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Monday 30 January 2012

Milling - is there an easier way?

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

I often get an email asking me if there is an automatic way to mill my herbs rather than the current method of one click per milling of 5 herbs.


The bad news is that there is not, at least not that i am aware, another way that is allowable.


My current stragegy is to fill a 36 slot Hyjal Expedition Bag full of herbs from my Guild Bank (i have been buying cheap herbs from the Auction House and storing them in my Guild Bank) and to mill them using the Addon TradeSkillMaster, specifically the Destroying addon for TradeSkillMaster.  I do this when i have spare time but for sure on a Saturday morning to clear out my herbs in my Guild Bank.


It still requires me to be at my computer and press the button once for each mill.  And i admit this is the most tedious part of Inscription.


there are other Addons which can be found at the curse.com website


Or you can create your own milling macro


/cast milling
/use (herb 1)
/use (herb 2)
/use (herb 3)

. . . . . . substituting herb 1, herb 2 for the different herb names.  given the macro limit of 255 characters you will likely need 4 or 5 buttons.  And what is more, if herb 1 gets down to 3 herbs in your bags then the macro will not go onto herb 2 and onwards until you have either increased the number of herb 1 to at least 5 or removed herb 1 from your bag.


Its a slow process - but on the bright side all market participants need to endure this!

Saturday 28 January 2012

Ink prices for Scribes

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

Similarly to Herb prices and as was the case in Wrath of the Lich King, the lowest price ink is normally the new common ink introduced by the new expansion and Cataclysm is no exception.  Hence, for us Scribes the lowest price ink today is normally the Blackfallow ink.


That should be no surprise and follows from the lowest price herbs being Whiptail, Stormvine and Cinderbloom, see my post Herb Prices for Scribes.

However, there are two things to note here.

Firstly, it is almost always cheaper to buy the herbs to mill/craft the Blackfallow inks.  That makes sense – the only people that can craft inks are Scribes and the only people that can use Inks are Scribes.  Therefore, any Scribe posting inks to sell is clearly looking to make a profit.

The likely buyers of Blackfallow inks are:

1. new Scribes levelling up

2.  exisiting Scribes that are heavily into the Fortune Card business and so need  a high supply of Blackfallow ink that can not be met by the supply of herbs on the Auction House
3. where the Scribe does not have the time to mill the herbs – milling herbs is time consuming and can not be done automatically and afk unlike crafting inks from pigments.

On my server, the Blackfallow inks typically sell for 5.5gold each but never falls below 5gold and often rises to nearer 10gold.  See my post Herb Prices for Scribes which explains how buying Whiptail at 1 to 1.5gold each and Stormvine/Cinderbloom at 1gold each means that my crafting cost of each Blackfallow ink is 3.33 to 5.0gold each.

Secondly, there are often times when the pre-Cataclysm inks come onto the market at below the crafting price of 5gold.  At these times i buy all those inks out and store them for future crafting.

Again, it is worth having all the inks on your snatch list and just going through them once per day.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Herb Prices for Scribes

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

As was the case in the Wrath of the Lich King, the lowest price herb is normally a new herb introduced by the new expansion and Cataclysm is no exception.  For us Scribes that means we are buying Whiptail, Stormvine and Cinderbloom.


The primary reason for this is that Whiptail, Stormvine and Cinderbloom are relatively easy to gather and there is demand from Scribes and Alchemists for these herbs making them a good source of income for farmers.  But the demand is more than matched by supply therefore keeping the price low.

Looking at my Reference Guide at the back of Croda's Inscription Gold Guide or the post on Herb to Gyph Conversions it can be seen that Whiptail gives more ink per stack than Stormvine and Cinderbloom and hence why Whiptail is normally found at a slightly higher price.

I am willing to pay up to 1gold 50silver per Whiptail though i normally pay about 1gold and only up to 1gold per Stormvine and Cinderbloom given Whiptail converts into more Inks and procs more Burning Embers to make Inferno Inks.

For Whiptail that means that my crafting cost per glyph is 10 to 15 gold each and for Stormine / Cinderbloom the maximum crafting cost per glyph is 15 gold each.  Or, putting it another way, the cost of each Blackfallow ink is 3.33 to 5.0 gold each, and therefore the cost of any common ink to me is 3.33gold to 5.0gold each.

Indeed, when i look at herbs on the Undermine Journal only Peacebloom, Mageroyal, Liferoot, Silverleaf are cheaper in any reasonable quantity.

