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.

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.