costs. Small things that accumulate to save me money.
I don't play the game to stockpile gold, I accumulate gold to play the game as it should be played - with good gear, full supplies and life's luxuries (potions and enchants for me) for pure indulgence sake. I spend my solo time making money so that when I play for fun with C, we can not worry about the money. Now that's how the game should be played.
Auction House Style
I fully support personal freedoms, such as the freedom to self-expression, as long as your freedom does not encroach on mine. But being the girl that I am, I find the multitudes of naked auction toons running around the capitals mind boggling. Part of me instinctively wants to say that only men could create a tradition of toons in lingerie, but that would be a sexist generalization. The business suit does it for me. I have my Ironforge Auction Toon neatly dressed in a three piece with matching black shoes and only regret that I did not pick a little more stylish hair-do during creation. I have grown very fond of her, little gold digger that she is. The least I can do is dress her nicely.
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Auction House Tip
Buy usable items, such as weapons, armor and potions over the weekend and sell 'em during the week. The majority of players play mostly over the weekend and tend to dump all on the AH after a run or a crafting stint. This results in an overflow of looted and crafted items from Friday evening to Tuesday afternoons, really. (Some auction are placed for 48 hours on a Sunday afternoon / evening). A buyers market is created by an increase in supply is not the best time to sell your wares.Wednesdays and Thursdays are optimal times for 48 hour auctions. It's when supply is lowest (everybody tends to hold back goods for weekend auctions that are larger) and profits highest, with the additional advantage of also covering the first wave of the weekend crowd logging in on Fridays. Contrary to popular opinion, on my server, I make my best profits through 48 hours auctions placed on Wednesdays.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Recipes on the AH
Recipes are one of the most difficult items to buy on the AH (Auction House). Some recipes are learned from a trainer, but could also be a drop, some recipes are purchased from a vendor whilst others are drop only.
The recipes that are trainer, drop tend to be much much cheaper at the trainer. It's not generally a good idea to buy these at the AH. The recipes that are vendor or vendor, drop is also much cheaper at the vendor than the AH. I prefer seeking out the vendor and camping it if necessary to save the 90% AH mark-up. The recipes that are drop only are a good buy when offered at a good price. However, whilst leveling up it's not necessary to own every single recipe. Some recipes will make things that will make money and others will not. Some you will make for yourself and therein will be the value, but you may be able to purchase a far superior finished item from the AH for the same price. It's therefore not as straight forward to decide which purchase is the right one.
The best solution I have so far managed is to first check on-line if the recipe is trainer/drop, vendor or drop. If it's available at a trainer, I never buy it on the AH. If it's available at the vendor, I check where the vendor is and how easy they are to get to. If it's a reasonable journey, I prefer to travel. If it's an unreasonably journey, I prefer to wait until it becomes reasonable. It's a rare pattern that I would pay 10x for on the AH. It hasn't happened it, but it may. The recipes that are a drop is generally a good purchase if it's a good AH price. If you discover that it's not a pattern you truly want to learn, then there's always the potential for re-sell.
When purchasing recipes, I always have a browser open on the patterns/recipes/plans:
The decision process is at least informed by knowing the details. If a recipe is a drop, I tend to look at the market price for the item as well as the recipe, what it disenchants to and the stats on the item. It requires knowing a little bit about classes and which classes favour which stats to accurately predict if an item will have re-sell value. Other than that, it's simply a matter of watching the AH and scooping up all the patterns that are drops that are available for a significant discount. Bargain shopping. Ahoy!
The recipes that are trainer, drop tend to be much much cheaper at the trainer. It's not generally a good idea to buy these at the AH. The recipes that are vendor or vendor, drop is also much cheaper at the vendor than the AH. I prefer seeking out the vendor and camping it if necessary to save the 90% AH mark-up. The recipes that are drop only are a good buy when offered at a good price. However, whilst leveling up it's not necessary to own every single recipe. Some recipes will make things that will make money and others will not. Some you will make for yourself and therein will be the value, but you may be able to purchase a far superior finished item from the AH for the same price. It's therefore not as straight forward to decide which purchase is the right one.
