Making Gold in Patch 4.3

Making Gold in Patch 4.3

So you may have noticed that I have been away for a while, stuff happens!  I plan on posting more regularly going forward and I have a lot of things to talk about and thoughts to give on how to make some more gold.  As you know, I have made over 1 million gold in game, in fact, I have generated over 1.6 million gold in profits and I have over 1.2 million gold currently, and that is after buying a Swift Spectral Tiger Mount for 300k.  My biggest purchase ever and one that I had been wanting to make after hitting 1 million gold.

On to my thoughts about 4.3 gold making opportunities.  Currently I am watching the newly released Guardian Cubs, these little pets are sold at the Blizzard store for $10 and were listed for over 15k on the first day and then dwindled down to 5k.  I saw several posted and bought them to resell.  Why?  Because as time goes on people will forget about them until they want a pet achievement.  In the last few days they have already climbed back up over 10k.  I think this item will bounce around from 5k to 15k with volatility especially after patch 4.3 hits and people get side tracked with raiding, new 5 mans, new arena season and so on.  Time will tell, but this might be the best little money maker ever, thanks Blizz!

Ok, now some easy money makers.  With every new patch comes new PVE and new PVP gear which means people will want new gems and enchants.  A lot of folks are not storing up on their rare gems because 4.3 will bring epic gems...kind of.  Blizz decided to only give us them gems from boss kills which means that they will go to high end raiders who can clear bosses and they will not sell them for a while.  Very few will hit the market and when they do they will be very expensive.  That means all that new shiny gear needs rare gems making them in high demand.  Obviously the best one to stock up on is the red gems.  These will climb 50-100% in price and then fluctuate as people drop their stick into the AH.  Enchants will be in demand, especially the high end enchants. 

Enchants come from mats like Maelstrom Crystals, Cosmic Essences and Heavenly Shards.  I am stocking up on the Cosmic Essences as much as I can because they are high volume materials for high end enchants.  I am also buying Maelstrom Crystals and Heavenly Shards if they are priced right.  This one is tricky.  The Maelstroms will be able to be shattered in patch 4.3 to make 2 Heavenly Shards.  Right now, the Heavenly Shards are selling for more than the Maelstrom Crystals, so either the Shards will come down in price or the Crystals will go up, or a little of both.  In either case it only makes sense to grab Maelstrom Crystals because if the price of Heavenly Shards drops even a little, you will still be way ahead once you shatter them into 2 Shards.  Easy profit.

Volatiles.  I am already seeing the different volatiles starting to climb, but they will go higher.  Let’s start with tailoring; they need 30 volatiles for each Dreamcloth they wish to make.  There is a cool down so it does slow down the demand, but there is also a wrinkle in that Chaos Orbs will become tradable and it takes 5 orbs to make a Dreamcloth.  So why would volatiles go up in price?  Once they first wave of Chaos Orbs goes through the AH we will see a huge drop in the number of Orbs posted which means they will go up in price and push volatiles up along with them.  Plus there will be a huge need for Dreamcloth for new recipes and patterns which means they need mats.  Speaking of patterns and recipes, anytime we see new recipes come out we see a demand spike for the mats needed…volatiles will rise again!  Next, a new raiding tier will mean more flasks which mean Volatile Life will see a big demand spike in the first 30-60 days of raiding before leveling off again.  Buy them now while you can!

Speaking of flasks, herbs will see a spike again as well.  With raid teams hitting new content there will be a huge increase in flasks and potions which translates into herbs.  Right now I am seeing herbs selling for cheap, too much supply and not enough demand has driven prices down to very low levels.  I am betting that these same herbs that I can buy for between 20 and 30 gold per stack will jump to over 50 gold per stack with some climbing back into the 80-100 gold per stack range.  Your server may differ, but the concept will be the same.  Buy them now while you can cheaply.

There are plenty of other ways to make a ton of gold in patch 4.3, but this is a good start and a good strategy to begin with!

Deal of the Week

One of the things I like about the Auction House is finding good deals that make tons of gold, sometimes from things you don't expect.  This week was no different.  With many people hitting their max level for Hyjal Dailies and getting their recipes, there was a ton of gold to be made.  I could list a dozen items that netted me large amounts of gold this week, but none of them makes it the deal of the week.

