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A Guide To Making Gold On World of Warcraft
You can make a lot of gold in the game World of Warcraft without buying it from a gold farmer. All it takes is patience and perseverance. In this guide I am going to tell you my secrets on how I have made over 300k gold without buying any gold from anyone. It took me a year to learn how to make gold, but I can say I did it! You can too! It does not involve questing or raiding. My characters are Alliance and the economy on the realm I am on is very, very good! The prices on the auction house are very inflated. Along with making a lot of gold I have given a lot away to guild members, someone asking for 1 or 5 gold, to my son who loves to spend my gold! At the time of this writing one of my toons has over 112k gold just sitting there. She only has 112k because I just finished giving my son 15k.
The Auction House
As simple as that sounds, that is how I make a lot of gold! The secret is how you use the auction house. On the realm I am on vanity pets are in big demand. I started out buying Alliance vanity pets from vendors and re-selling them on the auction house. They were easy for me to get to and do not cost much compared to what you can re-sell them for. I sold the owls, cats, moths, and snowshoe rabbits. I bought them for less than 50 silver each and sold them for 3 to 8 gold. As soon as I had a couple gold in my pocket I would buy one of each and list them on the auction house. As soon as they sold I went and bought a couple more of each of them.
Now here is where a lot of people will give up because the competition on the auction house is very, very stiff. There is nothing more depressing than to see something you have listed on the auction house show up in your mailbox unsold. Hang in there, it will sell! I have relisted items lots of times before they sell. Another depressing thing with the auction house is when someone undercuts you right after you have listed your items. There are a couple of things you can do when someone undercuts you: leave your items listed or cancel your items and relist them. I will explain when it makes sense to do both later.
As my toon got to higher levels and I was able to travel to higher level areas I started selling the ancona chicken from Thousand Needles and the parrots from Booty Bay. The ancona chicken costs 90 silver each but I re-sell them for 15 to 25 gold each. I bought the parrots for less than 50 silver each and re-sold them for 3 to 6 gold each.
When I got to Outlands I started selling the cockroach, siamese cat, and crimson snake. These I buy for 57 silver and less. I sell them for 35 gold, less when there is competition. I also get the red moth, blue dragonhawk, and brown rabbit sometimes. They cost 9 gold 50 silver each but do not sell well. I sell them for 125 gold each, less when there is competition. I also buy the mana wyrmling here, sometimes. It costs 38 gold but does not sell that well either. I sell the mana wyrmling for usually around 175 gold.
When I got to Dalaran I started buying the calico cat, obsidian hatchling, and albino snake for 40 gold each. I sell these for 75 to 125 gold. They cost a lot, but the profit to be made is also a lot.
There are times when I hold on to pets (and other items) and don't list them. I just hang on to them. That is when there is an abundance of people listing the same thing on the auction house and the prices have dropped terribly low, which does happen. I wait until the market goes back up. It always does. So don't get worried they won't sell for much and don't sell them for next to nothing. It might be me buying your stuff for cheap, holding on to it for a little while, and then re-selling it and making a huge profit! Just hang on to the stuff until fewer people are selling them. You won't have to wait long!
I don't sell the pets I can get in the lower level areas much anymore. I can make more gold with the pets I can get in higher level areas. The profit margine is way higher. I also sell Horde pets on the Alliance auction house. I visit the neutral auction house in Booty Bay and buy the Horde pets there. I don't pay more than 8 gold each for them. Then I list them on the Alliance auction house for 28 to 65 gold each. As you can see from photo number 2, I have listed the silver dragonhawk for 18 gold, someone else is pulling the price down. I will not list this for less than 18 gold, I will hold onto them until the price goes back up (and it will!). I am the only one selling the prairie dogs at the moment and they are selling for 65 gold each. Update on the Horde pets: the are selling for 300 gold and more.
