Like sands through the hour glass

There might be times that maybe you’re on a new character, or you are having problems moving items you have created. If your usual tricks are not working It might be a good time to try some Product Placement! 

Ok….. so obviously Cherrios and Chex mix aren’t going to give you gold to advertise in world of warcraft (although I have not confirmed this), But believe it or not, A lot of people like a good Gimmick. With a little wit and Humor you can often convince people to buy things they would not normally feel a need to purchase. In effect you are doing Product Placment for your own goods.

I recently set up an Ally on the other side of my server. I am currently trying to get a feel for the dynamics involved between the two sides to better tune the way I use the auction houses.  Anyway, I threw some low level items up on the AH to start making gold and used the Linen I had gathered in the first few levels to make a few shirts  with tailoring and tossed them up on the AH for 7g each.  I then hit trade chat (not spamming of course). 

“Are you fashionable? Are you wearing a Tilla? If it’s not made by Tilla then I am afraid you have been left behind. Do not fret some fine Shirts made by Tilla are available now in the AH! Get yours before they are all gone”

A few people found this approach to selling amusing and went out of their way to buy the shirts I had posted in the AH, Which is in truth what I was expecting. You see I’ve used this trick before. If you approach someone in a way they are not expecting, or find humorous they are often likely just to buy out your item based solely on your Charisma! If you are not being obnoxious, this works really well on a RP server as you are in fact, just assuming your role.

So from time to time…. Don’t be afraid to take on the guise of an Expert pet trainer, A Top Chef, or fine tailor. Besides, it can be fun. It’s not going to make you fabulously wealthy, but it should start helping you think outside the box.

A tip for the Alliance (other than my weapon).

So yesterday I did a horde centric post about the Formula: Enchant Chest- Lesser Mana that you can buy for 4 silvers and flip for 30-50g (more alliance side). For the most part this is mostly recipe for completionists but still has a good market value. Unfortunately this recipe is only attainable by the horde, So all you Allies were out of luck.

Today I thought I would go ahead and do a post for you (hordies pay attention.... we are going to gank all the Allies going for this tip.... SHHHH!).

When you are next in Ashenvale seek out Harlown Darkweave. He sells the Pattern: Herbalist's Gloves. This pattern will cost you 18 Silvers But should net you between 30-100g on the Alliance AH (more horde side as like yesterdays post this is a Faction only item). This Item  is a limited supply Pattern and as I understand is set to an 30 minute to and hour cooldown. I don't believe that many people go out looking for it however so you should be able to snag one.

The difference between the Enchant Chest- Lesser Mana and this Pattern is that this pattern is actually a great one to learn if you are a leatherworker. The Herbalist's Gloves it makes offers you a +5 to herbalism so this will allow you to pick +5 higher than your actual skill leve. people that craft these gloves will often sell them between 10-40g which is a pretty nice profit as it's around 5g in mats.  In addition I would predict there will be a nice increase in sales as the Herbalists that don't own a pair will be buying them heading into the next expansion. So make a few pairs and see how the market treats you. 

So there.... I have extended my hand across the isle and Given a great tip for you Allies... Now I suppose you want to start building those statues of me in your cities and erecting the temples to my greatness! I appriciate the sentiment, Just remember to make them Grand!

Nothing Lesser about it!

So today I thought I would share a quick tip for the low level players. Would you like to take 4 silvers worth of hard earned currency and turn it onto a stack of 50G?  If you are frequenting the wow Gold blogs you've probably read about selling low level meats in the AH, Buying fishing poles, Coper rods and Other vendor items that have a good markup and can net you a couple gold. These are great little money makers and will help you to slowly build up some gold to work with.

But did you know that there is a formula sold in Kithas's Orgrimmar enchanter shop (and Lilly in silverprine) that can net you 50+g?  I am talking about the Formula: Enchant Chest Lesser Mana. This is a great Formula to make a little gold off of.  This is a Limited supply item so the markets don't end up flooded  with them. Also the only Vendors that sell this Formula are both horde side, so It is worth while for Cross faction trading. From what I have seen on the Undermine Journal these go for 30-50g on horde side servers and 30-100g Alliance side. I sell them Horde side and manage to get 40-50g for them on Burning Blade. They normally sell with a 48 hour post. So the next time you are Org (or silverpine) take a look and see if this Formula is available!

