"Organized Crime": A Guide to Making Gold.

[Stowned]

Before I get started, I first like to say that this is may not be the best or fastest way to make gold on Wow, but in my experience this is a very efficient way to pad one's character's pockets. Some may consider this an underhanded way to make gold, but I disagree. It's 100% legitimate, uses no bots, hacks, or cracks, and the gold is NOT used for trade for real money.

This guide is intended for characters of any level, any class, any faction, any server. It is my goal to show people the power of organizing group effort into one well-oiled money making machine. Forgive my lack of an enthralling introduction, but I am eager to get into it.

I call it Organized Crime, even though it's not crime.

Another Side Note, this guide focuses on Mining, but I am certain it can be done with other gathered materials.

How it works:

A few months ago I lost my account to a gold farmer and, because my mother had moved to Florida and the account was in her name, it would have been difficult for me to retrieve it with the arduous account recovery process, so I gave up on the game. 16 days ago I registered a new account, in my name, and put my plan into effect. I have a room-mate who also plays on my account and he helps the process a whole lot.

What you will need to get started: A Character.
Other requirements: Mining.

That's it. You don't need to be level 70, you don't even need a gold. You need about 2 silver to get a mining pick and learn mining, and then you can begin making gold. This guide is not simply a "LEARN MINING GET TO IT NOOB" guide, so please do not dismiss it yet. There is much more to be discussed.

Once you have your lvl 5 character with mining, you can technically begin mining copper ore, but I would personally recommend being at least level 10, because the most bountiful copper areas are located near mobs of around lvl 8-10, and being lvl 5, you'll die pretty often. I personally use a level 12 Blood Elf Paladin, I haven't died yet while mining.

Ok, before you get started in mining, you'll want to check the Auction House and see what Copper Ore is generally being sold for. It doesn't really matter, honestly, because once you get into the strategy behind Organized Crime, you'll find that you will probably be the only one selling copper ore. if copper ore is cheap (I.E. less than 1g per stack), then you may want to buy as much of it as you can, if you can. it will increase in value when the time is right. if it is more than 1g 30s a stack, then you are in for a very easy ride.

Buy low, and Sell high. It's the core concept of capitalism, and Wow is driven by it. With this guide, you can avoid the buy low, and go straight to the sell high.

Here is the kicker to this strategy: Manpower. I have a few people "working" for me on my server. They are all in the teen levels right now, and when I told them that for each stack of copper they sent me, I would send them 1 gold, they were very eager to participate. 1g at level 10 is a pretty good chunk of money, and with the system I use for mining, One can acquire about 5 stacks an hour, which to my "employees" translates to 5g an hour.

It was kind of difficult to get started. Acquiring people wasn't hard at all, it was gaining control of the copper market that presented a challenge. Originally, Copper Ore was going for about 45s a stack, which can't be undercut and still warrant a sufficient collective profit to justify the mining time.

My Room-mate and I stockpiled about 100 copper ore (5 stacks) onto a Bank character. I then checked the AH every few hours until there was only a few stacks of Copper Ore being sold. I bought one of them, which was all I could afford, and then put it and the other 5 stacks on the AH for 1g 30s. Then I spammed the trade channel that Copper Ore was on the AH for cheap. An hour later, mine was the only ore listed.

This created a new average price for Copper Ore on my server. People undercut me from time to time with a few stacks, but one is INSANE to sell Copper for less than a gold on my server now, and if they do, Now I'll just buy it and relist it for more, because I have the funds to do so.

Anyway, once the average price is set to where you want it, you can move onto phase 2, which is acquiring help. My guys were a little skeptical at first of my plan. They asked me why they should send the Ore to me, when they could just sell it direct and undercut me. I told them the truth, if they were to try that, I'd simply undercut them back with my larger inventory of Ore, forcing them to undercut me back. I'd do this until they were selling in the silver, and then I'd buy them out, cancel my auctions, and relist for 1g 30s.

(You may think I'd lose money on deposits doing this, but I dont. It's a few copper deposit on each stack, my profit is much higher than that.)

I guaranteed them a gold per stack, the extra silver I get per stack stays on the Banker for the most part, and if one of my guys is in a pinch, I can send them some gold to help them out. They benefit from sending me their materials, and, judging by the going price for Tin on my server, As the level, they will make even more gold.

So, to break it down into a step by step Formula, this is how I make gold, and how I've accumulated over 40 gold on MY characters (not including the gold sent to other people) in 16 days while not playing very often. Probably about 4 hours a day, most of which has been spent neither mining nor playing the AH.

Step 1: Create a Character and level it to 10. If you want to be more efficient in your mining, make a hunter or shaman and level them to 20 to get their increased movement speed buffs. This lets you cover ground faster, even though I find it completely unnecessary.

Step 2: Create an Alternate character to be the global resource bank.

Step 3: Learn Mining and get a few stacks of copper.

Step 4: Take over the copper market in the manner I discussed.

Step 5: Acquire more manpower and have them mail the Bank character full stacks of copper ore.

Step 6: Put the ore on the AH for more than a gold, spam the Trade channel that Copper Ore is on the AH for cheap, even if it isnt, just to get people looking.

Step 7: When the Copper sells, retrieve the earnings and mail 1 gold to your helpers for each stack of copper they sent you. (I.E. if they sent you 4 stacks and you sold them, send them 4g)

Step 8: Profit.

(Notice there is no step: ????, the Underpants gnomes had it all wrong)

The best places to mine Copper Ore in my opinion are Dun Morough and Elwynn Forest. Durotar is abundant in copper ore, but a lot of it is located down in Thunder Ridge, and a lot around the upper ring of Thunder Ridge, in my opinion, this complicates the process.