While searching around the AH earlier in the week, as I always do, I found Dream Shards listed for 40 silver each.  You may recall that these were from WOTLK blues and were heavily used back then.  I still buy/sell these and they are not real fast movers but they will eventually sell.  This week the timing could not have been any better, people are snatching up mats for enchants, even older enchants, for their gear upgrades.  Why the older ones?  Price mainly.  With Greater Celestial Essence's averaging 100g each, Heavenly Shards averaging 125g each and Maelstrom Crystals averaging 125g each, there are a lot of people who either cheap or broke so they buy old enchants,

I posted these for 10g each, not really a high price but it is within reach of many people looking for cheap enchants or those who are leveling their enchanting.  I bought over 100 of these Dream Shards at 40 silver each and sold them all for 10g each.  Now that’s some profit!  I turned 40 gold of purchases into 1,000 gold and it took only a few days to sell them all.

What’s your best deal of the week?  Post it below and let us know!

Hyjal Dailies Recipes

We are finally at the stage where people are getting their recipes from the Hyjal Dailies and the Molten Front.  These recipes should mean great profits, whether you craft items with the recipes to resell or if you resell the materials needed for them.  Hopefully you stockpiled prior to 4.2 and you held on to the stock until now, because if you did then there is heaps of gold to be made!

Yesterday, the markets moved fast.  The first hot item to see a sudden push in sales and increase in prices were Truegold Bars.  These were averaging about 600g each and usually had about 10 in the AH at all times.  Yesterday, by late afternoon, they were hitting 1k gold with over 30 sold, and a mad rush ensued for people to list them.

Being first to market can have advantages, but planning on a market over sell situation also has advantages.  By knowing that there would be a high demand for Truegold on Tuesday, I posted several bars on Monday night.  At that time there were only about 6 on the Auction with prices at 700g ea.  I listed several at 1k each knowing that it would be a few hours after Tuesday’s maintenance before I would login.  Sure enough, I logged in within 2 hours of servers coming up and all my Truegold was sold and the AH was empty.  Knowing that others would be posting soon and undercutting, I placed a few more at 1k each and then posted a ton of them at 1,500g each.  Why?  People are greedy and want their gold, which is a good thing, but knowing this means I knew they would undercut me by a few copper and this would buy me time to let them post.

Sure enough, over 75 bars were posted at 1200-1500g each within an hour or two.  I waited and then posted more, undercutting them and taking huge profits.  This is a great example of knowing how to work market timing and market manipulation into your favor.  You have to understand how the wow economy works, the timing of events and the impact they make on the Auction House, the tendency of others to try and cash in on trends and market behaviors.  Learn all of this and you make mad gold!

What else is hot?  Pyrium Bars, Pyrium Ore, Elementium Bars, Elementium Ore, Inferno Rubies, and Volatiles are starting to uptick.

How to Reset Auction House Prices

How to Reset Auction House Prices

A strategy that I have used for a long time that has shown solid success involves tactics that will or can rest the pricing of an item.  This is tricky to learn how to do, but once you learn how to do it right, it can make you boat loads of profits!

Concept: By buying out all items, you have a short window with no competition and the ability to set the price you want for that item, basically you are resetting the price point.

Example: Eternal Fire is a drop from WOTLK that is not in high supply in the market right now so people are willing to spend more to buy them to level up their profession or use for crafting items for their alts.  During WOTLK, these would generally sell for between 15g and 30g each, depending on the supply and demand at the time.  Today, I see people listing a few here and there for the same price levels.  Their mistake, my profit.

During WOTLK, these prices were based on large supplies coming to the AH daily since it was a current drop item.  Today, these come to the market sparingly from either people leveling an alt, people farming or folks clearing out their banks.  They use the same pricing but instead of there being a few hundred of these posted in the AH, there may only be 1 to 10.  This gives you the perfect opportunity to reset the market and make some great profits.

I find them listed these days for about 10-20 gold each, and usually there are no more than 10 to 20 in the Auction House to purchase.  I buy all of them and then set my new price, usually around 75g each.  I came up with this number through understanding what people are willing to spend and by doing research through Undermine Journal and other resources to see server averages etc.

The beauty of this method and this item in combination is that there is little competition and great markup potential.  If I buy them for 10g and sell them for 75g then I am making 650% profits!  It may take a day or two but they will sell.  They key is looking at the postings once a day (or more if you can) to see what your competitors list.  I cannot believe how often I find someone posting them for the same 10-25 gold each even though mine are listed for 75g.  Buy them and keep listing them.  In the case where someone decides they want to list theirs right under yours, simply cancel and undercut them.  You have tons of room to negotiate down and make tons of profit.

