Gold Capped: How to flip Books of Glyph Mastery
by Basil Berntsen 
May 31st 2011 at 8:00PM
Books of Glyph Mastery are currently needed by scribes in order to learn all the glyphs in the game. While they will eventually no longer be needed, they will always be useful. Even when Blizzard gets around to letting you research all the glyphs without them, those research recipes are both on a one-day cooldown, and the books can be used to continue learning. These books are an excellent candidate for "flipping" for a few reasons. Let's look into why and how to flip them.
Bad for the market?
Speculative flipping is not bad for the market. First, when people say "bad for the market," they mean "bad for people who need to buy glyph books." While flippers seem to be making money from nothing, they're actually making money from risk. They buy up excess stock in times of plenty and sell it in times of scarcity, and this protects book buyers from having to deal with a nearly empty auction house as often. All flippers do is make it so that when a couple of new scribes start buying books by the wheelbarrow and completely empty the AH, they won't have to wait for more stock to trickle in from people leveling through Northrend.
Speculative flipping can only be bad for buyers temporarily. If flippers decide to release stock very slowly to keep prices high, they have to deal with these items accumulating in their bank. Fewer books get sold when the prices are high, and eventually, the stock will have to be made available for a reasonable price or else speculators are going to be on the line for all the stock they bought but can't sell.
Also, as they've locked up a bunch of supply to artificially raise prices, they will have to pay more and more for freshly farmed books. If they pay more than the natural equilibrium price between the rate the books drop and the rate people start new scribes, they'll likely never get their money back. One person who does not farm or use books of glyph mastery can not profitably change the price for books in the long run. If he tries to raise them, he's left with too much expensive stock in his bags, and if he tries to lower them, he runs out of stock and prices rebound.
So, so flippable
These books are perfect for flipping. There are surges in demand but never in supply. The profit from flipping comes from evening out the price over the long run, and the more spiky the price is without speculators, the more profit there is in speculation.
A single person leveling inscription has the ability to use over 50 books, and that will increase to 200 when he makes these books share a recipe list with the research cooldowns. This kind of demand, especially when it's from two people simultaneously, can quickly reduce the supply to very low levels -- especially when the only way to get these books it, essentially, to level alts through Northrend.
Books of Glyph Mastery are not farmable. Sure, if you took a character out to someplace in Northrend and killed things long enough, you'll probably get one, but that is nothing compared to the money that character would make from cash drops and the enchanting mats you can disenchant from the random greens. Basically, unless Blizzard drastically changes the drop rates or creates some other way to acquire the books, the supply is:
- Out of your control You can't profitably hire someone to farm them or farm them yourself.
- Variable The number of people killing things in Northrend is probably related to how bored people are, and you might be able to see a correlation with the end of a patch and the book supply.
Right now, every serious glyph seller eventually buys a bunch of books. They'll try as hard as they can to minimize their expenses, but eventually, they all buy. This is a positive pressure on demand, which leads to overall higher prices. Once the change is made, the only time most people will buy glyph books is when it's cheap enough.
How to flip glyph books
The process is surprisingly simple: Buy books, list books, profit.
Okay, it's more intricate than that, but the intricacies are all in the prices you pay and charge, and the volume you buy and list. First off, you'll need to set a target for your profit margins. The thicker the margin, the fewer you're going to sell and the less frequently you'll find cheap books. Set a target buy price and a target sell price, and adjust them over time to reflect the amount of stock you have in your bank and how much you paid for it.
Listing books is cheap but not trivial. A deposit is required every time, and the more you list, the more you'll spend to keep them floating. You have to trade off this cost against the potential of selling a higher volume when a new scribe hits the market. It also makes canceling and relisting to undercut a tactic that generally isn't worth it.
The next thing you have to control for is the frequency you buy with. If you're the only market maker speculating and flipping these, you can get away with every day or two. Once you get some competition, though, this and your profit margins are the only place you can compete. The more you search for freshly dropped, inexpensive books on the AH, the more you'll get. The less you're willing to sell for, the more you'll sell, and the more you're willing to pay, the more you'll have to sell.
