WoW Auctions

Does anyone know if there is an app to check your auctions from a web browser? Should I be ashamed for even asking/thinking such a thing?

And on a related note, has anyone had a lot of success selling in the auctions? There's something that seems kinda funky about the whole system, although I hope I'm mistaken. It seems like people are very likely to sell at auction and not very likely to buy. Lots of people are crafting, but then waiting for loot drops & helpful guild mates to upgrade their gear. I suppose if high level crafted items beat the snot out of anything you can find then there is some hope...but right now it seems like the market is flooded with sellers.

It''s tough to track that sort of thing although there are a lot of certain items in the auction at any given time. I only go in to ""Buyout"" stuff since I hate bidding and waiting.

I haven''t had the best of luck selling at auction and I''ve heard other guildies complain of the same thing. I actually had a lot of luck in the first week but now that it seems things have settled in and the auction house has become more active, its hard to sell something unless you provide a price nearly as low as you can sell it to the vendor for.

Cosmos used to do this type of thing but they were asked to take it out when the game was still in beta.

I haven''t had TOO many problems selling at auction but I try to make it something I myself would buy for the price I''d want it. You need to put a buyout on it and it doesn''t need to be ultra low. On my leather goods I always add a heavy armor kit to anything that I can too before auction. It''s the little things I think...

I haven''t had any luck selling tradeskill related items, but no problem at all selling weapons and armor. I''ll auction off almost anything I get that''s green. If it doesn''t have ideal stats for its type (say a 1h sword with +spirit and +strength or cloth with +agility) then I''ll set the buyout for less than 2x the start bid. That usually entices bargain shoppers in need of a dps or armor upgrade. Something with ideal stats for its type you can set the buyout higher than 2x and up the auction duration and make a killing.

"hubbinsd" wrote:

And on a related note, has anyone had a lot of success selling in the auctions? There''s something that seems kinda funky about the whole system, although I hope I''m mistaken. It seems like people are very likely to sell at auction and not very likely to buy. Lots of people are crafting, but then waiting for loot drops & helpful guild mates to upgrade their gear. I suppose if high level crafted items beat the snot out of anything you can find then there is some hope...but right now it seems like the market is flooded with sellers.

I noticed exactly the same thing, and was babbling on about it online (through guild chat) a couple of nights ago.

Basically, the auction house is not functioning in a manner that would be expected under free market rules. As an experiment, I have been intentionally stocking the thing with items that I believe are useful and underpriced vis-a-vis merchants. No one buys them.

I believe that part of the issue is that everyone is getting things through the informal barter system in place for guilds. Another part of the issue is that everyone only sees the AH as a place to get ""unique"" high cost items. No one seems to buy the tailored item that will give a couple of armor points above their current level 15 gear, but is otherwise unexceptional.

It''s really bugging me. I thought it would be a much cooler part of the game than it is.

P.S. It may also show that differences between items are too small. Technically, when I find something at level 15 that is useful, and then find something better at level 20 and discard it, a level 12 guy who is checking the auctions should be ecstatic at being able to buy something ""ahead of time"" from me at a reasonable price. Instead, the benefit that having the item ""ahead of time"" brings is almost worthless, and there is no reason to go through with the trouble of buying it.

I hope it gets sorted out either through patches or just at higher levels. I really enjoy the crafting aspect of the game (moreso than I thought I would). But the combination of being lower level than most of my GWJ Guildmates, meaning they don''t want/need my crafted gear, and the problems with the auction house means that I''m just selling a lot of stuff back to merchants.

Wouldn''t it be great if there was some sort of Guild bulletin board? Last night I was getting great drops that I couldn''t use and tailoring and enchanting up a storm...but there were only 3 other people on from the GWJ guild and none of them were interested in the items. So I just disenchated the drops and started selling/auctioning the products. It would be nice if there was some way to say to your Guildmates in some sort of persistent forum, ""I have this Flesh Flute of the Aardvark, if anyone wants it. If nobody claims it in 24hrs I will disenchant it and/or sell it""

"SlyFrog" wrote:

P.S. It may also show that differences between items are too small. Technically, when I find something at level 15 that is useful, and then find something better at level 20 and discard it, a level 12 guy who is checking the auctions should be ecstatic at being able to buy something ""ahead of time"" from me at a reasonable price. Instead, the benefit that having the item ""ahead of time"" brings is almost worthless, and there is no reason to go through with the trouble of buying it.

