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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsAsk WoW Insider: Are BoE drops still worth selling on the AH?
by Barb Dybwad 
Apr 6th 2007 at 3:20PM
It's time once again for our weekly edition of Ask WoW Insider. Last week we asked you about WoW client performance on a Mac, and this week reader MrRaist wonders about the usefulness of listing BoE drops on the auction house after the expansion: My question to you is: Are BOE drops still worth it? It seems that anything that drops for me, green or blue, never seems to sell anymore on the AH. Most quests give better rewards than BOE drops, and I end up vendoring the drops for instant cash, rather than paying the AH fees. Even a decent BOE blue drop was vendored after 7 or 8 shots at the AH, lowering the price every time. Consumables still sell really well, but not weapons and such. What is WOW Insider's thoughts?What's been your experience with selling your BoE drops since the expansion -- harder? easier? Do you have any tips for selling items -- set at lower buyouts? advertise in trade channel instead of putting on the AH? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and send us your questions for next week to ask AT wowinsider DOT com.
Filed under: Economy, The Burning Crusade, Ask WoW Insider, Making money
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Rich Apr 6th 2007 6:24PM
I sit until I get a full netherweave bag full of BoE greens and blues then AH them on the weekend. I usually sell one or two of the items so I make back my deposit and make some profit. Anything that doesn't sell, gets split into 2 groups, ones I think might be worth selling again and stuff to DE. If the group that gets sold again, fails to sell the second time around, it gets DE'd.
Since I am working on tailoring, it's supplying me with a ton of Arcane Dusts and Extraplanar essences. I am to the point where I have enough supply for my needs, the extras are getting AH'd at a nice penny.
Bobby Hansen Apr 7th 2007 5:07PM
I just dinged 40 tonight for the very first time in 6 months of play.
I was able to fully take my Draenei shammy to the Trainer, buy my mount, and outfit with a (reasonable) set of AH equipment and STILL have 100G left over. At 40.
This is due to the AH. Using Auctioneer. It's a bit annoying, I admit, but it does become your world. A few days, 20 minutes a day scanning the AH to develop a price history, and blam, you are good to post anything, and I've moved things 50 levels ahead of me, and level 10 green drops, and all kinds of trade goods.
So yeah, the AH works. Just have to work it right, and have the right guide.
Teh Destroyer Apr 7th 2007 4:51AM
To that I say, you friggin noob of course they are. I would have been right along with him on this but today, for the first time since getting two characters in Outland, I found a BoE epic. It's called The Night Blade and as you can see [url]http://www.thottbot.com/i31331[/url] it's currently THE best offhand rogue dagger in the game. Sold for a nice fat 1400g. Needless to say I'm quite ecstatic.
BenMS Apr 7th 2007 7:22AM
Yeah, BoE blues are going ok, BoE purples are worth a friggin mint (I sold a Blade of Wizardry for 1.5k)but basically only Of The Champion and Of The Bandit greens are worth anything. The rest are pretty much Of The Vendor.
uncaringbear Apr 7th 2007 9:32AM
When I leveled my first toon to 70, the AH on our server (Silver Hand) pretty much went downhill, with the number of items dropping off the map. I had very little success auctioning the various green and blue items that I picked up from the Outlands. Over time, I think players slowly adjusted the prices to be more realistic, and I noticed more of my items began to sell. As poster #11 said, know which types of items are in demand and sell well. Be realistic in your pricing, too. However, I do think the selling fees in the AH are a bit steep. It's also a pain not having an AH in the Outlands. It really discourages players from putting items on auction. I would not be surprised if this changes sooner, rather than later.
prax Apr 11th 2007 10:16AM
I have been using the auctioneer mod as well, but my server's economy is so shot, that most often-- even after days of scanning to establish a history-- Auctioneer will indicate "Cannot match lowest price." Kind of annoying to witness massive, ongoing price deflation.
Literally overnight, a stack of 20 thorium bars on my server dropped from approx 40g to 20g-- too many people farming and spamming the AH with low-priced items! Ah well, there's not much you can do except report the sellers with suspicious names like "Qwdfgwtgfw" who are trying to sell 40 pieces of the same item at the same time...
Viet Apr 11th 2007 3:50PM
I agree with #11.
Also, I usually only set the items for an 8 hour AH run to save money on the deposit. Keep the buyout and bid within 1-2g and you don't have to worry about bidders waiting on items.
I don't sell weapons, but I usually look up prices on allakhazam and set the price a little lower. Either way, often times things just don't sell.
ErsatzPotato Jul 4th 2007 6:53AM
Short version: use wowecon & make friends with an enchanter. See why below. Other than that,
Some great items will never sell because there are quest rewards as good or nearly so at the same level. Don't think anyone has made a list (that'd be great!) so just got to learn them. The helm rewards in Terokkar are an example. DPS caster staves around 66-67 are dead, everyone will get the baton from Nag. Tends to kill the amazing one hand caster greens too.
Don't bother sitting in trade unless you have something truly rare. Don't list those truly rare items on AH. Blue BOE world drops aren't all that rare.
Don't relist green weapons & armor. The deposit is just too large.
Why wowecon?
The econ tooltip gives likely DE AH value AND what it will DE into, AH value, and vendor price. It's less accurate than Auctioneer on stuff like mats but you can eyeball those on AH anyway. Both are junk for epics but Auctioneer is better. (Unless Auctioneer improved recently, its DE into info is dodgy. Econ has been spot on for me 100%.)
The crucial bit is the DE AH value. At a glance you have a good read on what to do. For my tailor it works out to 80% DE, 15% vendor, 5% list for 24 hours on a weekend. For non-tailors not wanting piles of dust & planar, probably some additional vendoring.
Second most useful value is vendor, because that lets you choose the highest value quest reward if none are upgrades. Lowest to highest can be a difference of three or four gold. It's not always the plate that's highest, either.
PS Big thanks to this blog for pointing me at WoW Econ. Tried it when Auctioneer was in update spasms and never went back. They've different strengths but I'm a convert. Woot no standing at the AH for fifteen minutes a day updating! Darn resource hog though :(