I have a pretty good feeling going into today. Towards the middle of Day 6 I hit 72 gold. That was after I already posted a few things in the Auction House (so I had some new funds coming to me) and I used up nearly the rest of that coin to grab some great deals.
Time to visit my best friend, the mailbox. Before I grab my mail I'm at 4 gold.
Once all the cash is scooped up I'm feeling rather proud of myself with 98 gold.
And I still have a number of auctions sitting out there. Some are blues. Since it's still early in the evening I expect some additional action from my existing auctions. Plus I have nearly 100 gold in my pocket so I'll be able to grab some higher ticket deals.
As you can see from the screenshot up there, I'm already looking for bargains. I wrap that up quickly and head off to beat up some undead in The Scar. While I'm out gallivanting I noticed that my stuff is selling. Oh happy days.
Later that evening I wind up in a familiar spot in Silvermoon. Time to grab whatever is in the mailbox before making my final flips of the evening.
And after mail...wOOhOOt! 141 gold.
/cheer
/dance really badly
At this point I've shot over a couple of my goals already (as flimsy as they were). I have more than 100 gold in my pockets and I've gotten some nice things for myself along the way for my fearless level 13 mage. While I'm not wearing gear hand-me-downs, it's time to look for some bling.
Just no teeth grillz.
/shudder
Tip: since you are now an uber-savvy shopper in the AH, use the same strategy to get yourself the best gear by not being shortsighted. Do yourself a favor and look for gear before you can use it (or need it). I always tend to look for gear and weapons up to four levels higher than where I am at the moment. This allows me to get the best deals on my own gear and snap up rare pieces that might not sit around in the AH long. This is a perk with having a nice bankroll.
Before I look for me though I see something I must buy - The Butcher. This is one of my favorite deals. The sword is a good twink item for the 20-29 brack of battlegrounds, looks great and always fetches good money at the AH.
Auctioneer Advance (AA) tells me this is near the market value already. I'm thinking I can get more.
/snatch
Now something nice for little 'ol me: Skycaller.
Something to look forward to when I hit 16...yay me!
Time to do some more bargain hunting. More goodies for Og. Some examples...
...and...
Time to post my auctions and hit the hay. Here's what I bought and what I posted it for. Notice how much smaller my list is now that I'm mixing in blues into the mix - bigger investments, same margins, bigger payouts and less auctions to post (can it get any better?).
As always, the price before the slash is the purchase price and after is the posted price. Changes in stack size are noted (i.e. I may not put all items in the AH if I think the market is saturated).
Ancient Lichen (x19) 10.00g/4.22 <-- Posted 4
Bearded Boneaxe (x1) 3.82g/23.86
Briarthorn (x29) 0.43g/8.60g
Ironweb Spider Silk (x2) 2.00g/3.21g
Khorium Ore (x3) 3.80g/7.61g
Mask of Veiled Death (x1) 45.00g/88.34g
Rugged Armor Kit (x2) 0.66g/2.06g
Skibi's Pendant (x1) 15.00g/27.26g
Small Radiant Shard (x1) 4.87g/6.98g
Swiftthistle (x8) 0.51g/1.74g
The Butcher (x1) 40.00g/89.04g
/sleep
/hit snooze for 10th time
/drink pot of coffee
Log in on the morning of Day 8 and wooHoo! 182 gold. And just when I don't think it can get any better take a look at what pops up during my AH search...
Magefist Gloves for 90 silver! Silver! These will look real nice with my shiny blue wand.
/grin
And at this point I think this rags to riches story is a success. Hopefully in this series you can see how a little bit of coin combined with following some fairly basic steps can get you pockets full of gold.
That's a wrap.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Rags To Riches - Horde Style: Day 7 (Woot!) And Day 8 (For Good Measure)
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20 comments:
Thanks for these great series! I have Auctioneer for quite a long time, but I learn to use it only now.
And, belive it or not, I had no idea of Skycaller existance before :'( After you mentioned it for the first time, I grabbed it just @15g BO. (Shadowsong-EU-H, if someone cares)
Costezzo - I had Auctioneer for a long time and thought that the tool tip valuation on whatever loot was in my bag from questing was all it did. Took me a while to stumble on what it could really do.
The next blue wand up from Skycaller is Thunderwood (do a search on Wowhead). That one is rarer so it pays to shop ahead.
Thanks for the comments.
Nicely done!
One week, with a couple fo silver seed money, and you're near to 200g. Very well played, sir!
Now, if AA could only have that damn Search Auctions tab...
Grrr!
@Omellette - there is an updated release that has fixed the search feature.
I downloaded both the updates for AA and AC and have ended up using only AC. AA is just too bloated for me and my machine. But the search function works for both AA and AC now!
Og, thank you so very much for this series. Just last night I delved into some bigger investments and my fingers are crossed. My research indicates it is a sound investment, so I'm looking forward to getting home and seeing if it paid off.
For me, the biggest thing your series helped me with is understanding why it's good to split full stacks into smaller bite size chunks. It seems minimal, but small tidbits of knowledge like that make a big difference and help build confidence for those of us just starting out.
Thanks for taking the time to do this!
Og you are a master amongst the monies. Grats on the Completion in just 8 days.
Omellete - Looking forward to that search functionality in AA myself.
Acrobatic - Got my fingers and toes crossed for you on the big ticket items. For virtually all my stacks I split them into smaller ones when posting (1, 2 and 4).
Lance - Thanks for the comments.
