Monday, February 28, 2011

Starter Guide To Selling Companion Pets

Vanity Pets aka Companion Pets

The Companion Pet market is an excellent market to add to your auction house business.  I have been selling vanity pets for most of my auction house career.  The vanity pet market is a lucrative market and is one of the entry level markets that I would recommend to anyone new to the auction house.  When setting up your pet shop business there are a few tips that will help you be more efficient and profitable, as well as reduce the number of unsold auctions.

Top Tips For Vanity Pet Sellers
  1. Vanity Pets Sell Better On The Weekends - More players means more buyers.  You should still sell during the week, but add a few extras on the weekends, especially on the neutral auction house.
  2. Vanity Pets Sales Spike During Game Holidays - Any World of Warcraft in-game holidays that reward pets or allow their purchase (with holiday items) will lead to a spike in sales.  Getting a pet or two from an in game event triggers players to look for more pets to add to their collection.
  3. Introducing New Pet Collector Achievements Will Increase Pet Sales - Players have been waiting for more companion collector achievements and they have been announced for Patch 4.1.  Already sales have started to increase on some servers as players look to gather their 100 and 125 pets for the new achievements prior to them hitting the live servers.  The new achievements should also award us new companion pets as the 50 and 75 collection achievements did.
  4. Park Your Alternate Characters Near Vanity Pet Dealers - If you park an alt near a vendor that sells the companion pets, then you can easily restock your auction house pet dealer via the mail system.  I like to buy 12-24 pets at a time and send them via the mail to my pet selling alt.
  5. The Neutral Auction House Is Key - You can make a nice profit selling pets to your own faction, but the real gold is in selling your faction's pets to the other faction.  There are pets that only the alliance can buy, therefore more profit is to be made selling to the Horde as they can only purchase the Alliance pets from the auction house or from other players.  Even without a second account for cross-faction trading, you may be able to buy cheap pets from the other faction via the neutral auction house and sell them at marked up prices to your own faction.  I don't have a second account and I continually buy Alliance kittens for 3-4 gold from the neutral auction house to sell to Horde players for 15-25 gold each.
  6. The Remote Auction House Makes Cross-Faction Pet Selling Easy - The ability to simply post your pets right to the neutral auction house without having to be in a neutral city is super fast and easy.  This is a market that I highly recommend utilizing the Remote Auction House for ease and efficiency.
  7. The Super Rare Expensive Pets Sell Better At Expansion's End - At the beginning of an expansion, players are focusing their purchases on being "raid ready" which means gearing up with expensive gear, gems, and enchants.  At the end of an expansion all the luxury expensive items have much better sales when players are gear capped and are piling up extra gold.  Early into an expansion players tend to buy upgrades and required items, then tend to blow excess gold later in the expansion.  So if you snatch up some super rare pets don't get frustrated and unload them for cheap.  Save them for a few months later and sell then for top gold amounts.
  8. Don't Forget The Oracles Pets - The Oracle Pets from the Mysterious Eggs continue to sell.  I still sell the proto-drake whelplings for 200-250g each.  The egg hatches after 3 days now instead of 7, which is a nice change.  If you have an engineer you can use your Wormhole Generator to get really close to the Rainspeaker Canopy where the Oracle vendor resides.
The Vanity Pet market is a highly profitable one and is an inexpensive market to try out if you are a new auctioneer looking to learn about the auction house.  Just remember these 8 tips to help you maximize your profits from these cute little companions.  The market will be seeing a spike in sales for companions as new pets and achievements are coming soon.

Where to Start?

Brand new to the market and unsure where to start?  Here is a quick start guide for you.

Are You Horde?  Start With These
  • Snakes from Ogrimmar
  • Cockroaches from Undercity
  • Prairie Dogs From Thunder Bluff
  • Dragonhawks from Fairbreeze Village, Eversong Woods
Either Faction Can Get These
  • Faire Frogs from Flik at the Darkmoon Faire
  • Exotic Pets from the Exotic Pet Dealer in Stormspire, Netherstorm
Are You Alliance?  Start With These
  • Moths from Exodar
  • Kittens from Stormwind and the Cat Lady outside Goldshire
  • Owls from Darnassus
  • Rabbits from Dun Morogh
WoW Gold Tips by at 6 comments:

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Companion / Vanity Pet Sales To Spike

WoW Companions
Patch 4.1 PTR Data

Vanity pet, or companions as they are now called, sellers should start to see a spike in sales with the new achievements for companion collectors. Coming in Patch 4.1 are 2 new achievements. These achievements will be awarded for collecting 100 pets and 125  There are also 5 new Vanity Pets coming soon.

New Companions
New Companion Achievements
Companion Pets Sales Spike

If you aren't in the vanity pet market, then now may be a great time to enter and start dabbling in this market.  This has long been a very lucrative market on my server, especially if using the neutral auction house to trade cross-faction.  Players just love collecting things likes mounts and vanity pets.  There is ALWAYS a spike in sales of companion pets when new acheivements are introduced into World of Warcraft.  These achievements will spark an increase in sales of these companion pets as early as...already.  Players that are already aware of the incoming achievements have begun to start pushing for those new achievement quantity requirements.  Hopefully these will award new vanity pets for completion.

The other time that vanity pets see a noticable sales spike is during In-Game Holidays.  Check out my Guide To Vanity Pet Sales to get you starting profiting on the auction house within the companion pet market.
WoW Gold Tips by at 5 comments:

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Junkies Your Fix Is Ready Episode #4

Auction House Junkies Podcast

The Auction House Junkies World of Warcraft Gold Making Podcast proudly presents to you Episode #4.

We had a blast recording this episode and we think you will enjoy it as much as we did.  Sorry to keep you little junkies waiting an extra few days for this episode.  Work is crazy for both of us right now, but we are still trying to crank out new episodes every couple of weeks. 

This time we cover some of the following topics:
  • Remote Auction House
  • Account Security Authenticators
  • Listener Questions
  • Blizzcon
  • Not Archeaology
  • Another Giveaway (Listen to find out what and how to enter)
So head over to AuctionHouseJunkies.com and choose your favorite way to listen.  You can use the podbean homepage, or look for Auction House Junkies on iTunes, or you can listen to it from the embedded player on the Auction House Junkies main page.  This embedded player sometimes takes an extra day or two to load the feed onto the embedded player.