They key to resetting prices is picking the right item at the right time.  You will have little success in resetting the price on an item like Embersilk Cloth because once you do, people will see the price and list their stockpiles of cloth under you.  The market will suddenly explode with Embersilk cloth and within a few hours the price is back to where ti was and you have not sold any.  Why is this the case?  Because Embersilk is common, it is a current drop from all current zones and raids and is plenty of supply.

Biggest mistakes to avoid:  Over pricing an item so no one buys it.  Buying out the Eternal Fire and then listing it for 1,000g will not net you any buyers and will only inflame people on the server.  Picking an item in high supply will only get you a few minutes or a few hours of profits and may leave you sitting on tons of supply. 

Secrets to Gold Making 103

Today we will expand our training from lesson 102, where I used the example of Wool Cloth and how to buy your stock and then resell it.  This strategy is simple and straight forward but there is more to learn!  Once you understand the basic premise of buying a segment of the market reselling it and being patient for the income stream it can be applied to many various segments.  The example of wool cloth can be translated into several items such as:

·        All Cloth; Linen, Wool, Silk, Mageweave, Runecloth, Netherweave, Embersilk

·        Minerals; Copper Ore, Tin Ore, Mithril Ore, Thorium Ore, Silver Ore, Adamantite Ore, Khorium Ore, Eternium Ore, Saronite Ore, Cobalt Ore, Titanium Ore, Pyrite Ore, Elementium Ore

·        Bars; Copper Bars, Tin Bars, Bronze Bars, Silver Bars, Mithril Bars, Thorium Bars, Khorium Bars, Eternium Bars, Adamantite Bars, Saronite Bars, Cobalt Bars, Titanium Bars, Titansteel Bars, Elementium Bars, Pyrium Bars

·        Leather; Light Leather, Medium Leather, Heavy Leather, Thick Leather, Rugged Leather, Knothide Leather, Heavy Knothide Leather, Borean Leather, Heavy Borean Leather, Savage Leather, Heavy Savage Leather

·        Herbs; Silverleaf, Earthroot, Peacebloom, Liferoot, Khadgar’s Whisker, Sungrass, Golden Sansam, Dreamfoil, Mountain Silversage, Mageroyal, Stranglekelp, Kingsblood, Bruiseweed, Ghost Mushroom, Blindweed, Wild Steelbloom, Swiftthistle, Icecap, Briarthorn, Goldthorn, Ancient Lichen, Ragveil, Dreaming Glory, Teracone, Felweed, Nightmare Vine, Mana Thistle, Netherbloom, Tiger Lily, Talandra’s Rose, Deadnettle, Goldclover, Lichbloom, Icethorn, Adder’s Tongue, Stormvine, Cinderbloom, Whiptail, Twilight Jasmine, Heartblossom

This is not even the complete list of opportunities; there are entire categories like Enchanting Materials, Elemental Materials, Cooking Materials, Uncut Gems, and more!

So in lesson 102 I gave you 1 example of how to use supply and demand, low prices and timing to make profits.  You probably thought, big deal, that’s only a few gold pieces a day at best.  But once you learn the art of one it can be applied to many and this list should open your eyes to what is on your server in terms of gold making!

Remember my lesson on starting out in a sector of the market that you know the best before jumping in to all of it.  Too many people see all of these items and try to do too much too fast without really understanding the market.  Stick to one category in the beginning and learn it before diving into another category.

When I started my gold empire, I started in copper because I was a miner and blacksmith so I was learning the market and how it worked for that sector.  I gradually added several other mineral ores and mineral bars to my list and was posting in several of these each day.  Once I learned this sector and I had a strategy for each price point, then I went into cloth.  I went into it because I needed cloth to level my first aid skills, so it paid to learn the market since I was having to buy in the market.

Folks ask me which market is best or where to start that will gain the most gold the fastest.  That really depends on your server and your knowledge.  Personally, I always like fast moving markets like cloth to start in because everyone needs it for tailoring first aid and even in other professions.  Whichever market you pick, learn it and stick to it.

