When to List What

I complain about the time it takes to list auctions loudly and frequently. (It takes me about 2 hours to list my standard auctions.) When I complain though people always say things like, “That’s why I only list on weekends.” or “Yeah I don’t even bother selling <insert item> anymore.”

These are always the same people who when I drop 100k on a mount or 20k on a pet say things like, “Gah, how do you have so much gold?”

News flash – these two things might be related.

Let’s be clear though, I enjoy making gold. I like having a big pile of it. I like being able to just buy crap instead of farm for it. I would love to have player housing where I could visualize my gold in a big ass pile I could lounge on like Smaug. (Imagine me, transformed into the drake from my legendary staff instead though.) For most players what I do is far too time intensive and inventory management heavy.

But let’s say you want to make gold, and you have a TON of stuff to sell. But you don’t have a ton of time. When should you list things to get the best chance of selling an item? I am firmly on team “List all the things all the time.” BUT if you can only list things at certain times, here are the best times I have found.

*Note – I have not tracked data for this. I am not even sure how I would go about that. These are just observations I have had over the history of playing WoW. Though, it is worth pointing out, I have made over a million gold.

Some items will always sell, no matter when you list them. Herbs, Ore, Enchanting Mats, Savage Bloods, Leather, and Cloth. Generally anything used in professions. These items you should list whenever you have them. The prices on these items will rise and fall over the week, but generally never to an amount that makes it worth holding onto them. I would only put ONE exception to this – never list Saturday afternoon or evening. Weekends are weird times in WoW, and while a ton of stuff sells on weekends, I noticed a distinct dive in cost of profession mats every Saturday afternoon. So much so, I have a phone reminder to go buy cloth during this time.

Epics, enchants, gems, and upgrade items should always be listed on Mondays so they are present all day Tuesday and potentially even re-listed Wednesday. It depends on your time zone and your server “play time”. On my PST server I try to make sure my auctions go up around 6pm on Monday and set them for 48 hours so they last until Wednesday. You ALWAYS want your epics and things that deal with raiding up on Tuesday, for the whole day. I like to take a minute Tuesday night at around 6 just to double check I haven’t been undercut by a ton of people though – and relist anything that has more than 3-4 items listed lower than it. Raiders who are willing to spend money on big items are going to be prepping for raiding on Tuesday or Wednesday. You list on Monday because that is the point where many players are hitting the end of another week without an upgrade. They get antsy and become more willing to drop gold.

Transmog, Mounts, and Pets should be listed as often as you are able, but need to ESPECIALLY be listed so they are up Friday and Saturday. For one, many people play Saturday, and sales are always a bit higher on Saturday and Sunday. If you can list at 5pm on Friday for 48 hours, do it. Not only will more people be on over the weekend, but you are also playing to a thing called “Drunk Shopping” and “Retail Therapy”. Some people love to do both these things, but don’t have the money to do so in real life… so they might in WoW. I also know, just for my own personal gains, these were the days I would look for pets on the AH. I didn’t have anything to do in WoW, and had time to think about going and looking for them.

Finally – two additional tips:

1. It’s always worth taking a second to link in chat during peak hours if you are selling something big – like a mount, rare pet, or 15k+ item. Only link it once, and only say it’s on the AH. Getting into trade chat is a deep hole of time sink and despair.

2. The fire sale. Some people forget that the difference between an item’s value and gold in hand is that you can buy other items with that gold. I have never had someone take me up on an offer to trade several transmog items for a pet or even several pets for a pet. People want gold. An tmog item that I list at 1k gold, isn’t actually 1k gold. It’s just junk I am storing. About once a month, I will slash prices, and list everything for 50-75% of it’s TSM listed value. Always over a weekend, and always over a weekend I think will be a big seller.

How to pick your weekend: Weekends before patches are always good. Weekends after patches are also good. Watch out for real life holidays and avoid them, unless they are bum around the house holidays. (So for goodness sake AVOID the upcoming Valentine’s weekend. Despite what trade may say, a large number of WoW players are older and in relationships. Terrible fire sale weekend.) Do not pick a weekend after a new game comes out (esp a CoD, Elder Scrolls, GTA, or the like.)

TLDR:

  1. Every day – Profession mats.
  2. Monday and Tuesday (maybe Wednesday too, for people who raid late) – Epics, Upgrade items, Gems, enchants
  3. Weekends – Big ticket stuff and Fire Sales.

But in truth, my answer would be – always list. List as much as you can as often as you can. If your stuff isn’t on the AH, people can’t buy it.

 

(Note – this is going to be a part of a series on making gold in WoW. It should be the third, but someone asked for it early, so here it is.)

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