Bloggers

Don't forget to get you entries in for the March Blogging Carnival.
WoW Gold Tips by at 1 comment:

Friday, February 25, 2011

PTR Data Brings New Shinies

Renowned Guild Tabard is coming.  Can't wait to snag these up for my alts to help push that guild reputation and level grind.  Illustrious Guild Tabard is going to be available from an earlier guild reputation level or requirement.  Championing for your Guild Reputation will be so nice for my alts who help push the guild reputation grind.

Landro's Lichling is a new Vanity Pet.  I wonder if it is being added to the WoW TCG Loot from the War of Elements expansion coming around April.

A couple of fun items are also being included to the game.  Fool's Gold can transform up to 25 players into Greedy Kobolds.  And the War Party Hitching Post which allow 25 players to summon a Hitch Horse mount.  Maybe these will come from the TCG as well.

8 New Mounts will be available eventually as they have also been found in the data.  Yay - fun stuff, mounts, companions, ZG and ZA, epics, oh my!

WoW Gold Tips by at No comments:

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Mysterious Fortune Card Barks Revisited









Mysterious Fortune Cards

One of the most common topics that I am frequently asked about is the Mysterious Fortune Cards.
Questions come in regarding dealing with competition, barking assistance, and when to reset the market. The most common request is for new barking ideas or new barks. So here you go. By popular request, I am releasing my current list of barks that I use for selling this excellent Inscription money maker. Remember to check out the Announce It add-on as it will make your life a ton easier when barking your fortune cards.

If you aren't up to speed on these items, please review the Mysterious Fortune Cards Compilation.  This was a previous post here at Cold's Gold Factory that leads to many posts around the blogosphere, as well as my own series on the Mysterious Fortune Cards.

My Current and Successful Barking Macros




  • Are You Underage and Wish you could Gamble, but can't get into a Casino?  Well now is your chance!  Blizzard has created [Mysterious Fortune Card] for You!

  • Is Lady Luck on Your Side?  Will You Get Lucky Tonight?  Flip a [Mysterious Fortune Card] on the AH.  No One Will Know...

  • Are You Sitting Half Naked In A Beanbag Chair Eating Cheetos?  Well Buy Some [Mysterious Fortune Card]s off the AH Now.  You Won't Get A Life, but You Could Win 5000 gold!






  • New Messages, New Players, New Winners!  Grab Some [Mysterious Fortune Card]s off the Auction House.  Tons of Fun...5k Jackpot possible from just 1 ticket.


  • Don'tcha Let Da Raid Leada Be Catchin' You Missin' Raid from Gamblin'.  Grab Summa Me [Mysterious Fortune Card]s Fo Da Road.





There you have it.  Those are the exact macros that I use in game to bark my Fortune Cards.  Hope these help to spark not just your sales, but your creativity as well. 

If you just can't get enough barks to read, then head over to The Tipped Copper and Xeroaxe's Barking Post.  I got inspiration for a couple of my favorites from his site.


Feel Free To Add Your Favorites That Work For You To The Comment Section
 

Check out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Guide.
WoW Gold Tips by at 12 comments:

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Only AH Add-On Required

The Only Add-On You Will Ever Need

Your Brain.

Anyone who wants to learn to play the auction house in World of Warcraft can do it.  Some players think that add-ons are required.  Not a single add-on is required to be a lucrative auction house merchant.  Add-ons only make things easier.  If you are new and starting out on the auction house you don't have to download a single add-on.  In my opinion, you will get a much deeper and better understanding of the auction house if you do not use any add-ons at all. 

Granted, add-ons do make things much easier and faster, but they can also cause problems.  Some players will set up traps that are meant to trick the add-on and its autopricing.  Inexperienced auctioneers may fall for these devious traps and lose out on a lot of gold.

 In my opinion, add-ons should only be added to make tasks easier or more efficient.  I recommend building off of what you learn without add-ons, then add a few add-ons.  When you have grasped how those work, maybe add a few more as required.  Never let go of the knowledge you learn from playing the auction house, studying it, and manipulating it without the help of any add-ons.  When you can master the auction house with your brain power, you will exercise your mind and strengthen your ability to both analyze and comprehend. 

The number one add-on that you will need to use is your BRAIN. 

All of the data that an add-on creates is based off of the same information that your brain has access to by simply viewing the auction house and cross referencing the prices.  Add-ons can't tell you when it is time to bail out of a market or what item to stock up on for the next big patch.  An add-on won't be able to tell you whether to learn or flip that rare pattern.  Nor will it be able to decide which recipe to learn first.  Add-ons aren't required to be a successful auction house tycoon.  You will still be required to make many decisions in your auction house tradings.  So exercise your mind's power.

For The Record:  I use Postal, AnnounceIt, Auctioneer, and Gatherer.
WoW Gold Tips by at 7 comments:

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Best Locations To Park Your Alts

Mules

I true auctioneer utilizes each and every one of his or her characters.  Some characters may be
  • Stationed within major cities to post auctions on the auction house.
  • Parked near a forge for smelting or a quest giver for a daily quest.
  • Camped near a crafting material vendor and used predominantly for crafting items.
  • Stationed at a specific farming location for a rare spawn or top selling raw material.
Other characters are simply parked next to a specific vendor.  This characters purchases items and mails them back to an auction house posting character.  The use of a buying agent and an auctioneer together, create an efficient and profitable duo.  Where should you park these buying mules?

Best Locations To Park Your Alts
What other locations can you list for parking alts to bulk purchase vendor recipes?

(My apologies for the late posts the last couple of days.  Blogger is glitching on me and converting my scheduled posts to drafts that aren't going live.)
WoW Gold Tips by at 2 comments:

Monday, February 21, 2011

Bidding With Auctioneer : Reader Submission

Reader Submission:  Auctioneer Question

Ok gang.  I got a reader submitted question, that I don't have a definate answer for.  I am putting it out as today's post in an attempt to find a more suitable answer among the great and highly participatory readers of Cold's Gold Factory.
Hey Cold, here is my quandry, whenever i do a getall scan with auctioneer and do a vendor search, there always happens to be a ton load, like at least 100 gems (current ones) that all have their bid at 1c, i bid on all of them a couple of times but when i got 100 mail back with one copper each a couple of times i got sick of that. So what i was wondering was, is there a way automate a bid on on these items at 49 silver under vendor price (because i assume most people have their vendor search at 50 silver minimum profit) so that i only have to do 1 click and probably not have to worry about 100 mail with 1 copper in them!  -Robbie Clark

Well Robbie, I myself don't have a specific answer about this.  I am inclined to say that it isn't possible, especially after the changes to the auction house system.  Blizzard wants you to have to make at least a single click for each item as to not allowed semi-botting programs.

