Profession Powerleveling: Cataclysm Gold Guide

Posted by Markco at 8:00 AM

Why do items found in the mid level of profession skill ups sell so well?
It's not because they sell quickly.

It's not because they sell often.

It's because they don't sell often and don't sell quickly.

WHAT?! Markco are you smoking groms blood again? (maybe you bought it off that imp from winterspring again for cheap but instead of reselling it for 3000% profit you decided to smoke it)

Nope, I'm not... well maybe I am but don't judge me! Let's look at another confusing reason why mid level profession skill ups will do well in cataclysm. It's a simple matter of supply and demand.

The supply for mid level profession skill up items is irrelevant. The demand is what makes it so valuable and it's not because the demand is consistent, it's because it's not consistent that working this market is so profitable.

Confused yet? Don't worry, when I developed the strategy of bidding low and selling normal, most people looked at me like you are now. Like I had two heads and was dual weilding shields. Speaking of "dual," it's dual spec not duel spec. Duel spec is what I use to kill you, dual spec is what I buy to get duel spec. That's neither here nor there though, let's get back on track and avoid more instances of markco a.d.h.d.

Those players who were confused by bid low, sell normal assumed that I was referring to the mantra of buy low and sell high. Nope, nothing to do with what I was talking about actually.

So here's what we have deduced thus far regarding mid level items in cataclysm:

Demand: Random but when someone needs the item(s) in question they need quite a bit of them to power level.
Supply: Inconsistent but also irrelevant due to the spikes in demand.
Bidding Price: Players tend to just toss these items up on the ah while they level, so they use auctioneer's automatic bid pricing which tends to leave a very very small bid. Winning these super cheap auctions means insane amounts of profit for selling at a normal value.
Buyout Price: Irrelevant because you're looking to bid. If there aren't a lot of items up then buying out the few items available and relisting them for normal value is a good way to make gold.

Is it starting to click why bidding on profession items are a great way to make gold now and why they will remain a strong market in cataclysm? You want to know what to stockpile to cover the cost of inflation in cataclysm? Mid level profession items. I expect this market to remain a great way for players to bid and make gold selling at normal values.