Power Word: Gold

My New 85-89 MoP Item Market - Initial Results And Design

2013-05-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to say that, at least initially, the 85-89 Mists of Pandaria item market I decided to take a gamble on right before Patch 5.3 seems to be paying off.

The reason I got into this market was because the XP required to level from 85-90 was reduced buy 33%. This means more people leveling and thus more people buying weapons and armor from the auction house.

Head past the jump for more information on my new 85-89 MoP Item market.

So Far

The image above is from the mailbox of my 85-89 MoP seller. So far the market seems to fairly robust. I can't wait to see the results from the weekend as I normally make more flipping sales over the weekend.

The Market

What I am buying and for how much:

85 Mists of Pandaria non-crafted armor that is 45g and under.
85 Mists of Pandaria non-crafted weapons that are 75g and under with the exception of 1H caster weapons (wands, daggers and maces).
86-89 armor for 45g and under.
86-89 weapons that are 75g and under with the exception of 1-Handed caster weapons (wands, daggers and maces).

What I am selling and for how much:

85 Mists of Pandaria non-crafted, non-Plate armor sell for a regular price of 245g (TSM Fallback) with a low end price of 75g (TSM Threshold).
85 Mists of Pandaria non-crafted Plate armor sell for 395g (TSM Fallback) with a low end price of 125g (TSM Threshold).
85 Mists of Pandaria non-crafted, non-2-Handed weapons sell for a regular price of 395g (TSM Fallback) with a low end price of 125g (TSM Threshold).
85 Mists of Pandaria non-crafted 2-Handed weapons sell for a regular price of 495g (TSM Fallback) with a low end price of 125g (TSM Threshold).
86-89 non-Plate armor sell for a regular price of 245g (TSM Fallback) with a low end price of 75g (TSM Threshold).
86-89 Plate armor sell for a regular price of 395g (TSM Fallback) with a low end price of 125g (TSM Threshold).
86-89 non-2-Handed weapons sell for a regular price of 395g (TSM Fallback) with a low end price of 125g (TSM Threshold).
86-89 2-Handed weapons sell for a regular price of 495g (TSM Fallback) with a low end price of 125g (TSM Threshold).

Sounds Familiar

If the above settings sound familiar it is because I based my new 85-89 Mists of Pandaria markets on my original work on my 83-84 Mists of Pandaria item markets.

Pricing is about the same. I buy items in the same way (Auctioneer Saved Searches).

If you're interested in getting into this brand-new market you can start by learning how I buy the items with the post Buying 83-84 MoP Items With Auctioneer Saved Searches with some changes.

The changes are making the minimum item level to 390 and making one search with the level range 85-85 (I do my 85 searches separately to better ignore crafted items) and 86-89.

Caveats

If you do decide to work in level 85 items you have to be sure not to purchase crafted items. These can be readily undercut by competition. You're much better off sticking to dropped items.

If you're not sure if a item type is crafted look it up on Wowhead or check your tooltips for a source (some addons show items crafted by certain professions).

If you are on a high population realm know that there may be tons of these items up for sale under my prices. If that is the case think about being more picky about the items you buy.

I can say that Plate and 2-Handed weapons are a good place to start if you're on a high popluation realm.

As always the items that are "...of the Whale", "...of the Beast", and plate items, 2-Handed swords and shields "...of the Tiger" are terrible and should be avoided.

The Future?

So will the 85-89 market be as robust as the 83-84 MoP item market? Time will tell. If it end up petering out I'll simply abandon the market and vendor the items.

Best-case scenario I've found a new market for myself.

Additional Reading:

The Big List Of 77-79 & 83-84 Item Flipping Information

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He's a Jewelcrafter and a Blacksmither

2013-05-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

In this livestream we sell our back stock of Ink, discuss trailblazing and how gold-making is unique to every player, go over low population and "dead" servers and much more.

Watch WoW Gold-Making! (2.2 Million Gold+) 5.14.13 by Jim Younkin directly on YouTube or head past the jump for the embedded version.

Markets I'm Abandoning

2013-05-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

Every once and a while it is a good idea to take a step back from your gold-making and evaluate which markets are working and which might need to be put out to pasture.

After the jump I go over a few markets I've decided aren't worth my time anymore.

These are the markets that I am abandoning. (Note: These markets may still work just fine on your server and faction.)

Transmog

I just haven't sold enough items to justify the time and expense of posting transmog gear anymore.

The current competitors are welcome to the market.

I'll be giving all my stock to April to pick through after which I'll see if I want to use any for my own transmog and fire-sale or disenchant the rest.

Low-Level Leather

This market included leather items level 19-76 that included Agility (originally Intellect as well). While I have sold some items, the market is just too slow.

Trying to apply the principles of markets like 77-80 Cata an 83-84 MoP to low level item markets was an solid idea. It just didn't pan out.

Crafted Dreadful Cloth PVP Items

Too much competition. If I wanted to babysit the auction house I might make some sales. I don't.

As with many crafted markets when your competition can simply conjure up as much stock as they want the undercuts will flow.

I'll stick to flipping mob-dropped items. While you can farm mobs to obtain these drops the chance you'll get the exact same item as I'm selling is fairly low.

Conclusion

The idea of letting my competition "have" a market is a hard pill to swallow but in the long run it will be for the best.

By getting out of markets that are unproductive you free up time that you can use to find new markets or better tend markets that actually are bringing in gold.

After all, it's not personal. It's just business.

Kiryn & Riko: An Undead + Monkey Love Story

2013-05-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

I level characters. A lot of characters. In Mists of Pandaria I do that mostly through questing. Every once in a while Blizzard makes a quest chain so epic that you savor doing it every time.

The Horde quest chain in The Jade Forest where we are introduced to Kiryn, Riko and the rest of the Horde "A-Team" is hilarious and surprisingly touching.

Watch Kiryn & Riko: An Undead + Monkey Love Story on YouTube or head past the jump for the embedded version.