The only tip I can give you when it comes to bidding on the auction house is this.  Don't even bothering bidding unless there is 12 hours or less before the item's auction ends.  Better yet, try to only bid on items within their last 2 hours or 30 minutes to increase your odds of winning that item.  Bidding too early means you are almost guaranteed to be undercut, which leads to more mail collection and possible a lost item.

Ok gang.  Anyone have a work around for Robbie?
WoW Gold Tips by at 8 comments:

Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Dumb and The Desperate

"Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it."

Publius Syrus (42 B.C)

Trade Chat

Are you watching the trade chat channel while you are in the major cities?  Are you entrenched into your routine and letting easy opportunities pass you buy?  There sometimes exist easy opportunities to help another player out, turn a profit, and have a laugh all at the same time.  Let me explain about a couple of recent customers that I have helped from the trade chat channel.  I like to the break the monotony of the auction house game up a bit by servicing the needs of the trade chat shouters.  Having multiple professions covered is a great increase to the chances that you will find work in the trade chat channel.

The Dumb and The Desperate Customers

Some players are completely ignorant of the auction house and how it works.  Others may be too rushed to check the prices on the auction house before agreeing on a deal in private whispers.  Take a look at a couple of these fine specimens that I assisted. 

The Dumb

I was on my scribe one night selling Mysterious Fortune Cards and posting glyphs.  I noticed that one of my glyphs had just sold, so I contacted the buyer to see if he needed any other glyphs.  I told him I would beat the AH prices.  He then told me the 3 mage glyphs he needed crafted.  I crafted the 3 glyphs and told him to, "Hold on a second while I check the prices."  Before I can tally a total for his order he says, "How's 500g?"  Of course I take the 500 gold for the 3 Mage glyphs.  He comes and meets me and I trade him the 3 glyphs for the agreed 500 gold.  Funny thing is he flew to the auction house to pay me and collect his glyphs.  We were standing right next to an auctioneer in the auction house.  Checking the auction house would have shown him the total price for buying those same 3 glyphs off of the auction house was only 105 gold total.  Just plain dumb.

The Desperate

I was going about my normal auction house posting routine one night, when I saw this in trade chat. 

"WTB Accurate Scope!  Will Pay Anything!"

I quickly contacted the buyer and offered to craft it for him for 350g my mats.  He replied, "Yes!  Finally found an engineer.  350 gold sounds great!  I'm finally able to get my engineering specialty."

So I sold a single Accurate Scope to this guy for a whopping 350g!


So don't forget to explore your other options with interacting with players through the trade channel.  Maybe you can profit off of some of the dumb and the desperate on your server.

Anyone else have any similar experience to share in the comments?
WoW Gold Tips by at 1 comment:

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Get Stoned At The Darkmoon Faire

Gelvas Grimegate
Darkmoon Faire Ticket Redemption

Each week that the Darkmoon Faire is visiting Azeroth is another chance to gamble on some random number generated goodies.  The Darkmoon Faire Prize Tickets that are awarded from completing any of the Darkmoon Faire repeatable quests can be turned in to the Ticket Redeeming npc, Gelvas Grimegate.

Duck originally posted about the best way to gain Darkmoon Faire Prize Tickets over at the Consortium Forums.  Dense Stones are dirt cheap on most servers and can usually be purchased in large quantities.  I buy any stacks of Dense Stone that I can find under 1 gold per stack.  You can gather these Dense Stones all month long in preparation for when the Darkmoon Faire arrives.

Use a blacksmith to craft Dense Grinding Stones and turn them in for the repeatable quest within the Darkmoon Faire grounds.  The quest Rituals of Strength awards 20 Darkmoon Faire Prize Tickets for turning in 8 Dense Grinding Stones.  Anyone can turn these grinding stones in, you don't have to be a blacksmith to complete the quest.  By gathering dense stones and converting them to dense grinding stones for ticket turn-ins, you have yourself a very easy and cheap way to get a lot of the Darkmoon Faire Prizes.

Darkmoon Faire Prizes

Here is where you get to gamble against the random number generator.  Each of these Darkmoon Faire Prizes  has a chance to gain some green gear, rarer blue gear, contains like Traveler's Backpacks and Knapsacks, common, uncommon, and rare recipes.  You can even be awarded some of the super rare blue recipes like the Pattern: Rich Purple Silk Shirt or Plans: Mithril Shield Spike.

Regardless of what prizes you get, you will make gold on your investment.  Some of the greens you get will be nice enough to sell to leveling characters and the junk greens can be disenchanted.  Those enchanting materials can be sold raw or processed further into finished goods.  Since you will be disenchanting a lot of these items, I highly recommend using your Enchanter as the character to turn in the Dense Grinding Stones for the Prizes.  This will save you some time.  Another time saving option is to use an engineer, who can plop down a Moll-E mailbox to gather the Dense Grinding Stones from the mailbox as well as mail off items to other auction house alts or your enchanter.

Costs 40 Darkmoon Faire Prize Tickets  Greater Darkmoon Prize : Contents
Costs 12 Darkmoon Faire Prize Tickets  Lesser Darkmoon Prize : Contents
Costs 05 Darkmoon Faire Prize Tickets  Minor Darkmoon Prize : Contents

Parting Thoughts

This is always going to be profitable, if you are buying the dense stones for cheap.  Just save your stones up and do a mass crafting of the grinding stones at the end of your play session.  This way you don't lose playtime crafting the hundreds of Dense Grinding Stones.  I have got many nice items to sell on the Auction House all from just buying Dense Stones, converting them to Dense Grinding Stones, gathering tickets, and getting prizes from Gelvas Grimgate.  It really is a sure fire way to make some easy gold.  Just make sure you know what your recipes are truly worth before you post them at the wrong price.  You should also be on the watch for underpriced recipes during the Darkmoon Faire Week from others that are trying this strategy, but posting their rare blue recipes for far less than they are worth.

