How some jerks succeed on the Auction House.

[Socialhealer]

Loosely related to the topic but I made a lot of gold selling the Thomas Yance 1copper shirts from the Durnholde 5 man instance and selling them on the AH for 50-100g.

Good times.

yeh i probably wouldn't fly to CoT and find a vendor to save 50g, i could fly to CoT kill morchok and make more than 50g though.

making 50g just isn't like it was in the past, thats like making 5 silver in TBC.

[User1516]

The AH itself is a joke and it's ridiculous that auctions can be cancelled.

Stfu retard

[bigbleach]

Honestly OP, I think 500g a glyph is kinda silly. Unless at the beginning of an expac, where the herbs are really expensive, there isn't a real reason other than greed to post them that high. Towards 100 maybe? Idk, I haven't dabbled in the glyph market since wrath. Anyways, anything goes in AH pvp. I personally run mysterious fortune cards still (made well over 1mil off them) and I from time to time get into altercations similar to what you've described. How I deal with it is by whispering them and getting a bit of an argument going, get them all flustered. Start a bidding war and I'll post just a few of my cards, wait to be undercut, and keep doing it until they put a considerable amount on the AH at my breakeven price ( or close to it ) and then I buy their whole stock and cancel mine out back to my ceiling price. I leave them with either no profit ( or equal to what the herbs would have sold for ) or a very small profit, not worth dealing with the effort to make the cards and keep fighting me for the best price. Typically, this happens once and they leave the market. Most of the time its with people who don't have a lot of gold to throw, or farm their own herbs. I digress... Either buy their crap out when its at a low price, allow him to keep making a small buck since he doesn't post often, or leave that glyph set alone until he gets bored. There is almost no way you cannot make a profit off glyphs, may not be the one you want, but with glyphs costing less than 15g to produce, you will rarely take a hit. I use the same mats as you, and within the first 2 months of the expac, herb prices dropped back to my limit to make cards (1.5g a unit ). Glyphs are always much higher than that in price. I think you are just complaining because someone is giving reasonable competition to you and you can't handle it. Force them out, wall out the market to the point that the profit and work isn't worth it to your competition, and they will back off. If they come back, do it again. They will learn to not bother with you.

[Banquetto]

I don't get what the problem is.

People are undercutting you and making their money. Isn't that how the AH is supposed to work?

No-lifers love it when people only undercut by one copper. Because in a system like that, the winner is the person who spends most time logged on and adjust their prices (undercutting by one more copper) most frequently.

So when someone comes along and undercuts deeply, the no-lifers get very very salty indeed. Then you get posts like the OP, angry that someone did it "wrong" by undercutting by too much.

[DesMephisto]

No-lifers love it when people only undercut by one copper. Because in a system like that, the winner is the person who spends most time logged on and adjust their prices (undercutting by one more copper) most frequently.

So when someone comes along and undercuts deeply, the no-lifers get very very salty indeed. Then you get posts like the OP, angry that someone did it "wrong" by undercutting by too much.

I love tanking markets as a fuck you to the one coppers. I got plenty of time, and lots of supply. As long as I make a profit. If I can make someone cry as a result? Twice the profit.

[Sansnom]

That suggestion is pretty controversial since very little about the Auction House has changed since launch, apart from how it’s accessed. But I’d like to hear some thoughts on if this old system needs to be looked at, or is even this too much? Laissez faire; the market will repair itself. Maybe.

Personally, I hate people who wants to control the market. Make it a monopoly and a cartel. Funny how some think it is okay to buy low priced and resell them at a higher making a profit but yet turn around and complain it is not fair when they can no longer continue this course of action.

[PragmaticGamer]

Personally, I'd like to see a reverse-auction.

Saw something like it on eBay. Buyers post their "wants," and sellers fill the orders.

[SoulSoBreezy]

Like others have said it seems like you take the AH way too seriously. It's great that you enjoy playing the AH, but I think you are reading wayyy too much into it. What you describe as the "Joker," to me sounds like the voice of reason. You listed your items way too high and this player decided that he is happy with selling his items at a lower price. This makes him happy and the buyers happy, but you are unhappy that you could not inflate the value of those items? You are doing the exact same strategy he is just in reverse; if anything I would say your strategy is more of the "Joker," but that's just me. At least his profits have a realistic value.