4.2 Starting to Pick up Steam

Prior to 4.2 I had been stockpiling several items in hopes that 4.2 would see a spike in prices due to higher demand.  Some of these I knew would take time, while others would be quickly impacted.  Inferno Rubies are a great item for the last week as they demand has outshot supply.  Prior to 4.2 these uncut gems were selling for roughly 60g apiece.  They are now averaging 160-200g each and they seem to staying there because supplies have slowed down on my server.  This is great for several reasons.  I have a few stacks of these that I am unloading at 160g minimum and they are moving fast, plus I am cutting them into several different cuts and selling those at 190+ each which means I am seeing huge returns on my investment.  But we are also starting to see the trickledown effect to the ore…

Prior and even for the first two weeks after 4.2 hit the realms, our server saw Elementium Ore average about 30-35g per stack.  This week it has been quickly climbing and is now averaging about 60g per stack.  Obsidium Ore has done the same thing, averaging about 30g per stack up through last week and now up to 50g per stack.

So you may be thinking that now is the time to unload your stock piles right?  No so fast…this uptick is more than likely a direct result of the gem market and the need for new gems due to gear upgrades.  This demand will probably not slow down too much and I think it will actually get far higher in about 2 weeks.  That is when many people will start to unlock the new recipes from their dailies in Hyjal.  When that occurs you will have to direct impacts to the ore market, the gems for gear upgrades and they will need Elementium Ore to make Hardened Elementium Bars for the gear patterns.

So my advice would be to slide a few stacks of bars/ore into the market now, keep prospecting them for blue gems but hold onto a large amount for the real demand to hit the servers and you may see prices hit as high as 150g per stack of ore in which case you will be happy you listened!  Worst case?  They are still sitting at high demand levels and the ore is sitting around the same price as today.

Another huge stockpile has been in the volatiles market.  What has been fascinating to me here is that many people stockpiled prior to 4.2 and have been unloading them over the last two weeks when their demand has not really hit the market yet.  Silly people.  I am still buying them for very low prices, even the volatile fire even though I know they are being farmed heavily right now in Hyjal.  Why you ask?  Well, just like I mentioned about the ore prices, volatiles will start climbing in two more weeks once the patterns are unlocked and they have some hefty volatile requirements.  Add to that the fact that every tailor who has not stockpiled their Dreamcloth will suddenly need to make their weekly cool downs and it is very likely that we will see a huge push on the markets.

Bottom line here:  the amateurs are selling off cheap because they fear their gold will evaporate which means that when the real demand hits in a few weeks they will be crying a river while the Professionals will be making some serious gold!

As always, good luck and happy auctioneering!

Gold Secrets 102

One of the biggest mistakes I see from people who think that making gold in the AH is only about buying low and selling high.  You have seen these guys, they go and buy every single item in a category, like wool cloth, and then relist them at ridiculously high prices because someone told them this is how you do it.  They end up getting stuck with stacks of materials, no sales and then get frustrated and dump the items into the AH for a loss and tell everyone that you cannot make money in the AH.  Don’t do this!  If you do this method then you will lose gold and miss the opportunity.

That doesn’t mean you can’t make some nice gold coins on Wool Cloth, in fact it was one of my staples for years and I even dabble in still today.  When starting out in the Auction House game, it is always wise to start in the commodities like cloth, ore, bars, enchanting materials, leather, herbs, etc.  These items are always in demand, people are leveling alts, new players are always joining the game and they all want to level their skills along the way.

Basic Strategy:  Let’s use the Wool Cloth as our example, unlike the idiot who bought it all in the Auction House and then relisted them for 100g per stack, we will look for the sweet spot and try to maximize the amount we can get for our cloth.  Now remember, that ever server is different in pricing structure so it is very very very important that you have a basis of reference when you decide you want to resell the cloth.  What is the average price?  How many are selling?  What is the deviation (the spread between the average price, the low price and the high price.

On my server, Wool Cloth averages about 8gold per stack.  I find stacks listed between 5g and 100g and I know from watching the market for years (you may need to use Auctioneer or The Undermine Journal to know this data) that people will pay as high as 40gold per stack before they resist the purchase.  That means I have some profits to make!

Depending on the spread in the market, I will buy the Wool Cloth as long as I can generate more than 100% profits (this is my goal) which means I will buy all the cloth I can up to about 20g per stack.  This is also a great price point because fewer people will list these stacks over 20g per stack thinking that others would not buy them.  I will.  I buy the stacks, relist for 39.99gold for each stack and then monitor and wait. 

Is it that easy? Yes and No.  First of all, there may be some cloth stacks for 30g when I relisted mine for 39.99g but I’m ok with this for two reasons.  One, it is below my profit threshold so if I buy it I will only make 33%, not 100% that set my bar at.  Secondly, I really don’t mind seeing it sit there cheaper because that means other people will price theirs lower to undercut and the more they do that the more Wool Cloth I get to buy at the right price.  It will sell; I just have to be patient.

