Breakfast Topic: AH undercutting = bargain shopping
by Robin Torres 
Sep 26th 2010 at 8:00AM
It's not that I am all for people being mean to each other. Oh, no. I'm on record for being very much against that. But I think that players' trying to undercut each other on my local AH leads to a big win for me and my crafting alts: bargain prices. Whether it is just a casual player's using Auctioneer carelessly and selling stuff at accidentally low prices or a big war between mat vendors, if I time my purchases correctly, I win -- and honestly, so does everyone else trying to buy the affected items. This, of course, mirrors real life. When stores have price-cutting wars, observant consumers win. Duh.
Of course, it's inconvenient for me when I want to sell something that is currently undergoing an aggressive price drop. But if I am patient, I can usually sell my wares when there is a lull. Or if it is a high-demand item, such as mats needed for leveling a profession, I can just sell them at the price I'm comfortable with, or "overcut." With a 48-hour listing, the high-demand mats will sell through enough for my more expensive items to start selling, too. (For more information on making money in the AH, please see the awesome Gold Capped column.)While I do think that Quick Auctions Poster is likely to be outlawed by Blizzard due to its being awfully bot-like, I am of the opinion that programs like that and the aggressive use of Auctioneer are good for the casual customer as well as the people who play AH PvP for fun and profit. Besides, bargain shopping means more money for alts! Yay!
What do you think of the price wars on the AH? Do you even notice them? Are you able to sell your wares without having to participate? Or do you think AH PvP is ruining the game for the casual merchant?
Filed under: Economy, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Adeany Sep 26th 2010 8:08AM
Auction house PvP is a lot like any other type of PvP in that the only people who dislike it are the ones who are absolutely terrible at it.
Jamie Sep 26th 2010 8:11AM
Well, I'd agree with you but you can have people who are just sore losers/winners, although I don't doubt that if you're good at something you're not likely to whine.
a.atchinson Oct 6th 2010 8:26PM
I wish they(blizz) had some other kind of market system that wasn't dominated by RL stock traders and mathematicians. In a game of fun and questing it's frustrating to have a such fierce competition in prices that hurts spirit of the game and in my opinion takes away from the real point of having it.
Jamie Sep 26th 2010 8:09AM
I play with /leave 2, so I don't get the drama I just wish more of the items I wanted from the AH were popular, metals like iron & mithril certainly aren't under dispute by the AH PvPers.
I very rarely even use the AH for selling my goods nowadays I think the height of my selling expertises is selling any Linen Cloth my character acquires to get a little bit of money while setting up on a new server, that's enough of a buzz I need when I see the "A buyer has been found for your auction.", woohoo!
I do recall back in 3.1-3.2 my GF (she's the one who does the AHing and had Auctioneer addon) was complaining how she couldn't sell her shards any more due to an influx of undercutters, the loss in money there is the only time this kind of thing had affected us and it certainly wasn't like we cared enough to persist in selling on the AH.
Fletcher Sep 26th 2010 8:14AM
I recently (finally!) got my Death Knight up to exalted with the Horde, thanks to tedious tournament dailies and lots and lots of money spent on runecloth. I had a system where I'd do my dailies, head to the AH, and spend however much I'd made that day on runecloth for rep turnins.
One could tell when the bank alts were trying to undercut each other. Those were good times. :)
Shoikler Sep 26th 2010 8:32AM
The only time the undercutters really bother me is when they go so low, they're actually making less than they would've vendoring the stuff. This isn't the sort of economy where there's any benefit to taking a loss. We're not separate stores; we can't be driven out of business, nor can we develop brand loyalty. Anything you're doing today will be irrelevant in a day or two, so why hurt yourself?
Darky Sep 26th 2010 8:33AM
So buy it and sell it to the vendor maybe?
razion Sep 26th 2010 8:38AM
Saronite, particularly. It makes me weep. D:
Jamie Sep 26th 2010 9:04AM
Either enjoy the fact you're getting some ridiculously cheap to use or buy it all up and sell it at a higher price when the market for allows it.
Never look a gifted horse in the mouth.
Valekai Sep 26th 2010 9:19AM
exactly, i had about 30 stacks of netherweave from doing skyguard grind, i actually made more gold by making bandages and selling them than i would have from ah(if they even sold).
icepyro Sep 26th 2010 11:07AM
If you buy it and vendor it, you've made money, so don't complain. If you are trying to sell it, sell it like normal. Buy as much of their stuff as you can and what's left will be your stuff. It's also a fairly cheap supply so fill your banks. If it's more than you can afford, well you are making money by buying then vendoring so keep that up until theirs is gone. Either way, they are out of the market for you to sell at normal price. Heck, I use addons just to buy/bid on -anything- under vendor because it's at least a little profit. I can tell on my realm that others do too. Don't feel bad for their foolishness (and certainly don't try to compete with it), profit from it!
Darasen Sep 27th 2010 9:15AM
I agree with this for one big reason. They do this to force other sellers out of a market of course. Problem is that this being a game and all it seems rather similar to camping a mob and saying you can't play this part of the game it's for me.
Darky Sep 26th 2010 8:32AM
I for one love saturdays, a stack of cardinal rubies for 500g? yes please!
Basil Berntsen Sep 26th 2010 9:09AM
This hasn't made it into my column yet, but I heard the PTR has no cooldown for transmuting epic gems. If this goes live, that's actually a bad deal.
Brouck Sep 26th 2010 9:53AM
That's a bad deal, if and only if, you aren't cutting and re-selling them right now. Most people are already purchasing their Agility or Strength gems in preperation to 4.0.1 when Arm Pen converts to useless crit.
Darky Sep 26th 2010 9:53AM
Yeah i saw that, its making my jewelcrafter cry.
Darky Sep 26th 2010 9:53AM
Also i sell my bold and fractured gems for 120+ gold each.
A5 Sep 26th 2010 10:51AM
Hey Basil, how about not mentioning that until I finish frantically selling all my gem stores? Thanks mate. ;)
Amaxe Sep 26th 2010 10:54AM
@Darky
It makes my Alchemist /cheer
Basil Berntsen Sep 26th 2010 11:27AM
@A5 You're just lucky I don't have a biweekly column :P