I've had conversations with certain vendors who price glyphs down to something ridiculous because they feel "this should be the correct and reasonable price since the cost to craft is Xg." And while I think 100-500g is a correct and reasonable price, both of us would be wrong.
The buyers decide by well, buying. Or not buying. Right?
Funny enough it's the clashing of perspectives on this which makes me enjoy working the AH so much.

[Freedom]

That behavior sounds a lot like my own - price to sell, and sell fast if possible, except on certain valuable items.

SO basically you're calling a casual AH user this:


Because they cut into your profits just enough that you lose 5% of this:

You just sound like a salty whiner that wants the system "fixed" for how you play.

48 hour auctions are there for people that can't log in multiple times a day to relist (or don't care to).

Exactly. Seriously, 500g a glyph? Or my favorite - "The thing is though, these prices aren’t what I’d call natural. If left alone, these prices can be higher. In fact other forces in the market will no doubt be affected, but I’ll limit my ranting to just the selling of glyphs" ??? This person clearly values their TIME more than GOLD, and is willing to take a "loss" to sell their wares for less than you in return for less effort. Hell, they could be a hardcore who'd rather level their 12th 110 than stand in front of the AH to make 10% more gold than just plopping and logging to a different toon. Less profit, for time saved on being in front of the AH.

And you know what they say about time and money - "Time is money, friend!"

I personally post my auctions for 48 hours and forget them, massively undercutting if I think the current price won't last for very long due to undercuts, or is too high and will reduce volume sold. I'll sell 10 gems for 500g rather than 3 for 1k a pop. Sell my Footpad's Shirt for 28k and get the gold before Legion, rather than wait for someone stupid enough to pay more than 100k for a shirt. I remember putting the new MoP meta gems up for 300-500g when other "pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered" people were trying to charge 1k a pop. I don't give a fuck if someone's profits are being RUIEEEEEENED because I price to sell, and not de-list, re-list, de-list, relist like a madman.

[Invrlose]

i stopped posting on the ah after a no lifer who literally spent 12 hours a day at the ah for months at a time would post just above cost on hundreds of glyphs if you even attempted to post a few.

[Deleted]

i must ask you, why do you use two pop filters on your mic?

or am i just seeing things?

[SoulSoBreezy]

Right - at the start of an expansion you should be making money because there's a limit on supply. By this point, the cost of a glyph should be roughly equal to the cost of materials + a small convenience fee. Anything higher is a result of people manipulating the market.

It gets back to, "Why should I expect to earn a profit from doing this?"

The data suggests that some players are willing to pay a very high convenience fee.

[cerin616]

Mad someone is artificially reducing prices.
Doesn't realize he is the one artificially increasing prices.

[SoulSoBreezy]

i must ask you, why do you use two pop filters on your mic?

or am i just seeing things?

Just one.
Though I was clearly inhaling the thing anyway, the Ps still went through =(.

[Heladys]

I've had conversations with certain vendors who price glyphs down to something ridiculous because they feel "this should be the correct and reasonable price since the cost to craft is Xg." And while I think 100-500g is a correct and reasonable price, both of us would be wrong.
The buyers decide by well, buying. Or not buying. Right?
Funny enough it's the clashing of perspectives on this which makes me enjoy working the AH so much.

So why are you bitching?

[Lady Dragonheart]

I usually sell glyphs for between 20g-200g depending on the glyph. However, I rarely focus on selling them, though, since the cost to profit margin (especially when you factor in how long it takes to sell them) isn't that great compared to other things. However, I make MUCH more money from other niche markets of the AH, this is because essentially anyone with inscription can create glyphs to undercut you, and demand is relatively low to begin with. If you want to make a killing on the AH, you have to get your hands on a niche market that's both easier to control and extremely rare and/or in limited supply. For example, getting control on a retired crafting market, or a no-long obtainable item market is pure gold when you make even a single sale. The rare mount market is decent, but it's often the primary target of the realm's casual tycoons. It's better to find and market a niche market that isn't on another tycoon's territory, else you're been knocking each others income and just burning bridges when you can instead work together.

