Friday 31 December 2010

Auction House Alt - Day 10

Just a short post today, did my usual stuff, starting gold today is 802g & decided to take a gamble on these Mysterious Fortune cards that everyone is writing about! Put bids in for 10 at 30g each but it's a long shot 'cos long auction time but we'll see. They are selling for about 40g each on this server so that's a cool 10g profit per card if I can get my mitts on them :)

Managed to find a JC'er to cut a Smooth amberjewel for me, 20g tip plus 8g for stone but listed at 110g. Keeping my fingers crossed. Balance at this point 481g but with lots of auctions still active.

Late night mailbox check shows my bid for the cards failed but all my recipes, some of the glyphs & all the cata herbs sold. Closing balance 1076g - wooooo hooooo!

Thursday 30 December 2010

Auction House Alt - Day 9

Well I have to say, I was very surpised this morning when I opened my mail - having done very little yesterday, I expected a fairly low return. Imagine how pleased I was to see that all the Cata herbs had sold, some of the glyphs & all 4 netherweave bags, to bring my gold balance up to 690g :D

Emboldened by this success, I went looking for the cata herbs again. I look at the buy price of the lowest singles then go looking for stacks that have piece prices below that. I found 4 Twilight Jasmine at 7.5g & relisted for 11.20g as singles and also a full stack of Stormvine for 2.24g each, relisted as singles for 5.75g each.

In this way, my auctions appear at the top of the search list for singles, so they appear to be the cheapest. There are so many people listing in singles that it may be page 3 or 4 of the search before you see any stacks & many buyers just don't bother searching that far in or they just want a few pieces so they buy the cheapest they see on the first page. I've been doing this on my main server too - not so much buying the cheap stacks but splitting my auctions up to list some as singles & some in 5's but always to look like the cheapest in each. It works well most of the time on high demand items but I haven't tried it on any of the older mats.

I also bought 10 Amberjewel's for around 8g each, in the hope of getting them cut for a lowish tip. I tried /trade looking for a levelling jc'er in the hope of not paying a tip but no responses. I'll try again later when hopefully, there are more people online.

Late night visit to check mail, picked up more cash & relisted some expired auctions - closing gold 721g

Wednesday 29 December 2010

Auction House Alt - Day 8 & Other Thoughts

Starting gold today 503g but I've been out most of the day so I relied on current auctions to make some money. I did pop in last thing at night and bought another stack of Whiptail at 8g each, relisted them at 11.50g as singles.

I also found a tailor to make 4 netherweave bags for me, tipped 10g so total cost per bag was approx 6g, listed them at 18.50g & sold 2 straightaway - nice :)

Closing gold 375g.

I have to admit I'm finding this experiment to be quite hard work! Not so much the ah stuff but more my thought processes & blogging about it. I have a fairly random method of buying, based on my experiences in game so far but this experiment server economy is so different from my main server that I find myself double thinking every purchase. Stuff I know well doesn't work the same way here & stuff I just dabble in on my main server as low gold making tactics goes crazy here.

I'm still not happy with my scan data - I like a lot of data collection before I feel comfortable relying on it & with the changes in markets brought about by Cataclysm, I'm still getting used to the volatility of certain markets. There's no doubt that Cata mats are the things to be looking at for now but they could also be my downfall.

I'm also thinking I may start levelling an alt over here - seems silly to make all this gold & have nothing to actually do with it!

Tuesday 28 December 2010

Auction House Alt - Day 7 - Getting Braver

so I started today with 395gold but starting to get a bit bored with my usual tactics - did them anyway - placing lots of low value bids on stuff that should sell well & a few higher value bids on Cata herbs. I have about 50 auctions live at the moment, mainly glyphs & vendor recipes but they should sell, even if not quickly.

