I’ve been playing WoW now for about six months and have been blown away by the incredible size and complexity of the environment that Blizzard has created. If you get bored with questing, then go do some dungeons. If you get bored with dungeons, then try some battlegrounds. If battlegrounds aren’t exciting at the moment, then go and try and get some obscure achievement.
One of the more fascinating
aspects of the game is the in-world economy which so closely resembles the economy of the real word. Things such as supply and demand dictate prices, just as they do in real life.
Also just like real life, buyers in-game tend to fall into several categories. In this series, I’ll
explore how to create opportunities with each type of buyer (without giving
away all my trade secrets!) so that you can build a steady stream of
income. As with all posts, YMMV.
The Achievement Junky
The Achievement Junky is trying to get what they need for some sort of achievement. Most of the time, an Achievement Junky is also a Collector (covered in my next post). To appeal to this type of buyer, you must figure out what items are needed for achievements and make sure that you have those listed pretty much all the time.
For example, one of the achievements people will try to get involves sampling different Cataclysm foods. Well, there are several items on that list which are only available to you BEFORE you complete a particular series of quests. Most of us don’t learn that until AFTER we’ve completed the quest chain and realize that we can’t get those items any longer because we are now hated by the vendor. Keeping an alt that has not completed that quest chain will allow you to purchase those items at a relatively low cost (5-10 Silver) and then resell it at nice markup (5-10 gold).
The Achievement Junky is trying to get what they need for some sort of achievement. Most of the time, an Achievement Junky is also a Collector (covered in my next post). To appeal to this type of buyer, you must figure out what items are needed for achievements and make sure that you have those listed pretty much all the time.
For example, one of the achievements people will try to get involves sampling different Cataclysm foods. Well, there are several items on that list which are only available to you BEFORE you complete a particular series of quests. Most of us don’t learn that until AFTER we’ve completed the quest chain and realize that we can’t get those items any longer because we are now hated by the vendor. Keeping an alt that has not completed that quest chain will allow you to purchase those items at a relatively low cost (5-10 Silver) and then resell it at nice markup (5-10 gold).
Alternatively,
you can get recipes for items that Achievement Junkies need and make those
items. Or, get the mats for those items and sell those. An obvious
example is the chopper, but other (less expensive and easier) alternatives
exist. Look over the Achievements and see what leaps out at you. They
should be relatively obvious and you’d be surprised at how many people are in
the market for these things.
Here's an example: The achievement "Drown Your Sorrows" requires the player to drink ten different Cataclysm beverages such as South Island Iced Tea and Starfire Espresso. These beverages are not purchasable through vendors. So, get the recipe, spend a few silver on mats and sell the drinks for a few gold each. (Oh, and sell them in stacks of 2 or 4 so the buyer has to buy multiple items instead of just one).
The key to success with the
Auction House is not to hit The Big Score every day. No one can do that
consistently. Instead, build up a steady stream of medium- to high-demand
items that appeal to a variety of buyers. You’ll find that as one type of
item drops in sales, a different type of item has picked up.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at wonko@immortalisrex.com. Also, you can find me in-game on US-Dentarg as Wonko, the guild master of Immortalis Rex.
8 comments: on "Appealing to Different Types of Buyers - Part 1"
Anonymous said... October 3, 2011 at 12:20 PM
> (Oh, and sell them in stacks of 2 or 4 so the buyer has to buy multiple items instead of just one).
This strikes me as rather shortsighted. Say you sell them for 1g each in stacks of 4, and are going for 100% presence in the AH. You make 3.8g on one sale. The guy who bought it now has 3 he doesn't want, and lists them for 1.5g each in stacks of 1.
The next 3 people who show up have the choice of paying 2.5g more for three items they don't want, so they buy up the 3 singles, even though yours are cheaper.
People will pay more per item to get the number they want. You could have sold 4 singles for 1.5g and made both you and your customers happy. Instead you had one bigger sale, and made less money.
People are willing to spend a certain amount of money in the AH for an achievement before they skip it/wait for cheaper/ask a guildie/use trade chat. If you sell them in stacks of 4 at that price, the combined price will be way over their limit. The only way to wring the most money out of your customers is to give them what they want at the highest price they're willing to pay. Always make it easy for them to give you money.
This overlooks the fact that we tend to sell things in markets we know because we had to buy things ourselves. If someone sells off 3 of something for 1.5g that can clearly be made for less than 1g, It's an obvious candidate for your customer to figure out how to compete with you.
Furthermore, there will be customers who aren't willing to pay 4g for a stack of 4, who get a guildie to make it for them. If they realize how easy it is to get it cheap, then they (or their guildies) are also candidates for competitors.
Because someone who buys your larger stacks will lose at least 5% in auction fees selling off the extra, people will invariably pay at least 5% more to just get the one they want. You could raise your prices at least that amount by selling them one at a time. And the demand's the same, so you'll sell the same amount, but it'll take 4 times the sales.