Worth noting these – often Lions Ink and Midnight Ink can be crafted cheaper by buying their associated herbs Liferoot and Mageroyal respectively rather than buying the Cataclysm herbs to craft Blackfallow ink to convert to Lions / Midnight ink.  And indeed, that is why Lions Ink and Midnight Ink can typically be found for less than 5 gold on my server and often approaching 3gold each.

But, having all the herbs on your snatch list is a good idea.  Once per week i often come across someone dumping their herbs for a low price.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Lord Rottington's Pressed Wisp Book

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

This off hand gives the user +127 Intellect and +191 Stamina, +91 Spirit, and a small increase to Mastery when equipped.  But more importantly the player needs to be level 81 to equip it, not level 85.

The crafting cost on my server is 140 gold (20 volatile life + 10 resilient parchment).

I sell very few of these, if any at all – and that is because of my high sales price of 1500 gold fallback, 1000 gold minimum . . . . . . . whereas i sell the quite similar Book of Blood for 200 – 250 gold to use up my surplus Inferno Inks.

In many ways this is a better off-hand than the Book ofBlood with gives +127 Intellect and +191 Stamina, and a small increase to Haste and Critical Strike when equipped, and is also equipped at level 81.  And therefore, like the Book of Blood, would commonly used by casters that are levelling to 85 before they buy the “Divine Companion” off hand when they reach level 85.

I am the only person on my server posting this off-hand – and with good reason, the sales are few and far between, and there are two of us selling the Book of Blood.

I post at a fall back price of 1500 gold and a minimum price of 1000 gold.

Still, much like the Glyph market i seek to own this market and therefore posting a complete range of product offerings is key to this aim.

Sunday 22 January 2012

Twilight Tome

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

The Twilight Tome is an offhand that gives +25 Stamina, +35 Intellect and increases Haste by a small amount.  The player needs to be level 70 to equip it and is normally the first thing a caster will equip when reaching level 70.

It is likely to be replaced by a better item within 1 or 2 levels before the caster then equips an Iron-Bound Tome or a Faces of Doom at level 77.

The crafting cost is c50 gold on my server (5 Ink of the Sea + 2 Eternal Life + 10 resilient parchment) and i sell them for 200 to 250 gold.

I sell at best one a week – reflecting the low usage time by casters.  But I am the only person selling these on my server.

As with all pre-cataclysm of-hands I post at a fall back price of 250 gold and a minimum price of 200 gold.  And as with the other off-hands in the past, when i increased the fall back price to 400 gold i merely attracted new competitors.  Hence i now keep the price between 200 and 250 gold.

As an aside, it is loosely related to the Rituals of the New Moon, the connection is the Twilight series.  I have heard this suggested but never tried it myself – but selling in trade chat the full Rituals of the New Moon collection and the Twilight Tome is an idea.

Friday 20 January 2012

Rituals of the New Moon

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

The acquirer of this off-hand is able to transform into a giant wolf for 2 minutes  with a 10 minute cool down.  The colour of the wolf is determined by which book they buy: red; white; black; or grey.  When transformed the user is pacified and silenced though they are able to do things like using or creating items.  If the user un-equips it then the effect is dispelled.

Hence it serves no useful purpose other than cosmetic.  It is the only item in the game that allows the user to do this.  Much like Certificates of Ownership, there is demand out there for these.

A scribe can produce the Rituals of the New Moon with 5 Ink of Sea + 3 Eternal Shadow + 10 Resilient Parchment.  The book created is either red, white, black or grey – that is random.

On my server the cost of materials is 135 gold – used to be 85 gold but the cost of Eternal Shadows has gone up.  But, as with Certificates of Ownership, the sales price a buyer is willing to pay has little to do with the cost.

I should be more sophisticated, but it sell each book for 500 gold (despite the grey one being the most common) and i post for 48 hours.

I sell one every one to two weeks and i am the only person posting.  For 1500 gold per month, i suspect my competitors don’t bother.  But that is the point of these off-hands markets, pick up a 1000 gold here and a 1000 gold there and quite soon it is something meaningful on a weekly basis.

Operating under the radar of my competitors is the aim here, not ramping up the volumes.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Dust of Disappearance

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

Dust of Disappearance is required when any player wants to change one powerful glyph for another powerful glyph (i.e. those glyphs available to players over level 81).