Patch 5.3 So Far (New Markets And Re-Posts)

2013-05-22T00:09:00.002-07:00

What have I been doing since Patch 5.3 landed today? Posting a new market I'm experimenting with (85-89 Mists of Pandaria gear) and re-posting lots of Crafted Dreadful Gladiator gear of all types (Cloth, Leather, Mail and Plate).

I just get the impression that lots of people will be looking for PVP gear to try out the new PVP changes. I also think many people will have held of on leveling their alts until the 33% XP reduction for levels 85-90. Those people will be looking in the Auction House for leveling gear.

Some initial 85-89 sales. So far so good.

What have you been up to in Patch 5.3 so far?

Ninety Percent of My Gold Comes From Flipping Items

2013-05-21T11:46:00.002-07:00

In this livestream discuss getting started in transmog sales, how to hunt treasure in Pandaria, how to begin gold-making, talk about where our gold comes from and much more.

Watch WoW Gold-Making! (2.2 Million Gold+) 5.9.13 by Jim Younkin directly on YouTube or head past the jump for the embedded version.

Sometimes Markets Just Need To Burn

2013-05-20T13:44:00.001-07:00

In this livestream we talk about how we've been dropping the price on Crafted Dreadful cloth markets, work our Crafted Dreadful Leather, Mail and Plate markets and much more.

Watch WoW Gold-Making! (2.2 Million Gold+) 5.6.13 by Jim Younkin on YouTube or head past the jump for the embedded version.

The Curious Case of The Stalker Monkey

2013-05-19T13:13:00.001-07:00

In this livestream we work on Jewlecrafting, deal with some item drops over 85, fend off a curiously persistent monkey and much more.

You can watch the video directly on YouTube here: WoW Gold-Making! (2.2 Million Gold+) 5.1.13 by Jim Younkin or head past the jump for the embedded version.

When Markets Attack! [Link]

2013-05-18T03:06:00.000-07:00

WTBGold wrote:

"One person had no idea what they were doing and posted every craft at zero profit. No goals competative meta goals in mind, just trying to make any gold they could, erroneously thinking that endercutting by 400g meant things would sell faster (Hint: it doesn't; a 1c undercut is the same as a 400g). Her presence had 2 of my BS guildies and 2-3 other competitors posting under 100g for current items that should be worth over 400-500g. Then, it spread."

Read the full post THIS IS MADNESS! on WTBGold.

In a similar vein Thairus wrote:

"Anyway back to my escapades, seeing my main competition just logging in to repost and having just fully entered the market myself I decided to test his mentality / patience and immediately undercut him every time he posted (for 1c undercut each time). After posting I waited a minute or two and ran a cancel scan, seeing that he'd almost immediately cancelled and undercut me. Fun Time. I proceeded to have a undercutting war for the next 20 minutes until he snapped and posted a 2-5 deep wall at 120g across the board (most of the gems being priced at 130-280g each), I was feeling playful so I undercut him once more, at which point he whispered me a condescending insult along the lines of me not knowing what I was doing and logged out."

Read the rest of the shenanigans in the post Weekly Gold Report 17/05/2013: Busy Busy Busy on Thairus' Creative Accounting.

I myself have been having some fun (and good old catharsis) crashing the prices of the Crafted Dreadful Cloth markets lately. There is only so much undercutting you can take before you snap and decide to burn the whole place down.

Disclaimer: The statement above has not been approved or endorsed by the Association of Safe and Sane Honorable Azerothian Traders (ASSHAT). The views and opinions expressed are stickily those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official opinions or best practices of ASSHAT.

Profit By Supplying Secrets of the First Empire

2013-05-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

Today's guest post was written by reader Sueshi. You can find them on twitter at @brocampaign.

World of Warcraft is a multi-faceted game and people’s motivations for playing are as diverse as the players themselves. Whether it’s raiding, pet battling, PvP, or gold-making it is challenging to master every aspect of this game.

When attempting to forge a new market or discover a new gold making “secret”, it is important to have an understanding of “why”? Why do players want it and why is it needed? Read on past the jump for a very interesting market I was able find.

Perspective

Many gold makers focus their energies on playing the AH with little emphasis on raiding or vice versa. It is important to have some perspective on making gold from the raiding community even if you have no interest in raiding whatsoever.

Mists of Pandaria offers an expansion-long legendary quest that will (hopefully) result in a killer Legendary weapon. In the meantime, players have some hoops to jump through before ultimately accomplishing this feat.

Many of you are familiar with the sigils of power and wisdom collected from the first raiding tier. If you collected 10 of each, the Black Prince allows you to move on to “A Test of Valor”, a quest requiring 6000 valor to be earned along with a few other tasks before receiving an extra gem slot in your weapon.

The reason this post is relevant right now is that the 6000 valor requirement is being reduced to 3000 when patch 5.3 launches in the next week or two.

This means that immediately upon the release of 5.3 many players will essentially auto-complete this requirement and be allowed to move on.

The next step is the part we as gold makers are interested in and what I am here to talk about.

Secrets of the First Empire is the current portion of the legendary quest. Many players are on the quest now, but most will be working on it in 5.3.

This quest is just like the sigils quest, requiring you to collect 20 [Secrets of the Empire] to earn a Legendary meta gem.

Secrets of the Empire

So, WHY do non-raiding gold makers care? Unlike the sigils quest, which is free, this time the Black prince wants 40 trillium bars to incorporate into crafting the gem.

This gem is a major DPS boost with many players reporting a 6-7% overall DPS (or healing) gain. Even if it cost substantially more than it does, serious raiders and casuals alike would still have no problem opening their digital wallets.

This is where you come in.

Understanding a raider’s mentality when they complete this task will help give you the confidence to enter this market and invest your capital.

I have personally been in mumble when a guy from my team collected his last secret. I told him “gratz,” and that I would help him with the 40 trillium bars after we finished up.

This wasn't good enough or fast enough for him. He dropped from the middle of LFR and headed straight for the auction house to purchase the bars regardless of price.