That leads me to my next point, be a good neighbor to your realm's other tycoons. If you know someone with a strong market, and you get your hands on an item in their market, talk to them and negotiate a friendly trade for it, get on their good side. It pays off when you least expect it. I managed to snipe a few Spectral Tigers for 400k. Sold them to a tycoon, evading the AH cut, and he got me a few sets of retired armors and sold them to me for almost nothing. Sets that I made over 900k off of, easily, over the next month. Simply, don't be a douche, jerk, or bitch about trying to make money that you antagonize other tycoons. Essentially, you want to build bridges, not burn them. A non-committal partnership can be a pleasant surprise one day or another.

Lastly, don't work hard, work smart. I spend no more than two hours a day on my dailies that involve my gold making. I almost always set my auctions for 48 hours and genuinely forget about them while I do fun things. Also, I rarely get my hands dirty when I don't have to. I can find people that hate the AH, some with a fiery passion. But they have no issue farming materials of any sort for me. Do I want to sell some reborn weapons this week? Pay a few miners on my list to mass farm ghost iron and trillium, mail them to blacksmiths and alchemists for Living Steel and Lightning Steel, organize the weapons to be craft and pay everyone diligently and on time, (and give them tips for being hasty or friendly, this promotes loyalty in them). Then, simply post and wait for payday. Same goes with almost anything, just tell you gatherers what you need and they go out and do their job just fine.

The short story is, I love capitalism when it comes to laissez-faire markets like that of the WoW AH system. The AH system that WoW has makes it easy to make gold if you have gold to start with. I have no issues needing gold and likely never will because of the system in place. Now that the goldcap has been raised, it just makes it that much easier to hold onto my gold. Having several goldcaps, and needed to invest in rare promo items, mounts, pets, and such that I could convert as liquid assets if I ever needed even more gold, the raised gold cap was a wonderful addition to Legion.

I should say, that it does take work and know-how to get to this level. It's not something that can be easily done if you have only a few thousand gold, you need a lot of gold, at the very least one million gold or a very rare and/or limited niche market that's obscure from the realm's current tycoons. Then. it requires a firm knowledge of your product and it's sale-ability and a keen understanding of your market and competition. Once you're there, though, you need to gain ground and hold yourself up on several niche markets. Being a one-trick pony can land you in the poor-house quickly if you aren't careful and the item's rarity or availability change. However, the opposite happens too. If you have too many niche markets, it becomes tedious being one person monitoring them all. Often times, I offer a whole market or two to my in-game friends to help them gain gold when they can, many of them being pure RPers that aren't very rich at all, usually only for a time, sometimes a more permanent situation, should they desire gold. So, there's that. Being a greedy scrooge about gold is boring anyway. That's why I often take pleasure in buying my friends and guild gifts when it suits me.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

No-lifers love it when people only undercut by one copper. Because in a system like that, the winner is the person who spends most time logged on and adjust their prices (undercutting by one more copper) most frequently.

So when someone comes along and undercuts deeply, the no-lifers get very very salty indeed. Then you get posts like the OP, angry that someone did it "wrong" by undercutting by too much.

Except if you undercut me deeply, I'll still undercut you by one copper. You won't sell your auction any sooner; you'll just get less when you do.

[Lady Dragonheart]

I usually sell glyphs for between 20g-200g depending on the glyph. However, I rarely focus on selling them, though, since the cost to profit margin (especially when you factor in how long it takes to sell them) isn't that great compared to other things. However, I make MUCH more money from other niche markets of the AH, this is because essentially anyone with inscription can create glyphs to undercut you, and demand is relatively low to begin with. If you want to make a killing on the AH, you have to get your hands on a niche market that's both easier to control and extremely rare and/or in limited supply. For example, getting control on a retired crafting market, or a no-long obtainable item market is pure gold when you make even a single sale. The rare mount market is decent, but it's often the primary target of the realm's casual tycoons. It's better to find and market a niche market that isn't on another tycoon's territory, else you're been knocking each others income and just burning bridges when you can instead work together.

