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This article will explain the World of Warcraft auction house and how to use this system to make a profit. Following the tips presented here will give you a starting point for making money in Warcraft. It’s important to note that no system is foolproof, and due to the dynamic nature of an MMORPG like Warcraft, things can change very quickly. As such, this article is not intended to outline specific details. Instead, it is designed to lay the groundwork for using the Auction House effectively and turning it into a profit center, regardless of fluctuations in the game.

The following material is organized into three sections:

I. Put the right tools in your Warcraft II auction house tool belt. Guidelines to be a successful Warcraft III auctioneer. Buying and selling at the Warcraft auction house

Section I Putting the Right Tools in Your Warcraft Auction House Tool Belt

To be truly effective at the Auction House you need several tools. These are plugins that are easy to install and will greatly simplify the process.

essential accessories
1. Auctioneer Suite – This plugin will modify the user interface of your auction house, giving you a variety of features and a wealth of information. It is simply the most powerful Auction House plugin available. Its scanning function will collect data on auction prices and provide recommendations for the appropriate bids and purchases. The Appraiser feature (accessed via a tab at the bottom of your auction house UI) will make posting auctions a breeze.
2. Telo’s LootLink – This is a front-end plugin that stores all the items you come into contact with in a database of links that you can then explore. Useful for linking items you don’t own and looking up item stats.
3. CT_MailMod – This is a simple plugin that will make managing your mailbox much easier. It expands your multimail capability and offers “open selected” and “open all” options so you don’t have to handle each Auction House message one at a time. A decent alternative to this is MailGet. This one doesn’t have the expansion of multiple mail capability, but it does offer a “Take All” feature to quickly snag your unopened messages. NOTE: In both cases, the companion buttons that appear in your mailbox UI will interfere with the red system message that appears when you have more mail items than your mailbox currently has.

As said, these plugins are essential. Without them, you will lose information critical to maximizing your auctions and/or waste time on mundane tasks. Make sure you get them before launching your auction house strategy!

Section II. Guidelines for Being a Successful Warcraft Auctioneer

Rules of the game
1. use an alternative: Don’t bother running the auction house with your principal(s). Characters you’ve leveled up are better served in the field, whether it’s running dungeons/raids, completing quests, or farming materials/loot.
2. Be Discreet: It’s better to choose a name that will blend in with the crowd than to have something like “Phatlewtz” or “Auctionking” as your seller. The proliferation of alternate “Bank” names may cause some to look away from those auctions as well, so keep that in mind if you’re running the Auction House for your guild.
3. Be Prepared: Place your alternate near one of your faction’s auction houses and keep it handy to accept all of your main character’s mailed stuff in the field. If you can afford it early on, outfit that alt with a full complement of bags. The bigger the better as it will reduce the transportation time.
4. Scan often: You’ll want to do two different types of scans: auction house scans and macro scans. To perform AH scans, just use the “Scan” button that Auctioneer places on your AH user interface. Please be patient as this scan may take 10-20 minutes depending on how many auctions are currently running. Macro scans will require you to create macros using the following syntax:
   

   /auction broker [xxx]

   In this example [xxx] represents a projected profit margin in silver. So,

   /auction broker 2000

   would give you a list of currently posted auctions with a bid to buy at a profit of 20g if you bought them and resold them.

5. Take notes: Auctioneer can only do so much, and since it’s a piece of software, it’s not perfect. Be sure to take notes as you see major changes in the market.
6. Buy!: If you find deals and have been paying attention to market fluctuations, pull the trigger. Collect the good deals and re-list them.
7. Be Thorough – You may find that you can buy low and sell high in one area of ​​the auction house (ie weapons) and make a profit. Don’t act like the uninitiated. Look through all the areas and capitalize!

Pay attention and follow these general rules for running the Warcraft auction house. They will be important as you get into some of the buying and selling tips below.

