"Hi,
I'll often see something like: [Trade]: WTS [Ametrine]*4 400g [Cardinal Ruby]*1 120g
This is a great deal on my server, so I buy it immediately, and then what often enough happens is they will then put other items in trade, and whisper me a great price. If I wait too long, usually because I'm unfamiliar with the items or because I don't consider it that much of a deal, they'll whisper me a lower price until I think it's acceptable. They'll repeat this until I've spent 10-20K gold and they have nothing else. Usually near the end they'll trade me a couple of harder to sell items at a really low price, and sometimes about 100-300g worth of items for free.
Usually they trade me items at about 40-75% of market price, and it's usually high demand and possibly farmable Northrend items like Titanium Ore/Bars, Titansteel, Dragonseyes, Spellweave, Eternals, Primordial Saronite, epic gems, Darkmoon Cards, a handful of enchanting mats, occasionally herbs or cobalt or saronite, maybe some flasks or enchanted scrolls.
Is this a normal occurrence? Sometimes it will be a level 80, sometimes a level 1. My thoughts are it is 1) A gold farmer getting rid of items in bulk 2) A hacked account dumping items 3) A server transfer getting rid of their items ASAP.
This usually makes me a decent amount of money, but it does makes me wonder.
Anonymous, Ysondre-US"
Your analysis of the situation, Mr. Anonymous, is probably spot on that the seller falls into one of the three categories you listed. All three have one thing in common: the seller wants to sell his stock as quickly as possible. It is extremely wise of you to look at your current sizeable investment as a great deal, even if you only have a thousand gold remaining after making it. This is an important point because many people will read your story and say: "well that works great when you can drop 20k gold on a bunch of deals." If you are one of those people then please take a moment to consider the fact that it takes money to make money, and most auctioneers are selling items which yield 20-50% of their investment. So that means that if you want to make 5k gold a day you need to invest a solid 10k-20k gold into your mats. Now there are certainly markets which yield 100%-300% profit all throughout the various professions, but I wanted to make the point that you definitely require money to make more money. With that in mind, if you saw cardinal rubies selling for a great deal but only had enough gold to buy a handful, you still should go buy that handful knowing that you will make a decent amount of gold after cutting and reselling them. Obviously don't go nuts and invest all your gold in one place, but be aware that just because you can't buy every deal you see doesn't mean you shouldn't avoid deals in the first place.
Further Reading:
Posts Related to:
auction house strategy
6 comments: on "Big Deals on the AH"
Unknown said... March 21, 2010 at 9:41 AM
Hi, I'd like to share my story which sounds very familiar. I play on a german realm and so people rarely post in english. One night I was following the trade chat and read a similar line like in the story above. He was trying to sell epic gems ridiculously low so I went up to him to trade. He then started offering me toc recipes and primordial saronite for a bargain, so i took it.
So who would be speaking english on a german realm and desperatly trying to sell stuff quickly? Right, an account hacker. I inspected him and saw the only gear he had was for emblems, as he had vendored the rest.
Just saying, you should jump on these kind of deals and try to get them even lower, they will sell because they will be desperate to get rid of it as quick as they can.
-Neave Dethecus EU
Dahkeus said... March 21, 2010 at 10:00 AM
Unfortunately, making a lot of gold often ends up with you having to deal with a gold farmer/account hacker, even if you aren't buying gold and even if it's not your intention. They tend to be some of the best sources for buying raw materials in bulk at a good price.
Hanzhito said... March 21, 2010 at 1:16 PM
I love this blog and have become quite effective at making gold by following the advice here. However, I find myself troubled by this post and the comments that followed.
Having gold is not the point of the game. The point of the game is to have fun, and gold is only useful in that it allows you to afford things and activities in the game that are fun. And yes, the process of making gold can be enjoyable, as well.
Getting one's account hacked leads to feelings of violation and huge setbacks as hard-earned assets are lost overnight. Buying gold can even lead to real life problems such as identity theft. It only detracts from the game when I hear of the hardships that other players have faced due to the gold sellers finding ready incentives to ply their trade. I can't imagine how the future gains from investing in goods stolen from another's account could outweigh the slimy feeling I would have at knowing someone else was going to log on to find his or her account stripped naked.
As this blog has proven, making gold doesn't have to be difficult, it just require's using one's head. There is no need to resort to buying "hot" goods. If you even suspect that highly discounted goods are the product of account hacking, they probably are, and you know it and cannot feign innocence! I am disappointed that the original post and the comments hardly touch on the ethical issues involved in this situation, glossing it over as "unfortunate". It's hard to believe that anyone is actually sorry that people suffer account hacking when they continue to buy clearly stolen goods, encourage others to do so, or simply don't speak up against it. This seemingly willful negligence clearly violates the spirit of fun behind the game and implies that people are incapable of making gold using legitimate methods.
Marcko, please respond to my concerns. I do not want to think that this blog is encouraging people to make money by any means possible, including by unsavory or underhanded means. I want myself and other people to be able to play the game without having to be overly anxious that they will have to unexpectedly rebuild the fruits of their labor from scratch.
Anonymous said... March 22, 2010 at 3:59 AM
If you know or suspect it's a hacker you should not encourage the behaviour by buying his goods. Would you buy from a criminal who stole goods from an elderly couple at gunpoint?
Wiggin said... March 22, 2010 at 11:55 AM
Yup, these great deals can sometimes be by account theeves. Happened to Khaas:
http://srsbusiness.org/?p=1188
Anonymous said... March 23, 2010 at 7:47 PM
People with such a huge amount of materials are not that stupid to trick themself into false "blizzard"-sites and get hacked afterwards.
To me they are very (90%+) probably just accounts using bots.
And no, i don't mind because they don't dump it on AH otherwise they get caught or watched by Warden. I would rather call it underground market :)
Post a Comment