Aspect of the Auction House Viper

Posted by Markco at 8:00 AM

I received a lot of mail from players who are stuggling on crowded servers with lots of people 'ruining' markets. I made this post to show you how to sell your items even with people cornering markets and creating monopolies on established servers or just flooding your favorite markets with underpriced goods.

My favorite way to post on the auction house is lightning quick with relatively few items of any one type. I like to call it Aspect of the Auction House Viper: A kingsblood here, a frozen orb there, a stack of meat for half price, etc. I wait until the time is right and then I don't flood, but rather post a small amount of the item in question.

Patience is the key.

Most auctioneers who try to corner their market won't even know that I sold several items in their niche on any given day.

There are other ways to play the auction house and I've employed them when the time was right, but Aspect of the Viper is the best way to play if you'd like to consistently make hundreds of gold per day.

Auctioneer makes playing quick and small easy as well as fun and I highly recommend it for anyone still teetering on downloading this awesome addon.

Here's a link to download auctioneer.

How successful/unsuccessful has this strategy been for you (if you enployed it)?

22 comments: on "Aspect of the Auction House Viper"

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Anonymous said... March 12, 2009 at 9:27 AM

i've done this recently, due to all of the accumulated stuff I had in my banks. i was really just interested in getting rid of all the stuff and not having to see it back in my mailbox in two days. needless to say i saw a return of ~300g in the first 30 minutes.

I didnt price things too much lower than the lowest bid.. maybe 1-2g for cheaper items and 5-10g for more expensive ones. if i knew a particular item sold well, however, i priced it somewhere between the lowest and highest prices.

but if i was the only one posting a particular item that sold well, i was sure to tack on an "exclusivity" tax. :)
Bill said... March 12, 2009 at 9:30 AM

Auctions do expire. Although flooders will repost, I always make sure I have reasonable priced goods for sale for that lull when their goods are down.
Darraxus said... March 12, 2009 at 9:59 AM

I have been making some good money while leveling my inscription by looking at what glyphs are going for a nice amount, and how many there are on the market. If there are too many at low prices, I hold them until the others are bought up then post mine. Easily making a few hundred gold a day for like 15 minutes of leveling inscription.
Anonymous said... March 12, 2009 at 6:36 PM

The problem I have run into most recently is a self righteous moron, who likes to price their product en masse at 50g a pop while I, and everyone else who sells the item, posts at 85g+. I had to say something to her, because she was driving the market into the ground (price ended up below 20g one day). Her response was along the lines of "I post my product lower to drive away idiots like you with tons of gold looking to rip people off, and besides I still make a 25g profit."

How do I deal with this situation, because she has a lot of product, and shows no sign of smartening up. I do manage to slip in the occasional auction when her's are down, but I no longer have the market I once did because of her. I mean honestly, who crafts and sells a large amount of product without the intent of making gold? Then, why would you feel the need to kill the market and ruin profits for everyone? I don't get it.
Anonymous said... March 12, 2009 at 7:06 PM

2B you are the one mistaken I think. That person is able to craft the item and still make gold. Thier system is better than yours.

For example I can sell Infinite dust for 50G a stack and still make money. Why? I have a guildie feeding me mats. He sells to me at a fixed rate, that way i make more per sale.

Never forget that someone may have found a better way. And if that is the case, they are beating YOU and you need to either adapt or find a new market.
Anonymous said... March 12, 2009 at 8:45 PM

I think I forgot to mention that 85g+ IS the market value for these items and has been for well over 2 months. Then, this person came along and started posting 10x of the item at 50g.

The market is not dictating this new prices she has set, as it always reverts when she stops posting, but when she does post she runs it into the ground.
Anonymous said... March 12, 2009 at 9:11 PM

@2B
Yeah, I bet ALL of her auctions are selling too. Think about that for a second.