To go along with this, my first few bids in OB taught me you pretty much have to ''buy ahead'' in levels on items. Sometimes the auction time is so long that I''m already a level higher than I was and found something cooler than the sword I bid on 12 hours ago.

I use it primarily on things I need for my professions and buy on buyouts. It''s easy to find decent gear for your level and the people I play with (you guys) are free with the giving in-group and guild. There are times I mess up and roll on a cloth and give it right to the mage (if i win) and vice versa. The AH in my opinion should not be used to get your everyday wear unless it''s armor kits for those items.

Everyone was selling these gloves with a buyout of 1G so I did the same but threw a hardened armor kit on them. Sold in two hours when there were still 10 others listed up for auction.

To restate, good (not great) stuff is easy to come by just playing the game and I think the AHs will become more important at the higher levels.

"hubbinsd" wrote:

Wouldn''t it be great if there was some sort of Guild bulletin board? Last night I was getting great drops that I couldn''t use and tailoring and enchanting up a storm...but there were only 3 other people on from the GWJ guild and none of them were interested in the items. So I just disenchated the drops and started selling/auctioning the products. It would be nice if there was some way to say to your Guildmates in some sort of persistent forum, ""I have this Flesh Flute of the Aardvark, if anyone wants it. If nobody claims it in 24hrs I will disenchant it and/or sell it""

This would be great. I rarely have any luck handing out items to guildmates and just wind up selling everything. Guild banks at a minimum would be nice.

I''ve had great luck selling crafting materials - set a buyout price of 10s on a stack of Linen and it''s gone within an hour. It''d be pretty easy for even a low-level character to get to 1g by exclusively hunting weaker humanoids for an hour or two and collecting their linen.

OTOH, I''ve had very little luck selling armor, weapons, etc., that I''ve found. Part of it''s the fact that, by the time some races get to a city with an auction house (I''m thinking of Night Elves here), they''re well past the point where a level 16 req. item is going to excite them. Oh, well - more Lupine Axes for me!

p.s. Blizzard, I hope your intention in giving certain races a home city without an auction house was to ensure that they abandon it for another race''s city, because that certainly seems to be the case.

I generally accept the default start bid and then set buyout for a mere 1.5x the start. I''ve sold a couple crafted guns (with a scope I always add) this way. It''s not big bucks but it''s still better than the merchants offer. Oh, and I almost always go with the 24h option since I''m usually doing this at the end of the night. I''d say I''ve had about a 60-70% success rate across both crafted and looted items.

Edit:

OTOH, I''ve had very little luck selling armor, weapons, etc., that I''ve found. Part of it''s the fact that, by the time some races get to a city with an auction house (I''m thinking of Night Elves here), they''re well past the point where a level 16 req. item is going to excite them. Oh, well - more Lupine Axes for me!

Let me just put in a standing ""Me! Me!"" for any and all axes and guns you find, if you don''t want it and want to share, send it to Grumpicus (COD the postage). If I don''t need it, I promise to return it instead of sell it.

Erm, I dunno if this is going to help any or not, but in my experience there are a few things that are just white hot in the AH and then the vast majority of stuff just sits there. At 44, I''ve been selling Greater Healing potions in stacks of five usually within two hours of putting the pots up... buyout of 75s. This got me my mount more often than not.

That sounds like a great thing, but there''s not a single other potion that I could make that sells like that. So I tend to ignore weeds other than Liferoot and Kingsblood, because that''s where the money is. That''s unsatisfying on some level...

Also, the armor that''s dropping sells for up to 2g at vendors and it''s less risky to just cash that in at a vendor than paying a hefty deposit in AH for something that probably won''t sell. No armor or weapon I''ve had in auction requiring over level 35 to equip has sold. It''s actually gotten to the point where I think you could make money checking the AH for items about to expire, check thottbot for their merchant value and bid on anything that''s lower than merchant cost. Again, pretty unsatisfying and not what I expected.

I realize the EQ auction house was a terrible lag fest and had it''s own host of issues, but I think WoW''s needs some more brain power and testing added to the mix.

Are the default starting bids just the average or recommended starting bid? Or is that what they would sell to a merchant for?

Yeah, the default starting price is usually set to the price of the item you''d get selling to merchant.

As for the intentions, I guess all the big cities did have an auction house at one point in beta but in places with big geometry (Stormwind) the lag was horrendous so it was decided to limit it to 3, one for each faction and a shared AH. It does suck they''re not all linked though but I guess free trade isn''t a place the factions are at yet in their negotiations.

