Just My Two Copper - WoW Gold Guide

Many times there is a argument within my head that can cause the brain to grind to a halt.   Usually this is wrapped around something that I have yet to understand with the market.

Sha Crystals have slowly become devalued as the Mists of Pandaria expansion matures. From there start that a set of 10 for an enchant could cost thousands of gold, to the much smaller amount that they cost now.

As I was looking through the Auction House I noticed that many of these valuable enchanting items were going for lower and lower prices. Easily outstripping their value when processed by an enchanter.   So I decided to take a test run at one of the few basic premises that have brought gold into my pocket for many years.

I purchased all of the Sha Crystals with the low being 65g and the high being 85g. Even at that price I could use them for enchants and come out ahead. With the big three wrist enchants (Agi, Int, Str) going for a thousand gold a piece I could just drop them into making these and make a profit. But my favorite strategy is to get the item to pay for itself.

After buy 30 of them (healthy investment) I listed up 10 on the AH for 150g a piece. This paid for over half of the investment if I sold them this way. If they didn't sell then I would just be out the AH fees and still process them into their enchants.

The next day I ended up selling three of them before being undercut so that netted me a quarter of my investment back. If I had wanted to be more patient I could have worked half the batch of the Sha Crystals the same way and ended up just having the other half of the crystals be pure profit. Ultimately I ended up multipling my investment by 4 (used a couple of them for personal enchants) and then went on my merry way.

But I was thinking of exactly why there was this complete imbalance to the enchanting system. I have always tried to keep a 20% markup on my enchants. This means to me that I won't list an enchant unless I can get 20% profit between the cost of the materials and the sale of the enchant. So if it would cost me 200g to buy the items from the open market, I would not make the enchant for anything less than 240g. If the item goes for higher then that's just bonus gravy for the potatoes.

But in this case for lets say for the Enchant Bracer: Greater Agility it takes three Sha Crystals to make the enchant. If you can purchase the crystals for 80g avg that sets the cost to manufacture at 240g. By the 20% method it shouldn't sell for anything les than 288g. On many servers this enchant goes for 1500g plus. That is a huge markup on something that has little materials costs.

So part of my brain wonders if this isn't just laziness for players. Since LFR and Flex raids use a personal loot system instead of a need/greed you end up with less Sha Crystals being produced that way. Regular and Heroic runs still can allot items to be sharded. But the majority of raid crews just drop those into their guild bank or use for personal crafting. This leaves the real access to Sha Crystals to be the DEing of Epic gear from Timeless Isle.

But with all those limiting factors and the shortage of areas to get crystals. The mental game is back to square one. Why are these so cheap still?   The one factor you have to add is the lemming effect. Too many Auction house players will list whatever they can get out of an item. Profit now instead of profiting later. This especially happens with using semi automatic listers such as TSM or Auction Watcher. Unless your paying strict attention and know a relative value for an item, it becomes easier to just click and forget.

Timing is also involved when it comes to obtaining good market profit. Tuesday is a major raid day on most servers because of the reset. Everyone can get new loot and have to fill that new loot with enchants and gems. So listing your best items at their most expensive price makes perfect sense. More bang for the buck. But Sunday and Monday can be attested by anyone who has been stuck in a bad LFR will tell you that Monday will probably be a slower day. Less gear one and less updates to the gear. That's when looking for the undercut deals to purchase becomes the better play.

These are normal and basic tenants to being a good gold goblin. Look for strengths and weaknesses in markets and capitalize on them. And never ever be the lazy player who just clicks and forgets.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ 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.

Let The WOD Speculation Begin
It's Called An Epic Quest For A Reason
Chain Flipping
Taste of Streaming Raids and Kites
Monday Morning Raiding Quarterback
WOW: Warlords of Draenor
Tomorrow Is Blizzcon
Glyph Me Once Shame On You
Days Of The Dead
The Times Ten Challenge
The Blanket Method
Lost All Hallows Day
You Never Know

Chain Flipping

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 2:04 PM

Okay kids. First a story then the background and reasoning behind the story.

