Little Guide to make u rich:
I wrote this guide to try to help basically two sorts of players: newbies to WoW
and players who raced ahead in levels without learning how to make money (and
wonder why they?re always broke). Once you learn the tricks, it?s pretty easy to
make good money in WoW. And if you?re willing to work at it a little, you can
become rich.
There is really only one way for players under level 20 or so to get rich in WoW,
and that?s through picking the right professions. Most professions are moneysinks
at the lower levels. Sure, at higher levels some of these are big moneymakers.
But in general you have to invest a lot of gold to get there. But four
professions are money-makers from the start. These are:
Fishing
Mining
Skinning
Herbalism
All players can get Fishing. It is a ?secondary? skill or profession (along with
Cooking and First Aid). All players can get all three of the secondary skills, so get
them as soon as you can (level 5 for fishing). In a nutshell you can at level 10 fish
in some fairly high level areas for certain fish that Alchemists need in their
potions (possibly for Enchanters, too). Please see my HOW TO FISH guide to
learn more. Mining, Skinning and Herbalism are ?primaries?, and you can only
learn two of them.
PRIMARY SKILLS OR PROFESSIONS
You can only pick two of these. They include:
Alchemy potion making
Blacksmithing armor and weapon making
Enchanting granting magic powers to items
Engineering making bombs plus useful and wacky items
Herbalism* getting herbs for Alchemy (and maybe Enchanting)
Leatherworking make leather armor (and two small bags)
Mining * get metal and gems for Blacksm, Engi, etc.
Skinning* get skins for Leatherworking, Engi, etc.
Tailoring make cloth armor and many kinds of bags
If you?ve already picked yours, don?t panic. You can always ditch them and train
again in new ones. To lose skills hit K, select the skill, and hit Cancel. If you ever
want to relearn this skill, you can. It?s an inconvenience, but it?s not that big a
deal.
You may have read on various sites how players recommend that a Paladin go
for Mining and Blacksmithing or a Hunter go for Skinning and Leatherworking, so
they can make their own armor. Mages, they say, should try Enchanting and
Tailoring ? and so on. This sounds good in theory ? ?Hey, I?ll make my own armor
for free.? But in reality, if you?re in an established (i.e. not brand new) server or
realm, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Using Fishing and a combination of Mining, Skinning and Herbalsim, you can
make so much money that you can just pay for all the armor you need, get
enchantments for it, buy bigger bags, buy a pet, and still have money to burn! All
around level ten.
Why? On an established server higher level players have lots of money. They
mail it to their alts to spend or spend it themselves. Even though they?re high
level, they still need basic trade materials: copper, light leather, herbs, oily
blackmouths, firefin snappers, and so on. And they?re willing to pay you good
money for these things ? things you can get before you?re even level ten.
WHICH TWO PRIMARY MONEY-MAKERS TO PICK?
I chose Mining and Skinning, and it has worked very well for me. Herbalism and
Skinning would work, too, although I don?t think it makes as much money (you
still do okay ? and I could be wrong). I don?t recommend Mining and Herbalism
for the simple reason that each of these gives you a ?detection? skill on your minimap
to help you find resource nodes. It would drive me crazy to have to switch
between the two constantly, and if you don?t constantly (and I mean every minute
or so) switch you?ll miss nodes. But if you think you can handle it, be my guest.
HOW TO MINE
First you need to train in the skill. If you?re a newbie this means leaving your
starting area and going up the road towards the next bigger town (or to your
race?s main city). Between the next bigger town and the city are guards (on the
road), most of whom will tell you (if you right click them) how to find a trainer.
Click on the bottom option (Profession Training) and then Mining. You get a
yellow arrow on your mini-map, and when you get close you get a red flag
showing where the trainer is. Easy.
Just right click the trainer and buy the skill (it?s really cheap). Now buy a mining
pick. There is always a merchant near the trainer who sells these. You must have
it in your backpack or in a bag to be able to mine (not in your bank). Now you
need to find a mineral node to mine.
It helps to be at least level five or so to mine copper only because the nodes are
in areas where there are lots of monsters, and you need to be able to survive.
Note, Skinning is a good combo with Mining because a lot of the things that
attack you while you mine are Beasts ? and this is precisely what you need to do
Skinning: dead beasts.