That leads me to my next point, be a good neighbor to your realm's other tycoons. If you know someone with a strong market, and you get your hands on an item in their market, talk to them and negotiate a friendly trade for it, get on their good side. It pays off when you least expect it. I managed to snipe a few Spectral Tigers for 400k. Sold them to a tycoon, evading the AH cut, and he got me a few sets of retired armors and sold them to me for almost nothing. Sets that I made over 900k off of, easily, over the next month. Simply, don't be a douche, jerk, or bitch about trying to make money that you antagonize other tycoons. Essentially, you want to build bridges, not burn them. A non-committal partnership can be a pleasant surprise one day or another.

Lastly, don't work hard, work smart. I spend no more than two hours a day on my dailies that involve my gold making. I almost always set my auctions for 48 hours and genuinely forget about them while I do fun things. Also, I rarely get my hands dirty when I don't have to. I can find people that hate the AH, some with a fiery passion. But they have no issue farming materials of any sort for me. Do I want to sell some reborn weapons this week? Pay a few miners on my list to mass farm ghost iron and trillium, mail them to blacksmiths and alchemists for Living Steel and Lightning Steel, organize the weapons to be craft and pay everyone diligently and on time, (and give them tips for being hasty or friendly, this promotes loyalty in them). Then, simply post and wait for payday. Same goes with almost anything, just tell you gatherers what you need and they go out and do their job just fine.

The short story is, I love capitalism when it comes to laissez-faire markets like that of the WoW AH system. The AH system that WoW has makes it easy to make gold if you have gold to start with. I have no issues needing gold and likely never will because of the system in place. Now that the goldcap has been raised, it just makes it that much easier to hold onto my gold. Having several goldcaps, and needed to invest in rare promo items, mounts, pets, and such that I could convert as liquid assets if I ever needed even more gold, the raised gold cap was a wonderful addition to Legion.

I should say, that it does take work and know-how to get to this level. It's not something that can be easily done if you have only a few thousand gold, you need a lot of gold, at the very least one million gold or a very rare and/or limited niche market that's obscure from the realm's current tycoons. Then. it requires a firm knowledge of your product and its sale-ability and a keen understanding of your market and competition. Once you're there, though, you need to gain ground and hold yourself up on several niche markets. Being a one-trick pony can land you in the poor-house quickly if you aren't careful and the item's rarity or availability change. However, the opposite happens too. If you have too many niche markets, it becomes tedious being one person monitoring them all. Often times, I offer a whole market or two to my in-game friends to help them gain gold when they can, many of them being pure RPers that aren't very rich at all, usually only for a time, sometimes a more permanent situation, should they desire gold. So, there's that. Being a greedy scrooge about gold is boring anyway. That's why I often take pleasure in buying my friends and guild gifts when it suits me.

[Xenryusho]

You just sound like a salty whiner that wants the system "fixed" for how you play.

48 hour auctions are there for people that can't log in multiple times a day to relist (or don't care to).

Issue is that 48 hour auctions rarely get sold if they don't do it immediately. They just sit there setting a low ceiling. There's no benefit to a 48 hour auction regardless of how often you log on.

In addition there's no room for variation of service. All products are instant delivery, and don't have degrees of service or power so everything comes down to pricing. In a situation like this having the ability to arbitrarily stagnate the market is a huge issue because it gives them full control for minimal investment. If it were one person or required certain conditions in the market then it could be combated, but since this power is in the hands of literally anyone who feels like it, it's a lose lose situation.

[SoulSoBreezy]

Why should the price be much higher than how much it costs to buy the materials? It takes no effort to craft. Those guys have it right. It should only cost more if there's some limit on supply, which would be reflected in the higher price of materials, or it's a pain to craft. You're making the market more inefficient by doing this, making everyone else's playing experience worse so you can get gold and buy shinies.

Last post from me. I knew I'd get some snarky responses but tbh this is a bit much! =(
Glyphs on my realm have always been at a weird spot. For years glyphs here have fetched a high price, apparently abhorrently higher than other average prices on other realms. Believe it or not, the demand really was high enough to warrant a 500g reset (Hello, glyph of energy!). We'd get away with it.
Now the paradigm's changed, and we're adapting, or taking a wait-and-see approach. Show's over and it's time to move on. There're still a few glyphs that go for a higher price and soon to be renewed scarcity now that we're finally moving away from an oversaturated resource to one that'll be a lot less accessible.