(for you Alliance players I have recently started a low level Ally, I am sorry most of my tips are Horde oriented, hope to have more posts for Alliance as well soon.)

Networking is not just for Facebook!

A lot of the auctioneers I’ve met are very much go it alone types.  They either find themselves completely absorbed in their data, or look at everyone else as possible competition and don’t want to share their information and opinions with anyone.

Networking with other adventurers however can be a great way to broaden your business.  It doesn’t matter so much if it is people you’ve just met or people you’ve been in a guild with for a long time getting by with a little help from your friends in my opinion (and the Beatles) is the way to go.

If like me you’ve only got one account cross faction trading can be terribly difficult (mostly impossible as you can’t buy your alts auctions).  However with the help of a friend or two it’s not impossible, Right now I have a bank alt loaded with alliance pets thanks to some help from a friend (thanks Xknight!).  With a good partner you should be able to make a fair amount of gold for each other on both sides of the fence.

Another great reason to be social with other adventures of all ages and experience is that you want them to Farm for you!  In truth I am most excited when I find someone starting out in wow as everything is new and shiny to them and they are more than willing to grab some items for you that will give them a fair amount of gold to build upon plus you will be building upon a relationship that could be useful and fulfilling for a long time. I have found several young blood elfs to farm Small Eggs for me I offer to buy the eggs for 50 silver each off of them which for a lvl 5-20 is pretty decent bank considering their drop rate.   

I also have level  80’s that  are willing farm Essences and other items for me. I find a lot of the people out there are afraid of the auction house, Or simply not patient enough to learn how to play it, but would love to get 300-400g for an hour of work (even if you in turn are getting 700-1000g from the same mats). I have often found the best way to approach people about this is to be straight forward. I tend to offer around 50% of the Ah value to the farmers which Is normally pretty reasonable. If they ask what you intended to do with the items be honest, if you are going to sell them for a profit say so, if you are going to use them to craft even better!

If you are serious about having people farm for you there are a couple things that might help.  First make a list of the items you would ideally like to get (Essences, spidersilks, ores, primal, rep items ect…ect…) Note the level of mobs that drop them, where they are best farmed and price points for both Buying and Selling.  If you find someone who is willing to make some money, Simply refer to the list and supply them with the information. Treat it as if you are giving them a job. Have them COD the items to you and Let them know the turnaround on it. If you are planning to go on a vacation and won’t be picking up CODs let your friend/farmer know!

Finally you want to Network with other Auctioneers. I have on several occasions made deals with people that for all practical purposes are my competition, Sometimes  they will grab a huge volume of items as a great discount and be happy to let it go for what amounts to a small profit and will leave you the job of posting everything individually for a pretty nice profit yourself.  Sometimes you can come to terms with  the completion and end an undercutting war, or come to a reasonable price you both are comfortable with. Of course there is also the fact that if you are on good terms with other auctioneers you can trade secrets, share theories and who knows, maybe even make a huge gold making community (that’ll never happen)!

Razzashi Hatchling? 1500g?..... ehh no thanks.

Well if you have not heard by now. The Razzashi hatchlings Is coming back!  If you farmed your rear off to grab a couple of these in hopes of making a huge profit. Drop them now!

A new blue post has come out stating that they have found a new spot to insert this pet in the game (source), and already the markets are starting to flood with low priced hatchlings.

This might not be new news to some of you folks out there, but I figured i'd throw out the info so no one makes the mistake of seeing a bunch of hatchlings at low price and blowing 10-20k on them.

Cataclysmic prices on BOE recipes!