I play horde. I still mine in Dun Morough and Elwynn Forest. I play on a Normal server, so it's easy for me to do so. Elwynn Forest is the easier of the two places to get to. Hitch the Zepplin to STV and jump into the water when you zone in, you'll be safe in water at the northern end of STV. Swim to Westfall, Run to Elwynn. It's cake. If you play horde on a PVP server, I'd stick to Durotar.

I like Mining on Alliance soil, makes me feel like I'm stealing from them to take over my own factions economy.

Well there you have it guys, the way I make gold. It's easy, lazy, and can help you make friends :-) It also yields fast results... a lot of times I'll put the ore on the AH, spam the channel, and it almost immediately sells.

I've only had Copper ore not sell one time, and it was 2 stacks out of 8 on an 8 hour timer. I relisted them, and they sold.

I think the reason Copper is so popular is because Jewelcrafting, Blacksmithing, and Engineering all require it to get started, and people love making alts... I sure do.

I hope you've found this to be informative, if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to respond.

Thanks for reading!

[meshelldawn]

A very unusual suggestion but truthfully, I would sell my copper to you for a gold a stack. I think the real winner is your employees.

[Stowned]

In truth, it's advantageous to everyone involved.

[Pharoahe]

Actually i wouldnt mind paying 1g a stack and selling it on...because at the moment finding enough mines can be a problem, so i usually mine early hours of the morning when no one is online. On my server im selling a 20 stack for 1g50s, however demand is low. What i do is split them in 10 stacks and sell them for just under 80s. And the demand is VERY VERY high. I will sell out 20 stacks in a day (if i have mined that many)
The problem is mining. If i bought a stack for 1g, i could split it in 2 & still make 60s profit. Not as high as the 1g60s, but alot less time consuming. I may have to find some "employees" lol, its a good idea.

[Drpep]

A very unusual suggestion but truthfully, I would sell my copper to you for a gold a stack. I think the real winner is your employees.

I have to agree. If they are making 5 gold an hour and you are making 40 gold in 16 days. I see what you are trying to do, but I think you are wasting time on one item, playing the ah game. You should look at different items and just do the buy low sell high on them. By doing so, you will slowly drive the price up anyway and by watching many items you can take advantage of trends. At least thats my thought.

[Gorny]

Interesting guide, but using the Auctioneer mod will earn you more money over less time, and with less effort. No will you need to have other people helping you. YOu don't even have to check prices on anything, Auctioneer does it for you.

[xDarkDrifterx]

I see one major flaw to your whole thing here . . .


Here is the kicker to this strategy: Manpower. I have a few people "working" for me on my server. They are all in the teen levels right now, and when I told them that for each stack of copper they sent me, I would send them 1 gold, they were very eager to participate. 1g at level 10 is a pretty good chunk of money, and with the system I use for mining, One can acquire about 5 stacks an hour, which to my "employees" translates to 5g an hour.

Your "employees" only need to be smart enough to check the AH, notice that you are selling it all, and undercut you for 5S thus increasing their profit by 25S a stack - (if you're selling 1G30S) you'd probably end up buying it anyways (b/c they're undercutting you) and they win earning not "5G" an hour but 6G 25S for the same product (5 stacks of copper) - (even with AH fee's they still come out on top selling it themselves instead of to you.)

[Stowned]

I see one major flaw to your whole thing here . . .



Your "employees" only need to be smart enough to check the AH, notice that you are selling it all, and undercut you for 5S thus increasing their profit by 25S a stack - (if you're selling 1G30S) you'd probably end up buying it anyways (b/c they're undercutting you) and they win earning not "5G" an hour but 6G 25S for the same product (5 stacks of copper) - (even with AH fee's they still come out on top selling it themselves instead of to you.)

If you read, you'd notice that if they were to do this, I can simply re-undercut them and vice versa until they are selling in the silvers, then my gold seems pretty tempting.

Also, Auctioneer is pretty interesting and I have used it pretty effectively in the past, but this is more fun... and honestly, I originally played the warcraft series for the strategy. While doing this I make gold, I have fun (I really don't play that seriously... my last account was my baby, this one is more for fun and games at the moment), and to top it off I get to meet other people who play the game and show them how to use their brains to beat the system :-P

I suppose I'll get auctioneer, but I'm keeping with the organized crime as well to keep a constant flow of money coming in. At this point I probably dont need to mine myself anymore, I get between 4-7 stacks usually when a buddy is on for a solid amount of time, and even though I only make silver, 30x5 for say three people is 4.5g to me just for keeping the copper market at a stable 1g 30s price, and having the volume to shift the market when necessary.

[dreamofwrx]

I see one major flaw to your whole thing here . . .



Your "employees" only need to be smart enough to check the AH, notice that you are selling it all, and undercut you for 5S thus increasing their profit by 25S a stack - (if you're selling 1G30S) you'd probably end up buying it anyways (b/c they're undercutting you) and they win earning not "5G" an hour but 6G 25S for the same product (5 stacks of copper) - (even with AH fee's they still come out on top selling it themselves instead of to you.)

read the whole post he coverd that by saying he would then undercut them. until there auctions expired and they would not sell any. Now if they really really wanted to thwart him they could just by making his proces very difficult. But its guarunteed money for them to work for him which is why they probably do it.

[Tanitha]

You can undercut them, but they've likely made their sale already. (Unless you spend 24 hours a day at the Auction House?) And with that undercutting you come dangerously close to losing your suppliers.

It's an interesting idea and I loved reading it, but the kcma technique is much more profitable and as reliable once you get into the swing of things. So good luck, I hope you keep control over your server's economy!

[geospawn]

lol tanitha taught me all i know .. but what i do is yell at people to stop undercutting me by more than 1s .. i don't care if the mats i'm selling are 15g ... 1s undercut for us enchanters is ok ... but when the person does it for more 3g it just becomes plain stupid ... therefore the yelling at them part if they're chanters ... if they're not ... than u can't help stupid people

but yeah .. i think you should start looking at higher lvl items and work your way all the way to the top ... instead of 1g, u'll be dealing in 30 to 40 g per stack

[rgirty]

Many people do this without having people work for them. I'll give you an example of what I have done in the past.