This weekend there was a call on trade chat for some fuel iron either in a bar or in ore form. Usually I will message the person to see exactly how much they are looking for. If it is one or two bars then i will end up just dropping them on the Auction House for the going price and tell them they are there. Generally i don't try to gut the person but I have a good off hand knowledge of the value of items.

This time I decided to talk with them for a bit. They were looking to level up their Blacksmithing and so I told them exactly how much I had left (91 bars and 80 ore). They made me an offer that was reasonable then they gave me an option. Take the gold or would I trade for two Living Steel Bars. Now this wasn't going to become lets make a deal and I wasn't in a fancy costume. But I did know the general value of Living Steel and it's listing price on the Auction House. I expanded my mental notes and remembered that Living Steel Belt Buckles were going for considerably higher. So I had multiple options. I could take the gold. I could take the trade for the Living Steel bars and also make the Living Steel Belt Buckles for a profit. I could even take the gold, Buy the Living Steel bars and then make the Belt Buckles (or any comparable item for profit).

The idea is that from one trade instead of just taking gold I opened up multiple options to make even more gold from one trade. This to me is the basic idea behind chain flipping. You are taking one item instead of straight gold and building more profit into the item. Ultimately you can squeeze 2 to 3 times the amount of gold from the trade than if you just take the gold itself.

The big push for this is a knowledge of the market. Fel Iron ore and bars are not in demand other than leveling or the occasional transmog item. So their value is purely based on their rarity. If there are 15 stacks on the AH then your stacks of Fel Iron are only worth that. But if there is none on the AH then this is where your negotiation ability comes into play.

Also with this you can get a decent idea of approximately what the person is going to use the items in trade for. If they are buying only ore, then it could be either leveling Jewelcrafting, Blacksmithing or Engineering. If they are asking only for bars, then you can limit this get a good guess that they are using it to level their Blacksmithing or Engineering. It also gives you the level that they probably are in that field. You could work out a trade that is more useful and flexible than just asking for gold for your items. This doesn't take into effect someone wanting a specific item made or are making it for themselves. But your educated guess can net you a tidy profit over and above the straight market value.

So keep this in mind the next time you do a trade. What do they want it for? What are your needs in that field. Open up the negotiations for the possibility of getting a trade. You have something they want and they easily could have something that you might want. Expanding your sales and production opportunities puts you that much higher in the gold making food chain.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ 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.

Taste of Streaming Raids and Kites
Monday Morning Raiding Quarterback
WOW: Warlords of Draenor
Tomorrow Is Blizzcon
Glyph Me Once Shame On You
Days Of The Dead
The Times Ten Challenge
The Blanket Method
Lost All Hallows Day
You Never Know

The Times Ten Challenge

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:20 AM

Congratulations. You made it to the end of October. Tonight for many parents they will be carrying their kids to get bags of goodies.   Then in two days they will be sorry as their hyper sugared up children are bouncing off the walls.

This is also the end of the month here at JMTC Iowa Branch where I can tally up my gold profiteering and see what sold.   Most of the profits I made came from Jewelcrafting and Enchanting. Easy access to raids through LFR, Flex and even Oqueue has opened up more opportunities to upgrade players and alternate toons.

We are also less than two weeks from the beginning of Blizzcon. Many players are waiting to see just what tidbits for the new expansion will be presented. Where will we all be going for our quest to hit level 95 or even higher?   What gold opportunities will be there and just how much inflation will exist.

I decided I needed a personal challenge. This may sound like a humble brag, but when you reach a certain level of wealth you are less frugal with your gold. The habits of just buying something to craft instead of trading or mining become that much more prevalent. Where leaning on your craftsman a little could make you an item to transmog you find yourself just buying the item from the AH and moving on.