After witnessing this, I began rubbing my hands together and chanting “excellent” much like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons would do. For the next few days I began barking in trade, obtaining the cheapest highest quantity of ghost iron ore I could get my hands on.

The Process

The name of the game here is threshold price. Because trillium bars can be made from both smelting and transmuting, you need to set a price threshold and stick to it.

I have found that on my server any Ghost Iron Ore at or below 60g/stack can yield a nice profit. Obviously the cheaper the better and you are going to need a lot of it.

I have found that smelting Ghost Iron Ore into bars and using a transmute specced Alchemist is the most profitable way for me to obtain trillium bars.

Your mileage may vary but after transmuting 4000 Ghost Iron Bars I was able to get 480 trillium bars (with procs).

After fees this turned out to be a net profit of just over 10,000 gold on a single Tuesday night. I repeated the same process and had any additional 5k in sales the next night.

Transmute Trillium

My advice would be to leave some of your stock on the AH throughout the week, but don’t flood the market and depress prices too much.

Remember, your target market is raiders that need the last of their secrets and will pay anything to get their meta. This will usually occur on a Tuesday or Wednesday.

Lastly, I have found that posting in stacks of 20 gives people sticker shock. Its purely psychological, but post in stacks of 1,5,6 &10 to keep the stack prices low while also capitalizing on players needing 6 bars for their daily living steel cool down.

I certainly hope you enjoyed the insight into the mindset of a raider and hope that you will use the technique of gaining perspective when devising your own gold making strategies. I wish you all the best of luck in your gold making endeavors.

-Sueshi
@brocampaign

Thanks to Sueshi for sharing this niche yet potentially powerful market with us. As someone who doesn't raid there are many markets out there that I would never come across on my own.

The fact that Sueshi was able to turn something he noticed in game (the near irrational demand for a certain material to progress a questline) into profit is the epitome of critical thinking.

Use your mind. Be observant. Meet the needs of the players around you and you may discover a hidden market you didn't even know existed.

Now On Sale: The Power Word: Gold Guide Volume II: Mists of Pandaria

2013-05-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

One of the most commonly asked questions we've received since we released the first Power Word: Gold Guide for sale was "Will it be updated for Mists of Pandaria?" We've always been a bit vague about the answer and now we are able to share why.

We're happy to say that our second paid guide "The Power Word: Gold Guide Volume II: Mists of Pandaria" is now available for purchase in The Power Word: Gold Store.

This new, separate guide contains over 70+ pages of information about making gold in Mists of Pandaria.

Read on past the jump for more information.

About The Guide

We've been working on the guide on and off since before Mists of Pandaria was released. The reason we took so long to get the guide out is that we wanted to be sure that it contained tried and true gold-making strategies for Mists of Pandaria.

We're happy to say that we've not only included some of out favorite long-time Mists of Pandaria gold-making techniques but also included new information you own't find anywhere else.

That New Guide Smell

I should make it clear here that Volume II is a brand new guide. It does not contain the same information as the original Power Word: Gold Guide (now renamed "The Power Word: Gold Guide Volume I: Addons + Cataclysm" in the store).

If you've purchased what we're calling Volume I in the past you will want to look at purchasing Volume II. All future guide updates that pertain to Mists of Pandaria will be contained in Volume II.

Same Great Price

We've been very happy with the success of the pricing for the original guide. It's allowed individuals to show what ever level of support they chose to.

With that in mind the new guide will be priced at the same $5, $10, $15 and $20 prices with each price purchasing the same guide.

Thanks to all those who have purchased the guide so far at any of the prices. (And yes, we've had the guide purchased at all of the pricing levels.)

OG (Original Guide-ster)

Just because we have a new and separate second guide out doesn't mean that we will forget about Volume I. Volume contains the vast majority of all the addon information If you want to learn about addons that is the guide to start with.

Volume I will continue to be sold and updated along side Volume II. (Perhaps the guide for the next expansion (whatever that may be) will be called "Volume III".)

Purchase Now

If you enjoyed The original Power Word: Gold Guide (now nicknamed "Volume I") then you'll enjoy Volume II.

You can purchase the new Mists of Pandaria guide using the banner ad in the blog up above, the purchase links on the side bar, the store link at the top of the page or using one of the buttons below.

	You Choose Which Price
The Power Word: Gold Guide Volume II: Mists of Pandaria v0.10 - 70+ pages, .pdf format, 4.02 MB.	$5	$10	$15	$20

Thanks again and here's to us all earning lots and lots of gold!

No, I Won't Buy You a Tiger

2013-05-15T10:40:00.001-07:00

In this livestream we find gaps in our Crafted Dreadful Leather and Mail markets, work on Cloud Serpent dailies, go over the intricacies of Bear Hug, give advice for low population auctioning and much more.

You can watch the video on YouTube here: WoW Gold-Making! (2.2 Million Gold+) 4.30.13 by Jim Younkin or head past the jump for the embedded version.

Beginners, Gold Making Troubles And Trailblazing

2013-05-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

Today I'm sharing a few of the reader questions we receive here at Power Word: Gold Central (AKA our email inbox) along with our answers.

I also give a bit of advice for those who want to ask others questions in the future as well as get a bit into blazing gold-making trails and thinking for yourself.

Read on past the jump for questions about being a beginning gold-maker as well as frustrations making gold. Thanks again to the readers for allowing us to use their questions.

Small Fish In A Big Pond

"Hey Jim,

First of I wanted to thank you for all the time and effort you put into your blog, podcast and live stream.

I have been playing WoW off and on since the 2009 and I have always been interesting in making money through the auction house. I have recently been reading your blog and watching you and I've been inspired to start making some real gold.

So my question for you is this. How does a beginner take on the big guys of the auction house. I notice that I have been posting 80-100 auctions and a the auction house big guns have been posting 600-1000 auctions. How do I stay competitive.

Thanks again "

My Reply

"If you can't have more items than competitors you may have to focus on reposting your items more often.

You may take an hour here or there and focus on reposting your items and being the cheapest.