I de and acquire 20 x stacks of arcane dust. I then price it using an alt for 4g each. I do this for a few days. This drives up the median price from 2g to 3.5g on my server.

After I see most dust listed for 3.5-4g i simply let mine expire and relist it at 3g (1g profit each, as I have 2g per dust invested) when it sells I make 400g profit. It normally takes me about 4 days to do this, I typically buy or invest on the weekend when there are more greens to de, then sell during the week on weds/thurs when the arcane dust supply is less.

The same can be done with large prismatics.

There is no loss of deposit on enchanting mats.

I've done this too many times to count, it works. Often the market will inflate over my inflated 4g price and people start buying it from me.

Tips to make this more successful.

1. Bid on greens/arcane dust before maint. day. Auction timers run during maint.

2. Post your dust as soon as the servers come back up from maint, or as soon as you can get back on. Most likely you will have a monopoly on the market and you'll sell some overpriced dust. What will really happen is that you will establish the new price at 4g, the next morning (wednesday) you can list it all for 3g and sell out, as you have set the market price to 4g.

No need to have a bunch of lowbies working for you really, although I'm sure your method works. The method i described takes very little time.

Use ct mail mod to "open all" of your mail at once.

Use auctioneer to list all your auctions at one time.

Takes about 10 minutes to retrieve expired auctions, and even less to re-post them.

If this sounds like it is too much for you, take your alchemist and go grind sporegar rep.

Mining has nearly taken over as the gathering profession people choose.

Go to the auction house, buy primal earth in large discounted stacks.

On my server I can 10x primal earth for 40g. I then use my recipe from the sporegar to xmute it to primal water.

Primal water sells for 22-25g. That means you make 18-21g per day just by logging in, hit xmute and post the primal water on the AH. If you are xmute spec the profit should be even greater.

[xDarkDrifterx]

If you read, you'd notice that if they were to do this, I can simply re-undercut them and vice versa until they are selling in the silvers, then my gold seems pretty tempting.

I did read the whole post and it still seems like you'd just undercut them until you destroy the market that you're working to take over thus destroying the mean average of your daily profits - this would eventually - if you kept undercutting them - drop the pricing so low that it wouldn't be profitable for anyone to sell the ore as the time that went into mining it would out way the money received for it - even if it takes 15 mins - 50S for 15mins . . . no ty.

IMO the only reason this "employee" thing works is that they are guaranteed money instead of having to wait and in a "here and now" society that still translates to WoW these people make up the majority . . .so . . . give me 5 gold today or wait till tomorrow for 7 . . . they'll take the 5.

Glad it's working for ya' :wink:

[Stowned]

Enchanting materials are definitely a goldmine, but the problem is that with most of the theories as to dominating the AH I've heard, they require you to have money (or at least a high lvl char) to make money.

None of my characters have even hit 20 yet, and I'm making a ton of gold, and have been since the day I started this account.

Again on the undercutting issue. A character from my account generally checks the auction house about every hour of every day, when we see ore cheaper than mine, we either buy it or push it out of the market.

The point to my strategy is that if they undercut me, I undercut them back until they are forced to sell their product (usually to me) in the silvers, and then I cancel all of my auctions, and reset the price to 1g 30s. It's easy, and I get the feeling that copper ore isn't very closely watched on the AH. I bet people get away with undercutting me, but it doesnt matter... I definately make the most off copper on my server, and thats the goal.

higher lvl items also have a higher deposit than copper ore, and if I need to go into a undercut war with someone on higher lvl stuff, I might actually end up losing gold. With copper, I can list and cancel my auctions about 100 times before I break even (and not gain a profit) on my product.

The people who send me ore don't get the gold immediately, either, so it isnt a "Now or then" issue, it's a security issue. They get money when the ore sells. This strategy was started with 0 money, and took about 4 hours to get working properly, with a level 1 character. When they send to me, they are guaranteed 1g per stack, and it's the flat guaranteed rate that keeps them mining for me.

Also, the the poster above, when you are working with 10-20 stacks of copper, it's a lot more than 50s that 15 minutes of undercutting is used for, it's at least 3 gold.

[Orbstu]

If you read, you'd notice that if they were to do this, I can simply re-undercut them and vice versa until they are selling in the silvers, then my gold seems pretty tempting.




How exactly would you know that it was your employees doing it.
If they have half a brain they would use a "Banker" Alt to post the auctions, you would think "Oh a new seller undercutting me by 5s" and would buy them out, they would continue to do it at 5s less than you and you would continue to buy them out, then if they are really smart they would have created several bankers so that you think its a whole new batch of copper sellers. Your money would dissappear in no time.

[thmpr]

My guild goes crazy with the AH --- they own it ---- that sounds like a boast but it's more a curse. They are so good with it (kcma style) that they have started to dominate it to where everything is owned and controlled by us ---
and wow, do people (justifyingly so) hate us. I just joined the guild - not knowing this with an alt - and I get rude gestures, spit on, verbal assaults, whispered threats etc when i go into IF.
While it's great that every time I level the guild sends me free greens and goodies of my choice from the AH (due to their market dominance they can do this) I 'm not sure it's worth being in the most hated guild of the server.

Is it?

[Stowned]

How exactly would you know that it was your employees doing it.
If they have half a brain they would use a "Banker" Alt to post the auctions, you would think "Oh a new seller undercutting me by 5s" and would buy them out, they would continue to do it at 5s less than you and you would continue to buy them out, then if they are really smart they would have created several bankers so that you think its a whole new batch of copper sellers. Your money would dissappear in no time.

