Tips and Tricks for making bank on the Auction House

[Omelet]

Great thread... you may want to edit the comment in the first section to say 1d11h instead of 1d23h as the listings are now 36 hours instead of 48.

Here is my suggestion for pricing weapons for sale...

- If the weapon can only be used by a certain class, filter the weapon by that class. If it can be used by more than one class, filter by either 1h or 2h
- Enter the appropriate stats in the filter to match up with the stats on the item that you want to sell. This should only be done for significant stats (attributes > 100, IAS, Sockets, Life on Hit, Crit Damage). Ensure to use logical breakpoints (i.e. 100, 150, 200) as this matches what your buyers are likely looking for
- Enter maximum buyout that you feel is the ballpark amount for the value of this item
- Search and ensure the sort is by DPS. This is the main criteria people search by when looking at weapons... other than items with inherant IAS, more DPS = better weapon = higher price
- If your items DPS is lower than the top few items listed, reduce your maximum buyout below the lowest of the first few weapons and search again. If you original guess was *way* off, you may need to go even lower.
- Converserly, if your items DPS is higher, adjust the max buyout upwards
- Repeat the above until you find the approximate price for your item

Note: IAS on a weapon increases the DPS listed, but not the underlying "Damage" of the weapon. It will not make your abilities hit harder, only faster. A 1000 DPS weapon with 25% IAS hit as hard as the same weapon with 800 DPS and no IAS. If the ability is not affected by IAS at all, then you won't even see an overall damage increase.

 

[Ossifrage]

Done and thanks for the advice!

 

[waflob]

I was somewhat surprised to read that it's recommended to socket items before selling them. Whenever I check items, it irritates me to see them already socketed and usually can't be bothered to do the arithmetic and decide what my gems would do instead. It makes me think (just a little bit) that the seller is trying to pull a fast one. Unless it's really good item, I tend to ignore those that have been socketed - is this a case of 'horses for courses', or am I being daft?

 

[VirtualAlex]

If the items werent not gemmed, they likely would not have come up in the search at all, and wouldn't be seen by you and many others eliminating many potential sales opportunities.

I am trying to get into the buying low and selling high strategy and I am looking for tips on that. I currently purchased a pair of pants I felt were underpriced at 25k, I promptly sold them for 150k, it was awesome and I got a huge buzz off of it. I purchased a few other thnigs as well which I plan to sell once some auctions clear.

How do you guys look for "deals?" I know attack speed and magic find are valuable so I have been searching items that have one or the other and looking for buyouts below 20k to see if anyone might have miss-listed a strong item. Looking for more strategies like this.

 

[melianor]

Thanks for this awesome thread!!!

 

[Ossifrage]

Thank you! Question generally related to markets, do you think inferno crafting mats will be/maybe are already a big market? At least does it make sense to salvage all the crap 60 blues and rares that drop rather then sell them for a quick thou?

 

[KTang]

Salvaging will always have more use than selling those 60s. Crafting is only becoming increasingly popular as people realise that some recipes are actually very lucrative. Then there are the chances of getting Fiery Brimstones...

I salvage every 60 and sell pretty much everything else.

KT

 

[VirtualAlex]

You think holding on to all the essence is a good idea until the crafting buff? Seems like the value of them should go up quite a bit.

 

[KTang]

Essences have shot up since commodities were released again (thankfully I kept all of mine!) and I'd assume that once crafting becomes a lot cheaper people will definitely give it a go. I'd suggest keeping your gems, that's for sure.

KT

 

[Ossifrage]

Updated with a bit of info/opinion on the RMAH. Anyone who's had more (or any really) success in it care to post about their experiences?

 

[HTAPAWASO]

I've had a bit of success in the AH recently.

My thing is bidding on items rather than buying out. Especially items where the owner did not set a buyout at all, since almost everyone searches by price - therefore they don't see them.

Just search for a good set of affixes with no set price, sort by buyout (lowest first), and look for bargains to bid for.

The main problem with this strategy is that you won't win most of your bids - so you need a huge pool of money (that will be tied up most of the time) to do this effectively.

Still, I've had some pretty good success... bought a chest armour for 1.5k which I sold for 3m, an amulet for 250k which I sold for 1.2m... etc.

 

[thehipone]

I've had a bit of success in the AH recently.

My thing is bidding on items rather than buying out. Especially items where the owner did not set a buyout at all, since almost everyone searches by price - therefore they don't see them.

Just search for a good set of affixes with no set price, sort by buyout (lowest first), and look for bargains to bid for.

The main problem with this strategy is that you won't win most of your bids - so you need a huge pool of money (that will be tied up most of the time) to do this effectively.

Still, I've had some pretty good success... bought a chest armour for 1.5k which I sold for 3m, an amulet for 250k which I sold for 1.2m... etc.

I've been doing this on the HC AH and am amazed what I'm able to steal for a few k or less. Allres/vit pants for 708g? Yes please!. I also look for auctions that only have a short time left to minimize the capital tie-up in bidding, if possible. I'm convinced that the time remaining column is your best friend. The best bargains are either 1d 11h items with too-low buyouts or "no reserve" items with only an hour or less left.

 

[Baalat]

I pay big buck for WD items having magic find > 19% (a must for me)
plus 2-3 of the following:
Crit % >8%
Crit damage (depends on item > 25% - 50%)
Int >150 - 200
Attack speed (depends on item > 6% - 9%)
Vit > 150 - 200
All resist > 75
Armor

 

[Moik]

Sticky Plz

 

[LimaWhiskey]

I've found bidding items without buyout a good source of income too.
But I do it with unique (legendary/set items) <60 lvl only. Somehow people will always buy shiny things no matter the stats.
I choose one particular item and check at what price crappy versions are selling (with buyout), let's say it's 40k minimum.
Then I bid for like 50 items (low current bid and preferably less that 12h to auction end) with max bid 20k without checking their stats.
I tend to win 30-50% of auctions. Then I sell them (most for 40k in this case but some will have much better stats).

And of course from time to time I stumble upon a bargain when checking prices, shopping for my chars etc.
Like putting high stats search criteria looking at items in range 400k-2M and seeing one item with 1d12h and 2000 buyout appears