One blackfallow ink creates 3 Dust of Disappearance or can be bought from a vendor for 12gold 50silver (but only sold to a vendor for 45 silver).

Hence, on my server one Dust of Disappearance would cost 5 to 6 gold to craft allowing the scribe to make at least 6 gold (12.5 less the crafting cost) per sale on the Auction House - assuming the vendor price is setting the maximum Auction House price.

On my server, quantities on the Auction House vary up to 250 and the price has creeped up to 8 gold but has held at cost price for a long time.

My strategy here is not to get involved.  Whilst almost all players will buy Dust of Disappearance from the Auction House (if only because they do not know where the vendor is!) the competition is fierce and the profits are low (typically 2 to 3 gold a sale).  Bear in mind that my minimum profit per glyph is 40 gold less 15 to 18 gold = 22 to 25 gold.

However, for the young Scribe coming up through the ranks it is a nice low income earner.




. . . . . . . as a side note, because a girlfriend has come onto the scene my posts are now going to go to once every two days!

Monday 16 January 2012

The Holiday Goblins has left the building

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

The Holiday Goblin is the intrepid gold makers that surface during the holidays, enter a market and add extra competition during the holidays.  As the holiday draws to an end their pricing moves to a "price to sell at any cost" strategy and generally takes the market prices right down.  They are most common at the end of the long summer holidays and i generally step out of the market for a week at this point.

I never really saw them at the start of this holiday season.  For a couple or so days last week the “holiday goblin” dumped their items on the Auction House and then disappeared.  The glyph market prices barely wobbled.

Not a bad showing this holiday.  Perhaps the season was too short, or some other reason that i don’t know.

But, either way, business as normal!



. . . . . . . as a side  note, because a girlfriend has come onto the scene my posts are now going to go to once every two days!

Sunday 15 January 2012

Some Glyphs are being undercut, some are not!

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

Some glyphs are being undercut, some are not. . . . . .

. . . . . . so, what is going on here?  And what does it mean?

You post your glyphs and watch for your competitors coming on line.  None do and yet at least a quarter of all the glyphs you have posted have been undercut by a player you have never seen before.

It is likely that there is one of two things happening here.

Firstly, it may be a gold optimiser.  These are players that use an addon (mostly TradeSkillMaster) to determine the most profitable glyphs to sell and so crafts and posts them.  To determine if this is the happening look at the glyphs being posted – if they are the higher value glyphs then it is likely it is a gold optimiser.  Check them out on the Undermine Journal to see if they post other profession items – it is unlikely that they will use one character for just glyphs.  These are fairly harmless competitors in the Inscription market.  They are normally using the same strategy in other markets.  Their glyphs are undercut quite quickly and they don’t return to cancel and repost for a long while given they are crafting and posting other items from other professions.  However, whilst their profits are low from Inscription they are generally happy with it so they carry on – so say 500 gold a day from Inscription will be added to their daily gold from Enchanting, Jewelcrafting and Tailoring for example.  Hence, they are unlikely to turn into aggressive competitors.  They are happy, and you are happy.  A win win situation.

Secondly, it may be a new entrant coming into the market and posting the glyphs as they are learned.  These are harmless competitors now but may become dangerous.  It will take them a while to get all the glyphs given the daily research required.  But they are at their most vulnerable now.  They are unlikely to have devoted much time and gold levelling Inscription to date hence now is your best chance to persuade them to leave the market.  You do this by making sure they are undercut the moment they come online.  Add them to your friends list and the moment they come on and then leave then you log your posting alts on and undercut them.

See my post here on using a Friends List and Section 6n in my Inscription Guide.  A stitch in time saves nine.

Saturday 14 January 2012

Do i worry if my competitors know my minimum posting price?

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

Do i worry if my competitors know my minimum posting price?

In a word, no.

My minimum posting price for glyphs is 40 gold.  My competitors must know this by now.

At the launch of cataclysm is started off at 80 gold and has steadily fallen back to 40 gold over the 14 months.

I know all my competitors have lower minimum posting prices, indeed some go all the way to cost.

However, i am sending a signal to my competitors that whilst i will be a fierce competitor i am also signalling that as long as i am happy with my profits i am happy to let them participate in the glyph market.

In turn, my competitors seem happy with their profits and therefore allow me to keep the market where glyphs are priced above 40 gold.

Next step will be 35 gold.