Copper nodes are scattered all over areas where level five and bigger creatures
lurk, like Elwynn Forest, Dun Morogh and Mulgore. They tend to be in hilly or
mountainous areas, often around the zone?s edges, but some are underwater
(just swim down and mine ? you have plenty of air). When you buy the Mining
Skill you get several new skill ?buttons? in your ?book? (one of the buttons in the
middle bank of control buttons). Just click on the Detect Minerals button (copper
hammer icon) and get that same copper hammer appearing on the corner of your
mini-map. Now all copper nodes near you will show up on your mini-map as little
yellow dots.
You?ll have to spend some time exploring the lowbie zones to find the copper
nodes. Some are impossible ? there is one in Elwynn, for instance, that has
literally a dozen wolves around it. Forget it. Leave it and move on. Sadly some
nodes are ?broken?. You mine them and either get nothing or you get error
messages. Leave these and move on. Note, this is not the same as a ?failure?
message. If you get a red ?failed attempt? message as you mine, just try again
until it works.
To mine all you do is run up to a copper node. They are copper-colored lumps
with ?crystals?. Right click it, wait, and click on the copper ore, rough stones, and
occasional gems that appear on the window. Each node is good for two to four
clicks. Then, it vanishes. Note where the node is. It will refresh itself over time ?
sometimes right away, sometimes in about thirty minutes.
The quarry in the southeast part of Dun Morogh is a great place for copper, as
are the kobold mines in Elwynn. Sometimes you?ll see a copper node on the
mini-map, but it simply ?isn?t there?. Most likely it is underground! See if there is a
mine or tunnel entrance nearby. If so and if you can take on the monsters in
there, go for it. Excuse me for being obvious, but mines are great places to mine!
HOW TO SMELT
Once you get 20 copper ore you may want to sell it, but first you should Smelt it
into copper bars. You increase your Mining skill doing this (which is awesome),
and copper bars are what other players want to buy (it?s what they use to make
things).
You get a smelting button with the Mining Skill (you may have to click the Next
button to see it). Find a forge and stand close to it. If you ask a guard where a
Blacksmithing trainer is you will almost always find a forge there. It can be a red,
glowing gizmo with an anvil (some forges are small), or it can be ?The Great
Forge? in the center of Ironforge (just go there and stand to Smelt).
Click the smelting button and then Create All. Go make a sandwich. When you
come back you will have made twenty copper bars (if you started with 20 copper
ore), and you will have increased your Mining skill a lot! Great. Now you can sell.
WHAT ABOUT THE ROUGH STONES AND GEMS I FOUND?
Rough stones are turned into blasting powder by Engineers. This can be turned
into bombs or ammo for guns. If you plan to one day switch and become an
Engineer (or if you plan to play up an ?alt? or secondary character as an Engi)
then save as many stacks of rough stones as you can in your bank. Otherwise
sell them to other players (more on this later) or sell them to npc merchants.
Gems are mostly used by Engineers for making things like scopes, goggles,
telescopes and so on. Some gems are used by Enchanters. You can sell these
to other players, but prices you can get vary a lot. Higher level gems are worth
much more. Gems you?ll see at lower levels include Malachite, Tigers Eye, and
Shadowgem.
HOW TO SELL MY STACK OF COPPER BARS
Get to your side?s Auction House or AH to sell these, although you can do ?/2
twenty copper bars for sale? in any zone to try to sell them in person on the trade
channel. I wouldn?t. I?d do the AH. The Alliance AH is in Ironforge, and the Hoard
AH is in Ogrimmar. Just right click a guard as you enter the city to get directions.
I?ll be giving more advice on selling at the AH toward the end of this guide.
ADVANCED MINING
At Mining skill 50+ and I think adventuring level 10 you can go back to the trainer
and learn Journeyman Mining (I think you start as an Apprentice). When you start
your Mining skill cap is 75. But when you train as a Journeyman you get the skill
cap bumped up to 150.
