Dubious practices #1: Auctioneering
by Jennie Lees 
Dec 20th 2005 at 3:00PM
It's
sometimes hard to work out what sort of behaviour and practices are acceptable ingame, and the "grey area" of
slightly dubious practices is filled with dodgy dealings that some players applaud and others despise. One of these is
auctioneering--the well-established practice of playing the auction houses to maximise one's profit.One of the most common tricks players use is to have an alt sitting in the AH, and to mail goods for sale to that character. You can then log on as that character--also called a mule--and do your AH trading without the bother of having to transport your main character to and from the auction house. More advanced strategies involve the use of tradeskills along with the mule, such as learning Enchanting so that you can disenchant any rare items: enchanting components often sell for more than the original item. You can also give your main character gathering skills (mining, herbalism or skinning) and your mule corresponding crafting skills (blacksmithing, alchemy or leatherworking), even setting up strings of mules for the most efficient use of your loot.
Given that this is a common tactic, and works particularly well when raising cash in a hurry (such as for a mount), the amount of vitriol directed towards mule characters is surprising. On the one hand, it is silly to travel to and from the AH yourself when you can set up a second character and save on the legwork--on the other hand, there's something decidedly incongruous about having a level 5 character selling gear suitable for level 60s in the trade channel, or in the AH. On roleplaying servers, mules seem less common, probably because the idea doesn't fit in with RP very well (although stories of slavery have been given to justify it).
Along with mules, the use of the Auctioneer addon is also increasingly common, as it does a great job of spotting bargains and advising you on prices. Enchantrix and similar addons are also useful for speculating; however, it's possible to outwit Auctioneer users, and some players believe it takes a lot of the fun out of AH trading.
All in all, the usefulness of the auction house is without question,and there are various methods to get the most value out of your time there (not limited to the above). However, be prepared for scorn and occasional public chastisement by other players for doing so--and ridicule if you don't.
Filed under: Enchanting, Tricks, Economy
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
L'Emmerdeur Dec 21st 2005 4:39PM
I don't think anyone has an issue with buying underpriced items. However, there are people who will post items with ridiculously high prices, knowing that this will skew the Auctioneer values upwards. Then, they can auction items at prices that are higher than normal, but seem somewhat cheaper than normal when compared to Auctioneer historical values. People who are not aware of market values will end up paying these inflated prices, thinking they are cheaper than normal, when they are in fact higher than normal.
This is because Auctioneer only saves a few days' worth of prices, so it only takes a few auctions with absurdly high prices to skew the data in Auctioneer.
Apeiron Dec 21st 2005 5:33PM
Yea I check the AH regularly, but in all reality, there are no "normal" prices, its simple supply and demand. If theres no elixirs of agility up, I make some and put them up for 2x the normal price, just cause theres none there. :)
syco Dec 21st 2005 5:46PM
I take advantage of the price differences between the weeknight and the during the rush on weekends. I tend to invest in a lot of (for example) Mageweave cloth and stash money during the week, and when the weekend comes around I spend the money to buyout anyone who's severely undercutting the market, and dump my goods at a reasonable profit. I don't do anything manipulative, like trying to control the entire Mageweave market. I'd be generally against that. There's a fine moral line here, and the closer you get to it the more money you make, but since there's no price fixing laws in Azeroth it's sometimes hard to know where that line lies.
Stimps Dec 22nd 2005 5:18AM
If you're going to use Auctioneer a lot, you're certainly better off picking a small number of popular items and concentrating on them - that way you'll get to know their approximate value, and be able to spot when people are trying to undercut the market, or as L'Emmerdeur says above, people trying to inflate prices.
One problem I found with my AH mule was spreading myself too thin - buying everything Auctioneer highlighted as being a good deal. I ended up dumping a load of it onto a vendor just to get rid of it!
I think that - in conjunction with selling items gathered from my main character - you can make a decent profit from playing the AH (My alt started with 5g and made 80g profit in two weeks!).
I have to admit to still using my alt for AH duties, as it's quite fun and a change from normal gameplay. I suspect the next step is either trying to inflate prices or to control the market for a given item, just to see how easy it is...