This brings me to granularity. Suppose there are 2-5 people a day who want to buy it, with 3 being the most common number. To make sure you get all of the sales and someone else doesn't move in, you need to put 2 stacks of 4 every day, paying the AH fees for 8 items even though you sell on average 3. If you sold in stacks of 1, you could put 5 up, paying less in fees, and having a higher sales rate.
Finally, if you annoy the same customer often enough (and if you are selling 6 different items for the same achievement it's a possibility), due to the repetition they may remember your name (especially if it's something cocky, like "Richerthanu"). And if they accidentally notice that it's you who undercut the second lowest buyout on the chopper mount by a copper, they might buy someone else's chopper out of spite.
Intentionally forcing people to buy too many of an item's a bad idea.
Anonymous said... October 3, 2011 at 2:04 PM
"Here's an example: The achievement "Drown Your Sorrows" requires the player to drink ten different Cataclysm beverages such as South Island Iced Tea and Starfire Espresso. These beverages are not purchasable through vendors"
Yes there are some which are purchaseable via vendors
Darkbrew Lager - Created from cooking.
Fungus Squeezings - A random drop off mobs. Salty Dogs in Kelp'thar Forest have an 8 percent chance to drop one. Also sold by Grunka in Hyjal.
Highland Spirits - Created from cooking.
Murky Water - Sold by Grunka in Hyjal. Also sold by Zungam in Zul'Aman in a hut on the way to Halazzi.
Sparkling Oasis Water - Sold by most innkeepers. Innkeeper Gryshka in Orgrimmar, Innkeeper Allison in Stormwind.
Fresh Water - Sold by most innkeepers. Innkeeper Gryshka in Orgrimmar, Innkeeper Allison in Stormwind.
Greasy Whale Milk - Sold by Caretaker Movra in the Shimmering Expanse at Silvertide Hollow.
Highland Spring Water - Sold by most innkeepers. Innkeeper Gryshka in Orgrimmar, Innkeeper Allison in Stormwind.
South Island Iced Tea - Created from cooking.
Starfire Espresso - Created from cooking.
Dicci said... October 3, 2011 at 9:40 PM
In regard to your tactic of selling stacks of odd numbers that aren't needed, there was someone (i apologize that i can't remember who, so as to reference them here) who said they do such a thing with ink.
1. Craft ink and sell on an alt in batches of ore.
2. Advertise your inscription on trade, free with your mats.
3. Consumer must BUY your mats, then get you to craft the item. More often than not the consumer will tip you the spare ink, allowing to resell your goods to the next victim!
I loved the idea, and the same concept can be applied to achievement whores. Sell items for crafting in odd numbers so they are inclined to tip the extra's! :)
Dàchéng said... October 4, 2011 at 7:46 AM
I agree entirely with first Anonymous. By selling in stacks of 2 or 4, you are causing needless aggravation to your customer, you are fuelling a competitor and you are paying more in AH fees than you need to.
To take first anonymous's example, say you sell your items in stacks of 4 for 4g/stack. Is this because you believe the average buyer is willing to pay 4g to complete that part of the achievement? If so, why not just sell one item at 4g? You earn the same money for less cost, the buyer is not left with the aggravation of feeling he has been ripped off, and you haven't just sold a competitor the means to compete with you.
On the other hand, if you think that the average buyer is only willing to pay 1g, then your tactic of selling in batches of four means you actually expect him to sell the other 3 in competition with you.
All this assumes you are the only seller, at the point that you list four. But when other sellers come along (and, as we have seen, your tactic encourages your customers to become your competitors), all it takes is for one competitor to sell the item in stacks of one for 2g, and your stacks of four become a rod for your back. Your competitor takes all the customers who would be willing to spend up to 4g for this stage, while you sell only to players who intend to undercut you with the other three items in the stack.
Anonymous said... October 4, 2011 at 1:00 PM
While I understand the sentiment of the posters regarding the odd stack sizes & competitors, you must realize that someone who is getting this involved in AH trading is watching it like a hawk. If someone buys your stack of 4, uses one and then undercuts you, you just buy them out and repost it. Yes technically you won't make maximum profit from the items but lots of little profits add up. It also helps maintain your monopoly on the market. Addons like Auctionator even come with an undercut checker that will scan all auctions and cancel them if they have been undercut. You can also do a DB scan every 15 minutes so you can watch the price trending. I understand the guy's method and have fallen victim to it many times. It's just the price you pay to get what you want.
Wonko said... October 4, 2011 at 4:15 PM
@1st Anonymous - You make a great point which I had overlooked. What's odd is that it's entirely logical, yet hasn't been an issue on my server. To be perfectly honest, though, I'll be modifying my strategy accordingly. :)
Wonko said... October 4, 2011 at 4:16 PM
@2nd Anonymous - I should have been more clear by saying "some of these beverages are not available". Regarding the items sold by Grunka in Hyjal, I mention those in next week's post.
Wonko said... October 4, 2011 at 4:19 PM
@Dicci - Great idea. And keep in mind the examples I give are only there to spark ideas and get people to thinking of ways to open new revenue streams.
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