I'd be extra careful to avoid holding more stock than absolutely necessary on launch day for patch 4.2 and every subsequent patch until Blizzard fixes the design of the books so they grant the same recipes as research. Once this change happens, the whole dynamic of the market will change a little. The demand will on one hand be higher, because now people can use 200 books instead of only 50. On the other hand, they no longer need to use any and will eventually get the whole list through research. This will put a cap on how high of a price you can charge but will increase the volume of sales you make at a lower margin. You'll have to find a balance that works for you and your realm once the change is made.
Maximize your profits with more advice from Gold Capped as well as 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 taking your questions at basil@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Economy, Gold Capped
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
aerrae May 31st 2011 9:10PM
I think this is a tough call. I am not sure I agree completely, I think the prices will bounce back to the current average, or maybe go up once you can learn more glyphs this way, it will be a FAST way to cap out your inscription and start making some of the money through it. I have found inscription to be rather profitable to begin with, and if people have extra disposable income, they will use it to make more.
I think the price once you can learn the 200 or so glyphs will cause an increase in price even if its only by a minor amount. We can only wait and see what happens.
Janaan May 31st 2011 11:21PM
I think you forgot a step to flipping the books.
1. Buy books
2. List books
3. ??????
4. Profit!
gewalt Jun 1st 2011 7:09AM
Basil, quit trying to justify being greedy. You are not "helping" the people you are gouging.
You're not wrong to seek profit. You are wrong for lying to yourself and everyone else about the impact your methods have on the playerbase.
Rylka Jun 1st 2011 8:30AM
It seems to me that the practice described in the article would result in a fairly steady supply of books at a fairly steady price.
Flippers would even out the spikes and dips in supply and price by absorbing excess capacity in the AH and releasing products during lean times.
While it is true that having flippers in the market means that there are more people snatching up the odd book that is posted at a low price and thus the chances of any particular individual getting to take advantage of the bargain is reduced, having flippers in the market also means that when supply gets low and prices would get excessive, the prices are dropped back to normal by flippers selling.
It is stability in the markets (and life) that most people crave. Knowing what things will cost allows priorities to be weighed and resources budgeted without having to worry about fluxes in supply or cost.
You may miss out on the odd bargain, but the more flippers there are in the market the more stable things will be and the easier it will be for you to go about your business without worrying that the supply will dry up just when you need it or that prices will spike just as you thought you had enough to buy what you needed.
Smashbolt Jun 1st 2011 8:45AM
The people who buy these books en masse are likely to be either completionists wanting every glyph recipe, or other AH goblins who want to make huge profits on selling glyphs they produce.
The completionists are usually willing to pay up a lot more to pad their collection, and I'd bet that Inscription completionists are pretty rare these days anyway.
Inscription profiteers know full well that almost any recipe they learn (especially from the books) has a profit potential limited only by server population and competition. There are some glyphs I've learned from books that would still be a positive return on investment if I'd paid 5000g for the book. And of course, people with thos recipes are rarer. Why wouldn't I want to make it that little bit tougher from someone to learn that
glyph recipe and start competing with me?
Aside from collectors and goblins, who exactly buys these books anyway? Consider the "average" scribe who just wants to make the occasional glyph for their alts or friends and hates the Therazane grind (easy shoulder enchants). They want to make Glyph of Uber-Pwnage for their alt Shamageadin, but don't have the recipe. They will need exactly one. What are they going to do? Buy 10000g worth of books and hope they learn the recipe? Or just buy the glyph straight up from the AH or some player for less than 200g?
It's hardly gouging the whole player base when - at least for this item in particular, and at this stage in Cataclysm - you're charging a high price for an item that can be used to make (potentially) unlimited profit.
Ben Jun 1st 2011 9:48AM
lulz @ ppl who don't understand economics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculation#The_economic_benefits_of_speculation
yes it can be the source of bubbles, but overall it is good for the economy. bubbles are bad in general, but not so bad when it's not some criticial part of the economy (eg houses, food, and not, say, yatchs)
Ben Jun 1st 2011 9:49AM
whups was supposed to be a reply to the above comment. since he's probably going to get downrated into oblivion anyway:
"Basil, quit trying to justify being greedy. You are not "helping" the people you are gouging.