I also only put two of the same thing on the auction house at a time, unless it is in high demand, then I will put six to ten on. Most things I only put two on for sale because someone will always come along and undercut you. This way if you only have a couple of the item on there you can just reach in your bag and put the same back on undercutting the person that undercut you!
What If I Don't Want To Sell Pets?
There are other options that do very well on the auction house. Farming is one of the options you have. I am not a big fan of farming, I hate it. But I do farm some. Mats sell very well on the auction house. There is a lot of competition here also. You will also run into people that drive the prices down. When you do, just hang on to your stuff, the prices will go back up. They always do!
I farm and sell herbs sometimes. Herbs always sell well on the auction house. I don't farm it, but ores sell well too. Dusts from disenchanting items sell very well and for quite a bit. I enjoy fishing and do a lot of fishing. Some of the fish sell for 300 gold a stack or more, pure profit! Certain buff foods also sell well on the auction house, but not as well as the mats to cook them. Leather sells well. Cloth also sells very well.
Another thing I do with the auction house: buy low, sell high. I do this with a lot of stuff I come across on the auction house. If I find something selling for a low amount when the rest of the same thing is going for a huge amount I buy the cheaper and re-list it for a higher price. For example I will buy a stack of frostweave cloth for 20 or 25 gold and re-list, and sell, it for 75 or more gold. That's a lot of profit! Keep this in mind though: not everything will work this way. Frostweave and Netherweave cloths are good bets with this method. Some leathers work well this way too. This is risky if you pick something that isn't selling and someone has listed it at a low price just to get rid of it. Then you have just bought something you will have to sell to a vendor to get rid of, not to mention the deposits you will loose listing it for sale just to learn it doesn't sell. So pay attention to what is selling and for how much.
When not to cancel your auction to undercut someone who has undercut you: when the product is in high demand, like frostweave cloth or netherweave bags. On my realm it seems like people cannot farm enough frostweave cloth to keep the auction house full or make enough netherweave bags. I sell a lot of the netherweave bags, so many that I cannot keep enough made to sell. Sometimes I will list something that is selling fast for an outrageous price to keep the price up. Of course people will undercut me, but not by much. And if it is a high demand product, the lower cost items will sell and all that is left is my higher price stuff that does sell.
So when do you cancel and re-list? When you are selling something that is not selling all that fast such as vanity pets and gear. You will loose your deposit and have to pay another deposit, but in the end it pays.
I always figure out first what I am willing to part with something for, deciding what is the lowest price I will take for something and never going under that. The same with buying stuff, I decide what is the most I will pay for something and never going over it.
What Doesn't Sell?
Crafted items do not sell very well. Blacksmithing, engineering, leatherworking, jewelcrafting, glyphs, alchemy: the items you make with these professions do not sell very well. Out of all of them potions, flasks, and elixirs from alchemy will sell best. I have an alchemist and do sell some flasks, but not enough to make a lot of gold. I also have an engineer, leatherworker, jewelcrafter, incriptionist and enchanter. The engineering, leatherworking, and jewelcrafting stuff made while leveling a profession I might try to sell, but after they don't sell the first time around I send the stuff to my enchanter to disenchant. I make a lot more gold selling the shards and dust I get from disenchanting the stuff.
With alchemy transmuting truegold sells very well and of course the flasks sell pretty well. With engineering the things that sell are the pets that engineers can make: the yeti, the mechanical squirrel, the toad, and the de-weaponized rabbit. These pets sell pretty well, but the competition is pretty tough on my realm.
You will find there are some mats that don't sell very well. Some fish don't sell at all. Some buff foods don't sell at all. The fish that sell best for me are the Highland Guppy. I sell stacks of 20 of the Highland Guppy for 260 gold to 350 gold a stack. Skewered Eel sell very well. I sell them in stacks of 10 for 12 gold to 16 gold each.
Just pay attention to the auction house and watch the trends and you should be well on your way to making a lot of gold! I hope this guide and my ways of making gold help you discover your own way to making a lot of gold in the game of World of Warcraft!