And be sure to stop and check what Lhara has for sale while you are at the Darkmoon Faire.
WoW Gold Tips by at No comments:

Friday, February 18, 2011

Saronite Ore Solutions - Alchemist/Blacksmith/Miner

Got A Lot Of Saronite Ore In The Bank?

Many of us had stockpiled saronite ore at the end of Wrath of the Lich King.  I purchased all of my Saronite Ore stockpile at 12 gold or less per full stack of Saronite Ore.  Many times I would find the Saronite Ore for under 9 gold per stack.  Since 2 stacks of Saronite Ore smelt into 1 stack of Saronite Bars that sell for 25 gold per stack, simply smelting these Saronite Ores into Saronite Bars will yield a profit.  This gives me some leeway to experiment into different uses for the bars. 

Watch The Other Markets Of Side Products

Saronite Bars are used in various crafting recipes, but the main markets that may be seeing repeat sales are eternal belt buckles, titanium bars, titanium rods.  You can use a miner/alchemist/blacksmith combination on different characters as the best combination to move your Saronite Ore from your guild banks into gold in your stash.  Don't just look at the market prices of Saronite Ore and Saronite Bars.  Look beyond those to the next tier of crafting.  That is the level to play on.  Then you can look even farther into another level of crafting for more profits.

Miner

The Miner is used to Smelt some of the Saronite Ore into Saronite Bars.  Those Saronite Bars are then mailed to the Alchemist character and also are mailed to the Blacksmith character.

Alchemist

The Alchemist gathers the Saronite Bars from the mailbox.  She then transmutes them into Titanium Bars.  She is a transmutation specialization alchemist, which gives some extra Titanium Bars when it procs.  She keeps half of those Saronite Bars and sends the other half to the blacksmith character.  This character watches the Saronite Bar market on the Auction House and posts Titanium Bars onto the Auction House in bar form.  The market price tends to peak and spike often, so some days are good days to sell in Bar form and other days the market drops.  It's probably from a new alchemist leveling their alchemy skill.  Just hang onto the bars and sell them at a better time.

Blacksmith

The Blacksmith is used to turn the Saronite Bars and Titanium Bars into Titanium Rods.  These rods are required by enchanters.  There are many things that you can sell to leveling enchanters and rods are one of the best markets for Blacksmiths to watch. 

Eternal Belt buckles are still selling as many players are still buying the old belt buckles as they level or find blue gear.  Seems that they are saving their gold to buy the new expensive belt buckle once they get an epic or raid belt. 

You can also watch the Saronite Ore Bar market with this character and toss up a few at moments when the price spikes.  Or you can try to reset the market when there aren't many left on the auction house. 

Another market to also watch that involves Saronite is Titanium Shield Spikes.  If price spikes, craft and post one and test the market before cranking a bunch out just becasue the price jumped up.

Miner/Alchemist/Blacksmith

This has been the best combination for getting rid of Saronite Ore in various craftable item markets.  So if you are looking for a way to get rid of some of that Saronite Ore stockpile that is just sitting there, then try moving some out in these various markets.  The markets are starting to reset to higher levels for raw materials from Northrend as less characters are in Northrend and the farmers have moved into the Cataclysm zones for the higher priced ores.
WoW Gold Tips by at 2 comments:

Thursday, February 17, 2011

10 Top Secret Days For Making Gold

Real Life Events

Happenings in the real world do affect markets and competition within the World of Warcraft gaming universe.  Here is a list of 10 days to play the auction house for higher than normal profits.  Real life events  pull players away from the game.  These days will pull buyers, but also will pull competitors away as well.  There are tons more buyers for every auctioneer that posts items regularly.  Any missing competitors can greatly increase your sales and profit margins.

In addition to being better days to turn a profit, these days can also be beneficial for other tasks which benefit from less players, such as winning the fishing derbies or hunting rare spawns.  Real world holidays are actually a tougher day to make gold, since there are so many people off of work, you will most likely see increased competition.  Therefore there are none on this list.

10 Days To Play The Auction House And Make Extra Gold
(In no particular order)
  1. Super Bowl Sunday - The most watched event every year (in the US).
  2. Opening Sunday of the NFL Football Season - Servers are dead on this Sunday.
  3. NFL Championship Sunday
  4. NFL Wildcard Weekend (Sat and Sun)
  5. The Grammy Awards - Made a killing during the ceremony this year with no competition at all on fortune cards and jacked the price up to 45 gold each.
  6. The MLB World Series (4-7 Days!) - Sales are always great these nights!
  7. The MTV Video Music Awards
  8. The Academy Awards (The Oscars) - Most watched awards ceremony every year, but I bet the Grammy's pull more WoW players away from the game.
  9. The NCAA Final 4 and Championship Games (March Madness)
  10. The MLB All-Star Game - The most watched all star game.
Obviously this list is geared towards US servers.  Other countries have similar events, like when Manchester United plays, or The World Cup Finals, etc.

Can you think of any other days or events to add to this list?
WoW Gold Tips by at 5 comments:

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Sell Lovely Charm Bracelets On The AH

My Siamese Berg'inyon On the Laptop

Lovely Charm Bracelets

The Love Is In The Air Lovely Charm Bracelets crafted from Lovely Charms are needed by players for the turn-ins to get the items to complete the holiday achievement and also to buy the Truesilver Shafted Arrow for the vanity pet.  Most people are stuck selling these in trade chat as the Lovely Charm Bracelets cannot be posted on the Auction House because they are a conjured item.

There is a glitch that allows you to sell these on the auction house, if you post them by using the Remote Auction House.  The Remote Auction House costs $2.99 extra per month, but this little bonus is an excellent tool for unloading those extra Lovely Charm Bracelets on the Auction House.  Not only can you post them remotely, but there is little to no competition as most players either don't know about the glitch or don't have the remote auction house service.  And this sure beats barking to sell them in trade chat.

So be sure to post them up and unload them before the end of the holiday before they expire with the holiday's end.