No, sir, I would not buy them out. It doesn't matter what name it's listed under. The point is that I'll UNDERCUT THEM BACK. NOT buy them out, until they are forced to list there product in the silver. Then my gold is more profitable. I wouldn't do this only to people who turned me down, I do it to everyone, because it's smart business.

Once their product is in the silver, then I'll buy it. Not only do they sell it for less than I'd give, but I get to make a profit off of it anyway. it doesn't matter if people go against me, because in the long run, whoever has more ore is going to control the market, and I have the most ore.

There is no spite when playing the AH, only smarts. Smart people realize that if they compete with my prices, I'll do what Wal-Mart does, competitively lower my price until they can't make a profit, and then buy their ore for less than a gold.

It doesn't matter if I've ever spoken to the person or not, Organized Crime is a business, and business doesn't discriminate. I think some of you are under the impression that I would seek to screw people who turn down my offers. This is not the case, I'm not a mean guy.

I offer a number of people a way to make money while KEEPING the market at a set price, rather than inflating/deflating it over time. I may deflate it for an hour or so, but my price will never drop below 1 g, and if their price is at 1g, then they are still losing money due to the AH cut. I'll buy copper for 1g, although it isnt a huge profit, because the recipient of that buyout is still making less than 1g, and it teaches people the benefits of working together.

It's the same principle as back when The oil companies agreed not to sell oil for less than X amount, guaranteeing a profit for all companies (all members associated with organized crime) without risk of putting each other out of business.

They made doing such things illegal in the United States, but it's still legal on Wow.

[Underling]

I hate guys like you, who strive to dominate the market by buying all reasonably priced items. Because for me, the game is the group/guild mechanics, rather than in gold making. And people like you force me to waste my time where normally I could have saved it. You are in fact making money at other people's expense. Your server mates' expense. If I knew your main char's name, you'd be on my /ignore list in a nick of time

Btw, your scheme is not very smart. You are losing a lot of money for someone who's gone and made machinations a way of profiteering. Your employees only give you the ore, and keep the gems as far as I can see. jewelcrafting is designed so that it can be chokoblocked in a few spots by monopolising the AH quite easily on certain gems and ores

On my server, schmucks like you buy ALL cheaply priced cheap gems and then re-list them for the jewelcrafters at sky-high prices. When you see 10 auctions for citrine, priced at 12g EACH, or 10 autions for mithril bars, priced at 25g a STACK, then you will know there are more aggressive - and more enterprising - sharks out there. 1 silver bar for 10g anyone?

[Stowned]

I hate guys like you, who strive to dominate the market by buying all reasonably priced items. Because for me, the game is the group/guild mechanics, rather than in gold making. And people like you force me to waste my time where normally I could have saved it. You are in fact making money at other people's expense. Your server mates' expense. If I knew your main char's name, you'd be on my /ignore list in a nick of time

Btw, your scheme is not very smart. You are losing a lot of money for someone who's gone and made machinations a way of profiteering. Your employees only give you the ore, and keep the gems as far as I can see. jewelcrafting is designed so that it can be chokoblocked in a few spots by monopolising the AH quite easily on certain gems and ores

On my server, schmucks like you buy ALL cheaply priced cheap gems and then re-list them for the jewelcrafters at sky-high prices. When you see 10 auctions for citrine, priced at 12g EACH, or 10 autions for mithril bars, priced at 25g a STACK, then you will know there are more aggressive - and more enterprising - sharks out there. 1 silver bar for 10g anyone?

Well, I don't see why you are being rude to me, I'm sharing the way I make gold to encourage others to have a large amount too.

Also, I guess I didn't mention it, but my banker is also a Jewelcrafter, and my guys do send me the jewels, and when they do, I make it jewelry for them at no cost, and send it back.

I'm glad to know that you like the grouping/leveling aspects of this game, I do too, but I enjoy the economic side of this game more.

Also, I don't care if there are "bigger sharks" than me. I make gold, a lot of it, and I have a twinked lvl 19 warrior who still has 23g in his pocket, plus my banker who is sitting pretty with 13. My account was created 17 days ago.

This works. Sorry that you hate people like me, because if you were to take a crack at economics, you might make a lot of gold too. You say I'm losing a lot of money? How exactly is that possible when I started with 0 and have a small fortune now?

And anyone who pays 10g for a silver bar is just plain stupid. You can find those in battered chests for free.

In addition, I rarely buy anything from the AH unless it's gear or really cheap Copper, So I'm not one of those people who "buys reasonably priced goods and relists them for skyrocket prices".

[Drpep]

nobody is calling you stupid, they are just trying to point out that, you are on the right track, but experiance in the game has shown them that there are easier ways to make money.

[Stowned]

I agree that there are easier ways to make money... But with this the average prices aren't steadily driven up, and more than just I generate revenue.

Once again I agree that there are easier ways to make money in this game, my strategy is simply here to encourage teamwork in more than just grouping/raiding. It proves that with a little cooperation, one doesn't need ANYTHING to make a whole lot of gold.

The reason my idea is so attractive, in my opinion, is that it requires nothing to get started, no lvl 70, no gold, nothing.

[Orbstu]

Well peronally, If i was one of your employees and you undercut my auctions I would simply play you at your own game In that when you cut down to the silvers I would buy everything you posted at < 1G then I know that you will buy them from me for 1G (profit for me :)). You would then be in the position where your employees were buying from your auctions at 95S say and selling it back to you for 5s more, you would go bankrupt in no time mate.

[Stowned]

Well peronally, If i was one of your employees and you undercut my auctions I would simply play you at your own game In that when you cut down to the silvers I would buy everything you posted at < 1G then I know that you will buy them from me for 1G (profit for me :)). You would then be in the position where your employees were buying from your auctions at 95S say and selling it back to you for 5s more, you would go bankrupt in no time mate.