Friday 13 January 2012

Faces of Doom

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

as part of my review into the non-glyph markets in Inscription, today i am looking at the off hand Faces of Doom.

Faces of Doom is an offhand that gives +63 Stamina, +42 Intellect, +42 Spirit and increases Critical Strike by a small amount.  However, the important point here is that the player only needs to be level 77 to equip it, not level 80.

They are used by casters that are levelling and normally kept until level 81 at which point the “Book of Blood” is bought.  If the caster wants more intellect at the expense of Spirit then they will go for the Iron-Bound Tome instead.

The crafting cost is c80 gold on my server (5 snowfall + 1 frozen orb + 10 resilient parchment) and i sell them for 200 to 250 gold.  I sell 3 or 4 a week.

I am the only person selling these on my server.

I post at a fall back price of 250 gold and a minimum price of 200 gold.  Similarly to the Iron-Bound Tome, i post one at a time.  If a sale is made then i risk losing another potential sale until i log back on and post a new Faces of Doom.  However, if i were to post more than one at a time my competitors would realise that there is a market here and potentially seek to enter.

In the past, when i increased the fall back price to 400 gold i merely attracted new competitors.  Hence i now keep the price between 200 and 250 gold.

Thursday 12 January 2012

Iron-Bound Tome

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

as part of my review into the non-gylph end markets in Inscription, today i am looking the the Iron-Bound Tome.

Iron-Bound Tome is an offhand that gives 141 Armor, +49 Stamina, +63 Intellect and increases Critical Strike by a small amount.  However, the important point here is that the player only needs to be level 77 to equip it, not level 80.

They are used by casters that are levelling and normally kept until level 81 at which point the “Book of Blood” is bought.  If the caster wants spirit at the expense of intellect then they will go for the Faces of Doom instead.

The crafting cost is c80 gold on my server (5 snowfall + 1 frozen orb + 10 resilient parchment) and i sell them for 200 to 250 gold.  I sell 3 or 4 a week.

I am the only person selling these on my server.

I post at a fall back price of 250 gold and a minimum price of 200 gold.  I post one at a time.  If it is sold then for sure i miss the potential for other sales until i log back on and replace with a new Iron-Bound Tome.  But if i post 2 at a time, or more, then my competitors will realise that there is a market present here and perhaps seek to enter.

In the past, when i increased the fall back price to 400 gold i merely attracted new competitors.  Hence i now keep the price between 200 and 250 gold.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Book of Blood

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

as part of my review into the non-glyph markets in Inscription, today i am looking at the off hand Book of Blood.


I sell 5 of these off hands a week, it feels like 1 a day at times.  I sell them for c220 gold and the crafting cost is c90 gold (3 inferno inks + 6 volatile life + 10 resilient parchment).  It is the only Cataclysm off-hand that i sell for below 1000 gold but i have surplus inferno inks from my milling of Cataclysm herbs hence i am only really buying the volatile life.

It gives +127 Intellect and +191 Stamina, and a small increase to Haste and Critical Strike when equipped.  But more importantly the player only needs to be level 81 to equip it, not level 85.

Therefore it is commonly used by casters that are levelling to 85 before they buy the “Divine Companion” off hand when they reach level 85.

At present, there are only two of us on my server selling them and we are both happy with our profits so the competition is very low.

I post at a fall back price of 250 gold and a minimum price of 200 gold, and i post one at a time.  I dont want to be greedy or force my competitor into aggressive competitive actons – my competitor seems to do likewise.

Of all the off-hands, it is the one that seems to sell the most consistently.

Tuesday 10 January 2012

The Posting Cycle, plus 1

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

When i go through my cancel and repost routine by logging on my posting alts one after another i always watch the Friends List to see if any competitors are coming online.  Even if i see none, at the end of my cancel and reposting routine i always log on my first alt to see if any glyphs have been undercut.

Hence, i do my posting cycle, plus one alt.

Normally one or two have been my minor competitors.  I don’t mind that and i leave.

Occasionally, a lot more have been undercut.  In this case i take a look at the posters name(s) and look up the Undermine Journal.  If they are maxed out in Inscription (currently level 525) then i note them onto by Friends List – they are likely a potential competitor.

They may only be posting once to experiment with the market but the sooner we get a started on keeping an eye on them the better.

Indeed, the fact that they posted whilst i was going through my cancel and reposting cycle would indicate that they do not know the market well and therefore are new to the market – all my competitors know that i will remain on the cycle until i am satisfied.  And indeed, all my competitors do likewise.