With a higher skill you can mine and smelt tin. You can smelt copper and tin bars
into bronze bars (buy these abilities from the trainer). Want to know what?s
crazy? On my server tin sells for about the same price as copper, as does
bronze! I?ve never even made bronze because it?s such a waste (you in essence
?lose? a copper bar to combine it with tin to make bronze ? the price of bronze
would have to be more than the price of tin and copper together for the creation
of bronze to make sense). I often don?t even bother with tin because it?s so much
faster and easier for me to go get 60 copper ores, instead. I know where the
copper is, and the monsters around the copper don?t faze me now (tin is a pain to
get ? maybe I need to work harder to find better deposits ? but why should I if the
market for it is no better than copper?).
Warning, this is how it is in my server. In three weeks this could all change. I
have been seeing copper prices coming down lately. So who knows? Just keep
in mind that occasionally you hit skill caps and have to come back to pay the
trainer to get to the next ?tier? of ability. It gets costly as you level up, so save
some money for this.
I?ve just started mining iron. I?ve never mined mithril or thorium, but apparently
you can make really good money on those. They require higher skill and high
adventuring levels (because these nodes are in some hairy places). If you keep
the Mining skill into the higher levels, that?s what you?re going to be doing.
SKINNING
To get Skinning right-click a guard for directions to a trainer, either in your race?s
main city or in the village outside your main city. Right click the trainer to buy the
skill. Near the trainer you?ll find a merchant selling skinning knives. Buy one. Like
with the mining pick, you need to keep this in your backpack or in a bag (not in
the bank).
Skinning is much simpler than Mining. There are no fancy buttons that come with
it. Simply kill a skinable beast (you can?t skin spiders, and the very low level
beasts can?t be skinned), loot it completely, and then hover your pointer over it.
You?ll see the pointer change to a ?hide?. Right click. If you fail, right click again.
Soon you?ll get a window with ?ruined scraps? or ?light leather? in it. Save these.
Even ruined scraps can be sold for decent money.
You may come across a field where some other player has left three dead boars,
two dead bears and a dead snow leopard. If he?s looted them, you can now skin
his kills. Cool, huh? If he?s there don?t do it too fast ? he may be a skinner, too,
and it?s really rude to skin other skinner?s kills.
Save your stacks of scraps and light leather, and put them in the Auction House
or AH when you have enough. Scraps don?t always sell well on the AH (if so npc
merchants pay well for them), but light leather is always in demand. Hide is a
rare drop and sometimes gets more money than light leather. More on AH selling
later in this guide.
HERBALISM
Just like with the other skills, right click a town guard and get directions to a
trainer. Right click her and buy the skill. You get a button for ?herb detection?. Hit
it, and you get a little ?daisy? icon by your mini-map. Now all nearby herbs will
show up as yellow dots on your mini-map.
You can get Peacebloom and Silverleaf right outside Ironforge and Stormwind.
They can be anywhere, although Peacebloom tends to be in the sun and
Silverleaf in the shade of big trees. Earthroot is in the hills or mountains.
Stranglekelp is underwater.
When you find a plant, just right click it. If you fail, right click it again until a
window opens. Pick up your herbs. That?s it. Unlike mining, the Herb node only
has one ?harvest?. But Herb nodes tend to be more plentiful and easier to find
than mining nodes. Also fewer players tend to become Herbalists.
As you adventure, you?ll see herbs all over the place. Some of the mining nodes
tend to be near clusters of troggs, gnolls or kobolds (and are hard to get), but
herb nodes tend to be out in the open and not so well guarded.
Once you have enough herbs, get to the AH and sell. I have a sneaking
suspicion that herbs sell better on PvP servers than PvE servers. I can?t prove
this, but PvP players aggressively look for every ?edge? they can get on other
players. Potions are a great way to get this edge. They can literally mean the
difference between winning and losing. That said, any smart player who wants to
get ahead in the game will want to learn about and use potions.
So there always is a market for potions (and for the herbs needed to make them).
I don?t think the market is quite as good as the metals market, but herbs can be
sold for good money to other players. But I could be wrong. This isn?t the only
guide on the Internet telling players to Mine and Skin to make money in WoW
(prices for metals and leather may come down some). It could be that most
players are overlooking Herbalism and that in the future there will be a good
market for it. If you try it and don?t like it, it?s pretty easy to ditch it and get some
other skill (to lose a skill hit K, pick the skill, hit Cancel). More on how to sell at
the AH later on in this guide.