So, cataclysm is right around the corner, People are starting to camp out in front of the starting line getting ready to  race toward the new content that will be unlocked.  The gold makers are sharpening their pickaxes, double checking their new Cataclysm Herb guides to make sure they are not picking some new form of Poison Oak, and leather workers are drooling over the new pelts the animals are bound to bring (Worgen skin cloak anyone?).

When the gun goes off and people start racing toward Realm first 85 or are trying to be the first to max their crafting professions and hold their respective markets for the early expansion. Take a quick moment Sum up the group, walk out into the shattered realm and sell them Shovels.Whenever gold was discovered out west, people grabbed a pick, a shovel,a pan, a horse and went in search of their fortune, The people who ended up getting rich were those selling picks, shovels, pans and horses!

Don't get me wrong, There will be a lot of money to be made in the gathering professions, The mats are going to be insanely expensive as the crafting professions are going to be buying up the stock about as quick as it's posted (at hugely inflated profits). If you don't have any gathering professions don't worry, you can still make money.

If past expansions are any indication you're going to be greeted will all sorts of new BOE recipies, designs,Schmatics and what not. So snatch these items up and throw them on the AH. You should pretty much be able to name your own price. People are not going to waste the early part of the expansion running from vendor to vendor to find new recipies, They are going to buy anything they can find that's relevant off of the auction house. So provide these crafting prospectors with the tools they need to go and do their jobs!

(Did you know Pickaxes,blacksmith hammers, skinning knives and copper rods will actually sell on the ah for a few gold apiece? Talk about making money off of tools!)

Fishing the AH for Suckers!

First off I would like to start this blog with a simple statement. I am expanding upon an idea from another blogger.

Granted when I first read Cold's Blog and heard him advocating leaving low priced items up on the auction house so that others would undercut the price and you would in turn get even better pricing..... Why to be honest I thought he was off his rocker. This tactic works well if you are the main auctioneer (and pretty much only) on your realm.... But the more I thought about his idea the more it made sense. The Issue was however if Cold and I were on the same server... neither of us would let this happen. We would snatch up the low priced item and post at a normal price. Both knowing that the other was there to snatch up the deals. I look at underpost like this as gifts from above, and knowing that I have several auctioneers on my server I snatch them right up. But Cold post some great blogs, so I have learned to believe in what he says (even if I am stealing his idea here)

Flash forward, I am sitting at work on a hectic Tuesday, listening to episode 20 of call to auction as I hear the podcast discussing how Bid posts have no place in an auctioneer's bag of tricks (BTW Markco is the best but Big Jimm is Great too....even if I am not on his blog roll!).... a few hours later, I find myself checking my auctions at home. As an Auctioneer with only 2 maxed professions on both of my toons I do a great deal of flipping to remain profitable. I get a fair amount of gold from my Blacksmithing, but probably more from buying low and selling normal. I take notice of the fact that several of the auctions I was buying Out were undercuting bids. Suddenly I was struck by a bolt of Golden lightning....Placing a bid post on the auction house can make you serious gold!

Why not seed the auction house with bids? I see inexperienced auctioneers undercutting the bids all the time. I've snatched these up and chuckled a bit thinking to myself "why those were just Bids silly, you should only undercut the buyouts!".I've found that often these undercutters are farmers, more specifically farmers whose job it is to make money before their shift is up. You see gold farmers are paid by the gold they make, or have quotas they have to meet, which is why you will find items on 12 hour auctions seriously under-priced. These are expected to be bought out very quickly (within the hour). This only works well for them if they are the lowest priced auctions, and the first materials you see on an auction house scan. So they will almost always undercut anything, bid or not. So if you say post up 20 single saronite ores at 40 silver each... Don't be surprised to find 15 stacks of ore below 8g a stack (a huge profit as smelted these are worth 12.5g a stack at vendor price).

This can be applied to most markets, Often it will simply be a person new to the auction house just trying to undercut, sometimes it will be a farmer. Sometimes it will be a fellow auctioneer with way to low of a fallback. There is profit to be made with 48 hour bids, first you bait the hook.... and then you go fishing. Sometimes you come back with one hell of a fish!