A new entrant often comes armed with strategies to try and will likely try them all at some point if they persist with the market.

In any event, always going back to your first posting alt to check for undercuts is worth while time spent.

Monday 9 January 2012

Never Buyout items to reset the price

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide


Often i will see glyphs posted for 16 gold, say 2 or 3 per glyph.


I am tempted to buy them out to and repost at my fall back price of 400 gold.  If, for example, there were 3 glyphs posted at 16 gold then i need only sell 1 glyph at 48 gold to break even (Auction House fee aside).

I run a number of risks in doing this:

Firstly, they may be a “levelling glyph” and hence in high supply and so naturally low – so check the Undermine Journal for the average price.  If it is constantly low, say 5 gold, then it is a glyph used to level the profession.

Secondly, a competitor may have a low fall back price for these glyphs.  On my server there is one competitor who has a fall back price of 30 gold for the more common glyphs and these very quickly get down to cost price.  I will very quickly find that my 400gold glyph will be sitting there above glyphs posted at 30gold.

Thirdly, there may be plenty more to come at this price and a competitor is slowly releasing them into the market.

The best way to reset prices is to let natural buyers buy the low priced glyphs and then the fall back prices to kick in.  If any of the above are true then i will not have wasted gold buying out the glyphs, i will merely have wasted a very small deposit fee.

However, where glyphs are posted below cost then they should always be bought to replenish your stock piles – but no more.

Sunday 8 January 2012

Off Hands – the general strategy

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

Off hands are typically items that players use to level and therefore not capital items.  i.e. players know that they will be buying a new off hand every 5 or so levels, and know that the old off hand will be worthless given it is bind on equip.

Furthermore, at the lower levels players may not bother at all with off hands.

Hence, demand may be variable whilst every scribe can enter the market indicating that there is a risk of oversupply and therefore low profits, or even losses.

Therefore, on the face of it, the pricing should be naturally low.

However, in my experience not many scribes craft the off hands and instead prefer to focus on the glyph market.  Hence, the level of competition is very low and more than compensates for the lower demand.

The mechanics and strategies of the glyph end market and the off hand end market are very different.  Off hands compete with dual handed weapons for slots, at heroics and raid levels mob drops are better, the deposit costs on the Auction House are higher, the raw materials are varied and you cant stake them in your bags so they take up plenty of space.  The differences are vast and certainly enough to put most scribes off focusing on this end market.  The glyph strategy of undercutting would merely see any profits eroded by Auction House deposit fees.

In addition, the volume of sales and hence level of profits is low enough to put further scribes of this end market.

Therefore, the trick is to find a pricing level which maximises profits but deters new entrants from coming in.  In essence, i aim to operate under the radar of the other Scribes who are focusing on the glyph market.

There are two parts to operating under the radar: pricing; and volume.

Mainly through trial and error i have found a pricing level for most off hands which i will be posting in the coming weeks.  I resist the temptation to increase this pricing because i have found that this is a sure way to attract new entrants who will bring the pricing right back down through undercutting.

For volume, i only post one of each off hand at a time.  For sure, that means when i sell an off hand i do not have another one posted so i may miss out on a sale.  But, as long as any potential competitors only see one item posted they will deem this market to be too low a profit stream for them to bother with.  Of course, i will doubtless be posting items which are very slow sellers as well as those that have a better selling rate.  But, as is the case in the glyph market, that is my way.  I want to own the market – its just with off hands i am trying to do this without anyone noticing!.

Over the coming weeks i will be posting about each off hand and the strategy i use to sell it.

Saturday 7 January 2012

Non-glyphs end markets for Scribes

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

Much like the series on Advanced Strategies i am now going to start a series on non-glyphs end markets for Scribes.

Many scribes ignore these markets because they are greatly difference to glyphs.  They don’t all lend themselves to automation for example.  And they are mostly consumable items as opposed to glyphs which are capital items (only bought once and therefore sell at a higher price  - see one of my initial posts which refers to glyphs as a capital item).

And indeed several compete against other items such as potions and items dropped by mobs – hence the scribe is competing against other end markets.

It is for these reasons that many scribes skip these markets.

And, to be fair, my experience is that these are low income markets.  But they are steady income markets where competition is low.

And, as my readers know, i love steady income markets.

Friday 6 January 2012

The Auction House Camper – how to combat it?