BUT I DON?T WANT TO JUST HARVEST STUFF; I WANT TO MAKE THINGS!
I understand. But it?s really frustrating if you?re burning up all the copper you find
in your Blacksmithing skill ? and no one is buying the armor you make. You have
no extra money for bigger bags (this is a huge pain), for potions, for that rare blue
item you really want that sometimes appears in the AH, for fluff pets ? even for
Griffon rides!
There?s always a compromise. Maybe put the Blacksmithing on the back burner
a while and sell your copper for cash. If you find your Enchanting skill is eating
you alive, cancel it and make some cash. Gain about twenty levels and then go
back to Enchanting. At that point you can farm the ?green? items you need to up
the Enchanting skill like crazy, and you can catch up in a few days. Try fishing.
Do what makes sense to you. All I want for you to know is that there are a lot of
ways to make money, even at the very lowest levels, and no one in WoW has to
be broke. There is nothing more pathetic than some clueless player whining and
begging for money when it?s so easy to make!
MAKE YOUR ALTS WORK FOR YOU
Most players don?t just play one character. They have a ?main? and an alternate
or ?alt? character. Most people make an Alt because they get bored being one
thing too much. They see some other class having a lot of fun, and they want to
try that out.
But you can also make an Alt to be a money-maker for you. Again, you can make
really good money in WoW at level ten or below. And it?s pretty easy to play up to
level ten. My first day in WoW I got my Hunter to lvl 10 (it was a long day, yes,
but I did it). You can leave your Main as a Engineer/Enchanter or whatever and
occasionally play your Alt to make money. Mailing the cash to your Main costs
only 30 cp.
A Hunter is a great choice for a Skinner because they get track beasts. A
Warlock or Hunter is good for any harvester because these classes can use their
pets to ?take the heat? while running between nodes or while harvesting nodes
(Hunters don?t get pets until level ten; Warlocks don?t get a good ?tanking? pet
that can taunt well and hold agro until level ten). Night Elves start far from the AH
in Ironforge, so if you want to play a NE consult my travel guide for getting there
fast and easy. For the Hoard it is the Tauren who start far from their side?s AH in
Ogrimmar (Undead are connected to Ogrimmar by a fast and easy to access
zeppelin that goes to their home city). Again, check my travel guide; it?s not really
that bad getting a Tauren to the AH. But if you don?t want to fool with this extra
trip, don?t make your ?money maker alt? a NE or Tauren.
HOW TO SELL ? UNDERSTANDING THE AUCTION HOUSE
Get to either Ironforge (Alliance) or Ogrimmar (Hoard) and find the Auction
House or AH. Consult my travel guide for tips to find these cities if necessary.
Remember, Stormwind is connected to Ironforge by tram. Undercity is connected
to Ogrimmar by zeppelin. Both rides are fast and free. Once in the city, right click
any city guard to get directions to the AH.
Press through the other players and right click an Auctioneer. Gnomes may need
to use a ?high angle? camera view to find the Auctioneer (I?m not kidding!). You
get an auction window, and you should be in the Browse part of it.
Type the name of whatever you?re selling and hit Search. Make sure you spell it
right. If there is lag it may either take 30 seconds to work, or it may not work at
all. The AH can be buggy at times. If it is, go do other things; maybe log out and
go get a burger or pizza. Just don?t assume that if it tells you it can?t find what
you?re looking for that it?s telling you the truth. At the time of this writing it is often
buggy.
Okay, lets say you?re selling a stack of 20 copper bars. Your search for ?copper
bar? gives you the following information on other players? auctions (bid and
buyout prices in SILVER money):
Akuzo 20 bars bid: 40 buyout: 60
Corino 20 bars bid: 48 buyout: 50
Corino 20 bars bid: 48 buyout: 50
Corino 20 bars bid: 48 buyout: 50
Corino 20 bars bid: 48 buyout: 50
Corino 20 bars bid: 48 buyout: 50
Corino 20 bars bid: 48 buyout: 50
Funkybat 20 bars bid: 45 buyout: 48
Hradakar 20 bars bid: 47 buyout: 55
Hradakar 11 bars bid: 24 buyout: 27
Joebob 10 bars bid: 29 buyout: 30
Joebob 10 bars bid: 29 buyout: 30
Kaolinda 20 bars bid: 42 buyout: 50
Kaolinda 20 bars bid: 42 buyout: 50
Margar 20 bars bid: 25 buyout: 30
Margar 20 bars bid: 25 buyout: 30
Margar 20 bars bid: 25 buyout: 30
Margar 20 bars bid: 25 buyout: 30
Gah! What does all this mean? Is this good or bad?
