All Your Sha Crystals Are Mine

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:57 PM

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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
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Monday Morning Raiding Quarterback
WOW:  Warlords of Draenor
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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

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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

Distopian View Of Money

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:39 PM

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Mommar here.

First I will apologize for the Quarter word (or is that two silvers word) in the title.  But that describes the view I have from time to time having gold.

I"ve told my rags to riches story a couple of times here so I won't bore you with the details.   The short version is that I started this game knowing nothing,   stumbled, bumbled and made mistake after mistake to get to where I'm at now.

You've also heard me say time after time to find your own motivation.  Whether you are the gold thirsty goblin that never has enough.  Setting up your own goals to have every pet or every mount or own every piece of tier gear.   Whatever gets you to roll out of the proverbial gold making bed that day is entirely up to you.

There is a catharsis to starting at a minimum and building it up again.   There have been many players that have given up their vast fortunes and started all over for the challenge.  Saluting them I know that the fallback position of having a large bank account has kept me from taking this drastic of a jump.

As more and more new toys and items are dropped for people and made more available in the auction house,  there becomes a chance to decide whether that item is worth the time it took to make that gold.  A farmer that ends up with 1000g a day is going to value each and every gold piece a little bit more than someone who is generating 10,000g a day.  Each item becomes more or less valuable depending on the difficulty of obtaining it.

That same thought process goes to running instances and scenarios/world bosses to obtain items.   Where you cannot truly put a monetary amount on how much those boots of awesomeness were,  you can figure out a rough estimate of just how much time you spent to obtain them.   And just how quickly they will be replaced by something much more shinier.

This doesn't mean that it's hopeless to buy things from the Auction House.   Gold Goblins not only deal with pluses and minuses with gold.  But also just how much they can save depending on the item.   Have you looked to start a panda on a different server and then level them up to obtain the pets that are only available to them?   You get the enjoyment of trying something completely new,  and when you're done you can sell those pets for cash and prizes.   How are you dealing with the greens and even the purples that you obtain from running low end instances.   Do you just automatically drop them to be disenchanted,  or sell them for a few rounds to see what you can get.

Whether you make an instant decision on value,  or do a little research on an item.   Just how much of a value an item has is determined by the vlue you have for it yourself.  Keeping this in mind will help you price things better for mass consumption,  or for that big sale that noone believes you could have made.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

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Just The Tip Please

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:48 AM

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One of the Major income resources for crafters is doing custom crafting for players.   Advertising your crafting wares so that others can have items produced.   It is advantageous because it mostly uses their mats,  as well as doesn't require listing and relisting of items on the auction house.

But a big misnomer is the requesting for a 'tip'.  A tip is generally considered an addition to the price of making an item.  A set amount from the menu to say I will craft it for this price.  The tip portion isn't something that is required (even in restaurants that have a 6 person party addition to the order isn't a tip,  it's a service charge)

Every so often you will see verbal squabbles of people arguing about whether a required amount is a tip or that working for the kindness of others is a better method.   To me,  I've always gone with the idea that for bigger ticket items (weapons,  armor etc.) that a set amount negotiated is going to be more valuable than depending on the generosity of a buyer.   Occasionally you may end up giving someone a better than average tip,  but then that is counterbalanced by the cheap person who only gives you 5 gold for making their new leather PVP set.

There is no real set amount for value on your crafting expertise.  It many times depends on the health of the economy on the server.  If you are familiar with the materials market you can get a general idea of how much an item costs on the Auction house then subtract the material cost if you had to provide the materials.   Then subtracting a percentage based on the client providing the materials can give you a good idea of how much to charge for crafting.

Another option is to just set your prices based on cost analysis.  If an item is valued at 50g.  Then asking for 5g a piece to craft (10%) is not out of the ballpark.  If an item costs 10,000g then asking for a 1000g crafting charge (10%) is also viable.   The percentage can vary depending on the market,  but crafting the 10000g item for 5g is noble eyes of some but not good economically in the long term for your money goals.

Knowing how to tip is very similar.   Good tips can create good relationships.   Creating another addition to your go to cartel is you need items created.  Also these relationships can net sales if your client is looking for someone to have something crafted.   This technique of keeping relationships viable and active through a good tip might net you one or two sales only.  But that is one or two sales less that you have if you try to be cheap and don't provide the gratuity.

There are many traps and falls that can occur from simple items such as tipping.  Walk straight and know just a few rules to being a good vendor,  and a good Gold Goblin.

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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