You still would have given me a ton of gold for a material I can get for free. Also, I will never list copper for less than 1g, and very, VERY rarely at 1 gold. if it was as easy as you say it is to beat me with the amount of volume I have, then someone would have already done so.

They've tried, they just cant do it because I've thought very deeply about this and planned it out. See, a lot of what I sell is mined by one of my alts, meaning that in addition to what my friends send me, I also put stacks on that are direct 100% profit to me. So even if I had 1 stack of ore that I mined myself and you buy all say 10 that I have listed for 1g each, and I lose 10s a stack for the AH cut, then I have broken even, after sending 9g to my friends.

mining copper myself adds a safety net to my business scheme. If I had 3 auctions of ore that I mined and ten of ore that I didn't mine, and you bought all of them for 1g a piece, I still just made 1.7 gold (after AH cut), even if it wasn't off of other people.

[Stowned]

Edit for double-post.

[|Brage|]

Still, seeing you've currently got 36 gold, this hardly falls into the normal "how to make gold"-threads.

[Stowned]

36 gold plus a 19 twink plus this account has been active for 17 days, the beginning of which wasnt spent accumulating gold.

Brush it off if you want, but I insist that this is the best way to make gold from nothing.

If you want to get technical, then I know I have made well over 120 gold doing this so far.

[krusemark]

To be perfectly honest I think that the op's method is sound. Yes, many say that he could just be undercut in return but those undercutters would have to be on the ball like he is; I doubt they are. Besides he doesn't have to beat quite everyone, just most. There is however one main flaw. You told everyone about your organized crime scheme. That is VERY un-organized crime-like. Make your money and be happy that you have more than everyone else (well, for your time played). If everyone had as much as you then prices would go up and your money wouldn't mean as much; you're not rich if you have a lot of money, you're only rich if you have more money than everyone else. Don't feel like you need to help everyone get rich because you're making money. I read a kmca post about making money back in the day and did my own thing from there. He felt like being generous in a semi-ambiguous sort of way. I feel like being cruel in a semi-ambiguous sort of way. If I ever feel like giving back to my server (monetarily) I will hold tournaments in Goldshire offering gold to whichever low levels kills the most of the others dueling (and yes I will sit in a sweet chair and say things like "Flawless Victory" and "You weak pathetic fool").

P.S. Also to the OP, yes sometimes people get mad at me for making gold the way I do which is somewhat like your method. That just makes me drive the AH prices even further.

Edit: I should however say that I don't normally drive AH prices up, like the OP I always sell at a set price or lower. This is not because I want to standardize prices but because economically the market will only bear so much and I can't monopolize the things I sell.

Edit 2: While I said this method is sound, unless you can adapt it to some higher level items in outland, later on you'll make more money doing something else.

[rgirty]

36 gold plus a 19 twink plus this account has been active for 17 days, the beginning of which wasnt spent accumulating gold.

Brush it off if you want, but I insist that this is the best way to make gold from nothing.

If you want to get technical, then I know I have made well over 120 gold doing this so far.

you might want to check the various times kcma has made 1kgold by level 40 in a fraction of your playtime.

I'm not knocking your method, but is hardly the best way to make money from 0.

In the past I used a method much like this to acquire runecloth/netherweave. I would pay a good price and the people didn't have to worry about putting it on the ah. The difference is, I turned it into enchanting mats. I then, leveled my enchanting by offering cheap enchants to people, created oils out of it or re-sold it on the ah for a profit.

I'm not one to promote kcma, but his method will garner gold much faster than what you have displayed here in greater quantities with less playtime involved.

If you enjoy what you are doing, then that is great for you but I would be skeptical at saying "i make a ton of gold"

From my personal gaming experience, I had 4k gold at lvl 40.

A good farmer can easily loot 6 primal mana per hour on wizard row (120g on my server) and a great warlock can choose a myriad of places to farm upwards of 150-200g per hour.

Miners/herbalists commonly farm 100g per hour /played.

What you are talking about works, i'm glad it works well for you but there are people making much more in less time.

I know a group of people who had been running heroic mech in about an hour. They had been sharding all the drops (3 blues, from bosses) and evenly splitting the nethers between two tailors and a blacksmith in the group. For two weeks they did this 3x a night (this was pre-patch) so each of them would get 15 badges a night. By the time the patch was out each of them had roughly 210 badges each and 14 nethers each already.

They used their badges and bought nethers, giving each of them 35 nethers each.

One tailor had the battlecast set, the other the spellstrike set. The blacksmith had the hand of eternity pattern.

They then auctioned each item "wtcraft xxx item, your mats my nether 100g" this was about 50-25g below going nether rate of 125-150g.

Players jumped all over it, they sold all 105 nethers fairly quickly for a gross profit of 10,500 gold. Split that between 5 people for 2,040 gold each.

They also had 126 shards that went for 15g each 1890g.

2 people in the party simply racked up the gold and badges while going along for the ride, the three turning in badges and nethers didn't get any gear but they got quite a bit of gold.

From what I understand after the cloth, coin, greens/rep items and random blues were de'd/sold each of the 5 had around 3.5k+ gold I believe they kept all the void crystals for high end enchanting to be done later.

Each also of course became exalted with shat'tar.

I realize that you can't do this any longer as the instance has changed, you only get 4 badges now and you can't kite the way you could before but people always find a fast way to make some cash.

I have some general methods myself which only net me 50-100g per day but I don't spend near as much time in the ah as I used to.

[geospawn]

lol .. u guys are forgetting AH fees ... not sure how much they are @ 1g stuff but its 2g for 25g

[Stowned]

Perhaps I should mention that I mean 17 actual days, not days played. Well, I suppose if you add up the time on all of my alts it'll be around that because my roomates play on my account, it would be near that, because someone is generally online over here, but only 1 room-mate participates in my scheme.