PLEASE, MY BRAIN IS BLEEDING ? JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO
?I?ve been playing 16 hours straight. I can?t think any more. Just tell me how to
sell my dumb copper and let me get to bed!? Okay! I will. Try to find the ?average
price? in the above numbers. Don?t literally average them. Just eyeball it. It?s fifty
silver, right? Or is it 30? No, Joebob is only selling half-stacks, so don?t get fooled
by him. Indeed the ?average price? is 50 silver.
The no-brainer approach: if the ?average? buyout price is 50, set your opening bid
for your stack of 20 copper bars at 45 silver and set a buyout price at 49 silver.
Click the ?auction? tab, put your stack of copper in the little box, and then fill in the
numbers. Make sure you?ve done it right. Then set your auction for ?long term?
and create the auction! If the average buyout price is 40 silver, start your auction
at 35 and set your buyout for 39. And so on.
Sometimes it?s literally as easy to find the ?average price? as in the example
above. Sometimes the ?average price? is really more a ?cluster,? say a group of
sellers with buyouts at 52, 54, 55, and 56. In that case set a buyout of 51 to be
safe. You?re not the cheapest guy in the AH, but he?ll get bought out fast. Over
the next 24 hours your price will eventually attract a buyer. You will almost
certainly sell. Your money will be in the mail tomorrow. Now go get some sleep!
WAIT, I WANT TO KNOW MORE ? WHAT?S REALLY GOING ON IN THE AH?
Well, it?s not that hard to figure out, so don?t worry. It works a lot like Ebay. The
price is in silver to buy the whole stack ? it?s not a price per unit. So the first guy,
Akuzo, will sell his stack of 20 copper bars if someone bids 40 silver and then no
one else comes along and outbids him or does buyout. The winning bidder gets
his stack of copper bars in the mail when the auction expires. At that point Akuzo
gets the silver money minus a small fee in the mail. If Akuzo never gets a bid, he
gets his copper bars back in the mail, and he can try again. Someone agreeing to
pay the buyout ends an auction right there.
But what?s the big deal with ?buyout?; what?s that all about? Let?s say a player?s
got an Engineering skill of 145, and he really want to get that skill to 150. He?s
going to make five ?orange? combines (each challenging or ?orange colored
combine? always nets a skill up). This player needs four copper bars per combine
? or 20 bars. He?s most likely going to want to buyout. Why? He wants that
copper right now, and if he goes for the buyout option, he gets it in the mail
immediately. He wants the cheapest price, so Margar the Orc sells a full stack for
the 30 silver buyout price.
Most tradeskillers are going to want to ?buyout? the trade supplies you sell.
Again, it?s because they don?t want to wait two, six, ten or more hours for the
auction to expire. They want it now because they want to do their combines now.
Their bank and bags are already full of stuff, and they don?t want to sit on it
forever. It?s a supply-chain world in WoW for the skills, so to speak. There will
usually be no bidding wars for copper bars.
There may be a bidding war for a rare ?blue? magic item. But when selling stuff
like copper bars, light leather and earthroot, ?buyout is your friend? (I?ve heard
several players literally say this ? I didn?t make it up).
Okay, looking at those prices in the table above, who is the clever Orc and who is
the dumb Orc? Well, Margar has the cheapest price per 20-stack at 30 silver.
He?s definitely going to sell all his hard earned copper. Is he the clever Orc?
Maybe, maybe not. Eye-balling it, what is the ?average? buyout price? About 50
silver (don?t let Joebob fool you). Are these guys selling at 50 really going to sell,
too? Yes, they most likely will. Margar will sell first, then Funkybat at 48 silver.