Basically, I worry about it when I''m in the vicinity of IF. Questing has proven a better way to make gold and levels than camping the AH so questing is where I''m going to spend more of my time. Besides I have more fun questing too.

Don''t forget there is a trade channel in each zone too and you can sell things in there. I''ve done business this way a couple of times and it''s much more user friendly than the AH and lag in IF.

It would make sense that they were merchant values, but I don''t believe they are. I''ll check when servers come back up... that would defeat my nefarious money making scheme that I couldn''t possibly stomach keeping up with

Default starting is 1.5 times what it sells to a merchant for. I tested it a week or two ago.

I think part of the issue is that auction houses are in level 10-30 areas - the first ones, I guess, have not looked for others - and so folks below that don''t have access, and folks above need to keep their ties or sell elsewhere. Also, AH''s are not global, but local, so you are selling to a slice of the population, not the whole Horde or Alliance. And last, I don''t think a lot of folks have used them in other games before, and they just don''t understand.

I like that there are buyouts, to prevent bidding frenzies, and I like the auto-suggest for prices. I think they do some parts well, especially mailing the item to you. It''d be nice to be able to mail something in to auction it, but that''s gravy.

They''ve said they want to make the auctions global, so I think that will help with the relative lack of use. As people become more aware of the deals, the market should broaden and work more like it should.

I''m optimistic. I am very happy with the tight money control they have implemented. I don''t htink you''ll see any millionaires in this game. Just look at something like SWG to see that done really, really poorly. And remember, in EQ2, if you want to sell something, you can set up a shop - but you can only sell when logged in! Lame, lame, three times lame...

"LeapingGnome" wrote:

Default starting is 1.5 times what it sells to a merchant for. I tested it a week or two ago.

Also note that the deposit for listing an item changes depending on how long you put it up for sale. I think you get the money back if it sells, but it''s lost if it doesn''t. Generally putting an item up for 8 hours overnight is a little risky even though the deposit is cheaper. There just aren''t many eyeballs looking at your items at 4am.

I''m optimistic. I am very happy with the tight money control they have implemented. I don''t htink you''ll see any millionaires in this game. Just look at something like SWG to see that done really, really poorly. And remember, in EQ2, if you want to sell something, you can set up a shop - but you can only sell when logged in! Lame, lame, three times lame...

I still think it''s amazing that the first level 60 char also already has his epic mount. Which he bought right after turning 60. That''s 1000 gold! Yeesh!

"Certis" wrote:

It''s tough to track that sort of thing although there are a lot of certain items in the auction at any given time. I only go in to ""Buyout"" stuff since I hate bidding and waiting.

If I see something for dirt cheap I''ll toss a bid on it, hoping I win (which is how I won my pet squirrel) The worst that can happen is that you get outbid, the best: you get stuff for cheap!

There''s an AH in Gadgetzan... it had nothing on it two days ago. I was pretty bummed. The lonely goblin auctioneer wanted me to stay, but alas... there were wastelanders to thwart (read: kill). I''m still hoping there''s a goblin on a Mad Max type of vehicle roaming around Tanaris, just to get back to the roots of that zone''s theme.

Good to know about the default pricing in the auction house. You''d expect them to do something like that, really, being Blizzard and all.

As for no millionaires, it''s certainly not looked that way to me... I''ve been broke or nearly so every time I go to buy skills. The only way I have a mount is I''ve just stopped buying skills the past two times. Of course, the upgrade mounts cost 1000g base, so there''s always room to hope!

If the AH wasn''t teh Lag, I think more people would use it. I usually get frustrated after about 5 minutes of browsing. My time is limited. I have gotten some GREAT deals though. I would say that 50% of my gear comes from the AH.

Hopefully, they will get it running better.

"hubbinsd" wrote:

I have this Flesh Flute of the Aardvark, if anyone wants it.

I can''t believe no one has asked what buffs the Flesh Flute of the Aardvark offers. I''d buy one just for the name alone.

"Dramatic Marlin" wrote:
"hubbinsd" wrote:

I have this Flesh Flute of the Aardvark, if anyone wants it.

I can''t believe no one has asked what buffs the Flesh Flute of the Aardvark offers. I''d buy one just for the name alone.

