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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsGold Capped Ask an Auctioneer: My first mailbag
by Basil Berntsen 
Jul 21st 2010 at 10:00PM
I've gotten quite the mail bag of questions emailed to me. I'm going to select a few and answer them approximately whenever I feel like it. Remember when writing your question that if you want to remain anonymous, all you need to do is ask!
The first question comes to us from Mahgo, from Dath'Remar (US):
I am emailing your for some advice regarding making gold on the auction house. I have most professions at max level.
I currently use Auctioneer to undercut when I am selling what I make. Do you have any advice or could you please point me for some help regarding niche markets, or how to tackle the whole market?
You're well set for more markets than any one person probably has time for. To start off with, make a point of scheduling your easy money. A few of the professions you've listed have cooldowns that have profitability baked in. Alchemy has epic gem transmutes, tailoring has bag cooldowns and jewelcrafting has the daily token quest that can net you a Dragon's Eye. Arrange your time so that you can do these very profitable activities as often as they're available. It's not scalable, but it's a sure thing.
Secondly, it's good to hear that you're using an addon to help with this. Auctioneering would be a massive pain in the neck if we couldn't automate stuff like buying and selling. You should consider adding Lilsparky's Workshop to your list so you can focus your crafting time on the most profitable markets. I posted a guide in my blacksmithing piece about how to use it. I assume you're looking for niche markets because they're generally more profitable, so skip the "niche" requirement and just go for profitable.
That said, if you're looking for niche markets because you want to avoid the heavy competition, you might want to look into blue quality gems and BoA enchant scrolls.
Cash for an epic flyer
Varkul from Azuremyst writes:
You're where a lot of us started off. I'm glad to hear you say that you're aware of how much (or little) you spend, as this is by far the biggest hurdle for most players. I'm not going to advise that you scrimp, though. You should be able to increase your income enough that you can afford not only your epic flyer, but also the little luxuries that people tend to want.I'm trying to get my epic flyer on my first 80 and it's painfully slow. I can only seem to stay at 1.5k g, and I don't buy anything. Can I have some advice on how to make the extra 2.5k (I have the rep bonus) as fast as I can so I will be ready for Cataclysm?
Start off by reading my casual auctioneering post. Pay particularly close attention to the "materials conversion" section. Basically, buying eternal elementals and selling them in crystallized form (you can right click on, for example, an Eternal Fire to make 10 Crystallized Fires) is slow but steady profits on most realm. There are a couple of different markets that work this way and require no up-front investment in a trade skill. The demand and profits are generated by the fact that some people really only want one or two of them and are willing to pay more so they don't have leftovers.
Also, while you didn't mention your trade skills, if one of your skills happens to be a gathering profession, consider farming out the money you need. Obviously without an epic flyer, doing it in Northrend or Outland would be tedious; however, assuming you have the fast land mount, consider farming in the high-level areas of the old world. Some older farmables will sell for more than their modern counterparts, simply because people need them to level professions.
Item listing totals
Vorin from Kilrogg writes:
I don't think Auctioneer supports that out of the box. As for your second question, however, I'd strongly suggest you take a look at my guide to using the snatch feature.Is there a way to get Auctioneer to tell you how many times you've listed a specific item? Either via a search or a tooltip note? Also, I would love a quick rundown on the Snatch List. I've heard it praised, but have yet to figure it out, nor have I found a simple explanation on its use.
Well, that's it, folks! This is as much wisdom as I can stuff in under my word limit. Stay tuned for more of the same, and keep sending me questions!
[Image credit: Stephoto]
Maximize your profits with more advice from Gold Capped, plus the author's Call to Auction podcast. Do you have questions about selling, reselling and building your financial empire on the auction house? Basil is now taking questions for a special series, "Ask an auctioneer"; email basil@wow.com. Filed under: Gold Capped
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Rockstaert Jul 22nd 2010 4:29AM
And of course is still get my free 100g from epic transmute every day :-)
I am nowhere near being gold capped, but I have enough gold to buy epic flying for every alt and to enjoy all the little pleasures in my Azerothian life I can wish for.
Ominous Jul 22nd 2010 5:01AM
"how to tackle the whole market?"
Without auctioneer. This column would have you think that there are no other auction addons, when there are plenty - with a lot less bloat and much more attention paid to the features you want.
Basil Berntsen Jul 22nd 2010 11:57AM
So what do you use to automatically post? QA3? How about for buyout queuing? The reality is that auctioneer does both of these things, as well as some other nice stuff. I really don't understand the perpetual hate-on some of you guys have for this addon. I write about it because I use it the most, but I certainly use other addons. QA3 is vastly superior for glyphs, for example, and I said as much in one of my posts. It's not superior for other types of business like enchanting scrolls, though. Also, I've not found another addon with a snatch list type feature at all.
Zenith Jul 22nd 2010 5:51AM
I really don't like auctioneer, it just takes one person listing an item for several thousand gold to inflate the average price, minimum price can also easily be changed by someone not doing research and posting for a fraction of the market price.