I really like KMCA's guide to making gold, but you see, the problem with it is that it requires you to have money in order to make money. It's impossible to create a new account with no outside help and just start buying things off of the AH and relisting them.

I doubt that I'll level a character to 40 any time soon, but in the time it took me to lvl that high, at the rate which I play, I guarantee you, 1k gold is not a lot.

[xDarkDrifterx]

lol .. u guys are forgetting AH fees ... not sure how much they are @ 1g stuff but its 2g for 25g

There's no posting fee for enchanting mats. :wink:

[Stowned]

Also, the deposit on Copper ore is 30c for an 8h auction, 90c for 24, and they usually take around 10s from me when my stuff sells, I account for that, it makes virtually no difference.

[rgirty]

the problem with it is that it requires you to have money in order to make money.

He starts on a new realm, with 0 money. It isn't hard.

17 actual days

People can level to 20 in one session, unless you are making about 200-300 G per hour /played you can just call your method lowbie farming.

Eventually and probably sooner rather than later, less people mine copper. I would think the work of recruiting more miners would be more than most would be willing to endure.

1lvl per day or 5 levels a week is about average for most players I believe, especially up to about lvl 40. Won't you graduate most of your "workforce" by then?

My advice to you, level your char up take up tailoring. Skill up enough to make netherweave bags, imbued bags and use your method to buy netherweave.

buy netherweave cheaply, produce bags. Make 2-3g per bag, sell 20-30 bags a day.

Become good at it, buy netherweave in bulk make netherweave items DE them for arcane dust and either make superior wizard oil from them, or level your enchanting or just sell it straight up.

You'll have a higher level char in which you might actually go do some pve and you'll make a boatload more cash. Also, all players have and obtain netherweave, finding sources of it isn't nearly as hard. I have more than 1 person who cod's me netherweave.

[Stowned]

Im not really interested in lvling at the moment.

When my guys stop mining copper, they start mining tin, which sells for 4x as much as copper on my server, I'll probably give them 3g a stack, and make a higher profit.

I don't intend to get new people to help me make money, these guys do it fine, and when they get better ore, they and I will both get more money.

If you can lvl to 20 in one session... I'm sorry, but I feel that is being way to into this game... I simply don't have the willpower to do that.

If kmca is capable of starting a character on a new realm with 0 money and he can start making gold by playing the auction house immediately, well, there is something he isn't telling you.

If he is, however, doing this legitimately (as I assume he is), then if he can roll a toon and make 5 gold in the first 3 hours without any gathering profession, then I will gladly tip my hat to him and call his method superior in every way to mine.

EDIT: by the way, before TBC, I had a 60 war.

[Drpep]

I would suggest reading his post, he mines for the first 1 gold (if i remember correctly) then he drops his trade and does only the ah. As anoying as he is to read, it works and i give him kudos.

[xDarkDrifterx]

If I ever feel like giving back to my server (monetarily) I will hold tournaments in Goldshire offering gold to whichever low levels kills the most of the others dueling (and yes I will sit in a sweet chair and say things like "Flawless Victory" and "You weak pathetic fool").


LOL

:laughing:

[rgirty]

I'm sorry, but I feel that is being way to into this game... I simply don't have the willpower to do that. What?

if he can roll a toon and make 5 gold in the first 3 hours without any gathering profession

Why the limit on the gathering? You can't make 0 from 0, you have to start with something.

I find it interesting that you play the game for the sole purpose of getting copper from lowbies and posting it on the ah. You don't even let them cod it to you, you make them wait until it actually sells. No interest in leveling..hmm.

To each their own i guess, /enjoy.

[Stowned]

You guys make me sound like a nazi... I'm actually very nice to the people who send me copper, and am more than happy to use COD if they want, they just trust me.

I play this game for a lot of reasons, but you see, as with most games, my take on Wow is a bit unorthodox. I like the talent mechanics (not unorthodox), I like seeing if I can aoe farm enemies at lvl 16 with a mage, and wonder if theres any way to do it effectively (at 16), I play a warlock and only fight red mobs, that kind of stuff...

I just am always looking for new things.

I think you guys are right about the gold making scheme of kmca. I suppose it's more efficient than mine... But I can always one up him in that I am not the only one who makes a huge profit ;-)

Plus it's nice and social.

Bottom line: If you use this method to make gold, you will find it's easy, and (IMHO) fun. If you use kmca's method to make gold, you will find it's easy, and (IMHO) fun too. If you want to pick, I'd say use this criteria:

Both: Will net you satisfactory results.

Kmca's method: Will net you and only you more gold/hr than Organized efforts, and not need to waste time gathering.

Organized efforts: Will net you less gold/hr (due to mining) (though still a great amount imho) but will spread the gross payout to several people, making friends in the process ( eventually rich friends :-P)

Here's a proposal: I've noticed in this thread that a lot of suggestions are of the nature to buy expensive things that aren't being listed at their full price range, and set them higher. (like I do with other's ore).

I agree that kmca's method works great, and honestly it'll be more useful, but still, if you have friends send you ores, or herbs, or skins, or enchanting mats (or whatever they want) (different types as they lvl up) and cut them in on a bit of the profit, you still get product for nothing, and I don't think anyone can argue that free sellable goods are useless.

So while doing Kmca's method, try and get people to send you stuff for a fixed rate.

So well, I guess I tip my hat, but remember, this is an option, and it does work, and It would probably work very well in conjunction with Kmca's strategy.

Thank you all so much for the input :-)

[Justinledwards]

What's your percentages? on each stack of ore? on cash over time?

you've made 120g in 2.5 weeks calendar time - not bad, and you've got an interesting idea on how to make cash.

But the folks here have done all of this and found easier ways of doing it. For example, I have about 6-8 different things I do now, depending on how bull / bear that part of the market is.