Patience is not just a virtue, it is a necessity in the Auction House game at times.  When I relist my Wool Cloth it might sell within minutes or it may take a week.  Quite frankly, I don’t care because my margins for profit allow me a ton of room to relist them every day.  The only time I may relist them cheaper is if someone decides to undercut me by less than a gold per stack and they list a boatload of it on the Auction.  In this case, I cancel my auctions and relist it undercutting him by a copper.  As long as there are less than 30 stacks or fewer listed below my cloth, I will be fine and leave it.

Lastly, you may have noticed the price point was 40g per stack but I listed it for 39.99 gold per stack.  This is on purpose; it is a mental thing where people perceive prices differently when priced under a price point rather than at a price point.  When was the last time you saw a house for $150,000 or a care for $25,000?  Not often, if ever.  They price them at $149.999 for the house and $24,999 for the car and I use the same method, whether it truly matters or not…who knows?  But it makes me happy!

When setting your price, you need to know what % you want to make on your investment and you also want to plan on how fast you want it sold.  In my example, I know it may take a week to sell it but that is ok with me.  You may want your gold back faster so you gain momentum and if that is the case then you have drop your margins down.  Selling it 20g will be faster than 40g, so if you find that you buy a few stacks for under 10g and you see that you still move these quick at 20g, the go for it!  Profit is profit and when you are starting out you may need to go for higher volume over increased margins.

So now you want to drop into a market and use this method I explained, and hopefully what you learned from this post are the following:

·        Know the market really well that you want to enter

·        No how far you can push the price of an item before people stop buying it

·        Have a goal set BEFORE you enter the market for the % return on your gold investment

·        Be Patient

·        Undercut if necessary, but it is not always necessary

Good luck and Happy Auctioneering!

Gold Secrets 101

The biggest question I always seem to garner from my guildies and others on my realm is, where do I start and how do I do what you do?  Seems like an easy enough question but the answer is not that easy.  It really depends on what professions you have, your game knowledge, the amount of gold you want to invest, your patience level, the amount of time you are willing to put into learning, the markets on your server, and several other factors.  I know that you are reading this because you want an answer so I will do my best to give one or two for you.

First off, let's be clear here, my methods are not going to net you 10k or 20k in a day, unless you are willing to invest at least 20k or more to start with...for most people this is just insanity and welcomes a whole bunch of pain and frustration.  Sure, I can make that in a day, but this is with tons of experience, knowledge and a huge bankroll.  If you truly want to learn how to master the Auction House then my first piece of advice is to start slow.

Now that you have agreed to start slow and really learn how to master the trade of auctioneering, let’s look at our options of how to make gold.  I will list just a few of the ways that someone can enter the market safely and make gold coins.

Enchanting Scrolls - Enchanting Mats - Disenchanting greens/blues for Mats - Disenchanting crafted items - Glyphs - Inks - Crafted Relics - Uncut Gems - Cut Gems - Prospecting - Dreamcloth crafted items - Crafted PVP Gear - Armor Enhancements - Flasks - Potions - Elixirs - Transmutes - Smelting - Market Speculation - Market Timing - Resetting the Auction Price - Recipes from Vendors - Trading in Commodities - Pets from Vendors - Old World Materials - Dumb Luck

Has that got you thinking?  I will hit on these and other items as I post each day so that you get better insights.  One of questions I am also asked quite often is "Do you farm?" the answer to that is yes, I farm the Auction House every day!  I hate traditional farming, spending hours collecting herbs, leather, cloth or minerals is just not my idea of fun.  There are those who like this method, it is simple and they make gold at it.  We need those players, they are my best friends!  Why?  Because they typically do not care about market timing, market pricing or anything else other than making a quick turnaround in gold.  So they will undercut and drop their stacks in for me to buy them and resell them.

Think about what I just said.  They spend hours farming materials, sell it in the AH to me for a good price (cheap is good) and then I repost them in the Auction House for a higher price when the timing is right and make even more gold off the materials.  Why is my way better?  Because for every hour they spent farming to make their gold, I spent 5 minutes making the same amount of gold from their hard work.  :-)

"Where do I start?"  My best recommendation is to start small and start in area that you have a lot of knowledge in already, this will make it easier to learn the concepts of market timing and how to manipulate the markets to your advantage.  There are hundreds of ways to make gold in the Auction House, so rather than trying to learn a dozen or more ways and taking on too much risk, just take on one way at a time and master it.