@Markco
I struggle in figuring out what to buy for resale. Do you have any suggestions on what types of items to look for? I mean, saying 'trade goods' is a bit general. Should I be trying for low level materials, or Northrend mats for example?
Markco said... March 12, 2009 at 9:25 PM

Focus on one white at a time and try to master snatching during low price times and reselling during prime time.

Any level item is worthwhile, as long as the player base has a need for it. That's why almost every northrend item is valuable, a large group of players are buying these items. Twinks like certain items, leveling characters want certain items, profession levelers and so on.

Experience is the best thing for you to work on so start small and slowly increase what types of items you buy out.
Anonymous said... March 13, 2009 at 12:13 AM

2B -
Why not just buy out her underpriced auctions and repost them? If they really are that much under the market, then you can make some more cash off of her bullheadedness. Or maybe you can contact her again and say that you'd be happy to buy as many of them COD as she can send you. Win-win in that case.

Just a thought.

-Kiseki
Anonymous said... March 13, 2009 at 8:55 AM

This may not be the best news 2B but remember the market price is what people are buying the goods at, not what you used to sell them for. If someone else has tanked the price with a consistent supply of cheaper goods the market price goes down. If they are unwilling to change their price you either have to cut yours, wait until they stop selling, or perhaps find something else to sell.

Currently my glyph business looks like its hitting a point like this. A large glyph seller on my server sells a lot of minors, and pretty much every other glyph without a lot of competition, for 18 gold. I used to comfortably undercut him around 15 with 1 or 2 so he never really saw me competiting heavily with him. Now we have someone else posting these glyphs for 8 gold. 8 gold is still a bit above mat price, and I have watched this person repost sold auctions within a very short timeframe. If they stay in the glyph market I'm going to end up having to seriously drop my glyph selling price to beat theirs, and I may watch at least a few of my glyphs become unprofitable.
Anonymous said... March 13, 2009 at 10:09 AM

I have to say, I don't quite understand. If they sell for my price for two months, she comes along and tanks it for a few days, but then they go back to selling at my price for a while, what exactly does that mean? It seems to me that her price is like a "sale" at an electronics store, we all know it's a great deal, but that it won't stay that way forever. I don't know, maybe I've just confused myself.
Anonymous said... March 15, 2009 at 11:11 AM

In my short experience of the AH, winging about undercutters is the dumbest thing you can do.

As other people have said here, you need to deal with it 2B. Diversify, undercut her, whatever, just don't waste your time wingeing about it because ultimately you as a seller have little control over market value.
Anonymous said... March 15, 2009 at 3:12 PM

Undercutters are like guildie poachers: We all hate them, but so long as people are buying what they're selling, there's nothing you can do about them.

Remember that market price is a function of supply as well as demand. If your demand remains constant but supply explodes (as it does when your competitor posts,) then market price is going right into the toilet and staying there.

Your best bet is to co-opt your competitor, as Kiseki suggested.
Anonymous said... March 15, 2009 at 4:03 PM

I totally agree with the scatter fire approach to auctioneering. Here are some (not all) of the techniques I use for AH posts:

- If you have a lot of something, sell it a bit at a time. Its not a problem if everyone starts to undercut your two posts, but it is if you have 20 posts at the same price. Also, posting a lot of something gives the buyer the impression there's a big supply and he may wait to see if the price to drop.

- Some items tend to be cheaper on the weekends, some on weekdays - learn your markets.

- If the price of something is really low one day, then wait. E.g. on my server, mageweave varies between 5g and 10g a stack. I wait until its close to 10g and post at ~8g.

- Check which is selling for more - raw materials or processed (e.g. ore vs bars).

- If everyone else has posted stupidly high prices for an item, you can raise your price but still undercut. When people need stuff, they will buy it at inflated prices.

- Level your alts as gatherers. Leveling manufacturing professions will generally cost you money - not make it. Skinning is easy (the leather nodes magically appear as you kill stuff), and ore from mining is a fantastic money maker. (The herbalism bubble has burst now everyone is getting bored with Inscription).