Next month is also the annual Nanowritmo writing challenge. This challenges new or experienced writers to write a novel, prose or anything they want in the next 30 days. This will be the first year that I'm throwing my hat into the ring and give this a try.

So the Times Ten challenge goes like this. You take a certain level of gold in increments of 10. You can start off with 10g, 100g, 1000g, 10,000g etc. With that you have the option of purchasing, crafting or flipping anything. Best percentage at the end of the month wins.

It's on a repeat record but self motivation becomes very important to be able to climb beyond your own personal gold hurdles. No one will be screaming in your ear to earn more gold or tell you you are a gold making noob. Unless that's what you want then leave a message in my email and I will call you a gold making noob to appease you.

November will be an exciting month but make sure to take this last day of October, grab all your tricky treats and lets invite the next month with a smile.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ 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.

The Blanket Method
Lost All Hallows Day
You Never Know
New Toy For Raiding Boys (And Girls)
Never To Early To Reset
My Timeless Coin Heart Is Full
Nobody Knows the Golems I Have Sold
Gold Mercenary
Surviving the Raid
Darkmoon Faire Dead?
Golden Days
Tip For Timeless Isle
Be Prepared
Poor Poor Spirits of Harmony
Not Enough Loot On My Hands
10 Rules To Price My Golem.

The Blanket Method

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:34 PM

Difficulties exist when a gold goblin is trying to cover all of the professions. It is difficult not to get lost in adding items to your existing mental queue to craft. Between Leatherworking and Blacksmithing there are 100's of items that can be crafted and placed to make gold.

The balance to find is what items will make the most profit. I have never been a fan of the blanket method of adding items. This includes the Malevolent PVP gear that is the on the market. If tailors have finished all of their cooldowns each day they should have all of the Malevolent PVP patterns available to craft. Leatherworkers and Blacksmiths have a few more days before all of the patterns are at their disposal.

Already on some servers the PVP belts and PVP boots have lost their profit margins. They have the lowest amount of materials needed to craft. These are also the lowest in demand due to the Honor/Conquest points being relatively easy to get. Pants and Chest pieces tend to sell a lot better than the lower profitable items.

This also means the lower tear from last season has gone down to liquidated pricing. Occasionally I will see players listing these for the same price that they were sold during last season. This is unfortunate being ignorant of the market as it is. Think of last years fashions and how you generally find them on the discount racks at stores. Yes there is a possibility that you might be able to get a quick sale at a large price. But the time and effort of relisting it over and over again might not help with paying the bills. Ultimately that item will become enchanting fodder as well.

The same happened with PVE gear. Even now it's just easier to Disenchant greens that drop during raids and instances. On some servers, especially if you do not have access to and enchanter, it's better to just vendor the greens for the gold that they bring. But keep in mind that if you are having to continually re-enchant gear due to upgrades (thanks askmrrobot.com) then you might want to still disenchant these items for your own personal enchants. Enchanters always appreciate you bringing your own materials to the party and just paying a tip for their efforts.

Any gear below 496 and weapons are basically dead. an hour in the Timeless Isle and you can have the majority of your pieces to make a decent set of gear. If you are finishing the daily quests continually you will have an extra stack of gear sitting in your bank for when your other toons are able to equip it. The only items that are still viable are the epic crafted weapons. Unless you run the older raids, epic weapons are at a premium. I listed all of my toons and where the weapons drop for them which guides me on where to spend my extra roll tokens.

The gold is still out there. But moving out of crafting and more into enhancement items (leg armor, enchanting items, glyphs) will guide your gold making into the future.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ 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.

Lost All Hallows Day
You Never Know
New Toy For Raiding Boys (And Girls)
Never To Early To Reset
My Timeless Coin Heart Is Full
Nobody Knows the Golems I Have Sold
Gold Mercenary
Surviving the Raid
Darkmoon Faire Dead?
Golden Days
Tip For Timeless Isle
Be Prepared
Poor Poor Spirits of Harmony
Not Enough Loot On My Hands
10 Rules To Price My Golem.