UPDATED:  Best Spot To Farm Lovely Charms - 2012
WoW Gold Tips by at 7 comments:

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Auction House Junkies T-Shirts

Are You A True Junkie For Auction House Junkies?

Ok, so I got a great deal on business cards and the same company also sells T-Shirts.  What I am thinking of doing is creating a T-shirt for the Auction House Junkies podcast.  It would be a basic white T-Shirt with an Auction House Junkies name with Hagor.

I am thinking of selling them for $16 (includes US shipping)
International buyers would be $20 (including international shipping)
Also would use a few for giveaways to listeners of the show.

My question is would any of you purchase a T-shirt to show your Auction House Junkies pride and help promote the show by wearing it to conventions, gaming nights, LAN parties, etc?

These prices don't leave room for much profit, just enough to cover what I give away on the show.

So what do you guys think?

Good idea or not?
Would you buy one?
Pricing ok?

Please comment below.

WoW Gold Tips by at 9 comments:

Monday, February 14, 2011

Captain Samir's Blacksmithing Plans


Captain Samir
Captain Samir

Captain Samir is a vendor found within the Smuggler's Scar in Kelp'thar Forest.  He sells 10 different Blacksmithing Plans (including one limited quantity recipe) that can be purchased and flipped on the auction house.  He is not present in the Smuggler's Scar cave until you complete some quests and rescue him. 

Unlocking Captain Samir

You must first complete a short quest chain in order to rescue Samir and be able to interact with him.  Some players may be completely unaware that he even exists, since the majority of players chose Mt. Hyjal over questing underwater.

The quest that unlocks Samir is given by Adarrah and is Ain't Too Proud To Beg.

You must complete 2 early quests in the chain first.  Both are rather easy as one is just to talk to her, then the other is a scouting mission.

Captain Samir's Blacksmithing Plans

This guy is in a Cataclysm zone, yet he is a Burning Crusade recipe vendor.  Here is a list of the goodies that you can purchase from Captain Samir.
These are some great patterns for leveling Blacksmithing so they will move on the auction house.  Both Adamantite and Eternium Rod plans can be marked up steeply.  Some of these patterns can be found in either Shadowmoon Valley or Shattrath City, but Captain Samir has all of the patterns of both of those vendors.  The 3 armor plans create blue dps gear that also can be crafted and sold to leveling characters.

Anyone else found any nice new vendors in the new zones, besides the lvl 84 Twilight Highlands vendors?
WoW Gold Tips by at 6 comments:

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival: March Topic

These blogging carnivals are excellent resources for our readers to get some excellent nuggets of knowledge all in one place. They are also excellent tools for bloggers to get recognized and start to drive traffic from our sites to yours. I highly recommend participating in these blogging carnivals as your submission's will tend to be some of the most visited content on your site. Be sure to read about the benefits of blogging carnivals, if you are undecided about participating in Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival.
What Is a Blogging Carnival?

A blogging carnival is a compilation of blog posts all created around one specific topic, which is chosen by the host site. Entries into the carnival are submitted to the host. The host then organizes the posts into one big post with links back to the original articles on the participating author's sites.


Rules for Cold's Gold Factory Blogging Carnivals
  • Create the entire post on your own site.  
  • Send me an email with a link to your post. SSmith0911 (at) live (dot) com
  • Submissions must be in by the 10th of each month.
  • All carnivals will go live on Cold's Gold Factory on the 11th of each month.
  • All World of Warcraft bloggers are invited to participate. You don't have to author a gold making blog, but you need to follow the set topic.
  • Each post written for the carnival should begin with a link with the anchor text "Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival" and link to http://coldsgoldfactory.blogspot.com/p/colds-gold-blogging-carnivals.html

Learn more about the importance of proper anchor text here. Linking to the above page with the proper anchor text in each carnival entry will help to drive traffic to the gold blogging carnival and in turn drive more traffic to your entries.


MARCH 11th Topic: What Was Your Defining Moment?  The moment when the lightbulb came on and you decided to start auctioning or collecting gold.  Remember The Tale of a Gorilla Hunter?  We had such good discussion on that post, I decided to turn it into the March blogging carnival topic.  You can use this carnival topic as an oppurtunity to write in a different style, if you wish.  Maybe attack it from a roleplaying point of view, write it in 3rd person, or be a story teller.  You can get creative with this one gang!
Be sure to check out the previous carnivals if you missed them.
 
Favorite Farming Spots in Cataclysm (Jan)
Top 3 Tips For A Little Goblin (Feb)
WoW Gold Tips by at 3 comments:

Saturday, February 12, 2011

The Undermine Journal : The Gem Array

The Undermine Journal Enhancements Tab

Over at the New Undermine Journal site are all sorts of tools for your serious gold makers.  The enhancements tab provides a quick way to look into some of the various World of Warcraft crafting professions.  Tailoring, Leatherworking, Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting, Enchanting, and Inscription are all covered.  This tab provides quick links to popular items within each profession and a variety of charts are included with each profession.

Jewelcrafting Tab - The Gem Array

Under the Jewelcrafting Enhancement tab you will find a nice chart for a quick review of various gem cuts and whether it is profitable or not to cut each gem on average.  This is just one of the tools for determining which jewelcraftig recipe cuts may be the best to get with your Jeweler's Tokens from completely the Jewelcrafting dailies.

Reading the Gem Array Charts

The chart is a little confusing at first becasue our eyes are trained to read from left to right.  With the Gem Array charts you need to read top to bottom as the uncut gem price is at the top, with the cut selling prices listed below.  Great thing is that these charts compare uncommon cuts to uncommon gems and perfect cut uncommon gems, rare cuts to rare gems, and the currently unreleased epic gem cuts will fit right into this same chart.  Sites like Wowpopular will tell you what the most popular cuts are for each class, but that is based on world wide data.  Using The Undermine Journal shows you what cuts are selling the best on your server and further narrows it down to your faction on your server.  This is a much more detailed look into the markets that you are actually involved in.


When looking at the chart
  • Blue = Bad - These cut gems are selling for 75% of the uncut value.  Don't cut these as you can sell the raws for more gold, or choose a better paying cut.
  • Yellow = Good - These cut gems are selling for 1.5x the price of the uncut version.
  • Red = Awesome - These cut gems are selling for 3x the price of the uncut version.
Simply clicking on a single gem will also take you to the market data for that specific gem.  The Undermine Journal has ton of great information if you just dig in and do some researching and comparing.  This is just one of the many features at The Undermine Journal.