And to all, thanks for the gratz all around!
woot OG your blog rocks. i had heard about auctioneer but didnt think it would be as easy as claimed. Then i started reading your rags to riches documentery and had to try it. started with 12 silver 5 days ago and have hit the 70g mark tonight. Cant wait to see what you do next.
good work.near to 200g.^^
Grats Og, great series. Now write the one about your config settings! Enquiring minds need to know :)
And the 1000 to 5000g challenge, now that would be epic, hahaha :)
Anyway, really enjoyed this, am tempted to try it myself. Thanks a lot.
I have gone through my first week of scanning, still not sure what I should buy and what I should leave, seen a couple of potential bargains, still, very scared I lose money :/
Little Boy Blue - Woot right back at you! Gratz.
Wowup - Ty!
No - Will do on the config. And it's good to have a healthy dose of apprehension when making you buying decisions for the first time. My suggestion - put aside a small amount of coin that you don't mind loosing (like 50 silver) and focus on one category - Trade Goods. Look for deals where the "Seen Count" is over 100 and the price is greater that 50% it's market price and under your kitty money. You can't go wrong there.
Good luck and I'll think how to tackle a series on going for that epic mount.
@No: you learn only by trying. I can say from experience, that when AA/AC suggest you something outrageously cheap deal, it will work.
I made my first money by dealing with consumables (wool, ores, gems) and making myself a rule to buy BottomScanner rated green gear for disenchants if the price was below 1g. That alone makes money like you owned the printing machine!
If you've done your weeks scannings, you can start taking risks: you will not lose money, or at least the few losses will be compensated by the wins! AA/AC is fool proof, really. At first I relied only on AC data, buying when it said so and selling on the price it suggested, and I never lost a nickle!
Now I'm having constantly more gold in stuff in AH than in my hand, but I know I can always 'realise' the money when need be.
Success!
Copra
Copra - Exactly right-ish. The "ish" part is the caveat NEVER to buy goods that can be bought from a vendor for flipping (that are not in short supply). Ever. Even if Auctioneer whispers sweet nothings in your ear to go along with that monster profit margin it's showing you.
Now I know you know this rule just from reading your comments, so this is advice is more for No and anyone else dipping their toes in for the first time.
No - You can find out what sold by a vendor by doing a search on the item at Wowhead.
There are plenty of folks out there that buy from vendors and resale in the AH. And they do quite well. However, that's not my strategy and I can make a whole lot more with a lot less work just by combing the auctions. Which is what I write about.
Thanks Og.
I tried this on a server I had a lonely 6th level sitting on. With 12s and a stack of copper ore, I headed off to the AH.
After 5 days, I had just under 200g in pocket with up to around 250-300g in items on the AH.
Anonymous - WooHoo. 5 days! You should be teaching me.
/hand over keys to blog
Sorry about the anonymous post (of making 200g+ in 5days), I was in a rush and hadn't registered yet.
Og, you don't need me to teach you. I basically followed your advice. The rest was luck with finding some bargains.(ex.: won a bid at 34s, sold for 18g)
Thanks again.
Oh, I've had Auctioneer for a while, but I didn't think it could be used like this.
AHworks.
Og, I have to disagree with you on the vendor originating stuff to a degree. There are certain recipes, patterns and designs that are certainly worth to flip with, even though they originate from vendor. Currently there are limited supply recipes in all cities on specialist vendors, which sell for two-three times their purchase price. As the purchase price is 5g and you sell the recipe for 15-20 g (oops, that's 3-4 times!), you are generating steady stream of income early on.
However, I agree on the fact that you have to know the market and the price range before you commit to this. Also, I would never purchase 'vendor' marked product from AH unless I'm certain I can sell it. This has happened, too, as I have bought the forementioned recipe for lower than the vendor price and sold it for the same 15-20g... Talk about bargain and time saver!
AHWorks - You make your own luck by looking for it. When you are looking for it and luck happens it's called "opportunity." One of my favorite quotes is by Thomas Edison (I believe)...most people don't recognize opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work :)
Copra - "... I would never purchase 'vendor' marked product from AH unless I'm certain I can sell it" <- that's exactly what I was trying to get at. Buying vendor originated items from the AH (not from the vendor) for flipping can be a pain in the patoot (at best) and a good way to get scammed (at worst). It's easy for people to jack up Auctioneer market values and deceive the poor, innocent flippers out there. It can also lead to undercutting wars which is what I steer clear of.
I agree that you can add extra jingle in your pocket by purchasing limited vendor items and then selling them in the AH. Since I focus completely on sourcing my goods from the AH I won't speak much about that strategy here.
Awesome comments! Keep me honest.
hey OG, couple questions for you =)
1) do you usually post auctions for 24h or 48h time frames?
2) you made a couple comments that on common items you like the auctioneer to have seen it +100 times. Auctioneer has the seen auction XX times in 2 diffrent spots. which one is the one we should be looking at cause they show 2 diffrent numbers?
3) what would you say is the % of expired auctions you get?
and finally
4) i love your blog. check it atleast 2 times a day so im up to date on my OGology
Anonymous - Some great questions. Here are some mediocre answers...
1. 24 hours when doing the series, and a mix depending on the item. If I'm very confident in an item and it's a stable market - 48 hours. Lots of competition or I'm trying to figure out the price point - 24 hours.
2. Good observation - The number towards the top of the stats deluge is the Auctioneer Classic "seen count." The one towards the lower half is the Auctioneer Advanced. Use whichever one you scan with most.
3. This was such a good question I created a post out of it. /grin
4. Like my mom used to tell me..."Flattery will get you everywhere." Thanks!
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