Never To Early To Reset

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 1:02 PM

As the newness of Patch 5.4 starts to wear off I have decided to take a look at the future of Mommar Enterprises.

Currently my line up includes a Leather worker, a Blacksmith, A Tailor, An Enchanter, an Alchemist (Transmute specialist) Two Herbalist, Two Miners and Two Jewel Crafters. My scribe and a partridge in a pair tree round out the crew. This has been my lineup sans the addition of the new Jewelcrafter. Two of these are still leveling up so they haven't reached max level, the rest are already maxed with the vast majority of recipes available.

We already have a good idea that the new system to obtain recipes (through crafting discoveries as well as high end rep recipes) will be used in the new expansion. This means that many of the crafters will not just be able to sit at a hometown to collect all of the new expansion recipes. The only crafter that was able to do this was the scribe. The rest required to hit either revered or exalted with specific reputation vendors to obtain the high end patterns.

The debate in my mind is if I should look to double up any of my professions or to continue as is. With Leather working and Blacksmithing the introduction of daily transmutes of their own opened up a huge market in doubling up on the profession. The Lightning Steel Ingot and Balanced Trillium Ingot opened up Blacksmithing to be really dependent on getting these items as quick as possible. Leather working with the Hardened Magnificent Hide is in the same situation. The odds are something similar will be introduced in the later patches of the next expansion.

Engineering, having three of them with the company, will always be considered the red headed step child of money making. The original Ghost Iron Dragonling became a good seller up til the Timeless Isle patch. Pets also evened out the sales possibilities with Engineering but it still sits a long way from being king of the proverbial sales mountain.

Doubling up on professions does allow a player to get two times the access to many of the patterns. This especially applies to the daily transmutes and discovery recipes. The biggest addage of making gold is to be the first to get something onto the market. This allows you to set the price and make a very heft quick profit while others have to wait til the manufacture item becomes available for themselves.

So in the next few weeks I will be deciding if I need to double up on professions or not. Once more information with the next expansion becomes available after Blizzcon I will be able to make a much more informed decision.

What changes do you see yourself making with the next expansion? What professions do you see yourself needing to double up on?

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ 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.

My Timeless Coin Heart Is Full
Nobody Knows the Golems I Have Sold
Gold Mercenary
Surviving the Raid
Darkmoon Faire Dead?
Golden Days
Tip For Timeless Isle
Be Prepared
Poor Poor Spirits of Harmony
Not Enough Loot On My Hands
10 Rules To Price My Golem.
Timeless Isle Tagging Is For Rich Chumps
Bring Me the Alchemist
Welcome To Loot Pinata Island
Last Minute Buys and Sells
Patch 5.4: Mental Preparation
You Found What????
Hearthstone: The Beginning
Patch 5.4: Budgeting for the Patch
Get thee To a TradeSkillMaster 2.0
Patch 5.4 Prep: No Sleep til Brooklyn
Customer First

Patch 5.4: It's a Date? Maybe?

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:39 PM

So one of the powers that be (Tom Chilton) in an interview on a german fan site (yes, we are multicultural here) that the 5.4 patch has been pushed back to September 10th (11th for the gang in Europe).

This gives everyone about 2 1/2 weeks to get moving on finishing their goals leading up to the new patch.   This new date isn't etched in stone but the background downloader kicked in a couple of days ago so the waiting was upgraded to 'sooner if not later'.

With all the changes that are going to occur with the new patch, finishing up your honey-do list becomes that much more important.   Even my list has a large amount to work on:

-   Max out Valor/Justice Points on Three toons

- Max out Honor/Conquest points on one toon

-   Finish Dailies in Barrens for Radical Mojo for armor upgrades

-   Look for deals for gahzrooki

-   Buy supply of Exotic Leathers and Ghost Iron Ore/Bars to cover daily crafting burn

-   Finish off leveling two crafters to 90 (yes I have been slacking)

-   Prepare to craft new glyphs (need more inks)

-   Gear up two farmers to farm new areas with 5.4

- Keep addons updated (more on this later in the week)

- Work with TradeSkillMaster 2.1 (Definitely more on this later in the week)

All of this along with listing auctions and flipping for profit.   It will be a busy two weeks waiting for the patch to download.   What is on your agenda to get finished?