Be sure to check out some of the other Undermine Journal features I have written about.

The Undermine Journal's Other Markets Chart

The Undermine Journal Returns

The Undermine Journal's Market Notifications


Aren't You Happy The Undermine Journal Is Back?
WoW Gold Tips by at 2 comments:

Friday, February 11, 2011

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival #2 Top 3 Tips For New Auctioneers



Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival

Welcome to the February edition of Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival.  These carnivals will continue to take place the 11th day of every month and will be hosted here at Cold's Gold Factory. All World of Warcraft bloggers are welcome to participate and feedback both here and on the original authors' sites is strongly encouraged.  So show some support and please leave some feedback in the comments section.  These bloggers put a lot of time and hard work into these blogging carnival posts so please leave comments and feedback.

If you would like to be included in the next month's carnival, please review the guidelines for Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals and submit your link via email (ssmith0911 at live dot com) before the 10th of the month.  Read up on the benefits of participating in blogging carnivals at my other blog designed to help new bloggers, Blogging Vitals.  Articles are listed in the order they are received.  Thank you to all the bloggers participating in this months carnival!  And without further ado, I present to you this month's participants answering the question:

 What 3 Pieces Of Advise Would You Give A Little Goblin? (3 Top Tips For New Auctioneers?)

Here this month we have a nice collections of tips for helping those goblins that are aspiring to be great WoW gold makers.  If you are new to the auction house game or are just curious about getting started be sure to listen to your elders.  We have gone before you and can teach you many things.  Also remember to check out the Gold Guide over at 20k Leveling - another great resource to get you up and running and making tons of gold in no time.  Be sure to check out AuctionHouseJunkies.com for the podcast on making gold hosted by myself and Wes of Capped By Cata.

Research, Expand, And Automate by Coldstream of World of Auctions


Simple Great Tips For Young Goblins by Kreaton of Not So Secret Society
Buy From The Middle, Pay Attention To The Bids, and Try Cross-Faction Trading


The Snowball Effect by Azuriel of Player Vs Auction House
Taking Stock, Seed Money, and Being the Avalanche


Three Tips For Breaking Into Gold Making by Brouck of Confessions of a Half Ass Gold Maker
Use The Internet, Know Your Server, and Don't Be Afraid of Add-Ons and Macros


Level, Level Again, and Learn Your Realm Cycles by Gertz of Two Gold, One Auction House



Add-0ns, Learning, and Researching by Dan of Making Gold With Dan


Plan, Research, and Stick To What's Working by Smudger of Warcraft Corner


Selling, Wise Undercutting, and Using Professions by Shamaenei of Elemental Gold


Getting Your Feet Wet At The Auction House by Faid of Nerf Faids


Bidding, Buying Late, and Not Using Auctioneer? by Zoxy of Zoxy's Resource (Trading With Zoxy)
WoW Gold Tips by at 1 comment:

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Auction House Junkies #3 Released

Auction House Junkies

Episode #3 of Auction House Junkies is out.

This episode we cover Lovely Charms, Diversifying, Reader Questions, Announce the Wow Addon Coding Book Winner, among other great topics, but NOT about archaeology. /wrist

So head on over to the homepage.  You can access us on iTunes as well.  Feel free to leave comments here, at AHJ, at iTunes, or on the podbean host page.

As always, Thanks for your continued support.

http://www.auctionhousejunkies.com/
WoW Gold Tips by at 1 comment:

The Undermine Journal : Other Markets Feature


The Undermine Journal

Digging into more of The Undermine Journal's uses today.  Be sure to get caught up on a couple of earlier posts about The Undermine Journal that I wrote here at Cold's Gold Factory.

The Undermine Journal Returns With Improvements
The Undermine Journal : Using Market Notifications

Let's look at exploring the Other Markets Feature.  I have chosen to search for the above item, Tsunami Deck.  You can see the market price on my server is 48,262.5 gold.  When you scroll down the data on each individual item page you will find the Other Markets graph.

Other Markets Comparison


What can you deduce from the above chart for Tsunami Decks on Eitrigg?  I play Horde side.  Looking at this chart you should immediately notice 2 distinct things.

  1. My server is way overpriced compared to other servers.
  2. The Alliance side is much higher priced than the Horde side.
So if you were on this server, your best bet may be to transfer the item to the Alliance side and sell it for more.  The data is only a few days old and is during The Darkmoon Faire week, but it is current.  You can't see if the items are selling at that high of a price because of the limited data with The Undermine Journal just coming back online.  Once there is more data mining, you can also look at the heat maps and recent sold prices.  I will go into those on a later post once there is more data collected at The Undermine Journal.

This Other Markets comparison feature is also a great tool to use, if you are looking for or thinking about a server transfer.  Get the scoop on multiple markets with real data before you transfer over.  I am very happy that The Undermine Journal is back online.  I will be continue to do some more posts about its uses, benefits, and how to use some of the features contained within.
WoW Gold Tips by at 5 comments:

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The Land of Free Volatile Earth


Nodrassil, Mount Hyjal

A great place to put those mining skills to use is at the Mount Jyjal inn.  Just outside the initial quest staging zone of the inn, there are countess numbers of Scalding Rock Elementals.  These Elementals are fighting the guards and are easy pickings.  The guards will help you kill them, but once killed they can be looted and then mined.  When you use your mining skill on the Scalding Rock Elemental corpse, they have a chance to produce 1-2 Volatile Earths.  The greys that come from both looting and mining their corpses will pile up fast, but can easily be sold right back inside the inn.

Elemental Goo

Elemental Goo is one of the Horde daily quests that can be randomly selected as the daily for all jewelcrafters.  On days that the selected quest is Elemental Goo, this same area mentioned above becomes much more exciting and profitable.  The Jewelcrafting daily quest required the jewelers to loot 10 quest drop items from any Cataclysm elementals.  These elementals are the closest and easiest elementals near Orgrimmar.  There will be a lot of jewelcrafters coming to kill their 15-20 mobs for the 10 quest drops that will fly or portal right back to town.  They leave the corpses of the elementals scattered everywhere.  All you need to do is run up and down the kill lines and mine the corpses before they despawn.