The other possibility is to focus and learn a market so well that you can find areas your competition may be ignoring (like older expansion crafted items and materials).

Most of all keep working and learning your server's markets.

Keep me updated."

Pressed From All Sides

"Hello Jim,

I am writing this email out of a degree of frustration & desperation. I am an intermediate level bordering advanced level gold maker on the [name withheld] server.
Pertinent info:
<maxed professions> 2x blacksmiths, inscription, enchanting, jewelcrafting, alchemy (transmute), engineering, mining, herbalism
<low lvl prfs> 350 alchemy simply for essence of water to air xmutes or primal nether xmutes
Liquid gold: 150,000 plus approx 100k+ in assets

I was making decent money from the ore shuffle when ore was 80g/stack, but now that it has fallen below 60g/stack, the cut and uncut gems have fallen below 60g/ea while the blue ring procs and lvl90 crafted rings/necks are simply not selling. Spirit dust has also dropped through the floor, often reaching prices as low as 40g/stack, (sha crystals hitting 225g this week)

The crafted BS pvp gear was nice for 2 or 3 weeks, but has now slowed to a crawl. Even as casual competitors have left this market, I have stayed in posting and cancelling twice per day via TSM, with 2-3 sales total per week.

The only place I have been making any decent gold is in the flipping greens market. With the news of the XP nerf in 5.3, I have noticed a severe increase in competitors buying MY MoP greens in anticipation for players leveling from 85-90 as soon as the patch drops. I have increased my searching and buying of these items to 3 times a day (5 times per day on the weekends). These new competitors are re-listing greens at 100-199g where my threshold was at 299g with great success selling these items for 399g over the last 2 months.

I have moved into limited supply routes (which is slow gold making), crafting rare vanilla enchants, crafting items for legendary weapons such as arcanite & dark iron bars, farming bottlenecks such as netherbloom, goldthorn, and flipping infinite dust, illusion dust, and frostweave.

I feel like with the capital I have, I should be able to do more with it. I am willing to take risks and be patient. But I am frustrated seeing my net gold count go up by maybe 10k per week. The only analysis I can make is that [name withheld] and guild that I am in has attracted savy, educated [players] that are using all the same tricks as me. Since the population of the server is dominated by our guild, I am starting to think that there is not enough room for this many competitors and to be victorious, I would have to sacrifice raiding prep for cancelling and reposting.

Thank you for any words of wisdom you can provide.

Cheers"

My Reply

"It certainly appears that you've got all the normal bases covered and know about all of the major markets that I would normally advise.

If you are on a relatively active or high population server you will likely have to spend more time tending your markets and/or work in markets that aren't as crowded.

Off hand I'd recommend looking into Cataclysm crafted gear specifically Hardened Obsidium plate and Tsunami and Darkbrand leather.

Also possibly looking through your Leatherworking, Tailoring and Blacksmithing spell books and making a few items that may appeal to levelers.

I've had some good success with older crafted Agility leather.

Ultimately in your case you may have to go beyond tactics that you read about on blogs and experiment and explore your own areas and tactics specific to your server.

If its a technique you read about on gold blogs and your on a server that has lots of competition they are likely reading them as well.

I know it can be intimidating trying to "think up your own thing" but in your case that may be the solution.

It may be taking something you read and adjusting it or applying it in an unusual way.

That's how I am able to come up with new markets. Lots of observation, thinking and ultimately spending the time it takes to root out new markets.

Keep it up and start thinking a bit more expansively."

It's All About Perspective

In both cases above we have gold-makers scared and a bit uncertain about how to deal with issues they are having in their markets.

I think often times players are striving to have some control in the markets when in reality the markets are made up of people and therefore ultimately unpredictable.

In both cases I think it was good for them to ask for advice. One of the things that can't be aquired easily or quickly is experience.

Those of us who have been making gold for a long time aren't necessarily smarter than newer gold-makers (I certainly am not) it's just that we've been at it longer.

We've tried more things. We've watched more markets fluctuate. We've tried (and often failed) at markets of all types.

"Bad" Questions Are Unasked Questions

I encourage anyone who is having gold-making issues to ask your favorite gold-maker, blogger, pocaster, livestreamer etc. your questions.

Many times (but not always) they will have a bit of insight into your situation.

If you do decide to ask someone a gold-making question please know that they are going on what little information you provide them.

In many cases they are only able to give you general tips and/or advice simply because each and every server, faction and market is different.

Each server has a different population and player-type make up. Each individual market (Jewelcrafting, Inscription etc) has different levels of competition and different competitiors in it.

I don't bring up all these variables to discourage you from asking advice but to show you how complex any given server/faction's market is and let you know that learning that market is ultimately up to you.

You're the one that is "living" there. Spend some time getting to know the "neighborhood" (your server's markets). Take time to observe and learn who your "neighbors" (competitors) are and what they do.

Expecting A "Silver Bullet"

The ability for people to exchange ideas is one of the biggest benefits we have in the gold-making community.

When you ask for advice from those you look up to in the gold-making community just know that while they are likely giving you the best advice they can there is no "perfect cure" for your gold-making troubles.

They may hit on a possible solution that will get you unstuck. They may not. Don't let that stop you from asking.

If you do ask questions a bit of advice I would have is to make your questions as short, concise and specific as possible. Only include enough information to allow them the best chance of answering you well.

If possible limit your number of questions to just enough to help with the specific situation you are facing.

I love answering questions but an opening an essay-length email with multiple questions spanning a variety of topics can be a bit intimidating.

Respect the time of those you ask your questions to.

In many cases they have busy lives just like you. While most times people are willing to help, don't make them feel burdened.

Don't think that asking someone more experienced will provide you with a "silver bullet" answer that will solve all of your gold-making problems.

Trailblazers

I want to emphasize that learning to think critically about gold-making is something that each and every gold-maker needs to do at some point in their "career".

Don't be afraid to move out past the edges of the current gold-making wisdom. Don't be afraid to adventure out past the already-lit campfires of "established" gold-making markets and techniques.