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ 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.

Kill The Death Knight.. Kill It Now
Time to Remodel The Financial House
Sense Of Entitlement
Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4: Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4: Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep: Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous

The Pitfalls of Trade Barking

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 8:36 AM

Mommar here.

For the past couple of nights that I have logged onto my home server, There has been a player that's been barking up trade chat to sell Ghost Iron Bars.

Now this is probably nothing new on your home server. Trade Chat (never to be confused with Barrens chat) has been a lively market to buy and sell. Memories of running clear across Azeroth to sell a gem cut or an armor piece still make me smile. Even today I still will jump under one of my other toons and do a little sales in trade chat.

Something stood out with this salesman (at any time you step into the trade chat arena you should stand out). They seemed to be receiving an inordinate amount of grief about pricing. Their pricing was a little bit below what was available on the Auction House (both from Raw product and the bars themselves). So something must have sparked someone to start offering them much lower offers for their goods. To the point that others began to heap onto the grief.

I looked at my notes (yes, I do keep notes on some salespeople that stand out) and hadn't seen anything that stuck out as a problem. So I could only surmise that he had upset someone with a previous sale and the person was making it their personal goal to destroy their business. The abuse became so bad that I almost did a pity buy and purchase all that he had in stock (1000 bars). When doing the calculations I could easily break even through manufacturing gear and my daily Blacksmithing creation of Lightning Steel Ingots.

But something kept me from pulling the trigger. Generally I consider myself a good listener to my gut feelings. If they feel something is wonky, then I go with that feeling. (Probably why there is no Mrs Mommar or any little Mommar's running around camp JMTC). So I decided to walk away and do other activities before shutting down the game for the night.

More and more players entering the auction house game make things exciting. And many blogs, journals, players and 'experts' will tell you that making gold is about mechanics. That's 85% true by my estimation. But no matter how you automate gold (TSM is still excellent at doing this), there will always be that 15% that is your feelings and emotions. You cannot and shouldn't eliminate that gut feeling you have that a deal is too good to be true. Especially as we continue through 5.4 and more players look to sell off massive amounts of gear to prepare for the next expansion.

But then after tonight, anyone want to buy 1000 bars for cost plus a 'little' profit? We shall see

Good Luck and Good Hunting

7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay
What i learned from Marvel Heroes....
Patch 5.4: Arise Scribe Arise!!!!!
Walking On The Dollars

Bang The Drum Slowly
Five Rules For Dating My Gold Stash
Transmog Me Baby

Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:59 AM

Mommar Here.

If the powers that be keep up their normal schedule, We should be getting what could be the last patch to Mists of Pandaria in the next month or so. Currently they are testing the new Raids (finally get to boot up Garrash's ample posterior).

Keeping an eye on the market and the changes have always kept gold goblins ahead of the curve. Patch 5.4 should bring some interesting boosts in the economy for a short term. That means getting your gear together, your valor points maxxed and items in the bank ready to sell from the start.

The odds are that this will be the last patch before the introduction of a new expansion. If you have been running instances even during patch 5.3 you've probably noticed a speed increase in completing them. Unless you end up having a completely new level 90 geared players, the tank and healing combo can blow through most of the instances between 20 minutes. The benefit of this will allow players to get their new ALT toons that much quicker into high level raiding.

There has already been a slowdown on many servers for materials on the AH. The ebb and flow of farmers and investors has kept the prices higher than normal. Every so often you can find a pretty good deal on Gold Iron Bars (or ore) which can add to your profit margin. Now is that a good idea to start your craft one/put materials away for a later technique that has been used many times for future profits.