The best solution I have so far managed is to first check on-line if the recipe is trainer/drop, vendor or drop. If it's available at a trainer, I never buy it on the AH. If it's available at the vendor, I check where the vendor is and how easy they are to get to. If it's a reasonable journey, I prefer to travel. If it's an unreasonably journey, I prefer to wait until it becomes reasonable. It's a rare pattern that I would pay 10x for on the AH. It hasn't happened it, but it may. The recipes that are a drop is generally a good purchase if it's a good AH price. If you discover that it's not a pattern you truly want to learn, then there's always the potential for re-sell.
When purchasing recipes, I always have a browser open on the patterns/recipes/plans:
The decision process is at least informed by knowing the details. If a recipe is a drop, I tend to look at the market price for the item as well as the recipe, what it disenchants to and the stats on the item. It requires knowing a little bit about classes and which classes favour which stats to accurately predict if an item will have re-sell value. Other than that, it's simply a matter of watching the AH and scooping up all the patterns that are drops that are available for a significant discount. Bargain shopping. Ahoy!
Saturday, 5 April 2008
When to buy, when to sell
Auction House Tip Of The Day: Buy at off-peak times and sell at peak times.
In other words, for good sales, hold back all your key items for the weekend. If you want to sell things during the week, sell your lower priced items and only commit to 12 hour auctions that nicely cover the evenings.
When buying, log on when nobody else does, i.e. the early morning hours. On the weekend, shop for bargains on rarer items that may not be available at all during the week. On weekdays, buy the common stuff for a tenth of the price you'd pay on a Saturday afternoon.
In other words, for good sales, hold back all your key items for the weekend. If you want to sell things during the week, sell your lower priced items and only commit to 12 hour auctions that nicely cover the evenings.
When buying, log on when nobody else does, i.e. the early morning hours. On the weekend, shop for bargains on rarer items that may not be available at all during the week. On weekdays, buy the common stuff for a tenth of the price you'd pay on a Saturday afternoon.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Auction House Basics
It's virtually impossible to finance levelling up without making frequent use of the Auction House. Not all of us are budding economists, but a basic understanding is required. Even if you never buy an item on the AH, you definitely will be selling a plenty.
I was a little intimidated at first, but now that I have placed a few bids as well as auctions, it's surprisingly simple. There is no hard and fast rules to make money by putting things in the AH, but if you want to give it a go, there are a few simple facts that is most definitely need to know. All the basic formulas are at Wow Wiki.
Three pieces of information are crucial for any auctions in the faction AH.
One: On putting an auction, the AH will charge you a deposit immediately. In the faction auction house, the deposit is roughly as follows:
Three: If your auction is succesful, the AH will take a 5% cut.
Happy Auctioneering!
I was a little intimidated at first, but now that I have placed a few bids as well as auctions, it's surprisingly simple. There is no hard and fast rules to make money by putting things in the AH, but if you want to give it a go, there are a few simple facts that is most definitely need to know. All the basic formulas are at Wow Wiki.
Three pieces of information are crucial for any auctions in the faction AH.
One: On putting an auction, the AH will charge you a deposit immediately. In the faction auction house, the deposit is roughly as follows:
- 15% of the MSV (merchant sell value) for a 12 hour auction
- 30% of the MSV for a 24 hour auction
- 60% of the MSV for a 48 hour auction
Three: If your auction is succesful, the AH will take a 5% cut.
Happy Auctioneering!
Friday, 28 March 2008
Black Vitriol
I am ready to craft my philosopher's stone and looking on the auction house for black vitriol, I have been finding that most of it is sold in bulk. I simply do not understand this. As far as I am aware, black vitriol is only used as a reagent for one thing, and one thing only - making a philosopher's stone. Since each alchemist only ever crafts one, and each stone only require 1 black vitriol, why would anybody purchase more than one? So why sell it in bulk? I see this item in lots of 2's and 5's every day for the last fortnight and have come to the conclusion that (i) either the sellers are a little loopy and wrongfully expect it to sell or (ii) the buyers are silly and purchasing multiples when only one is required. I guess if you need one, but only two is available, you will invariably buy two in order to get one.
The irony is that I every morning I search for it, I somehow expect there to be only a list of singles to buy. How silly am I...
The irony is that I every morning I search for it, I somehow expect there to be only a list of singles to buy. How silly am I...
