Profit Calculation 101: GPH

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:54 PM

Mommar here:

There are sometimes that when you get started with being a Gold Goblin you need to build your base first.   The easiest things to forget are the basics,   walking over dollars trying to find another dime.

In this case we're going to look at calculation of profit when it is in regards to your per hour investment.

Most players when they are leveling can do between 12-15 quests and hour.  With the avg income being around the 200g mark.   We're going to use this as a baseline.

Regular Questing = 200 gph (gold per hour)

Now,   if your up to your dailies,   finishing 15 dailies in an hour is not unheard of.   So the avg of those being in the 15g range (remember this is avg,  so depending on which ones you are doing your milage may vary.)

Now with both of these you need to include vendored items,  and green/blue items that will drop for either resell or disenchanting.   lets place this in an avg of another 50g per hour

So along with your dailies of 200gph or your regular questing take in of 225g,  add another 50g to give you a grand total of 250g (275g) per hour.

When it comes to crafting,  our calculations become a little bit more difficult.

Calculation of GPH will depend specifically sales.   So you won't know your GPH til after everything has sold for that cycle.   Lets assume that you spend half an hour per profession to gather materials,  craft and list on the AH.   So any sales that occur after the sales cycle (always use the 12 hour cycle for sales)
=
Your calculation ends up being [(Total Sales} - (Cost of material) ] x 2 = GPH
(you multiply the entire formula x2 because your using a half hour base for your crafting time)

Example

Sword of Ubersmacking sells for 9,850 (this is minus the Auction House cost).  Your cost to craft was 4500 gold in materials purchased.

With this first formula we get

[(9850) - (4000)] x 2 = 11700 GPH.

This formula works for many items that don't require BOP items (Spirits of Harmony is a good Example)
it also sets your baseline for how much your gold and time your investing and how to use your time wisely.

But there is a hole in this formula when you get into more advanced items.   There is no calculation for the cost to gather the Spirits of Harmony.   It may take an hour if your planting Songbell Seed on your farms in Half Hill.  Also there are farming lanes in many of the zones that can produce a total of 1-3 per hour.  To fully calculate your GPH you have to add the time it took to produce these Spirits of Harmony.  As of Patch 5.1 these cannot be purchased via gold.  The only way to obtain is to farm them or gather them as your leveling.  

If you look at your dailies in another way,  being able to gather Mote Of Harmony add value to your GPH when it comes to questing/dailies.   The higher the areas that you are working on dailies,  the higher percentage of possibility of having Mote Of Harmony to drop.   Either way whether you choose to farm directly or to work on dailies as your gathering Mote Of Harmony this has an effect on both your GPH through questing and your GPH for production.

I know what your thinking,  Mo,  that's a lot of math there.   What is it really telling us?   As I've said before, your time is valuable when it comes to logging onto Warcraft.   And knowing just where your time is being spent in regards to how much gold your making is just as important as going to the mailbox and gathering the coin.   This has a large effect on players with limited time to play.   Where 30 minutes to some players just the tip of the iceberg for playtime.  Some players only have an hour to get everything done they want too,  including making gold for the future usage.

In no way do I expect people to keep retentive listings of just how long they spend farming,  and how long they spend crafting.   But getting a general look of exactly how you are investing your time can give you hints on maybe switching to another area to obtain a higher GPH.  A higher GPH can place you faster onto the track of getting your goals done.  

Just keep in mind one idea.   Do not let formulas completely dictate how you play the auction house game.   Being a Gold Goblin isn't just about plugging in numbers,  it's about knowing your business and knowing what others want.  That takes experience and thinking outside the box.   A formula is a tool,  and a tool is no better than the person using it.

Good Luck and Good Hunting


Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbearjoe @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

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