Auction House as a Business

[evermarked]

This is for people who do not mind spending time in the Auction House. If you feel that an hour is too long to spend sorting through auctions and pricing items, go somewhere else. This guide is not for you. However, if you enjoy crunching numbers more than mashing monsters, read on.

Now, it is assumed that you have at least 100g you can use for starting capital. If you do not, go make some. If you need starter tips, read my other auction house guide:
http://www.mmowned.com/forums/wow-gu...use-whore.html

After you have your starting capital what you need to do is pick an area that you know something about. Myself, I still focus on enchanting items because they have no deposit cost. Maybe for you, it is weapons and armor or leatherworking mats. Ores and bars are also good money makers. Whatever you feel you know a moderate amount about and can gauge prices on.

For my example, I will use enchanting supplies. Now, I could just take enchanting and disenchant a bunch of greens and whatnot, but this is not the most effective way to make money. It is a good supplement and I do recommend you have a trade skill that compliments what you are doing, but don't rely solely on trade skills. What you need to do is scan the auction house regularly (at least when you get on and before you log off) and watch for the items in your area that are cheaper than what is normally paid for them. Yes, this seems obvious, but most people only look for items that they need, not always what they could resell. This is your business now, so get in the habit of looking for the good buys. Auctioneer is helpful in this because it can show you a bunch of them. It also has a "saved search" function which I recommend you learn to use and use often.

After you have found some good buys, start slow. Do not try to rush out there and buy all the Void Crystals that are cheap. In fact, start with Strange Dust. Why? You can make an empire off of Strange Dust if you can control that market. Every player who starts an Enchanter need Strange Dust. And it is easy to come by. You need to search all the Strange Dust auctions and buy up all the cheap stuff. Then, wait. Yes, wait. Continue to buy up Strange Dust during the week and wait till Friday morning and list all of it a nominal price. If anyone is selling it below your price, buy them out and throw it back up into the group. Do not expect to sell everything. If you do, great. But if you are counting on hitting a homerun, go kill something instead. This takes time and tweaking to get your price just right. And even then you will need to change it often to meet the growing market.

Now for supplementing: For enchanting, search for uncommon items (greens) that have a Buyout of 10s or less and that become at least 2 Strange Dust or more. Strange Dust, on average, sells for about 5s apiece and so 10s buyout is the break even point. On some items you get more, so you come out ahead in the end. Now, turn around and resell using the above method.

Another point to watch for is when an item can be sold two different ways. Example Greater and Lesser Mystic Essence. Or for other groups, Cured Hides and Hides or Ores and Bars. See which way sells better and then buy the cheaper to sell the more expensive. I know this stuff isn't hard to figure out but not everyone can see this stuff for themselves.

My last tip ( I know, Wall Of Text) is to watch the Trade Channel closely. Watch what people are looking for, but also look for quick, easy buys you can sell for profit. And don't be afraid to haggle. I have bought stacks of Lesser Nether Essence for cheap just because I talked the guy down and bought everything he had. DO NOT GET SUCKED INTO AGREEING ON A PRICE YOU ARE NOT OK WITH. I cannot emphasize that enough. You are running a business. You are not here to help someone pay for a Guild Bank or get a flying mount. If you want to be generous, give them gold, but do not mix the two together.

Ok, ending here. I have plenty more ideas and when I get them all sorted in my head I will share them. Oh and those who read my revenge guide and liked it, thanks. I have a feeling the meaning was lost on some so I may not do another one for a while, but I appreciate your responses.

[Hitoshi]

very nice ever. These usually work best on newer servers since older servers have a pretty established market, but great ideas + rep

[theadition]

a little advice here is to not keep a monopoly on one item to long i got a 1 week ban for doing that

[Cashasty]

What was the reason that they wrote in mail ?

I can't believe it, Theadition.


Oh, and by the way. There is NO -one week ban- tbh.

[Unholyshaman]

Thats bullshit if they give you a ban for monopolising.

[scibat]

Oh you better believe they can ban you for monopolizing. They call it "exploiting the economy" I'm not saying whether it's right or wrong, I am just stating factually that it can and does happen -- Blizz watches the AH and gold transactions to fight gold sellers, if someone is choking a vital area of the economy they can get flagged then suspended.

[evermarked]

I have done it on numerous occasions and have yet to receive a ban.

[Jankem]

Oh you better believe they can ban you for monopolizing. They call it "exploiting the economy" I'm not saying whether it's right or wrong, I am just stating factually that it can and does happen -- Blizz watches the AH and gold transactions to fight gold sellers, if someone is choking a vital area of the economy they can get flagged then suspended.

Hey, someone come pick up my bull$hit flag, my back hurts. Lol.

They will not ban you for monopolizing anything. I personaly spent almost 1000g on the AH in about an hour, buying up all 45-70 greens that were priced under 5g. Then I'd D/E them, and post the mats. If someone else had the mats up cheaper than I was going to post them, I would buy those out and post them back up for MY price. The profit margin would normally be small, 4-5g...but that eliminated competition.

True people would come on throughout the hour and post their mats for a few gold cheaper, but I can handle that. If they posted a stack or two, I would leave them. I mean, they're gonna get bought and leave mine for the taking. If it's three or more stacks, I buy them, because the chance of them getting snagged quickly is less likely.

But economics in WoW is like economics in the real world without the legal ramifications of holding a monopopoly.

[Dx2]

Whell i also have a nice Auction Idea wich i use for lvling up tailoring / enchantment same time i earn 50g+ an hour wich is good to Start with if your a newbie!!!!