The Scalding Rock Elementals also drop Lovely Charms during the Love Is In the Air in game holiday.
WoW Gold Tips by at 9 comments:

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The New Undermine Journal - Even Better


THE UNDERMINE JOURNAL IS BACK

The Undermine Journal was an awesome tool for gold makers in the United States.  It has been heavily missed since its closure.  It is back in business and is better than ever.  Take a peek into The Undermine Journal.  Cold's Gold Factory is one of the blogs regularly featured in the Editorials section of The Journal.

Before its closure, I had done a ground breaking article on Using Market Notifications at The Undermine Journal.  It is a must read for anyone who likes to find rare patterns on the Auction House.  I had found some great deals using this feature and it was missed while unavailable.

What Is New?
  1. All US Servers Are Included Now!  No More Voting!
  2. Realm Comparison Charts Now Also List Your Server's Other Faction!
  3. Posting and Selling Heat Maps!
  4. Much More Fluid Graphing!
If you've been to The Undermine Journal then you will be even more impressed.  If this is your first exposure to The Undermine Journal, then go visit it when you can sit down and dig through the charts and play with the graphs.  It will open an all new way to analyze markets and get the scoop on competitors.

Price and Availability History


Here I was resetting the Mysterious Fortune Card market from 19g to 35g.  If you can see the lower graph shows that the volume was low.  I bought out the cards there and reposted and rest the price.  Yeah it slowly came back down, but I was making a lot more during the reset time.  You can also see that it took 2 days for the market to come back down in price, but I took the weekend off and the beginning of the week as well. 

This is just one of the great features at The Undermine Journal.  Be sure to add this great site to your arsenal.  And stay tuned for more great feature breakdowns here at Cold's Gold Factory.
WoW Gold Tips by at 8 comments:

Monday, February 7, 2011

Lovely Charm Farming Hotspots: Icecrown


Back To Icecrown

At level 85, most of the Icecrown areas for farming Lovely Charms the quickest can be found in the Northrend zone of Icecrown.  The top 5 areas are marked in blue on the Icecrown map above. 

The training grounds North of Jotunheim have a decently fast spawn rate, especially if there isn't much competition.  The Cathedral entrance at Onslaught Harbor is an excellent AoE killing area.  The mobs are close together and are quick to respawn.  The cultists just west of the Argent Tournament Grounds are one of the best spots that I have been using.  Mobs are plenty, even with competition, and respawn very fast.  You can get large groups to pull at once rather easily.  You also can farm the shades that are summoned by the Deathspeaker, just leave him alive and he will keep summoning.  The seigesmiths to the South are another great option. 

UPDATED:  Best Spot To Farm Lovely Charms - 2012
WoW Gold Tips by at 4 comments:

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Farming Lovely Charm Bracelets and Charms


Today Is The Day

The Love Is In The Air Holiday event has started today.  So while everyone else is out trying to finish the Fool For Love achievement and farming apocetharies for the Big Love Rocket, some of us goblins will be focused on trying to find the best spots for collecting Lovely Charms. 

If you haven't already, first review the Lovely Charm Farming post from a few days ago.  This post is a continuation of that post.  This post today will serve as the main discussion grounds for new spots for farming Lovely Charms.

I will list a few of the places that I am going to try out, and I would like readers to submit other ideas of spots to try.  Then together as a team we can report back here on all places we came up with as ideas.  Simply come back to this page and list if the areas are dropping Lovely Charms or verify that these locations are not dropping the lovely charms.

So here are some of the areas that I am other readers have thought of so far.  Let's get to testing and reporting your results.
  1. The Gunship Quests in Twilight Highlands that have you circling the Krazzworks and shooting tons of mobs from the turrets of the gunship.
  2. The naga bombing quests in SW Vash'jir where you flying overhead and bomb tons of mobs.
  3. The Cataclysm dungeon in Deepholme with 100+ initiates at the end.
  4. The plauge catapult quest in Dragonblight.
  5. The Shark Riding Naga Eating Quest in Vash'jir.
Go ahead and start listing some new ideas and then come back and repost when you verify that they do or do not drop Lovely Charms.  I will be updating on Twitter as I find or rule out spots so be sure to follow me @SSmith0911.

Let's find some spots before they get nerfed and exploit them.  Something is bound to slip through, we just have to focus on finding it together.

UPDATED:  Best Spot To Farm Lovely Charms - 2012
J!NX :: Clothing for Gamers and Geeks
Also Check Out My Post On The Total Number Of Lovely Charms Needed For A Swift Lovebird.  (It's Not 2700!)
WoW Gold Tips by at 8 comments:

Saturday, February 5, 2011

JMTC Coaching Program Breakdown

Cold is a JMTC WoW Coach
The JMTC Coaching Program

Following the success of his #1 Gold Making Guide, Markco of Just My Two Copper and 20k Leveling has a new project.  This project is ground breaking and revolutionary.  Straight from the mastermind of Markco comes the Just My Two Copper WoW Coaching Program.

This is a coaching program where players can search for a coach that specializes in any World of Warcraft related topic.  This isn't just for learning about gold making, but options for finding help with PvP, Talent Builds, Raiding, Twinking, PvE, or anything else that happens in game.  Most coaches are willing to put in some one-on-one time with you for your coaching session, others can teach through emails, and some can be holding group coaching sessions.  The program was just released on Friday February 4, 2011.  The sky is the limit.

Costs for an interested player can vary greatly depending on the coach's price sheet.  Coaching can range from as little as $5 to $25 per hour.  There is only so much that you can get from a blog when compared to an actual real life coaching session for an hour or longer that includes question and answer sessions and specific tailored counseling.  This is a great idea and I am happy to be one of the initial coaches enrolled.

If you are interested in personal one-on-one coaching from me, then head over to the 20k Leveling Find a WoW Coach page.  Look for me, Cold.  The picture there matches my header at Cold's Gold Factory.

Making Money As A Coach

There are 2 ways for WoW players to make real life cash by doing what they love.  You can profit from being a coach.  All coaching money is yours to keep.  The second option is by referring coaches to join the program.

