No, it's not. Buying low and selling high is supposed to be easy and intuitive. However, for many world of warcraft players it just doesn't make any sense in practice. Let me show you how a typical wow player looked at the recent whiptail issue in patch 4.0.6.
Whiptail in Patch 4.0.6
When patch 4.0.6 was launched it didn't take long for a large number of astute players to notice that whiptail was spawning at an alarming rate along the river which runs south in the middle of Uldum. A typical wow player looked at the auction house and saw that the price of whiptail had dropped from 200 gold a stack to as little as 40-80 gold per stack. Seeing these prices the average player started dumping their own, figuring that the price would continue to drop further.
Prices Plummet
In the days following patch 4.0.6, whiptail continued to drop like a rock to price points no one had ever expected it would fall to, nor do I believe it will ever reach again, even in expansions to come. Many players panicked and dumped the rest of their stocks, only adding to the frenzied dropping of whiptail prices.
Whiptail Bug Fixed by Blizzard
Now the bug has been fixed and within 24 hours prices have slowly begun creeping back up to where they used to be pre patch. Within a month everything will be perfectly back to normal. For the average player, this was a crushing blow to their whiptail income. They sold everything when the price was low and now they will have to buy as the price continues to rise. They've failed at the buying low and selling high game.
How would you have reacted differently, and can you guess what Markco did (besides write a post and talk in the third person) throughout this whole ordeal? I'll give you a hint, it begins with "b" and it rhymes with "eye". Also, think about all the items which whiptail is used to make and how they were affected by this bug.
Side Note: Work continues on improving the wow gold guide, I have added new patch 4.0.6 gold tips as well as edited the "all professions" spreadsheet to reflect recent flask requirement changes. The members area looks SICK and is much easier to navigate with the recent GUI changes. Thanks to everyone for their feedback regarding the new gold tips as well as the GUI. I'll be adding more videos to the guide over time for several of the market strategy sections. Also, the wow coaching program is continuing to grow with a new coach added pretty much every week.
21 comments: on "Is Buying Low and Selling High Supposed to Be Hard?"
Unknown said... February 17, 2011 at 8:23 AM
On EU servers it didn't got fixed yet. I'm guessing they'll fix it soon? Maybe a good time to start buying...
Riryoku said... February 17, 2011 at 8:32 AM
Buying (or bidding) Low and Selling High isn't that hard at all, but most of the "gold-poor-stupidos" waste too much of their gold to be actually able to buy when things are too cheap for their own good.
In case of an obvious bug like this one, it will only take a short while for Blizzard to fix the issue, so it's a safe bet to buy it all, sit on it the first week after they fix the bug and then profit the easy way.
Even if you only had enough gold to buy one stack, you'd have a 50% profit margin later on.
Anonymous said... February 17, 2011 at 8:52 AM
I play on a EU server and it doesnt seem to have been fixed here yet.
Just bought 20 stacks at 70-80g - I'm abit carefull as I just started building up my cash and don't want to risk to much :)
/Dezi
Ven said... February 17, 2011 at 9:01 AM
Everyone trys to buy low and sell high, its the most basic instinct we have at AH,but some know what they are doing and some do not, i like to include myself in the middle category. :)
We will see what the future hold for whiptails ,i have invested 3k,(thing i regretted doing but who knows i might get lucky if price rises) on then and they price lowered to a staggering 4.4G per item, and dont get me started in Volatile Life ,just check the pictures i have left in my Blog and you will see what i am talking about .
Unknown said... February 17, 2011 at 9:16 AM
Any easy flip on my server is the hessonite ring - especially if you have an enchanter.
By for 16g - de - sell mats - win!
Anonymous said... February 17, 2011 at 9:25 AM
a lot of people buy low sell lower.
Lizzie said... February 17, 2011 at 9:41 AM
I bought quite a few stacks of whiptail while the prices were low, now I will just wait for them to go back up. I have noticed on my server that it is good to buy low in the morning and then sell for a good markup in the evening.
Anonymous said... February 17, 2011 at 10:24 AM
No doubt Blizz will whiptail any minute now. On my US server (Eitrigg) at 7am est the bug was still live. I snagged 5 quick stacks and 36 volatiles in 10min of farming before I ran off to work. I'm sure some make more in 10min of game time, but I'm happy with +$1k gold for 10min labor.
Anonymous said... February 17, 2011 at 10:32 AM
I think the real problem behind the plummeting whiptail prices was that most people did not expect the 24hr hotfix.
