Think Small and Double Your Gold

Want to know how you can double (or triple or even quadruple) the gold you'll make when you flip that stack of 20 Silver Bars you just picked up at the World of Warcraft (WOW) Auction House (AH) at a bargain? Or on virtually any stack of goods you want to sell in the AH?

Think small. Specifically, think small stack size when you go to post your goods for auction. You'll be able to charge more for each item and reach more buyers.

Many of the bargains I find in the AH are usually found in stacks. Stacks of Silver Bars, Spider's Silk, Tangy Clam Meat, Potions, Elixirs, Armor Kits, etc. The bargain is usually there because it's being sold as a stack - someone wants to unload a whole bunch of items all at once. Usually, big stacks need to get priced low so that it moves.

Now when I go an resell it in the AH, I usually breakdown the stack into individual items or tiny stacks (of 1's and 2's usually). This way I'm able to charge more per item and move more items.

Some of you might be thinking "Gee Og, that's an awful lot of work to split a stack of 20 and post them all individually...my mouse finger will get tired." While it is more work to post, it can mean the difference between doubling, tripling or even quadrupling, the gold you can get back! On the other hand, keeping one large, very expensive stack could mean no buyers and that means burning time reposting and eating the deposit each time.

Here's an example of how this works...

I picked up a stack of 20 Briarthorn for about 2g. I had a good feeling I could get somewhere between 6g and 8g for it, but if I would have tried to sell the stack for one hefty sum I probably wouldn't get many buyers. The reason is because those who are looking to buy Briarthorn don't have that kind of coin. This herb is used by Alchemists in some low-level potions that do not have a high resell value (for the most part) so it's unlikely you could get your money back. But it is needed to level-up, so there is a demand.

However, if I post 10 stacks of 2, or all 20 individually (which is what I usually do), I can usually sell the stack for a total of 8g-9g! That's because it's easier to part with a few silver to buy just what you need than the buy excess with little hope of recouping costs.

Splitting large stacks into smaller ones works well across most items. However there are some cases where you can overdo it. For example, splitting a stack of 20 Linen Cloth to sell individually is nutty - when people need Linen Cloth they usually need A LOT of it. You'll get the feel of where it makes sense (or not) pretty quickly though.