Need advice on dealing with AH dominator(s)

[Upgrayedd]

So here's my issue.. Basically on one of the main servers I play on, there's this due who basically controls the AH by sitting on WOW pretty much 24x7 at the AH and selling shit. If you try to sell something he undercuts you within 5 minutes. He controls most enchants, JC blues and gems. He seems like a complete and utter loser with no life.. I was wondering if anyone has come across anything like this before and how to deal with it. I am pretty sure he's not botting so reporting him isn't likely to do anything. He just has no life. It's getting pretty annoying having 95% of my items returned to me every day. Any suggestions?

[Sklug]

How can you defeat that which has no life?

Basically dude, there isn't much you can really do other than to either find another market, or to tank the market so deep as to there being no profit. I personally use that technique myself to control the market in my favor against guys like you lol. I am basically in control of my market 80% of the time or so. How? Well, if someone undercuts me, well I just undercut em back... they do it to me again... I keep undercutting until the items are SO cheap that there is pretty much zero profit lol... Then, I cancel my auctions so theirs are sitting at the bottom... They either get bought up fast, or I buy them myself from an alt, as there is zero profit it's not like I am losing money... I don't buy em all if they put up a ton of em, I just let em sit there til they sell... delaying my profit gain in the short term, but in the long term it is why I am a rich MOFO! So, my competition, frustrated at making no profit, will prob just move on. If they are stubborn and keep at it, I can keep at it MUCH longer than they can. Why? Because, I have diversified the way I make money. I don't just rely on 1 or 2 areas, I have a lot to get money from.

This is how I control the market... AND, more than likely, it is how HE controls the market too. So, like I said, in that case there is not that much you can do other than to beat him at his own game by outlasting him. From what I can tell you don't seem like a person with much patience at the AH so he will probably win.

Anyway, you wanted advice, I gave it... with the limited info you shared lol

[KlaAz0r]

buy for example piroxbots, make auction house profiles and undercut him : )

[Upgrayedd]

Yep I've tried everything you have suggested Sklug, if you try to undercut him it becomes a vendetta for him to try to screw you, to the point of selling stuff for a few silver above vendor cost. I could buy him out but he's sitting on tons of mats so he'd just relist more within 5 minutes. Like I said he's on practically 24x7. He's been doing this for the last 2 expansions and at this point I think he's so rich he is just ****ing with people and not even caring whether he makes a profit.

Klaazor: I'm not really willing to bot, and take the chance of getting my account banned.

[m60gunner]

report him for economy exploiting that negatively affects the server economy? Maybe you can write a good ticket and find a willing gm.

As I read your post that is essentially what he is doing.

[Johnnydk]

report him for economy exploiting that negatively affects the server economy? Maybe you can write a good ticket and find a willing gm.

As I read your post that is essentially what he is doing.

This ^ I heard people can get warnings and even bans from monopolizing the AH.

[freeman725]

This ^ I heard people can get warnings and even bans from monopolizing the AH.

Yep. I myself got temp banned once for exploitation of the economy. For about a week I OWNED ALL of the enchanting mats on the auction house. Mainly because I had a stupid amount of gold and I was getting tired of price inflation because of idiots. I was trying to make a statement rather than profit lol. Needless to say people weren't too happy.

[Upgrayedd]

I thought those bans were reserved for people buying and selling gold, not people doing legal things within the game.

[nofeeling]

My experience is pretty much same as OPs,here it is how i delt with:

Two years ago i was playing on a very famous and crowded EU realm.Basically was this guy who pretty much had the absolute control on anything at the AH,gems,enchanting scrolls,herbs,ores,anything you can possibly imagine.
He was listing with numerous alts bank chars,he was online 24/7 and he didnt seem to bot either.Pretty tough situation right.

What followed the next couple of months..well you can say it was close to paranoia.
That period of my wow career is the most useless i ever had as the "gain" was an absolute nothing in terms of fun,but..at least i kicked this guys ass!

We were undercutting each other instantly on more than 40-50 items.I've had all his chars to my friend list so i know when he logs what(he had different chars for certain prof items).
I had to tell my guild i wouldnt be able to raid with them for the time being.This guy had my full attention from that point.
Some times we were undercutting each other for 1c and some times we were listing at the price of the mats for no profit at all.
To sum up,this kept going for about 4 months - all that time i have had my sleep time reduced significantly.Some days i was sleeping for only 3-4 hours and some times i was staying awake for 2-3 days straight.It can get insane i know but since that guy was up for it so was i.Im not a quiter and on that period of my life i didnt have many things going.
After the first month he started whispering me,i was thinking that he might be a chinese working for a company but his english was fluent and i figured he only does it for "hobby".Which makes sense,i had his income reduced so clearly this wasnt a real money business for him.
In the process we learned a lot for each other.It wasnt a first for him.He was undercutting chinese AH farmers for a long time and he told me that before i show up he was dominating the market.He also wanted to know my motive,i told him the truth,it got personal for me and i was only doing it to screw his business.He didnt like it but after those months we kinda came to some short of unspoken aggreement.
We both didnt list stuff if one of us already had those stuff up.For example i wasnt putting any gems on if he already had and vise versa.
A year later i left the server for another reason.

I know the above is not a solution on how to deal with and tbh i dont think there is an easy solution on how to deal with someone that does everything with a legit way and just AH camps everything.
If you dont have time to spend on him dont bother,move on.I know the idea might get you pissed but honestly there isnt much you can do,especially if hes fluent in english he can back himself up on any ticket you open for w/e reason.
If there was a tip i could give is this : Never whisper you competitor/undercutter first.
Let them wonder about you and your motivation.Another reason is that you show professionalism,you have done it before so you know those shit and you dont give a damn who your undercutter is,you are confident you will prevail at the end.Also dont show you are angry on your whispers,show that you are absolutely calm,chilled and use smileys,pisses them off and hopefully if they are less dedicated than my case they will give up.

Best of luck

[freeman725]

I thought those bans were reserved for people buying and selling gold, not people doing legal things within the game.

Nope. If enough people report you, you can be banned for pretty much anything because you're "negatively affecting their gameplay experience" Bottom line is, if blizzard can punish/get rid of one person to keep 15 other people paying them $15 a month, they will. What it all boils down to, if you actually read the eula, is that blizzard can cancel your account for any reason at any time.

[Bandefaca]

Yeah, I got a 3 hour ban for monopolizing all the epic gems and epic gem cuts in BC. TBH though, I was getting almost no competition. I don't see how people could really complain.