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide


following on from yesterdays post The Auction House Camper - what is it and what is its purpose?, today i look at how i combat the Auction House Camper.


To beat the Auction House Camper I use their own momentum against them.



They are the hardest to beat and hence it is a battle of attrition. They have the one key resource that we all want in abundance but just don't have enough of - time. And they have loads of it! The Auction House camper will not give in so easily and therefore you need to wear down their time and gold. You need to convince them that there are easier markets to attack than yours. And this will take a while. I have been known to battle it out with a camper for over two weeks. Though the use of the word "battle" is perhaps too strong - more like i suspend making any profits in inscription and let the camper slowly die out.



Four things to do


Firstly: find out when they are on: use the Undermine Journal. And find out if they operate in other markets or just one. The true Auction House Camper will focus on one market. If they also post items into other markets you have a mch better chance to force them out of yours. But the prime reason to find out when they are on is to determine the time they spend camping. Is it during the day, or night. And so you can start to get a feel as to how much time they truely can devote to this.


Secondly: find out if they camp all the time or just at the busier times. The true camper is on all day and all night. If they are just camping during the busier times then try at first to combat them using the strategy outlined in Croda's Inscription Gold Guide, chapter "6o. How I deal with a serious new entrant". They may not be a true camper, merely an aggressive new entrant.


Thirdly: find out where their minimum price is: the true camper will always go down to cost and often use their gold surplus to go below cost. If they have a minimum price that is sensibly above cost then again try "6o. How I deal with a serious new entrant" as a first effort.


And then fourthly: take the glyphs down to nil profits through my standard quick cycle routine below. Not worth hanging around – you know they are going to be a tough competitor hence as you compete you need to compete hard and demonstrate to the Camper that you are willing to deny them profits from their actons.


At this point the standard routine of cancelling undercut items, posting 2 and emptying the mail box is too slow.We need faster action. Hence, my routine here is:


1.Cancel all glyphs on the AH and empty the mail box for all alts – so starting with no posted glyphs


2.Set the number of glyphs to post to 1


3.Post 1 of each glyph in my normal price range for all alts


4.Assuming the competitor is posting just as fast as you then . . . . .


5.. . . . go back to the first alt and cancel the undercut ones and repost again


6.Don’t empty the mail box, stay in the AH – we are looking for speed of posting here


7.Rotate through the alts again


8.You can do this 8 times (assuming you stock at least 8 of each glyph)


9.After the eighth posting, cancel the undercut ones and then empty out the mail box, and start again!


10.Occasionally rotate the order you go through the alts to put the competitor out of step


Very quickly the glyphs will get down to cost price.Stop there. Let the Camper go lower. At this point they will be using their own momentum against themselves and making all sales at a loss. They will be taking a lot of time to craft new glyphs to sell at a loss. And so on.


They will very quickly be selling glyphs at a loss and be the sole buyer of herbs on the Auction House. And it will become tiring for them and indeed they are likely to become demoralised. It is not selling at a loss that will force the Camper to stop, it is the prospect of never selling a glyph at a profit that will. And you must keep that prospect a real possibility.

All you need do is make sure your glyphs are posted just above cost. As long as the Camper is in operation then make sure your glyphs are up at just above cost. Therefore, you need to set your minimum post price to be just above cost and you need to make sure you post even if there are cheap glyphs posted. You dont want to let the Camper reset the prices upwards and so make profits for a 12 hour stretch. Furthermore, hopefully the other market participents are doing the same as you! - that way even if the camper tries to buy you out your other competitors will take up the running for you until you log back on.

And then settle down for the long battle of attrition.  And it will be long.


Thursday 5 January 2012

The Auction House Camper - what is it and what is its purpose?

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

continuing with the series on Advanced Strategies, we are now looking at the Auction House Camper.


The strategy itself is not advanced but the counter can be. It is however the most common strategy that is adopted in the market and typically adopted by competitors that have plenty of time on their hands! We have all met the Auction House Camper, and indeed their strategy is needs very little description.



The primary purpose of a strategy involving Auction House camping is to ensure that as many sales as possible of glyphs, if not all, go to one player. This is achieved by undercutting all competition within minutes of them posting glyphs on the Auction House. It is the ultimate “being there at the lowest price all the time” action.