And I have to say this @2b - Your 'self-righteous moron' is making 25g/stack profit and her stuff is being bought as quickly as she can post it. Meanwhile your stuff is sitting there making her posts look cheap. You really need to think hard about who is being the 'self-righteous moron' in this situation. I'd suggest that its not the person who's making a big profit by undercutting their competitor.
Anonymous said... March 15, 2009 at 5:46 PM

Also Depends on the market and server. If your on a "Full" server, stuff like frostweave cloth sells crazy good/fast. I invest a large amount(500) in existing "green"(see auctioneer)priced Frostweave(<=7G)and sell it at 7.87 with a 12 hr timeframe overnight when I log. When I relog in the morning, its always all sold, and I get 75-150 gold profit.

Now this isnt every night, and sometimes the price will fluxuate, but its gold from nowhere while im sleeping.

Just make sure to stay in "yellow" when reselling, and only to buy "green". Also only works with stuff that sells REALLY fast.

Also good to wait a week or so for auctioneer to gather data over time. Friend of mine got screwed over by that.
Anonymous said... March 15, 2009 at 10:11 PM

Contrary to your advice using auctioneer is dopey. It's easy to see someone who is using auctioneer because they undercut by a fixed percentage. If you set prices manually you can undercut by 5 silver (or even 1) instead of the 2-3 gold that auctioneer typically suggests.

As for people undercutting by huge amounts, for the markets I am confident I understand yes I do by all their goods and sell them at the "correct" price. Sometimes I'll even send them a thank you note.
Anonymous said... March 17, 2009 at 12:27 PM

"the market price is what people are willing to buy the goods at"

fixed

"And I have to say this @2b - Your 'self-righteous moron' is making 25g/stack profit and her stuff is being bought as quickly as she can post it."

Yes, by people that know what they're doing, and making an additional 35g off of those same items

Accepting a 25g profit when a 55g profit is achievable is ignorant, not smart.
Anonymous said... April 6, 2009 at 5:48 PM

@2b: I cannot believe you do not see the obvious oppertunity this "moron" is handing you on a silver platter. Buy EVERYTHING she posts. All of it bar none. Then repost it all for 75g. You still make a huge profit and would then be the lowest price on whatever you are selling. You basically take her spot as the righteous moron with cheap stock and great profit.
Anonymous said... April 6, 2009 at 5:50 PM

@2b (In continuation from above) If you do not think that underselling is appropriate then buy her stock out and sell it at your markets prices making even more profit just at a slower pace.
Anonymous said... May 14, 2009 at 5:44 AM

@2B - You should only be worried if her supply is large and consistent enough to drive the prices down so much and flood the AH so much that it stays there for extended periods of time, 2 weeks+.

Back in vanilla wow when I was raiding and bored I used to do this. But I only traded 2 items. major healing potions and major mana potions. Anything less than 5g I will buy them up and sell them at 8g - 10g. I kept doing that. On days in which people post cheap pots, I just clean them up. And repost the pots, taking clear not to flood the market and make it seem scarce.

Chinese farmers were flooding it but I bought out consistently until 1 fine day I ran out of bank space. And the AH was flooded so much it stay at 3.75g region. I waited and waited thinking that, my investment probably went south.

I think I waited 1 month or so, and prices returned to normal and I sold everything.

Conclusion, just buy her out. You spend less time buying mats to craft stuff, make a little less profit but you still control the demand since you are the one buying her out.

(5g was a big deal back at lv 60)
Anonymous said... July 6, 2009 at 12:05 PM

regarding undercutters... i have one that tried to muscle in on my mechanical toads. the price was at 125bid/150 buy before he came along and sold regularly. we got into an undercutting war, i tried talking to him about setting a price, and he didnt want to hear it. so i just let all mine expire, he reposted at a higher price since he was the only seller, and i just matched his price. he can undercut all he wants, but i wont do it back and lower my profit.
Penny Auction Online said... June 3, 2010 at 12:34 AM

I am an auction lover. So every news related to the auction makes me very happy. Thanks for keeping us updated.

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