The other thing to use is your lineup. Setting your profit goals for your first week in the new patch, your first month and even to the introduction of the next expansion will give you a base for your future professions. Do you want to make 10,000g a first week, 25,000g a first month or whatever your goals are. Setting your goals now and expectations will guide you on what to invest in materials and time.

Time becomes your most important commodity with the next patch. The idea is that you have to spend time to make gold changes. You need to spend time wisely to make gold.

Keep this in mind in the next few weeks while you're preparing for the next patch.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay
What i learned from Marvel Heroes....
Patch 5.4: Arise Scribe Arise!!!!!
Walking On The Dollars

Bang The Drum Slowly
Five Rules For Dating My Gold Stash
Transmog Me Baby

Weekend Is Here

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:26 AM

Mommar here.

I've worked many different jobs as I was becoming an adult. And with anything that happens in a person's life, I choose to pay attention to see if I could learn anything.

One of the jobs that I had was as a morning prep and pizza delivery driver. It was an interesting job for a young adult who didn't have a lot of requirements for cash other than pay the rent and make sure the pizza was in the refrigerator.

What I did pick up from the job was the beginning of understanding of how a business works. In this case the pizza delivery/eat in business in a small town was interesting. During the week there was a trickle of customers that ate in the restaurant. Including in this was also the deliveries that were made to outside customers. It would seem that during the week the store made enough money to keep the lights on, pay the bills and pay the employees (my favorite part of course).

It was the weekend that the store made the bulk of its profitable income. This was the normal difference between the weekday and the weekend. The same occurs when dealing with income in World of Warcraft. During the week you will find many times that income will be much less than during the weekend. Consider it in mind the idea of root beer and wing money during the week, making the house and mortgage payments during the week.

The reason for this is very similar to what happens in the restaurant business. A smaller percentage of players log on during the week. Finding other activities including work, family enjoyment, etc. On the weekend players find more time for looting, pillaging and upgrading their gear for the raiding exploits.

It bears repeating that knowing your clients can elevate yourself into a higher tax bracket. Allowing you to expand and even franchise your gold goblin abilities.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay
What i learned from Marvel Heroes....
Patch 5.4: Arise Scribe Arise!!!!!
Walking On The Dollars

Bang The Drum Slowly
Five Rules For Dating My Gold Stash
Transmog Me Baby

Profit Anonymous

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 1:42 PM

There is a balance between the search for profit and enjoyment of the game. Yes, shockingly you read that sentence correctly. I have many times talked about the fine balance between reputation and profit. At some point if you are known as a person who will take advantage of anything it will creep up on you and players will stop making deals with you.

Every deal that is made between two players, buying or selling or trading will give you a boost or a drop in your reputation. Even the deal that I talked about yesterday hopefully left the player with the knowledge that I wasn't attempting to slight him on his offer.

The key is to approach every deal as if it was the first of many deals you will make with this person. Granted that most players do not look at who they are buying from on the Auction House. Their only concern is who has the lowest cost for the item that they want. But when you get out into the wild wild west of trade chat, your reputation is your lifeblood.

There are players on the server that I do most of my work at that have stellar reputations. They are known for beings good negotiators. They are known to be able to give good deals (including the free with materials deal that many use as a loss leader to get customers in). There are other players that are known to be troublesome in their deals. This includes the buying of spots for epic raids.

As Mists start to drift toward middle age in respects to being an expansion, more and more sales of 'raid spots' occur in trade chat. 500g for a guarantee mount all the way up to 10,000g. You will also see the creation of gold runs where players will throw in 500g at first and then bid gold for an item they want. At the end of the run the profits are split among the players that finished the raid. This again can also be an excellent way of making gold over a 3 hour period. (I'm one of those people that will join the raid but rarely buy anything.)

The reputation that someone has for putting these raids together determine just how many players will join. If they know that there are going to be troublesome spots, including arguments and questions of integrity on dividing the spoils, then players won't join. This is where your reputation that you have built in your smaller trades can affect your larger more adventurous exploits.