Spotting this strategy is quite straight forward. Your glyphs are consistently undercut within minutes of being posted by one competitor and their alts. And despite constantly cancelling and reposting still your glyphs are undercut within minutes. Indeed, the camper may not even cancel their own glyphs and you will see their name several times in the order book as they focus on speed of undercutting.


The constant presence of this competitor ensures that profits from the glyph market all go to this one player whilst lowering the profits to other market participants to almost nil.


The Auction House camper may not be concerned with the sales prices as long as they are above cost price – though i have met some that do have a minimum posting price. Ideally the camper would like prices to be high but recognises that this strategy is likely to force prices lower and quickly, and keep them there. It is a strategy of high volume, low price.


The ultimate aim of this strategy is one of two aims.


Firstly it is to gather all the profits from the glyph market to one player. Whilst this player is willing to lower the profit stream from the glyph market they do so in the knowledge that they are increasing their market share to compensate.


Secondly it is to force other players out of the market by signalling to them that there is a competitor that is willing to sit at their keyboard at all times at the Auction House and so deny other market participants


In any event, it is likely that the camper will persist with this strategy until they are forced out of the market or forced to cease their actions. This is not an opportunistic strategy but one with longer term aims.

In tomorrows post i shall discuss how i counter this strategy.

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Certificates of Ownership selling better

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide


The Certificate of Ownership can only be crafted by a Scribe.


It is the only thing that a Hunter can use to change their pet's name.

To craft it costs 2 celestial inks plus 1 common parchment.  On my server that is c10 gold per certificate.  The 48 hour deposit fee at the Auction House is 15 silver.

I sell them for a maximum of 100 gold and a minimum of 20 gold.  So my profits per certificate sold is 10 to 90 gold.

I normally sell one every two weeks - there is very very low demand given it is only targetted at one class, and is very much not required by that class to operate effectively.  The good news is that i am the only person who supplies the market on my server at present - doubtless the very low sales rate puts off my competitors.  Hence, the current sales price is 100 gold.

If a Hunter wants to change the name of their pet, they are unlikely to be put off by the price of this scroll.  Therefore, the sales price need have no relevance to the cost price.  The sales price merely need not be off putting.  100 gold seems the right price.

However, just recently sales have picked up.  I am not sure why though i suspect some returning players during the holiday are changing the names of their pet.  In the last 24 hours i have sold 3 and in the last week i have sold 12.  All for 100 gold.

Worth crafting 5 and posting them in singles at a high price - seems like there is demand at the present.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Auctioneer is updated

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

the good folks who develop Auctioneer have their update out on curse.com.

if you are like me and operate both TradeSkillMaster and Auctioneer then it is worth remembering that once you update Auctioneer that you reset all its data.  Much has happened since the patch, prices have moved, supply and demand has changed.

For Auctioneer the command is: /auc cleardata ALL



As a rule, i reset my data for both Auctioneer and TradeSkillMaster after every patch and at least every 3 months.  Prices trend and old data becomes misleading.

For TradeSkillMaster the command is: /tsm adbreset

Monday 2 January 2012

The real life monetary value of in game gold

for other ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide

We now have a method to track this – via the “Guardian cub

For 10 euros (or £8) any player can buy the Guardian Cub and then sell them to other players via the Auction House.

On my server there are about 2 to 3 on the Auction House at any one time and they are currently going for 4000 gold and move between 4000 gold and 5000 gold.  Hence, on my server each euro is worth 400 to 500 gold.

Within the EU, they typically sell for about 12000 on the Alliance side indicating that each euro is worth 1200 gold.

Those that buy the pet for euros to post on the Auction House are legitimately buying gold with the risk that the amount of gold is uncertain when the 10 euros are paid.

I don’t participate in this market but i do keep an eye on this price.  For me, it indicates the general health of the server and therefore the economy.

Guardian Cubs used to sell at 6500 gold and now have slipped back to 4000 to 5000gold.  Given the volumes on sale it is unlikely that natural demand is satisfied.  It is more likely that the server is merely becoming less active over time relative to other EU servers.

There is not much i can do about that unless i am offered a free transfer (with all my gold – and that is key) to another server – in which case i would need to do some fast and indepth research into the Inscription market on that server.

Sunday 1 January 2012

Happy New Year

Wishing all my readers and their families a happy new year. May 2012 bring us all another year of great gold making tips for our community and World of Warcraft players all round.

If you find yourself in need of ideas on the glyph market please follow the link to the free Croda's Inscription Gold Guide