Section III. Buying and selling at the Warcraft auction house

Armed with the rules of thumb above, you now have a solid framework for buying and selling on the AH. It is crucial that you understand the market and know when, how and why you are buying items. Here are some helpful tips for buying items on the Warcraft Auction House:

1. Always set a purchase price. Never, ever hold an auction without a purchase price. If for no other reason than the simple psychology of the purchase, it is imperative that you set a purchase price. If you don’t, you may end up unnecessarily burning your earning potential on re-enrollment fees. People want to know that they can have something right away. Don’t let them down. If you’re totally convinced that the item will incite a bidding war (this rarely happens), then be sure to set your purchase appropriately high. But for God’s sake, put one on!
2. 24 hours, neither more nor less. Less than 24 hours won’t give you a big enough window to capture all potential buyers. Get your auction the exposure you need to sell. More than 24 is just throwing money down the drain. If it’s not going to sell within 24 hours at the price you set, it’s not going to sell.
3. Look for low-cost items – Be sure to do manual searches for low-cost armor, weapons, and other items. You can often find steals on items below level 49 (that’s the use level, not the item level). A corollary to this tactic is to buy transitional armor in the level 39-40 range. Shaman/Hunters who switch to mail and Warriors/Paladins who switch to plates are great targets for lucrative sales. Explore these armor items for those classes and buy them low to sell them high. It’s a good idea to check with the class community on the forums to see what the prevailing gear specs are. This will help guide your purchases.
4. Minimum Bid Reduction – Since the Warcraft Auction House orders its bids based on “Bid Price” (before any user qualifies) and not “Buy”, you can achieve greater visibility by lowering the price from any competition with a lower offer price. BAIL: Be cautious about using this technique, as being too aggressive can leave you with bid prices that will deeply reduce your profits if they convert to ask prices.
5. Stacking for easy math: People are inherently lazy and that’s the operating factor with this technique. It’s wise to unstack stackable items before listing them again. When you do, be sure to put them back into numbers that make the math easier. Buyers will try to calculate the price per item in stacks, and if they don’t have a plugin to do it for them, they will often ignore auctions that they can’t quickly figure out in their heads. An exception to this is stacking items that are used in quests. In this case, it is okay to create odd stacks.
6. Bid before downtime: Patches and scheduled maintenance disrupt the normal flow of things, including regular people bidding on the auction house. If there is new content to explore when the game goes live again, AH is likely to be a ghost town, except for your fellow auctioneers. If you bid just before the servers go down, you have a good chance of winning once they’re back up. Obviously this will work much better for those auctions that are nearing the end of their listing time.
7. Sunday Late/Monday Early Sale: Most players do their hard work over the weekend. So from Friday night to Sunday night, they’re searching, raiding, and whatever else they do. Once all the action dies down, many players are looking to make some money on the auction house. This usually means that supply exceeds demand, and since most of these auction advertisers just want to sell fast and make some money, they will often discount to the point where you can get great deals.
8. Use trade chat to get great deals: There are many players who would rather advertise their wares in trade chat than post auctions on the AH. If you’re paying attention, you can identify items worth buying and listing. Using your stats, bid in the range of 65-75% of what you know you can sell. If they bite, great. If not, don’t worry and don’t make a fool of yourself. It’s not worth the time. In many cases, you will find that they come back to accept your offer because they were unable to find a buyer through trade chat.
9. Cater to the Youngsters: Even with the changes to Warcraft’s battleground system, the Youngsters remain as popular as ever. Players still want to dominate even if they can’t hang out indefinitely as level 19 in Warsong Gulch. So take advantage of this. Usually you want to look for items that are level 60 and below. For the blues, take anything that can make a profit. For greens, look for items in the x6 – x9 range (ie 26-29 or 46-49).
10. Don’t Buy at LOW Bids: Keep in mind that when you’re scanning the auction house and snagging cheap resale fodder, don’t overlook the sale price of items. Many sellers will ignore this number and leave it ridiculously low, giving you a great opportunity to land a solid deal. If the offer is 60% of the total purchase or less, don’t be afraid to bid. If you lose an auction or three, no problem. There will always be many opportunities.

There you have it. A good base from which to launch your Warcraft Auction House domain. This isn’t as easy as flipping a switch, but it’s definitely not as difficult as some people think. Get the right tools, follow the rules of thumb, and use the techniques presented above and you’ll be well on your way to building respectable wealth in Warcraft. You will have enough to comfortably pay for the things that will help you enjoy the game. Mounts, gear, toiletries, and more.

And, if you’re interested in boosting your AH dominance and learning other useful strategies, there are several respected experts in the field who can reveal the really juicy secrets.

I hope this information has been useful and I wish you the best of luck!