I'm 1k gold up since Saturday and that includes two days only logging for 10 minutes - played the AH :) Enchanting, jewelcrafting, buy low sell high, I have people that COD me greens all the time (I pay up front :P)

[Wintrow]

What's your percentages? on each stack of ore? on cash over time?

you've made 120g in 2.5 weeks calendar time - not bad, and you've got an interesting idea on how to make cash.

But the folks here have done all of this and found easier ways of doing it. For example, I have about 6-8 different things I do now, depending on how bull / bear that part of the market is.

I'm 1k gold up since Saturday and that includes two days only logging for 10 minutes - played the AH :) Enchanting, jewelcrafting, buy low sell high, I have people that COD me greens all the time (I pay up front :P)

Don't judge it for how fast it gives gold, judge it for how FUN it is. He's advocating player COOPERATION not competition.

[Justinledwards]

Lol - no i don't think this is cooperation, other than everyone cooperate with ME, which is more of a monopoly situation I suspect.

But it is fun and can be a win-win situation - folks have an easy outlet for their raw product and make a good chunk of cash and the buyer makes money too. It's what I do with Greens for DE.

[Stowned]

I'm not in this to be on top, I'm not in this to hoard money, and I'm not in this to try and prove any kind of dominance over anyone. The reason I'm the guy who gets the materials is because I'm the guy who took the initiative to seek it out.

If anyone would be kind enough to answer (understood if you don't want to discuss business tactics) what items would you guys say are most commonly sought out when players visit the Auction Houses? I'm interested in branching out into buying and reselling, but I'm not sure on where I'd like to get started.

Thank you in advance!

[geospawn]

heheh .. talking about dominance .. u should see what i've done to the AH in the last 3 days lol

[Pharoahe]

OK so i was kinda inspired by this thread, to make some money. Here's my story, probably a bit long winded and boring for most of you...

So im new to the game, and really worked hard to make my bank total of about 35G, mainly by skinning & mining ALOT. And it took me a LONG time to make this much money (i was only a level 19 by this point). So i decided to make a big gamble at the auction house, and buy EVERY 20 stack of copper costing less than 1g50s & every 10 stack of copper costing under 70s. By the end i spent nearly my entire bank, and had 1g left. I had 100s of copper by this point, and little room to store it, so i kept most of it in my mailbox. This was on monday.

After this i slowly started putting say 10 - 20 auctions at the AH a day for copper. Now id bought out all of the reasonably priced copper, so all the remaining auctions were in the region of 2Gs for a 20 stack.
I priced my copper bars like this
20 Stack 1g56s
10 Stack 78s
So even if new auctions at low prices were to go up, i had a midway fair price. Not too high, not too low, so some would probably sell. Compared to the price i paid for this copper, how much profit would i make? Well NONE of the copper ws bought at a higher price than my selling price, and MOST was bought at a far lower price.
However by thursday i was starting to think my risk wouldnt pay off. The copper was only selling slowly & i had hundreds still in my mail box.
However then the weekend came & it started to sell like crazy.

So whats the status at the end of this weekend?
Well i have only ONE unsold 20 stack left & my bank balance is now 70G. So basically i doubled my money. Also during the week i didnt play the game that much, & i spent alot of money on upgrading skills; so basically any money i made from quests during the week was spent.
here is a rough guide to what happened
monday; spend basically 35G on Copper, with hardly any money left at the end
sunday; 70G in the bank.

Now for a low level play who is also a first time player, this is alot of money. I nearly have enough to buy a mount, yet im only at l23.
Infact ive made so much money, with no effort that im considering giving up mining for something else; why put the time & effort into mining when i can just buy at the AH & make so much profit? The first 35G i made by hard work. Then i spent it in a few minutes at the auction house. The next 70Gs came so easy and took only 5% of the effort

[IRPander]

You're trying to control just the copper portion of the AH? I can swing through all of the copper on my server now and I'm only level 21. Lol, this is an alright guide for someone who has no clue HOW to make money, but that's where it starts I guess.

I picked up Mining/Herbalism. Thinking about dropping it for skinning since skinning has constant intake of money and there isnt a gray area where you don't make much money, but who knows.

By level 5 i had 10g just from leveling around and mining and just putting stuff in the AH.

Now, I try to mess around with AH prices a lot. Now that I've got gold to swing around at things people don't pay attention to, i've got certain items on lock in the AH and if you undercut me, I'll only buy it to resell it. ;)

[Pharoahe]

You're trying to control just the copper portion of the AH? I can swing through all of the copper on my server now and I'm only level 21. Lol, this is an alright guide for someone who has no clue HOW to make money, but that's where it starts I guess.

I picked up Mining/Herbalism. Thinking about dropping it for skinning since skinning has constant intake of money and there isnt a gray area where you don't make much money, but who knows.

By level 5 i had 10g just from leveling around and mining and just putting stuff in the AH.

Now, I try to mess around with AH prices a lot. Now that I've got gold to swing around at things people don't pay attention to, i've got certain items on lock in the AH and if you undercut me, I'll only buy it to resell it. ;)

difference being, when your a low leven with only a few gold, you cant just buy everything you see. so sticking to one thing to make money on is the best way forward.
now that ive doubled my money, this week ill be able to focus on maybe 2 or 3 major items. and as i make more & more, ill get to where youre at. You have to remember not everyone has your experience

[Telmar]

From another thread where I posted my 'technique' on this theme.

-------------------------------
Admittedly i have a slightly larger bank balance than some here to play with (so i can control the market alot better) but I've really found that boosting gem prices has worked wonders for me. In particular runed living ruby.