The coaching program costs $10 per month for coaches.  This helps cover hosting costs, tutorials from Markco, coaching members area, etc.  The biggest benefit of joining this coaching network is you get listed in the coaching directory over at JMTC.  This will be one of the easiest places for eager players looking to find a coach to get matched up with a coach of their choosing.  So you definitely want to be listed in the directory of coaches.

The second way to make money is by referring other coaches to the program.  For each coach you refer, you get half of their $10 a month coaching membership fee.  It's $5 per referred coach that signs up under you.  So refer two coaches and you are making back your $10 per month.  And there is a 60 day money back guarantee, so you are free to experiment with the coaching program.

Join My Coaching Crew

If you are an expert in any area of World of Warcraft you should sign up to become a coach for the Just My Two Copper Coaching Program.  Help teach someone else what you know and help pay for that WoW account and internet provider fees!

You should also follow my link, so that you become part of my coaching crew.  Why, you ask?  Well, I don't know everything.  If I get an inquiry for something that I would be uncomfortable with as a coaching topic, then I will first and foremost refer my potential clients to coaches that have signed up using my affiliate link.  I also have a vested interest in your continued success so I will be available for helping assist my fellow coaches who join my coaching crew.

Like I said earlier, this program is brand new and just released so demand is very high at this time.  There are a lot of players looking to be tutored right now, so don't wait.  Getting in on the ground level has some major advantages.  Some coaches are already getting players looking for help!

To sign up as a coach follow the link to 20k Leveling, then scroll all the way to the bottom.  The "Coaching" Link is at the very bottom, right side of the page.  So come on in to the Just My Two Copper Coaching Program and help other players out while being compensated for your time.

SIGN UP NOW TO BE A COACH 
WoW Gold Tips by at No comments:

Friday, February 4, 2011

Twilight Highlands Blacksmithing Metal Trader

Kuldar Steeltooth
Kuldar Steeltooth and Brundall Chiselgut
The 2 Metal Traders in Twilight Highlands can only be reached after completing the required quest chain available once you hit level 84.  These new vendors trade smelted mining goods for their blacksmithing plans.  Kuldar Steeltooth is the Horde vendor and he is found at Dragonmaw Port.  Brundall Chiselgut is the alliance vendor and is found at Highbank.  These metal traders have a whoppin 34 Blacksmithing Plans available for your Blacksmith. 
There is no forge in Dragonmaw Port (unsure about Highbank) so make sure to come prepared with the bars already smelted.  If you need a forge for smelting you have to fly to the Krazzworks in the NE corner of Twilight Highlands.
Your Shopping List
There are 34 Recipes (Blacksmithing Plans) available total.
The accepted currencies for the metal traders include: 
Pyrium Bars (in 5 Stacks)
Hardened Elementium Bars (in 2 Stacks)
Elementium Bars (in 20 Stacks)
The total for all 34 Recipes is:  30 Hardened Elementium Bars, 200 Elementium Bars, and 45 Pyrium Bars. 
When broken down to the basic materials requirements for the Hardened Elementium Bars your total shopping list looks like this.  (Each Hardened Elementium Bar requires 10 Elementium Bars and 4 Volatile Earth.)
  • 500 Elementium Bars (or 1000 Elementium Ore)
  • 120 Volatile Earths
  • 45 Pyrium Bars (or 90 Pyrite Ore)

Plan Ahead
Don't be an idiot like me.  Don't go there without your shopping list of required bars.  Don't go there and mail the blacksmith the ores to smelt.  Ouch!  No Forge?!?!  Yeah that big forge looking thing isn't even a forge.  Don't go there thinking that you can just buy these recipes with gold.  Don't be dumb like my pore blacksmith who arrived and left empty handed.  LOL.  Don't think you can smelt your own Hardened Elementium Bars without training the skill first (requires 500 mining skill.)
WoW Gold Tips by at 8 comments:

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Lovely Charm Farming Love Is In The Air

Love Is In The Air Event

The Love is in the Air World of Warcraft In Game Holiday Event will be starting this Sunday.  Are you planning on hunting for some spots to gather tons of the Lovely Charms?  The Lovely Charm Bracelet is not bound to your character, therefore it can be sold for nice amounts of gold to other players. 


It takes 10 [Lovely Charm]s to create a [Lovely Charm Bracelet].  These can be turned into your faction leaders for their daily quest.  These can also be turned into the Lovely Merchants in capital cities.  Both award Love Tokens, which are the required currencies to purchase the vanity pet, the mount, and the items requried to complete the Holiday Achievements. 

Farming Lovely Charms

First off, don't forget to pick up a Lovely Charm Collector's Kit to allow the collection of the lovely charms.  Note:  You can only get charms to drop off of mobs that would grant honor or experience.

The easiest ways to farm these charms got nerfed last year.  Ulduar dwarfs killed from the vehicles no longer count.  Trampling footman outside of the Icecrown Citadel grounds no longer works.
Bombing runs have been nerfed as well.  The frenzyheart wolvar area in Scholazar Basin has been nerfed also.  So what's left?

There is a chance that the new Cataclysm bombing missions may not have been corrected once the holiday begins.  So check those bombing runs like the Uldum daily or the fly over bombing runs in Vash'jir. 

The other option is to hit experience granting mobs that are closely packed or respawn quickly.  A few good spots (Depending on your level) include the Demon Hunter Initiates (level 70) outside of the Black Temple and the goblin reputation repair farming boat in Venture Bay, Grizzly Hills.  The Venture Co. Evacuees are level 73 so a level 80 can still tear through them for charms and goblin rep at the same time.

Other Farming Options

There are many options available for farming these Lovely Charms.  They can be collected when a party or raid member makes a kill as long as you are close enough.  My question is this:  Can I collect from group kills when I am appropriate level, but my party member is not?  If you can get them, then a 2 man team could reap huge amounts of these by running low level instances with an appropriate leveled partner. 

A high level could escort a lowbie to the end boss in the Cathedral of Scarlet Monastery, attack the boss (which instantly aggros the entire instance and sends them all charging in), AoE down the whole instance in a few quick minutes.  This all depends on whether they will still drop for the lowbie grouped with a higher level character. 

What locations and strategies can you guys think up?


UPDATED:  
Best Spot To Farm Lovely Charms - 2012
Don't Waste 2700 Lovely Charms On A Single Mount!

WoW Gold Tips by at 11 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)