It also does not take into account whether or not the item actually sells(overall hard to determine but if it had a very long duration and a few hours later is gone then it either sold or was cancelled to be sold personally)
Regarding undercutting, that's something I see as part of the economy, but some people just don't know when to stop. Just this week someone kept undercutting eternal belt buckles with about 10 posts at a time, someone else started competing and the price dropped over 20 gold in one day
ladydeth Jul 22nd 2010 7:31AM
For Varkul and anyone else grinding out the epic flyer, dont forget the gems you can buy with Honor points.
When I was grinding out the 5k needed for epic flying back in BC, I took my hunter/alchemist to the Dead Mire in Zangarmarsh and farmed for primal life and flowers.
Going to Zangarmarsh now wont pay as well, but a herbalist can hit Zuldrak and pick flowers for hours.
A miner can go to Ungoro crater, and loop around the entire zone collecting Thorium. The entire loop (with noone else collecting) will take about 30-40min, and yield about 20 stacks.
Make sure you have a mod like Gatherer to help simplify things.
BigDumbFace Jul 22nd 2010 7:50AM
Saw one comment arguing against undercutting. I bit my tongue and moved on.
Saw another comment arguing against undercutting. I felt the urge to comment, but passed.
Several more comments arguing against undercutting... and here's a response to all of you:
Almost every single one of you posted that the argument against undercutting is "I've seen the price drop dramatically in just a day! Sometimes a couple days!" You people don't understand how a free market works, apparently. People dropping large amounts onto the market at once will, obviously, lower the price of items.
None of you seem to realize that if you're planning on using the AH to gain a profit... it's not about a 24 hours period. It's not about a 7 day period. The market will, ALWAYS, stabilize. Just because you've used horrible timing in placing your auctions doesn't mean that the people watching said market over a prolonged period are "doing it wrong" by undercutting you. We know when to do so, and we know when not to do so.
But, please, by all means. Continue to match our prices when we do post and we'll gladly accept take the gold you could have made.
Basil Berntsen Jul 22nd 2010 7:59AM
Yup- undercutting is the mechanism that supply uses to reduce price. People always say that having more supply has a negative pressure on price, but many people don't understand that this really means that people will undercut more to try and sell more.
SunGod228 Jul 22nd 2010 9:50AM
Sorry but I would argue that the type of undercutting described in these articles is rigorous and constant undercutting based on estimated prices collected from tools without gaining a sense of the true value of the item.
Using price elasticity to always sell your auctions and make you feel like your making money doesn't mean you are making as much money as you could by posting things for the right price at the right time.
If I relied on auctioneers pricing (which i scan the ah with every day) to establish my pricing I would be taking a loss because most items I regularly trade I sell for 60-70% of auctioneers market price estimate.
jrizutko Jul 22nd 2010 10:55AM
If people are undercutting who cares? They're either undercutting at a reasonable rate (more power too them!) or undercutting too deeply which means free profit for me by buying their stacks and relisting them when demand is back up. There are soooo many different markets that if one is shut down by low demand, its easy to shift your investment into a market thats more profitable.
If your auctions don't sell, its not someone else's fault. Its your own. Evaluate better. We all make bad investments. The key to making gold/ money is to diversify into multiple markets and make more good decisions than bad ones. Stop peeing into the wind and start selling your urine to people who need it to pass drug screenings.
SunGod228 Jul 22nd 2010 11:20AM
"Stop peeing into the wind and start selling your urine to people who need it to pass drug screenings." rofl that should have been one of the goblin /sillies that is epic sir I salute you.
Ghost Dancer Jul 22nd 2010 11:54AM
Free markets work well in the real world where goods & components have a tangible value. But in a computer game this does not apply. I'm sure you have all seen items in the AH sell for less than the sum of its components, but that is just the nature of how the materials are obtained within a virtual game world.
As I mentioned before I do not under cut and sell 99% of my goods. The few that do not sell are usually due to lack of demand rather than the price.
Boobah Jul 22nd 2010 1:00PM
@ghost dancer
Dude, nothing in the real world has intrinsic value, either. It's worth what someone will pay for it. No more, no less. It's worth noting that not everything is paid for in cash; political favors are another popular currency.
Yes, you'll see stuff up for auction that won't pay for its own materials. Guess what? The creator already extracted value from it; he got his skillup attempt.
Twan Jul 22nd 2010 8:21AM
A strong and maintained snatch list is vital.
Amaxe-1 Jul 22nd 2010 10:58AM
I don't see the dailies and the AH selling as either-or as some have said.
I do the dailies, pick up the ore and herbs as I fly through. Convert the ore, do the transmutes. Then ship them and all the sellable items that drop to a bank alt for sorting.
I use AuctionLite. I used to use Auctioneer, but decided I liked this one better because it was faster and more versatile.
Its-a-me Jul 23rd 2010 4:21AM
What are your experiences with playing the auctionhouse on low-pop servers?
My realm is severely underpopulated and it can be really hard to find enough buyers for glyphs etc., and that's despite of the benefit of having a monopoly. Are there better ways to make money when the markets are that small?