[color=red]Two Hand Staff[/color]
18-34 damage Speed 2.90
500 mana
2 - 3 hour cooldown

"hubbinsd" wrote:

Wouldn''t it be great if there was some sort of Guild bulletin board? Last night I was getting great drops that I couldn''t use and tailoring and enchanting up a storm...but there were only 3 other people on from the GWJ guild and none of them were interested in the items. So I just disenchated the drops and started selling/auctioning the products. It would be nice if there was some way to say to your Guildmates in some sort of persistent forum, ""I have this Flesh Flute of the Aardvark, if anyone wants it. If nobody claims it in 24hrs I will disenchant it and/or sell it""

In the Guild tab, there is a little icon that says it adds a note to the player name. The downside is that only an officer can add or edit these notes. I suppose it could be used as a way for crafters to advertise their wares within the guild. It would be great if Blizzard would change this to allow each individual to add/edit his own note.

Wanna make money? You can easily auction copper bars for 1s each (i''ve set buyout on a stack of 20 to 25s and they go fast).

I make a skinning/mining alt to feed my friends blacksmith and another leatherworker. After shipping 200 copper bars to my friend I needed money and started to auction them. My lvl 15 dwarf has 3 gold now.

I have sold several green items, the key is don''t be greedy! Leave the starting price at the default. Sometimes I will bin on cheap greenies with my enchanter just to disenchant.

Generally though all trade items move very fast. I''ve sold a lot of metal, bolts of cloth and herbs.

As far as buying, at least in the low level game, the price often overpowers the need and people just say, ""Oh well, my current stuff can get me by...""

"VicD714" wrote:

In the Guild tab, there is a little icon that says it adds a note to the player name. The downside is that only an officer can add or edit these notes. I suppose it could be used as a way for crafters to advertise their wares within the guild. It would be great if Blizzard would change this to allow each individual to add/edit his own note.

I just tried this last night and haven''t had a chance to see if it took affect. I thought you could
/note text
and it would put that into the note but it does take an hour or so for it pop in there.

I did
/note test
last night when I logged, I''ll check it when I get home.

"Sway" wrote:

Also note that the deposit for listing an item changes depending on how long you put it up for sale.

I believe it''s a simple multiple. the deposit for 24h is 3x the deposit for 8 h.

"Sway" wrote:

I think you get the money back if it sells, but it''s lost if it doesn''t.

I may be wrong but I don''t think this is the case.

Edit: I stand corrected.

Selling an item does come at a price, there is a fee that has to be paid into the system to place your auction. The fee deposit is calculated as a percentage of the item''s value if sold to a vendor. The fee is also more expensive the longer you set the duration of your sale so it''s important you get the balance just right when putting an item up for auction as you want to keep the fee as low as possible. If the item is sold within the allotted time, the seller will have their fee deposit returned via the in-game mail system along with the money from the bidder minus a transaction fee, which is a small percentage of the ultimate sale price. However if the item fails to sell, the seller loses the deposit fee while the item is returned back to the seller via the in-game mail system for retrieval. The item will remain in the mailbox for a maximum of 30 days.

AND Edit2:

Auction house also takes a small percentage of the final sale price (transaction fee)

So basically, they give you back the desposit (which was based on ""a percentage of the item''s value if sold to a vendor"") and instead take a percentage of the sale value instead. That makes sense.

Just saw this on Warcry. The first question in this chat applies to auction houses and the news is good.

"WoW Devs" wrote:

We will continue to improve the auction house interface. We also plan on putting auction houses in all major cities and linking them to one another.

Here''s some AH tips...

Timing matters. I always set the listings to 24 hours so that I get at least one day of people to look at my wares. Also, pretty consistently I''ve put things on the AH during my lunchbreak and found them sold once I got home from work. That 4 PM after-school spike seems to buy them up since the leftovers from the night before are expired or already snagged

Also, check out Thottbot when you craft an item with a white-text name. I just found out that the Guardian Gloves I''ve been leathercrafting are a component used in the lvl 225 Blacksmithing item Truesilver Gauntlets. All this time I''ve been crafting them and merchant-dumping them for 15 silver. When I used the Ironforge Trade channel to advertise them to Blacksmiths I sold 15 of them at lunch for 50-80 silver each rather quickly.

Also, I''d never sell a blue-item over the AH without broadcasting it over the Ironforge Trade chat channel first. I was about to sell a Combatant Claymore on the AH with a starting bid of 1.5g and a buyout of 2g. Just for the heck of it I broadcast that I was taking offers on it and a lvl 20 Paladin offered me 4g for it. Sold! I used that money to supply me with leather from the AH to make those Guardian Gauntlets. All in all, I turned 1 item into a total if 10g with just a little work and substantially raised my Leatherworking in the process.