Basically I bought out all the living rubies, all the runed living rubies, and all the adamantite ore off the AH on thursday and friday (yes, you need alot of capital for this kinda thing), and then relisted the runed living rubies at double their previous price (from 60g each, to 120g each). I got a JC friend to prospect all the ore, and cut all the blue gems he got from it. I held onto these till sunday, you;ll see why in a minute. The green gems, he made into rings and I disenchanted and put the mats on AH slightly cheaper than everything else.

On my server, LOADS of guilds (like 20+ alliance side) do kara on the weekend, with mains and/or alts. When they get upgrades, they go straight to the AH and want gems and enchants.

Therefor, come saturday night, my rubies and dusts started flying off the AH. I continued buying out all the adamantite ore i could get, to control the number of gems that were coming onto the market from sources other than myself.

BY sunday morning, there were only my gems on the AH, for any catagory, some (solid star of elunes for example) simply werent available. Thats when I put the other gems I'd bought/cut on the AH. For double what they were on for previously. Now Sunday evening is serious raiding time on our server, and normally its most guilds first progression raid of the week after they've cleared all the farm on weds/thurs/fri. Therefor, those upgrades they're won, that they havent yet gemmed, HAVE to get gems and enchants on them by 19:00 game time. With only my hugely overpriced gems on the AH, and no ore to prospect to get others, they have little option but to buy them.

Yes, its hugely manipulative, and its something that would get your company taken to court IRL (having a monopoly on a industry and price gouging etc). However, its also made me 12000-13000 gold in the past 3 weeks with only about 30 minutes a day of effort.
-----------------------------------------

Its the same principle, applied on a slightly larger scale. I cooperate with about 5 of my guild at the moment, and we control the gem market on our server. Its a nice earner :P

[Qwertius]

I found a brilliant (no I should say Radiant) way to make money.

you know small radiant shards. they used to sell for 3-4g.. Suddenly on my server they go for 9g99s or more. don;t ask me why.. it just sells

Fiery enchant needs 4 of those, and gets a bit pricy this way. SO I was looking for a method to get small radiant shards.. in the shortest amount of time.

Enter Jewelcrafting. There is a blue craftable item that is made from 1 aquamarine and 4 Flask of Mojo. So I bought 27 Aquamarines. And all the Mojo I could find (only 67 now, but we'll see tomorrow) the Aquamarines costed me about 75s each. the flasks of mojo where between 10s each and 50s each. all together I am crafting items for 2g each times that sell for 10g each :())))))))) x 27 (only problem the market is out of flask of mojo, they come from Zul Farrak and mos tpeople just vendor that crap) I went so far as whispering people IN Zul Farak if they would sell them . but don;t be to eager or they might wonder why on earth you need all the Mojo you can buy and start investigating this

[IRPander]

difference being, when your a low leven with only a few gold, you cant just buy everything you see. so sticking to one thing to make money on is the best way forward.
now that ive doubled my money, this week ill be able to focus on maybe 2 or 3 major items. and as i make more & more, ill get to where youre at. You have to remember not everyone has your experience

I never said I had the AH on lock at level 5. I just know where to go to make money in the AH.

Tip: Go for the mats to items.

People put up Elixir of Defense on my Ah for 35s buyout per one. I take that and sell it for 1g20. People will buy it. It's a material for Toughened Leather Gloves which go for around 10g on my server. They want to make money off of the gloves, but really I'm just making money off of them.

[tabstercat]

tried farming copper on my paladin got about 4 stacks none sold...no idea why it was the rght price i advertised the A wasent flooded..spent about 2 hours doing it..:(

[Kojima]

Kudos to Stowned for posting this up. I'm with the rest of the players who all agree that there's easier ways to make larger amounts of gold, but that's not the point of this thread. I've been reading through this thread and as I think of it, with a few tweaks and adjustments - this might very well be one of the better ways to earn money early-game.

Market controle, false inflation and the like, are all great tools for making gold, and they can be used no matter what your level your toon is or what he/she is wearring.

Control the market, control the flow and eliminate those who try to undercut you. Wether it's copper ore, primals or cloths - it doesn't matter, the result is the same = Gold!

So thank you for sharing, it's a great guide for rookies to playing the AH

[Zendarin]

I hate guys like you, who strive to dominate the market by buying all reasonably priced items. Because for me, the game is the group/guild mechanics, rather than in gold making. And people like you force me to waste my time where normally I could have saved it. You are in fact making money at other people's expense. Your server mates' expense. If I knew your main char's name, you'd be on my /ignore list in a nick of time

Btw, your scheme is not very smart. You are losing a lot of money for someone who's gone and made machinations a way of profiteering. Your employees only give you the ore, and keep the gems as far as I can see. jewelcrafting is designed so that it can be chokoblocked in a few spots by monopolising the AH quite easily on certain gems and ores

On my server, schmucks like you buy ALL cheaply priced cheap gems and then re-list them for the jewelcrafters at sky-high prices. When you see 10 auctions for citrine, priced at 12g EACH, or 10 autions for mithril bars, priced at 25g a STACK, then you will know there are more aggressive - and more enterprising - sharks out there. 1 silver bar for 10g anyone?

You must hate most of the free world then because "buy low sell high" is how business operates. You realize, of course, the every time you buy your box ofwheaties that some retailer has paid a much lower price than you and then "relisted" it at a higher price? That is how a free market works.

Sorry you hate anyone that knows how to use a free market - must suck not being able to find a game rooted in communism/socialism.

[Kojima]

Lol @ underling - that's just sad.... I mean, you really think that I care if I make gold at someone elses expense? Dude, I would sell anyone or anything, should I see profit. I couldn't care less if it's at someone elses expense, as long as I end up making an insane amount of gold. Each for his own!

[mesonm]

tried farming copper on my paladin got about 4 stacks none sold...no idea why it was the rght price i advertised the A wasent flooded..spent about 2 hours doing it..:(

way to resurrect a thread.....necro ftw

[snowieken]

I think everything has been said about a year ago already, no need to dig this up again.