I put quotation marks around "established" because it's easy to think that markets like 77-79 Cataclysm, 83-84 MoP and transmog flipping markets have just simply "been around forever". They haven't.

They are markets that gold-making adventurers and explorers cut their way though the jungle to uncover. They went into the unknown and brought back knowledge to share with everyone.

No one told them what direction they were supposed to go. They just felt there was something there and worked hard to find it.

The fact that there are now gold-making "highways" covering what were once tiny gold-making trails doesn't change the fact that someone had to initially go out and find those markets.

Someone had to test the waters. Someone had to fail, try again, fail and finally succeed to show that they were viable markets.

My question to all of you reading this is will you be the one to find the next big untapped market? Will you be the one to have that "Ah ha!" moment and then put the work in to figure out how to utilize this new market?

Conclusion

Coming back down to earth a bit, all I'm trying to get across is there comes a point where they road of established gold-making markets ends and the jungle of unexplored gold-making ideas begins. That is where I like to play. Out in the untamed wild.

That's not to say that I don't utilize the gold-making roads and highways I've built in the past but it means that I'm always on the lookout for something new. Always on the hunt.

Are you?

Episode 062 - The Power Word: Gold Podcast

2013-05-13T13:53:00.004-07:00

Episode 062 of The Power Word: Gold Podcast. We bring you the latest World of Warcraft gold-making tips, tricks and strategies.

In this week's episode your hosts Jim Younkin and Erogroth discuss their early gold-making experiences, Reborn weapon economics, how to adjust to slowing sales and much more. And now on with the show!

Episode 062:
[MP3] Download or play this episode directly.*
[iTunes] Subscribe to The Power Word: Podcast directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add The Power Word: Podcast to your RSS reader or manually into iTunes.
[Archive.org] View this episode's page on Archive.org.

*(Desktop browser users can click the round play button next to the word "MP3" to play in an embedded player.)

Full show notes after the jump.

Episode 062 Show Notes

The Power Word: Gold Podcast: Episode 062 was recorded Saturday May 11, 2013.
Erogroth's Blog: Get Rich WoW. Twitter: @erogroth
Shoutouts
Followup
Neverwinter (New Free-to-Play MMO currently in beta.)
Addon Tips and Tricks: Required TreadSkillMaster addons:
- TradeSkillMaster
- TradeSkillMaster_Accounting
- TradeSkillMaster_AuctionDB
- TradeSkillMaster_Auctioning
- TradeSkillMaster_Crafting
- TradeSkillMaster_Destroying
- TradeSkillMaster_ItemTracker
- TradeSkillMaster_Mailing
- TradeSkillMaster_Shopping
- TradeSkillMaster_Warehousing
How Erogroth keeps the same addon data synched on two computers using Dropbox and Windows symbolic links.
Make creaturecache.wdb "Read Only" in Windows so you never have to reset it for NPCScan to find rares again.
Reader Email: When is it better to bark your items in trade than using the auction house?
What we were like early on in our gold-making.
LostTreasures addon and hunting Bind to Battle.net weapons and treasure in Pandaria.
Sponsor: The 100+ page illustrated Power Word Gold Guide. Purchase now for $5, $10, $15 or $20.
New low-end mining and herb gatinering in Pandaria. (See also: 5.3 Herbalism Leveling Changes at Kaliope's Crafting Blog.)
Reborn weapon economics. Pricing Reborn Weapons Per Lightning Steel Ingot. (See also: Thunderforged Weapons & the Market at Kaliope's Crafting Blog.)
Controlling back stock.
What to do when sales slow down? (See also: Troubleshooting Slowing Sales In Flipping Markets).
Crashing the Crafted Dreadful cloth markets (for catarsis and revenge).
How to invest wisely: Low risk vs. high risk investing.
Send your MP3 gold-making questions or tips to powerwordgold@gmail.com.
Thanks for listening!
Support the podcast, blog and livestream:
Hire Jim for one-on-one gold-making tutoring via PayPal+Skype or Live Ninja. Learn more.
Purchase our 100+ page guide to making gold in World of Warcraft now for $5, $10, $15 or $20.
Purchase official Power Word: Gold sweatshirts, T-shirts and more in our merchandise store.

Subscribe to the official Power Word: Gold Subreddit: /r/PowerWordGold
Subscribe to our general gold-making subreddit: /r/WoWGoldMaking.
You can find more podcast episodes by selecting "Podcasts" in our top navigation bar or subscribing via iTunes or our Podcast-only RSS feed.
Music used in this episode was created by Jim Younkin.
Previous Podcasts:

MP3 link for feed:
http://archive.org/download/Episode062-ThePowerWordGoldPodcast_/Power%20Word%20Gold%20Podcast%20062_20130511.mp3

Alacrity: Brisk and Cheerful Readiness

2013-05-12T20:57:00.002-07:00

In this livestream we go through our normal daily cooldowns, go over calculating Living Steel material pricing, give details for quickly creating Bargain Hunter lists and much more.

You can watch the recorded livestream here: WoW Gold-Making! (2.1 Million Gold+) 4.24.13 by Jim Younkin or head past the jump for the embedded version.

The Big List of 77-79 & 83-84 Item Flipping Information

2013-05-09T16:10:00.002-07:00

If you've been following Power Word: Gold for any length of time you'll know that I make the majority of my gold these day's by flipping (buying low and re-selling high) 77-79 Cataclysm (77-80 before 5.3) and 83-84 Mists of Pandaria items.

In order to help flippers (both new and old) get up and running I've compiled links to all the helpful posts that we've posted about the flipping markets into one post. Head past the jump for all of the links.

Pricing

The following link gives some great information about how much I buy and sell for. They are good starting points but you should adjust them to fit your own server after you've had experience in the market.

77-80 Cata & 83-84 MoP Item Flipping Pricing Lists

Buying

These links give the ins and outs of not only what to (and not to) buy but how to speed up the process of buying these items to flip.

Selling

The following links include multiple ways to speed up the process of selling items with addond such as TradeSkillMaster, BankStack and more..