So, I suppose buying low and selling high ISN'T hard, assuming you are able to predict the future...
In all seriousness, this is a common problem within our society - information can do more harm than good if you don't know what to do with it. Why do you think Auctioneer can be both extremely helpful AND extremely dangerous depending on the hands wielding it?
So, it is definitely nice to hop on JMTC or any of the other gold-making blogs and get the latest intel about upcoming changes, etc. but it's even better to know what to do with it.
Kammler said... February 17, 2011 at 10:46 AM
Many players don't follow gold blogs or use other resources to help them earn gold. They look at the screen when they log in to Auctioneer and react.
"I have a lot of XXX, prices are really going fast, better sell now" and then they undercut.
Nice for goblins though.
Anonymous said... February 17, 2011 at 11:06 AM
This is all well and good except it doesn't work on all servers. On eredar the prices spiked a bit after the hotfix, but within the day fell right back to where they were pre-patch and are still steadily falling.
Airheart said... February 17, 2011 at 11:54 AM
I bought all yes ALL the whip tail on my server this morning for the low low price of 10000g. It was selling for 30g a stack there was only one stack on for 200g and left that one there posted 10 at 190 last night and are now sold. Going to make a killing on this. MMMMWWWWHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAHAAAAHHHHAHAAAAHHHHHHHAAHAAAAAAA!!
Unknown said... February 17, 2011 at 2:34 PM
i play on eredar also and i wish you would have reminded me to do this. damn lol
Sponsor said... February 17, 2011 at 3:55 PM
There is no such thing as buying low, selling high, unless you control the market. The thing most should try to do, is buying low, selling NORMAL.
Normal price on Whiptail on my server is 7-8g, I bought every stack I could find for 5g or less per herb, now I have 145 stacks posted for 7.5g(per herb), they will sell sooner or later. Thats a nice profit of atleast 7250 gold, if I dont count auction cut.
Remember that, buy low, sell normal. Why I didn't go higher in price? There was a wall of 180x stacks I had to undercut.
Zamboni said... February 17, 2011 at 5:20 PM
Why would you resell Whiptail?
A batch of 145 stacks of Whiptail is 870 Blackfallow Ink and 145 Inferno Ink. To match that 7250g profit, you're looking at 12g Fortune Cards (or 36g glyphs) and dumping the Infernos for 75g each. Given the number of players who claim to sell ink at 150g, their profits should overwhelm anything that could be made from flipping the herbs back at their regular market price (more than enough to pay for a Scribbler if you don't already have one).
If you need to flip something, go buy some belt buckles. Flipping cheap raw materials is giving away market position.
yerishan said... February 17, 2011 at 7:47 PM
its not hard, just takes some time, good market knowledge and good organisation.
Sponsor said... February 17, 2011 at 9:07 PM
"Why would you resell Whiptail?"
I dont have time to bark the fortune cards, and they dont sell if I dont bark. Milling all those herbs, atm I have 225x stacks, thats 4500 herbs, or 900 mills, thats alot of time spent milling! But I suppose you are right, the job of milling it all just seems daunting :) The inferno inks alone would be 33750 gold back right there, and I only spent 22500(probably less) buying em. I saw Inferno Inks dropping below 80g the other day, but now they are back up at 130 already, should probably be ok to sell for 150g each soon. Thanks for the heads up, should probably just send them to my miller asap. :)
get paid filling surveys said... February 18, 2011 at 3:05 AM
"Is Buying Low and Selling High Supposed to Be Hard?"
NO! That's all I did actually when played WoW. It's fun and quite easy, if you are smart enough.
The Lazor said... February 18, 2011 at 12:52 PM
I had this very thought when i saw your title post. it also reminded me of how, at launch, i could get 20-30 stacks of heartblossom without leaving a small area in deepholm and assumed it would be the crap herb of cataclysm. i ended up milling or selling them for 75g a stack. once the nerf came in, there are now barely any on the AH and the ones that are sell for between 150-200g a stack if not more on low days. file this one under "if i had a time machine".
Anonymous said... February 18, 2011 at 5:54 PM
Phasing :)
There is one small area in deepholm where there are CRAP LOADS og heartblossom, but when you finish the quest there, its all gone :(
Cant recall the name of the area, its in the upper left cornerish. The quest is part of the 2. fragment - dunno if this helps at all :)
/dezi
Alexander said... February 18, 2011 at 7:14 PM
Is the same true for Heartblossom at the moment? Prices for Heartblossom are falling through the floor.
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