Then Corino and Kaolinda will start selling. Other players may come in with
cheaper buyouts and sell before them, but as long as they picked the longest
time for their auctions, Corino and Kaolinda will almost certainly sell all their
copper at 50 silver a stack.
Why? It?s because every once in a while a rich player will come along and buyout
as much copper as he can. He either wants to get his Alt to skill up a ton, or he
wants to make scads of bombs, or whatever. He?ll buy six or even a dozen stacks
of copper and almost wipe out the AH! He doesn?t care what he pays, either,
although he?ll probably buy the cheapest stacks first. After he?s come through,
then players with higher-priced buyouts can and will sell? usually.
It?s a small risk. Sometimes buyouts slightly above average work, occasionally
they don?t. If they don?t work you lose a little over silver (for the set up fee) and
can try again. It?s not that big a deal. But is it really worth it to take the risk for a
tad more silver? I can?t say. That?s up to you.
So which player is the really clever Orc in this AH scenario above? Well, it?s
certainly not Margar. Margar?s a really dumb Orc. Why? He saw a lot of people
selling copper and panicked! He said, ?Oh no, too much competition! Must sell
cheap!? And he panicked himself into losing close to eighty silver. His impulse to
underbid was good. Underbidding helps ?guarantee? a sale. But what did Margar
the panicky Orc do? He way-underbid and screwed himself out of a big chunk of
profit he should have made for all his hard work mining four stacks!
If he?d only taken a moment to think: ?who is buying from me? Rich Engineers
and Blacksmiths. What do they want? The cheapest buyout? ? he would have
concluded he only needed to SLIGHTLY undercut the average price. People who
come to the AH for copper are going to buy. To sell you don?t have to be ultralow,
just lower than most other players. Had he set his price at 49 silver 75
copper it would have worked. He would have made almost 80 silver more!
So please don?t be a dumb Orc like Margar. If you want to undercut other sellers,
do yourself a favor and do it slightly, please.
So, who is the really clever Orc? The clever Orc is the one who bought out
Margar?s panic-based low buyouts and resold them for a ?proper? price! This Orc
will make almost 80 silver off Margar ? and for no work to boot! But is there
another clever Orc? Yes. Take a look at Joebob and Hradakar. What?s up with
them? They are selling stacks not in multiples of 20.
Hradakar had 11 copper bars ? an odd lot ? leftover, and he just tried to prorate
his price down, based on what he?s charging for his full stack. But Joebob is
doing something altogether different, isn?t he?
A FINESSE PLAY AT THE AH ? SPLIT YOUR STACKS FOR MORE PROFIT
Joebob came to the AH with 20 copper bars but SPLIT them into two equal
stacks of ten (hold Shift and click). Each stack is for sale for 30 silver (grand total
of 60 silver). What?s his deal? Joebob is trying an AH finesse move. He thinks he
can get a lot more silver out of his hard-earned copper if he sells them in smaller
stacks. For one thing an impulsive player whose eyes are bleeding from playing
16 hours straight may not bother to notice his stack-size is half the others?. This
player may see 30 silver and just buyout, thinking he?s getting a good deal.
So is Joebob a criminal? Maybe not. Maybe other players come to the AH and
don?t need a full stack of copper. Maybe a player only needs nine copper bars ?
and Margar?s cheap full stacks have just been bought out and re-auctioned at 49
silver. So is this player going to pay 49 or 50 silver for a full stack and merchantdump
11 copper bars? No! He?ll pay 30 silver to Joebob for 10 copper bars and
only have to merchant-dump one bar. This player gets what he wants. And
Joebob gets what he wants: top buyout price for his copper.
Remember, for most players bag and bank space is limited. No one wants to
have to keep copper bars for this reason. They often want to buy and use on
demand.
Will Joebob?s stack-splitting finesse always work? I don?t know. I just started it
myself, and so far I?ve had mixed results. Once you get established in your WoW
business and get some experience with the AH, give it a try. It may work for you!
AH PITFALLS
Read the auctions very carefully. Make sure you?re getting a full stack. Watch out
for players who ?accidentally? set a stack of copper bars for sale for 40 GOLD
instead of 40 silver at buyout. A rich player who actually has 40 gold can lose it
fast this way, if he clicks without carefully reading.