Troubleshooting

Having issues selling your flipping items? You're not alone. The following might help you if you're stuggling to make sales.

Historical

The following are links that go over some of the history of selling these flipping items.

Selling 77-80 Cata Gear To Scroll Of Resurrection Level 80s (This is the post from March of 2012 that started it all.)
Level 83-84 Mists Items: Time To Stock Up (This post was made early in Mists of Pandaria when I was preparing for the 83-84 market.)

Trillium Ore Shopping Spree

2013-05-07T00:42:00.000-07:00

In this livestream we go on a bit of a shopping spree, get ourselves acquainted with the Ironpaw dailies and much more.

Watch Part 1 and Part 2 directly on YouTube or head past the jump for embedded versions.

Part 1: WoW Gold-Making! (2.1 Million+) 4.23.13 Pt.1/2 by Jim Younkin

Part 2: WoW Gold-Making! (2.1 Million+) 4.23.13 Pt.2/2 by Jim Younkin

Troubleshooting Slowing Sales In Flipping Markets

2013-05-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

Below is a reader question I received about potential slowing of their flipping markets after their return from a break in playing.

I decided to ask them permission to use their questions and my answers as a blog post because I think it not only addresses general uncertainties that many people have when doing flipping markets but also offers some good advice for those in the 77-79 and 83-84 flipping markets who may feel their markets are shifting of somehow slowing.

Read on past the jump to see their questions and my responses.

The Question

"I've been a sort of silent follower of yours for quite a while now, probably over a year. When you first started preaching (I suppose) the success of your 77-80 cataclysm green market I jumped on board, while I wasn't having quite as much success as yourself as I think my server pop might be somewhere between medium and low I was making good gold, more than I was in my other endeavors.

I took a bit of a break, unintentionally, I sort of just stopped playing, upon returning maybe, 4 or 5 months ago, I continued with the 77-80 green market, and also started buying and flipped 83-84 MoP greens, and the Uber Blues you've also found success with.

The inherent inflation that comes with each expansion meant I was making more gold with relatively similar sales, however in the last 4 weeks of so I have noticed almost a complete crash in these markets over the board (MoP and Cata greens, and also Uber Blues) to the point where I'm lucky to sell a handful of these items a week now.

So, my question is, what's changed? Is it my server population that was just unable buy the amount of stock that I had accumulated leading to dotted sales here and there, or is it a change in the Alt character meta-game so to speak and people just don't want to buy these items anymore, are there better ways people are gearing there leveling alts?

I used similar pricing structures per your suggestions (295g for all cata greens, 685g for all MoP greens, and 1250g for all MoP Blues) I lowered the price structure of my Uber Blues because I couldnt see my server approving of upwards of 2000g for these items. It should be noted that I only sell armor inside this market and have steered clear of weapons because I don't feel confident enough to purchase weapons other classes actually need.

Thanks Jim, I hope you can shed some light on the current state of this market in relation to the server I am on, I'm seriously considering server swapping, and your guide on doing this is very helpful."

My Response

"My guess is that you have some new competition. I've seen sales increase on my server.

Search for some of your items in the default AH interface and make note of anyone else selling similar items at similar (high) prices as yourself.

Search for a few of those players on theunderminejournal.com and look at the other items they are selling.

If they are selling many of the same items as you you may have new competition.

You can also do this by searching in the default AH interface for a specific level range (77-77 for example) and sorting the auctions by seller.

I think that the lowering of XP from 85-90 that is coming in 5.3 is spurring some players to level their characters to 85 in preparation.

Another thing that may be slowing your sales is that there may be a lot of cheap items that have built up on your server since you've been gone.

People may simply be buying these and not yours. If that's the case I would recommend searching and buying the items (cheap as usual, 45g and less for example) and storing and/or vendoring items that you have three copies of.

This will clear out the market and allow your items to sell. Also you'll need to maintain the market by buying these items on a regular basis.

Even if new competition or cheap items isn't the reason that you aren't getting sales don't stop selling these items.

Like I mentioned above in 5.3 there will be a lot of people looking to level and your 83-84 MoP items could see a large spike in sales.

Either way hold the course and just work your way back into the markets. I don't like to make any rash decisions until I've given any new situation or change in the market at least three weeks. In three weeks what seems like a trend can turn out to be only a minor blip.

Sometimes we sell less. Sometimes we sell more.

In the 77-79 and 83-84 market sales come in fits and starts. Some days we sell 3 items to three different people and some days we sell 10 items to one person.

Good luck and let me know how it turns out."

Follow Up

I received the following response.

"After a quick look, I don't appear to have any solid competition, its just a few different people here and there just selling what I imagine they have looted, and they undercut me, which doesn't bother me with 1 or 2 items here and there. I should also note that I have a pretty strong grip on the market, I would say for all 3 markets I would have anywhere from 70% to maybe 90% of the stock which leads me to believe that maybe the server population is just dropping off, or perhaps in the current state of the game most players are gearing up for raid content on main characters, the latter sounds more realistic I think.

Your point on maybe cheaper items, namely the armour vendors found in The Jade Forest, just beating me out by convenience, or price is interesting and I'm not sure if there is anything I can do about that short term.

I'll keep persevering with the market because history shows they are solid.

One last thing, what are your thoughts on maybe transferring to a higher population server, would this be counter-productive? As I already have a firm grip on the market here?"

Follow Up Response

To which I replied.

"High population generally equals high competition and cut-throat undercutting (but also more customers).

Send a level one, cage and sell a few battle pets in trade and try the markets before deciding to move there.

I wrote a recent post on looking for a server (See Transferring? How To Choose A New Server For Gold-Making).

That said, unless your server is an absolute ghost town I still doubt it's the server.

You're living there and not me so you likely know better."

Conclusion

Here we have a player coming back into the game after an extended absence and noticing that the markets seem to have slowed dramatically.

The saying goes "You can never step in the same river twice". Even if you're not present the markets will continue to change and evolve as time goes on.

