Zombie Auctioning

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 7:00 PM

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Non zombie Mommar here.

I have a confession to make.  There are times that I get bored with listing things on the World of Warcraft auction house.   Now before everyone hyperventilates this is not to say that I am ready to turn in my Gold Goblin card (member 2007).

What I do sometimes fall into is the trap of just listing items without paying attention to their pricing.   I use add-ons that make listing items very quickly.   Where a key combination and mouse click will list that item at a set undercut price.   Some add-ons that will do this using a one mouse click system even (Trade Skill Manager is a prime example).   When you have hundreds of gems to list or hundreds of raw materials to list,  you want to cut every corner you can and get to the good stuff (raking in the gold from your mail).

But at times I will click and press buttons without paying direct attention to what something is listing at.   Most of the time this isn't a bad thing.  But at times you get someone who put a completely ludicrous price up on the Auction House for an item.   It is those times that zombie auctioning becomes a problem.   If you list that product undercutting the first original bad price.  Then another will follow thinking that will be the going rate for said item.   This upsets the balance in the warcraft economic system because players stop making a profit and will end up selling items at a loss.  

So at times taking a deep breath can be beneficial.   You don't want to get caught into the upswell of quick listing where an item is dropped so low that you end up selling your crafted product at well less than their server value. Knowing a decent acceptable price and holding onto your products til the server
resets its value to that listing can net you more profit than just listing it without cause or reason.

The other thing to keep track of is your potential to be sucker punched by your zombie listing.   There are
players that enjoy collapsing profession listing for their own reasoning.   The Inscription profession had 
this occurs on multiple servers.   The reasoning was never rationally applied to their listing,  but
players panicked and drove prices down lower and lower.   Players decided to abandon the Inscription  
profession for higher profit areas.   This left a non competitive area that only a few controlled.  

So before you start to drift off and click that next bid,  determine whether you're receiving the best profit you can for your item.  If you're not,  maybe it's time to set your listing price a little higher than the lowest bid.  Or if you're brave,   do the 'flipping the market' technique for bigger profits.

You are in control of your own listing process.   But just like the villagers dislike zombies,  the gold goblins tend to not be happy with zombie auctioning.

Good Luck and Good Zombie 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. 

Previous Entries

The Tripping of Theramore
You want to do WHAT????
KFC Ain't Got Nothing On Me
BMAH Blues
I am No Dunce
Hype Hype Hype
No Shirt No Service
Too Much Stuff
MOP Prep:  PokeWOW Part 1
MOP Prep: PokeWOW Part 2
MOP Prep:   Enchanters Pt 1
MOP Prep:  Enchanters Part Deux
MOP Prep: What to save for the Pandas Pt 1
MOP:  Powerleveling Leatherworking in the Vale
MOP Prep:   Prepping the Farmer
MOP Prep:  Get to the Points
MOP Prep:  Reduction in Inventory
MOP Prep: Stuff to Gold,  Gold to Stuff
MOP Prep: Setting the Lineup
MOP Prep: Setting up the Cartel
MOP Prep:   Zero Balance Investment

The Psychology of Selling

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:01 PM

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Psychology plays a huge role in how someone plays the auction house.   There is a mental angle to being able to work the system.  How you list items,  resell items,  flip product and advertise your trade items is determined on how you set up your mental processes.

Planning how you present your item and how you manipulate the auction house system determines exactly your sales options.  Here are a few types of processes you will find players using:


The Home Run seller posts up auctions at the highest prices they can imagine.   Their goal is to get someone who doesn't understand how to do a basic search on the auction house.  So they see an item they really want,  pay the cost of the item and then never realize that they have overpaid for an item.  This many times skews the aggregator websites such as Theunderminejournal.com.   Already high priced items end up becoming overpriced items if a gold goblin doesn't research more than one place.

The Grinder seller will continually post and reset auctions as they are undercut.   So the auction poster will list 10 of their Bold Inferno Rubies hoping to sell one or two at a time.   Rechecking to see if they are undercut,  the player will repost undercutting the lowest posted item.  The idea is to grind as much profit as possible out of an item.  Most players end up falling into this category,  especially in the Jewelcrafting and Enchanting professions. Grinding out profits is the base for many players goblin fortunes.

A minimizer will sell their product at the smallest amount to empty as fast as possible.  Many times this type of seller will undercut everyone by 50%,  figuring that they will pocket their profits quickly with less hassle.  This again tends to skew the system, especially with semi automated posters.   Auction House players find this type of seller the most annoying.   The entire inscription/glyph profession on many servers crashed due to posting of glyphs at just above how much production cost.  Causing many players to abandon the profession for other fertile soil.  

The clueless seller has no idea how much a product is worth.   They do not have or take the time to research how much something is worth.  So they will listen to what "a friend" suggested or what rumor says it sold for.   Usually they end up holding onto the product and resetting the auction time and time again till a kind soul,  or reality explains to them that the price they are asking for makes the item non sellable. 

There are other seller psychologies to be used.  Even a combination of all of these options can be used, the important part is to identify not only your own patterns.  But also identifying your competition to use their strengths and weaknesses against them.

What type of seller are you?  Does how you sell effect how you view playing the auction house?

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 "@Dragonbearjoe" or leave a comment here. You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

Past Entries

Value for the Buck

Pokewow Goes to the argent Tournament

Blah Blah Blah

Don't Drink the Orc Aid

Whats the Frequency Mommar

The Return of Vendor Prices

MOP Prep:  Get to the Points

MOP Prep:  Reduction in Inventory

MOP Prep: Stuff to Gold,  Gold to Stuff

MOP Prep: Setting the Lineup

MOP Prep: Seting up the Cartel

Burn Them Fires

The Pyrite Experiment

Go and Kill the King

No Ream First Achievement For You

Tipping Point

Pre expansion dusting and scrubbing

The world is your oyster

Selling for Dummies