Came back later to find I'd got all my gold back & hadn't won a single auction - arrrggghhh! I hate that! Decided to take a big risk - blew 170g on a stack of whiptail. My reasoning was that a stack for 170g (8.5g each) is less affordable than individual herbs at the moment. Prices are so high, most people seem to be buying in singles or 5's so I relisted my stack all as singles at 10.50g. Whilst I was scanning, 8 of them sold straightaway - oh happy days :)

I also dipped into the Netherweave Cloth market, buying or bidding on stacks with cloth at 8-15silvers (approx max of 3g per stack), knowing that I could sell them for more later when the market changes again or use trade to find a tailor willing to make the netherweave bags for me.

Closing balance at this point was a scary 150g but after a last minute, late night mailbox check, I slept happily :) All the Cata herbs sold, as expected, as well as more of the recipes & glyphs. I also won quite a few of the netherweave cloth bids so with 7 stacks of cheap netherweave waiting for action, tomorrow should be another profitable day. Final closing balance for the day 503g 42s 29c - woo hoo!!

Monday 27 December 2010

Auction House Alt - Day 6

I hope you all had a wonderful Xmas day wherever you are but it's time for me to get back to work! Checked my mail, 3 moth eggs sold and a few of the glyphs so starter gold for today is 313g 5s 99c.

I'm still in Exodar so I popped back to the Moth Egg seller & had a look around other vendors & trainers whilst I'm here. Found 4 recipes at the Blacksmith Supplies vendor for adamantite maul, adamantite cleaver, adamantite dagger & adamantite rapier at a cost of about 15g for the four of them. Listed each for between 18g - 38g depending on the ah prices at the time, not sure how well they sell as I'm not familiar with blacksmithing market but I guess I'll soon find out!

Did my usual scan & search and stuck to my regulars - low price glyphs, cloth & herbs with a sprinkling of Cata herbs too. Listed anything not yet listed & popped off for a while.

Visited mid afternoon, empty mail, relist, rescan & buy more vendor cooking recipes to list. At this stage, the more the merrier & they are selling fairly well & quickly. Closing balance now 353g 21s 31c & 5hrs, 45mins played.

I've come to the conclusion that more visits during the day should equal more money - expired auctions get re-listed quicker, gold picked up quicker means I can buy more to list & more opportunities to spot that extra special deal that all goblins seek. Unfortunately with the holidays, so many of my guildies are playing in the daytime, I feel very torn - hide over here making money or levelling & socialising over there (& making money!!) so I'll put the frequent visit theory to the test next week when they've all gone back to work.

Sunday 26 December 2010

Mysterious Fortune Cards & Adventurer's Journals - not for me!

As you can see from my blog list, I read a lot of the most popular gold blogs out there. Most of them have at least mentioned the Mysterious Fortune cards over the last week or so but I am yet to jump on that bandwagon - why? because the demand for these has stripped our auction house almost bare of Cata herbs so the prices have skyrocketed!

I've also found a lovely quiet spot in Vashj'ir which nets me 2.5-4 stacks per 10 minute circuit (as well as 15-25 volatile lifes) & they are selling at 12-18g a piece, almost faster than I can list them! With herb prices so high, a single blackfallow ink can cost as much as 60g & the cards are selling for about that too so I'm giving them a miss for now.

I mentioned the lack of Outland herbs for Ethereal Ink to my husband & he decided he needed to get his Explore Outland achievement & made a killing on the Outland herbs too. They are selling individually for 8 gold or more, as the scribes are not forking out for the Cata herbs to mill and exchange, but are buying the correct herbs for each type of ink they need.

Obviously this is not happening on all servers, so if you have a level 80+ herbalist, it may be worth checking out the various prices before deciding where to spend your time - herbing for xp & profit or levelling inscription for profit.

Friday 24 December 2010

Auction House Alt - Day 4 & 5

Well, it's Christmas Eve & my list of last minute to-do stuff just got shrieked at! Where did all these bits come from??? I'm probably not going to get much done gamewise today or tomorrow but if I do, it will be just the same routine small stuff & scans. So I'll keep this brief & wish everyone who stumbles past, a very Merry Christmas & I'll be back in a few days to report & hopefully develop my ideas a bit more.