If you?re selling, don?t accidentally set your buyout for gold ? or you probably
won?t sell. If you accidentally set the buyout for copper instead of silver, you will
lose a fortune. If you screw up (and notice it) just cancel the auction and reset it.
Don?t set your buyouts for cheaper than what NPC merchants will pay you!
Check out what prices are. Write them down on paper if necessary.
Just take your time and do it right every time. That way you?ll be happy!
SELLING OTHER HARVESTED STUFF
Your stacks of herbs, your light leather, your Oily Blackmouth fish and so on ?
sell them the same way as I outlined for copper. Search the AH, get an idea of
what prices are, and set a buyout that feels good to you. Maybe you have three
stacks of ?ruined scraps? and no one else is selling them. What price should you
set? See what the non-player-character or NPC merchant will pay. Do ?/1 what
should I sell a stack of 20 Ruined Scraps for please?? See what other players
say. Then gauge it accordingly. As long as you?re getting better than what an
NPC merchant would pay, you?re doing okay (remember to factor in the AH?s
fees).
DIRECT SELLING
If you?re a Miner, Skinner, Herbalist or Fisherman, buyout at the AH is your
friend. It?s easy and safe. You don?t need to fool with trying to sell directly to other
players.
Occasionally you may see someone doing ?/2 want to buy stacks of light leather.?
What do you do? Well if you happen to have some light leather on you, and if you
know what AH prices are, you can safely sell to this person directly. Try to agree
on a price. If they wont pay at least AH prices, wish them a good day and move
on. If you like their price, arrange to meet them. Right click their ?picture? and hit
?trade?. You get a trade window.
Put your stack or stacks in the window on your side (look for your picture and
name) and wait for them to put in the right amount of money AND to commit (or
turn their side of the trade window green). When their side has the proper money
and is green, then click Sell.
Don?t click Sell earlier. Scumbag players like Margar the Orc can pull some of the
money out and shortchange or rip you off. So if you happen to play on a server
that starts with ?K? and have an Orc named Margar try to trade with you, do
yourself a favor and make a rude gesture at him, instead (and put him on your
/ignore list) ? he?s a lowlife thief who will pull just this trick on you. This is a real
exploit, and players like Margar really exist (on a server that starts with ?K?) and
really do this. Make a rude gesture at him for me if you see him. And have
nothing to do with him and players like him.
OTHER WAYS TO MAKE MONEY
At higher levels one of the best ways to make money is to get rare and highly
desirable magic items. Some players make groups specifically to go hunt down
bosses for such items. I?ve heard of groups of Rogues with maxed Sneak skills
going on ?instance raids? ? they sneak to the back, kill the bosses, loot em, sneak
out, get a new instance (they may have to break up and reform for this), and do it
again and again (until their bags are bulging with items). I?ve never tried this
myself, but it sounds doable.
Another way to make money is to luck into very rare and highly desirable drops,
like a Tiny Crimson Whelpling. This is a little fluff pet, a baby dragon that hovers
in the air by your shoulder and looks cute as all heck. Last I looked on my server,
the buyout price for one of these was 105 gold! Actually there are three kinds,
red, black and green. The red can be hunted starting in the low 20?s in the
Wetlands (Eastern Island). More on these on my Pet guide.
MAKING USE OF THE NEUTRAL AUCTION HOUSE IN GADGETZAN
Please see my travel guide on how to get to the goblin?s neutral city, Gadgetzan.
There you will find down some steps a ?neutral? AH. This is the only place where
Hoard and Alliance players can trade objects and money. If you want to start a
WoW ?smuggling? operation, this is where you do it.
I learned the hard way that you can?t bid on ?your own? auction ? you can?t bid on
auctions set by characters in the same account. But if you can get a friend to
help you (or if you own two accounts), you can trade objects (and money) from
side to side. And you can make money doing this.
I?ve done some smuggling of Hoard-dropped and Hoard-purchasable items to
Alliance side, and if you know what you?re doing you can make good money at
this. But it?s a complex subject and requires its own guide
(soon to come ? look
for part of this in my pet guide ? and I may have to do a separate smuggling
guide).
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