We're always at different phases of an expansion. We're always at a different parts of a patch cycle. New raids, new content even new mechanic changes (such as lower 85-90 level XP requirements coming in 5.3) can have an effect on the way a market will behave at any given time.

In the case of our reader above I think that they will see sales increase as they work their way back into the markets.

In many markets, but especially in the flipping markets, it takes active sellers selling these items on a consistent basis to acclimatize the buying population of that server that it is OK (and expected) to buy the flipping items for your prices.

In my case I don't feel I'm gouging the players on my server. I am reminded every time that I make a sale that I am offering an item at a price that is reasonable and the player base seems to agree with me. If they didn't agree then they wouldn't purchase my items.

If you feel your market has changed give it some time before you make any major changes. In my experience steering markets is a job best done in small increments over an extended period of time.

Pricing Reborn Weapons Per Lightning Steel Ingot

2013-05-04T13:52:00.002-07:00

Kaliope wrote a wonderful post talking about pricing for the new Reborn Blacksmithing weapons introduced in Patch 5.2.

Now that many players have enough Lightning Steel Ingots to craft the top item level 502 weapons the question becomes should they? Head past the jump for more.

Kaliope writes:

"From my casual research on TUJ I'm seeing higher sales for 502 but the best price per ingot from 476 … I also feel that the 476 are in a better position to move because it's not as big of an investment to the buyer but it's still a strong enough gear upgrade to justify the cost."

Calculating the weapons on a per Lightning Steel Ingot basis is a brilliant observation. Anyone wanting to craft Reborn weapons for resale should do the math first.

Check material and weapon pricing on your own server before deciding exactly how to spend your Lightning Steel Ingots.

It could be that crafting two lower item level Reborn weapons could ultimately net you more gold per Lightning Steel Ingot than one 502.

I haven't yet started crafting any Reborn weapons and I am certainly going to be doing a more thorough analysis before I do so.

Read Kaliope's post Thunderforged Weapons & the Market on Kaliope's Crafting Blog.

What I Spend Gold On

2013-05-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

One of the most common questions people as me in my livestreams is "What do you spend all that gold on?".

While it seems they envision someone buying Spectral Tigers or spending gold-cap on Mimiron's Head from the Black Market Auction house the reality is much less glamorous.

Has past the jump for what I actually spend my gold on.

Mats, Mats and More Mats

Below (in no particular order) are the items I find myself regularly spending gold on these days.

Black Trillium Ore and White Trillium Ore - I buy both for under 15g a piece. I smelt Trillium Bars for daily Living Steel transmutes on my 4 transmute specced Alchemists. I also sell the Trillium Bars themselves if the price is right.
Windwool Cloth - I buy this to keep my two Tailors full of Bolts of Windwool Cloth to do daily Imperial Silk cooldowns as well as crafting and selling Crafted Dreadful cloth items.
Savage Leather - Similar to Windwool cloth I buy this to do my daily Magnificence of Leather cooldown.
Magnificent Hide - I will sometimes buy these from the auction house when there are gaps in the leather and mail Crafted Dreadful market that would be profitable to fill.
Ghost Iron Ore - I've been farming most of my own Ghost Iron Ore but if I run out I will buy it from the auction house. I use it mostly for daily Blacksmithing Lightning Steel Ingot cooldowns, Crafted Dreadful plated items to sell and prospecting for gems.
77-79 Cataclysm and 83-84 Mists of Pandaria items. These are my major markets and I need to keep the market clear of cheap items as well as continuing to build my inventory.
Assorted transmog and other flippable items - I find these with the WoWuction and The Undermine Journal deal pages. (See Using TradeSkillMaster And WoWuction To Quickly Find Bargains.)

A Slow Inevitable March

Each gold-maker is unique and each of us has found different ways to make gold tht work for us. For me (at least at this moment) this is what I spend my gold on day-in and day-out.

No expensive mounts (I'm not a mount collector). No risky flips (I don't like have multiple thousands of gold tied up in individual items). No huge market resets (I only reset a few items at a time if that).

Just a slow and steady stream of income derived from low-risk investments done on a consistent basis.

The Beauty Of Glyphs [Link]

2013-05-03T02:39:00.001-07:00

Faid wrote:

"I've been that person, crashing glyph markets for fun and profit. It's a valid tactic for market grooming and is also just a fun way to learn more about markets, your competition, addons, etc. But if someone else trying to mess with your profit margins is upsetting to the point it will drive you out of the market you should probably stick to dailies and not worry too much about the Auction House."

-In Defense of Glyphs over on Clockwork Riot

Her post is a tremendous rallying cry for all you glyph sellers out there. The point-by-point response to Selling Glyphs Scares The Hell Out Of Me was quite thorough.

To paraphrase an old scribe:

"Then [Jim] said unto [Faid], Almost thou persuadest me to be a [Glyph seller]."

Almost. Now, I have some dailies to do.

(Read on for a bit more.)

Addendum:

Just to be clear I really do like Faid's post. It is a really well thought out post that has lots of great information for those looking to sell glyphs.

Receiving feedback, opinions, critiques and alternate perspectives on my work is one of my favorite parts of blogging.

I recently stumbled upon Ann Friedman's The Disapproval Matrix. While she describes each quadrant in more detail in her post (which I highly recommend you read) I've included the diagram of The Disapproval Matrix below.

Can you guess which quadrant I think Faid's post falls into?

The Disapproval Matrix. Source: Ann Friedman.

Episode 061 - The Power Word: Gold Podcast

2013-05-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

Episode 061 of The Power Word: Gold Podcast. We bring you the latest World of Warcraft gold-making tips, tricks and strategies.

In this week's episode your hosts Jim Younkin and Erogroth discuss many of the upcoming Patch 5.3 changes, Children's Week, XP reduction, upcoming changes to Mining and Herbalism and much more. And now on with the show!

Episode 061:
[MP3] Download or play this episode directly*.
[iTunes] Subscribe to The Power Word: Podcast directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add The Power Word: Podcast to your RSS reader or manually into iTunes.
[Archive.org] View this episode's page on Archive.org.

