Newbie Trade skills

Hello. My name is Bob.... and I'm an obsessive Miner.

( Group ) "Hi Bob"

( Group ) "Welcome to Miner's Anonymous."

On most servers, I take mining and skinning. Then Herbalism and Alchemy.

Mining makes money. The market for rough stone is horrible, but Everyone needs copper.

Engineers + Blacksmiths + Jewelcrafters. All hungry for copper.

The REAL trick is how to work the Auction House.


Macro-Economics lesson.

Working the AH for copper prices involves the controlled buying and selling of two commodities. Copper ore and Copper bars. Both vary from 3 gold for a stack of 20 to 90 silver for a stack.

How do maximize your profit? Buy Low and sell high. More correctly, WHEN to place your auction determines how much profit you're going to make almost as what you're selling. If everyone has Scalping Tomahawks of Stamina ( lv5 newbie Axe ), you don't want to set a high price for yours. Actually, that prompts me to WAIT and try to sell the axe later. If no one is selling a similar item, and I have an open market, I can set my price MUCH higher. How high? Remember, asking 15g for a green newbie axe is insulting. Asking 75s when you control the market is not un-reasonable. You have to get a feel for how deep you can gouge your customer while still giving the illusion of offering him a deeal.

You must present to the buyer a deal below your competitors but not too far below to cut into your profits. If the lowest 20 stack of Copper bars is 1g 95s. I'd sell two stacks mine for 1g 90. You're still making almost 2g on 5 minutes of mining. The rough stone only sells for 10s to 15s a stack, but that adds up over time as well.

Price fixing. If I find a single person selling 3 Copper bars for 2s. I'll buy it. Why? Because it gets that price out of the auction house and I can sell that 3 copper as part of a larger stack for alot more ( 2g per 20 median price ). Only price fix the ridiculously low auctions. If everyone is selling copper at a low price, but it's not stupidly cheap, walk away from the AH. They will sell off their 120 stacks for 50s. The buyers will be happy. The sellers will make a tiny margin. Then the AH will clear itself out a day or two. Come back later and re-set the price.

The cycle. When there's no copper on the AH, the price soars up from 1g per stack up to 3g per stack. I like to sell around 2g. If you're at the bottom of a cycle, WAIT. Put your 2g stack up later. The AH deposits cost a couple silver. In the middle of the night, some dude is gonna NEED NEED some copper and your 2g stack is going to be the only one left to buy.

Always gather. If there's a glut of 90 people selling copper stacks for 50s each, it's time to gather. Return a bit later, and the cycle is going to swing up. Eventually, the cheap sellers will be out of copper. You just got back with armloads of ore. You can come in and set the price. The buyers will come back and find only your product is for sale at YOUR price. The other miners are out there collecting. You win. You may only sell of a single stack, but you make 2g for 20 while they're slitting their own throats for alot less.

After a couple of auctions, I found myself sitting on 12g. Comparatively, you're a billionaire when comparing yourself to the other level 10 newbies. At level 16 I had 20g. At level 18, I'm sitting on 30g with a full green suit of mostly Eagle / Stamina gear. Some of it enchanted and all of it with Armor kits. I have a bank stocked with copper and a good deal of gear I've sent to the other alts on my account to bolster them up.

In three days, I've gone from pauper to prince.

Take THAT, Billy Mays!@!#!!