You're not wrong to seek profit. You are wrong for lying to yourself and everyone else about the impact your methods have on the playerbase."
samiamknot Jun 1st 2011 11:10AM
Personally I think blizzard needs to leave inscription alone. They haven't made all the enchanter spells readily available. You still have to farm dailies if you want all your northrend jewelcrafter cuts. Cloth patterns still require grinding rep to obtain as do some alchemy recipes. It's bad enough we didn't get any new glyphs this expansion (the one warrior glyph was available before cata dropped - the rest were updates/upgrades/nerfs to glyphs we had already learned.) The new items learned - relics and darkmoon cards... oh and the origami rock (why?) Served us well to level and then what? Other crafters have the opportunity to learn more, make more new stuff. My leathercrafter has 4 pages of learnable gear to make, at a cost... heavy savage leather that I either farmed or paid for. What are they doing to scribes? Because of the QQ they are going make all the recipes available with just a daily cooldown. Leave the books alone. Yes there is a flippable market, but maybe the personal who posted it actually posted it right on target, why deny them the chance to make some gold? They will need every copper once they hit 80. Taking away the books or making them obsolete will kill inscription. There will no longer be a limiting factor that every other creating craft has. Currently for other crafts that is maelstrom crystals, chaos orbs or daily cooldowns. For glyphs the limiting factor is the books. The rarity of the item is what makes it valuable. If every scribe can make every glyph where will the value be? You won't have to run a heroic to get the parts, nor do you have break apart valuable gear or are limited by making just one a week. Every scribe will be able to make everything and that will make it valueless on the market. So unless Blizzard decides to add more items or limit the way we make things, players who are scribes will soon have the poorest income earning potential. And before anyone thinks we overcharge, remember we need to sell 200 -100gp glyphs to purchase the same shiney gear someone selling 5 pieces of high end crafted gear, in the end the outlay for the mats ends up the same. I know enough after reading this column, that the market will adjust itself and enough scribes will drop the profession to make it worth doing again. In the mean time all will suffer and QQing will be worse.
rip Jun 1st 2011 12:10PM
You are absolutely right because my tailor learned all the available recipes within weeks of cata launch yet my scribe spent every day for months doing the daily research to try and get the "majority" of the recipes available. Then, after learning all the daily research could teach me, I am locked out of the rest of the recipes because they are only available from a rare drop in content that people blast through in a few levels.
I would welcome a faction that you could grind or dailies you could do. It would be loads better than grinding that elusive "random" mob in northrend.
But you're right, people need to quit QQ and pay the 400 - 1200 gold per book on the ah.
WSJ Jun 7th 2011 10:11AM
Flipping seems to be a negative word to many people these days. I guess it is because when people think about a flipper, they think of someone making huge profits on a home that they purchased at a low price and sold for a much higher price. Not all flippers made money in this way, yes, they bought a house at a low price and sold it at a higher price, but it is mainly because they fixed the house up. Fixing that house up meant that the buyer didn't have to use his cash or expensive credit card debt to make those repairs.
I see the people who buy any item on the AH at a low price and sell at a higher price as a simple trader. How many of us hasn't seen something at a low price, so low you have to buy it, and sell it at a higher price? The old saying 'buy low, sell high' has probably been around forever and that's exactly what some do on the AH no matter the item, whether it be books, herbs, skins, or ores. They are traders looking for a profit, maybe 'day trader' would be a more appropriate name to use.
I have an alliance and a horde inscriptionist on the same realm. Prices on the books, the herbs, and the glyphs vary from day to day, even hour to hour on some items. A glyph that was 30 gold yesterday maybe 5 gold today or even 100 gold. Prices aren't steady on most items.
The horde population on the realm is much lower than the alliance and the prices generally vary more and usually stay higher. The reason for the higher and less predictable prices could be the lower population. If Blizzard could make cross-realm AH's possible, like they have with battlegrounds and instances, I think this could stabilize prices a great deal. Until then, flippers or traders or whatever you want to call them will be there to stabilize the price at a possible profit.