*(Desktop browser users can click the round play button next to the word "MP3" to play the episode in an embedded player.)

Full show notes after the jump.

Episode 061 Show Notes

The Power Word: Gold Podcast: Episode 061 was recorded Wednesday May 1, 2013.
Erogroth's Blog: Get Rich WoW. Twitter: @erogroth
The Happy Hour Roundtable Podcast Episode #1 on The Drunken Mogul.
Shoutouts
Followup
Erogroth's green item sales update.
Addon Tips and Tricks: Canceling short duration auctions in TradeSkillMaster.
Power Word: Gold's 400th post: TradeSkillMaster Scrollwheel Quick Posting How To.
Setting Up TradeSkillMaster Groups - Step-By-Step
Favorite way to save time running to the mailbox.
Children's Week gold-making.
The Best Place To Farm Small Eggs
PVP Changes in 5.3 and it's effect on the markets.
Is Mists of Pandaria overwhelming?
Sponsor: Purchase The Power Word Gold Guide now for $5, $10, $15 or $20.
How we earned our epic riding skill money (5000g) in The Burning Crusade.
BMAH "Unclaimed Containers".
Brawler's Guild Rank 9 get an invitation that is tradeable.
5.3 Changes in Herbalism and Mining.
Blizzard's official 5.3 PTR Patch Notes - April 29
Heroic Scenarios and possible increase in gem and enchant sales.
New level 80 item vendors in Mt. Hyjal and Vash'jir in 5.3.
85-90 33% XP reduction in 5.3.
Are we preparing for Patch 5.3?
Send us your MP3 gold-making questions or tips to powerwordgold@gmail.com.
Thanks for listening!
Support the podcast, blog and livestream:
Hire Jim for one-on-one gold-making tutoring via PayPal+Skype or Live Ninja. Learn more.
Purchase our 100+ page guide to making gold in World of Warcraft now for $5, $10, $15 or $20.
Purchase official Power Word: Gold sweatshirts, T-shirts and more in our merchandise store.

Subscribe to the official Power Word: Gold Subreddit: /r/PowerWordGold
Subscribe to our general gold-making subreddit: /r/WoWGoldMaking.
You can find more podcast episodes by selecting "Podcasts" in our top navigation bar or subscribing via iTunes or our Podcast-only RSS feed.
Music used in this episode: 03 Ghosts I by Nine Inch Nails from Ghosts I-IV. All music used under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
Previous Podcasts:

MP3 link for feed:
http://archive.org/download/Episode061-ThePowerWordGoldPodcast/PowerWordGoldPodcast061_20130501.mp3

TradeSkillMaster Scrollwheel Quick Posting How To

2013-05-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

One of the most effective ways to speed up posting items with TradeSkillMaster is setting it up so you can hold Ctrl and scroll your mouse wheel back and forth to quickly post your auctions.

Head past the jump for short video tutorial as well as written instructions on how to set up scrollwheel posting.

Video Tutorial

YouTube: TradeSkillMaster (TSM) Scrollwheel Quick Posting How To

Written Instructions

Fist off you need to already have TradeSkillMaster groups set up in order for the following to work. If you don't know how to set up TradeSkillMaster groups check our post (which includes a video) "Setting Up TradeSkillMaster Groups - Step-By-Step".

To set up the macro and scrollwheel binding:

Open TradeSkillMaster Options (/tsm or press the TSM minimap button).
Select "Auctioning Groups/Options" icon on top (gold coin).
Make sure "Options" is selected in left column.
Make sure the "General" tab is selected in right panel.
Under "Macro Help" (scroll down if needed) make sure "Up", "Down", and "CTRL" are checked.
Press the "Create Macro and Bind ScrollWheel (with selected options)" button a few times. (An empty macro slot in your general macros is required.)

Posting

Once you have the macro set and and the scrollwheel is bound:

Do a post scan like normal.
Move the mouse off of the auction house window.
When the post scan is finished hold down the "Ctrl" button down and scroll your mousewheel back and forth quickly until the "Items Scanned: Posting xx/xx" shows all your items have been queued for posting.
Wait for your auctions to finish posting.

Troubleshooting

If for some reason your items aren't queuing try one of the following troubleshooting tips:

Make sure you have groups set up in TradeSkillMaster. (If not check out "Setting Up TradeSkillMaster Groups - Step-By-Step").
Make sure you move your mouse off of the auction house window when scrolling the scrollwheel.
Re-click the "Create Macro and Bind ScrollWheel (with selected options)" button a few times.
Try using "ALT" as the button in the "Macro Help", re-click the "Create Macro and Bind ScrollWheel (with selected options)" button a few times. and then hold "Alt" rather then "Ctrl" when moving the mousewheel.
Reload your UI by typing "/reload" or try logging out and back in.
If all else fails try using the chat or forums over at tradeskillmaster.com to ask for help.

Guest Spot On The Happy Hour Roundtable Podcast Episode #1

2013-04-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

GoblinRaset from The Drunken Mogul asked me and a few other gold-makers (WowProfitz, Phat Lewts, Erogroth, and Thairus) to join him on the inaugural episode of his new podcast: The Happy Hour Roundtable Podcast.

Head over and listen to Episode 1.

Thanks again to GoblinRaset for taking the time to organize and put the podcast together. I look forward to listening to future episodes.

Cooldowns. Cooldowns. So Many Cooldowns.

2013-04-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

In this livestream we do our multitude of daily profession cooldowns, show our level 77-79 item framing spot, get cat butt in our face, engage super maximum fun camera, obtain the best item ever (not) in the game: Jims Beard and much more.

Watch Part 1 or Part 2 on YouTube or head past the jump for embedded versions.

Part 1: WoW Gold-Making! (2.1 Million+) 4.19.13 Pt.1/2 by Jim Younkin

Part 2: WoW Gold-Making! (2.1 Million+) 4.19.13 Pt.2/2 by Jim Younkin