Keep your own mental reputation in mind with every deal you do this weekend. Did it go well? What profit did you make and what did it really cost you? You might be surprised at what answers you get.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Only Worth What Someone Will Pay
What i learned from Marvel Heroes....
Patch 5.4: Arise Scribe Arise!!!!!
Walking On The Dollars

Bang The Drum Slowly
Five Rules For Dating My Gold Stash
Transmog Me Baby

Only Worth What Someone Will Pay

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 8:00 AM

Mommar here.

This weekend was relatively successful. As with many weekends the bulk of my gold ends up being purchased from weekend warriors (and weekend Mages, weekend Shamans.. You get the point).

I received an in game email from a player who wanted to purchase one of my Lionheart Champion Reborn that I have crafted and listed. Every so often I've picked up a couple that players have listed for what I felt was too low so that I could flip for a good profit.

It wasn't the first time that someone had sent me an email asking for a reduced price on my item. I have a decent idea of what I've invested in everything I sell so if it's possible to be flexible for a sale I will be. In this case I had the blade listed at 17k (I had sold one earlier in the week for this price) and they offered me 10k for the blade.

The 10k was the amount that he was willing to pay for the item. So I mentally looked at the material requirements

First needing to craft the Lionheart Blade, Reborn

Lightning Steel Ingot x5
Living Steel x 3
Spirit of Harm ony x 3

Then the materials Lionheart Champion, Reborn

Lightning Steel Ingot x10
Living Steel x 6
Spirit of Harmony x 6

So to Craft the entire item you need

Lightning Steel Ingot x 15
Living Steel x 9
Spirit of Harmony x 9

The Living Steel and Spirit of Harmony are easily replaced through a little farming (Halfhill farming or just overall beating on mobs) but the Lightning Steel Ingots take 5 days to replace. The makes these the real push of how much the item is worth to sell for me. Between that and the previous sale earlier in the week at 17k I decided to politely decline the offer and counter offer for 15.5k.

How the transaction ended isn't important (mostly because I still try to keep some of my transactions private) but the important lesson I hope people get is just how I calculated the worth of the item. On my server a rough estimate to replace the Spirits of Harmony would take me about two hours at most. Living Steel goes for between 350 and 400 per item. So a total of 15 days if I craft everything on my own (I have purchased a premade Lionheart Blade, Reborn and then proceeded to craft the Lionheart Champion, Reborn. This saved me the original 5 days and some material costs.

But for our discussion let's just say I finished my daily Blacksmithing crafting of Lightning Steel Ingot every day for 15 days. Give an approximate cost for the Spirit of Harmony at 100g. My goal was to arrive at somewhere between the 12k-13k in mythical profit covering over the 15 days it takes to craft the item.

If I would have taken my new friends offer then my 'profit' would have dropped down to 7k to 9k for the same item. That means that I was valuing every Lightning Steel Ingot at 900g per where his value was hitting approximately 700g per. How much I was willing to sell the entire item determined just how much the individual rare crafting item was valued.

Neither of us are wrong with our pricing points. If you have ever watched a version of Pawn Stars, you come the realization that a value is an arbitrary number that is placed on an item. The true value of an item is just how much someone is willing to pay. That same sword could sell for 20k if I was able to find the right buyer. Later on as more powerful items are offered, it could be worth a dirty wet sock.

Keeping this in mind will help a lot with your price points and how much to sell an item. You determine just how much value you have in an item simply by calculating the material cost and just what your time is worth. Once you have this ability in your arsenal to work these quick calculations in your head, then you have the ability to explain your pricing point and be much more flexible.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

What i learned from Marvel Heroes....
Patch 5.4: Arise Scribe Arise!!!!!
Walking On The Dollars

Bang The Drum Slowly
Five Rules For Dating My Gold Stash
Transmog Me Baby