Auction House Alt - Day 3

So, back to the routine - opened mailbox to find most of the recipes & herbs had sold giving a total pot of 99g 57s 17c to play with today. I'm quite pleased with this so I treated myself to a traditional white hanbok - just to make my banker a little more presentable :)

Bit short of time so I just ran to cooking recipe vendor in Old Town, bought 1 of each & listed them. I use the Dwarven District AH because it's quieter there & less laggy but also because the engineering supplies vendor is right outside. I check the prices of the bronze tube & other bits he sells then pop back out & buy them from him if there are none on the AH. Today, no bronze tubes on AH so bought 2 & listed them as well.

Did my usual vendor search - only 1 deal worth worrying about today - 11 frozen orbs for 16g bid - it's a 48hr auction but with a guaranteed vendor sale price of 55g that's 38g profit so it's worth laying out 16g now. I'm not likely to get them so my gold will most likely be returned much sooner!

At this stage, I'm concentrating on small stuff - low bids & short auction times - until I can build enough capital to feel more comfortable with risking larger amounts. I'm also building my scan data & getting a feel for the market on this server. It's very different here than on my main server - glyphs for less than 1g, stacks of ores (iron, gold, silver) for less than 1g and herbs at about 1silver each!

Most of my bids are under 1g but there are quite a few of them - today it seems the glyph market is dumping stuff so about 10 glyphs bid for as well as a few bits of cloth & herbs.

Midafternoon, I popped back to see if anything had been happening - I'd won the glyphs but not the frozen orbs (as expected) & some of the cooking recipes had already sold. Placed a few more bids, listed what I had won & left it there for now.

Late night, last check of the mailbox to find I'd already sold a few of the glyphs and my gold total was now 179g 45s 77c. Total played time so far - 4hours 4 mins - not too bad at all.

Thursday 23 December 2010

Auction House Alt - Day 2

What a lovely way to start the day! Opened my mail & now have 46g 82s 68c, that's 35g overnight. All except 4 of the recipes sold & the cloth too so I made a note of those recipes (murloc fin soup, croc gumbo, goretusk pie & wolf kabob) that didn't sell straightaway so I don't buy them again next time.

I was on early today, before the usual maintenance had finished so it was very quiet in SW. Did a quick manual scan of the ah & found some more very cheap mageweave & silk, snapped it up, listed it & set my auctioneer scan running. Looks like I wasn't the only early bird today - all the cloth sold whilst the scan was running - another nice way to start the day :)

So I followed yesterday's process, quick vendor search, quick skim of the resale search results & then a manual skim of the low bid/short auction time items. There were loads of little bits in the vendor search - I just couldn't be botered to buy stuff to vendor for only a few silvers or coppers so just picked up one lvl 83 dagger for 16g, sold to vendor for 19g.

The resale scan brought up a lot of spider's silk - now I know it sells well on my main server - I usually buy it there for 5g or less with a resale of 8-12g but seemingly, this server's prices are much higher. The resale search was recommending me to buy at upto 8g, with a market price of 24g but I only have 2 days of scans so my auctioneer data is not accurate enough for me to take the risk just yet. I'm also very wary of buying any of the new Cataclysm materials just yet - again, the data isn't there & the prices are fluctuating so wildly - I just don't have the capital to take a chance.

I did find a few glyphs for less than 50s each & on very short bid times so I went for those & won them. I know the glyph market is changing but I can't believe that these won't sell for at least a few gold each, no matter how far the glyph market falls.

Those volatile waters that I bid on yesterday were still there - now at around 3g each - still a huge discount so regardless of what I said above, I did pop some bids on those - this time, they were on 2hr remaining so I knew I'd be getting my cash back fairly quickly.

Came back to game after lunch to find all my cloth had sold, I'd won the glyphs & didn't get the volatile waters (as expected) but total was now 53g 52s 56c with recipes & glyphs & a few herbs still at ah.

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Auction House Alt - Day 1

I started a human rogue purely for the closeness to SW & I know the starter zone so well, I could flip thru there in about 20 minutes. I arrived in Stormwind and went directly to the Old Town where I had a quest hand in from the guy in Goldshire. I now had 9silver 63copper to my name. As I was already in Old Town, I went to the cooking recipe vendor & bought the Beer Basted Ribs recipe for 2s 40c, knowing that it would sell for at least 1gold if not a lot more.

On my way back to the AH, someone was paying for guild charter sigs so I piped up, signed up & made 7g - nice little boost to my starter pot. Posted the recipe for 3g 90s, undercutting the one already listed & proceeded to do my auctioneer scan.

The first search I do at this stage is always a vendor search & today it proved very worthwhile. There was a Fractured Alicite selling for 5g when the vendor price is 9g so I grabbed that, ran to mailbox, picked it up & vendored it! Pure luck but an immediate profit of 4g :)

The next stage of my search is done on the normal AH browse screen - I sorted by time left & did a general search under Trade Goods. I was looking for those tiny bid deals that were going to finish very soon, hoping a) to win them or b) not tie my cash up for too long. I was in luck again! Mageroyal with 1s bid, very cheap mageweave & some monstrous claws, all short time left with bid prices below 20silvers and even some volatile waters, although they were on long auctions and I probably won't win them, it's always worth a try :)

So, with 7g 19s 34c left, I decided that was enough for now & went for some lunch. Imagine my pleasure when I came back to find I'd not only won the mageroyal & mageweave but also had sold the Beer Basted Ribs recipe!

Straight back to the recipe vendor in Old Town, bought 1 of each recipe except the 2 bind on pickup ones & put those up for auction, listed the few bits I'd won & left it at that for today. Closing gold balance 11g 85s 59c.

30 day Speed Run Fun

I've been doing little 'experiments' on different servers for a while but never really kept them going so when I stumbled across Raddom's blog, I thought maybe this time, having a fellow 'experimenter' might help me to maintain my enthusiasm so today I'm going to start an new experiment!


On a totally new server, I'm going to start an alt with herbing & mining as professions and level her for a while. I'll send everything to a banker alt to sell & see how much I can build this way. Let's see how much she can build by say, level 20 & 30 etc.


On another server, I shall start another alt & level to about 5, run her to SW & just play the AH - buying low & selling at a profit as well as vendor recipes & anything else I think of!


So, what do you think? Any ideas for other experiments I can run or that you have run for yourself?

Monday 20 December 2010

Well, hello there!

Just a note to say Hello! and introduce myself. I've been playing WoW since October 2009 & currently have a level 85 Paladin (ret/tank), a level 83 Rogue (combat) & a lvl 81 priest (holy/shadow). I also have a DK at 75 and a host of smaller alts, my current favourite being a lvl 33 dwarf shaman.

As for professions, I have mining, skinning & herbalism at 525, with Leatherworking, alchemy, enchanting, inscription & tailoring at 450+ & working towards 525 on those. I also have blacksmithing, engineering & jewelcrafting on some of the lowbie alts but none are particularly advanced as yet :)

I've always dabbled at the auction house, almost since the beginning. I'm an accountant by trade so I suppose it comes naturally but it was only about 6 weeks ago that I started reading some of the excellent gold blogs out there. Since then I've gone from about 20k to 75k gold which is nice but not enough and wayyyyy too slow for my liking so I'll be reading more blogs & trying to put their tips & advice into action more effectively.

So for starters, a big thank you to Markco & Cold for all their hard work that helps so many & to Miss Mediocre for her lovely chatty style that makes her blog so enjoyable to read.