A New Tool For AH PvP - Wowuction

I got an extremely interesting email the other evening. I often get contacts from a varied array of people talking about websites, affiliates, and a ton of other internet wow based stuffs, but this one grabbed my attention instantly. Another tool for us AH'ers. WoWuction.






I clicked on the link in the email, and I was shocked to see what the site entailed. Quite a slew of info, a bit different than TuJ, AHSpy, or WoWTrader. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and it's nice to see a healthy competition going around. They have all added new options here and there, and I proudly support each one of them for my (and your) auction house needs.

Sorry, I got sidetracked a bit there...

So, after a bit of contact back and forth, I was able to squeeze out a little interview, and would like to share it with ya'll:

Tell me a bit about yourself.

      WoW player since vanilla (off and on), guild master of casual guild and passionate player of other games both video and board :) 

Businessman by calling, programmer at heart. Off topic I am also a father of two loving kids and I still get to play games yey!

Why did you start this when there are multiple other AH sites out there?

     When I saw that Blizzard was releasing its API I actually didn’t look much at competition. I just had to do it. Software development is my passion and after many years I finally got some time to do it again. This was just the perfect project to do; it was software development, it was WoW, it was numbers and statistics – all so cool :)

     I do admire other tools, especially because they existed before API, when it was a lot more difficult to get auction house data, but I feel the entire niche has not reached its full potential. Why not add another site to the fray? I think WoWuction.com will be the best, but you will say that is biased :) Still, having one more site out there just tightens the competition which is good news for all AH traders!

What makes yours different?

     If I had to simplify it, I’d say ‘Fast’ and ‘Easy to use’. There is much more to it however. So far you have seen profession analysis and advice, as well as global market volumes, but there are many new ideas in queue for implementation. 

     For example realm specific and global daily news which is probably next in line. While deep number mining and crunching is only for very small percentage of AH traders, there are aspects of AH information that is interesting to much wider audience. At this moment they are neglected and WoWuction.com will reach them as well.

     Having seen much software development in my career, I subscribe to agile development philosophy, which means I’m willing to change and improve anything and everything very quickly if it proves viable. For this, user feedback is essential, so I’d like to invite everyone to freely comment anything they like/dislike.

Tell me a little about Quick Advice and Advisor Score..

    Advised quantity is just a part of the whole ‘quick advice’ system. It advises how many items you should put on auction and it’s based on daily sold estimates for the item. 

More important value is ‘advisor score’, which is bread and butter of advice system. 

     It’s a heuristics that takes into account many aspects of profession product and its mats, giving the final evaluation of how viable it is to produce and sell that product. While you should never blindly follow what the system advises, it can be excellent for quick detection of neglected profession products.

What are the Demand numbers all about?

     Demand is roughly a ratio of daily sold /available on AH. So a 100% demand would mean that all items which have been posted are also estimated sold. Likewise a 0% demand means there are no estimated sales for the item. 

     Personally I use demand the most. It’s a great indicator how saturated a certain product is. You will almost never want to commit in product which has for example 5% demand. It means there are always 20 times more available on AH than will be sold. This also means that the prices are likely to be very low and profit margins close to none.

     Whole system uses ‘estimated sold’ numbers which are not completely accurate. As you may or may not know, it’s not possible to exactly tell whether a certain auction has been sold or not. Blizzard just doesn’t give out that info and probably never will. So we give a rough estimates based on a few tricks. 

     There has been some talk among community members whether such estimates should be used at all. I think that they certainly should. While they may be terribly wrong in some specific cases and auctions, their overall statistical accuracy is just too useful to be ignored.

Okay, now onto Broker.....

     There is one more important feature of WoWuction.com: Broker. It’s a system for item alerts. It allows you to specify certain rules for items you’re interested in and then get emailed or check on site whether those rules are met. 

     For example if you would like to know when there are at least 10 Living Embers available with price below 100g a piece, you can create such rule and get emailed when this happens on your AH, so you can log on and snatch those. Also you might want to watch when there are no Brilliant Inferno Ruby cheaper than 200g. You get emailed when this happens so you can hop on and put some up for sale. System has an average delay of one hour from the real AH, as this is how Blizzards API works.

Well there you go folks! I hope you have a little insight on this new AH page that is available for our full use. Try it out, and give some feedback! I will be toying around with it as much as I can to work on getting full usage of this upcoming site.

Twitter: @Wowuctioneer

Facebook: Wowuction

Website: http://www.wowuction.com/

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Make like a Tree and Leaf! Expanding Markets

Hey folks!

I had a comment on one of last weeks posts about making a post on Expanding Markets. Since that can be taken a few ways, I will work on answering an email as well:

--------------------------------------------------

Alto,

I have a guy in my AH that I compete against quite often. The worst thing about this guy is that he is on for 16 hours a day straight (except for server maintenance) 7 days a week. Does this seem odd to you? I am not sure how to check if he's a bot, some guy in china, or if it's just someone with lots of time. If you wanna check him out on TuJ, the server is XXX and his name is XXXX.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks a bunch man,

Joe

--------------------------------------------------

After receiving this email, I shot right over to TuJ and checked it out. What did I find?

Yup, Joe's right on the money. His competition is on. All the time. Or, as you might be thinking, he is a pro using such tools as the Remote Auction House or even the "new" TuJ Seller Notifications (which I would advise any AH'er to get set up!). Or, he could just be getting beat from some cat in a china prison.....we really don't have much to decipher this issue, but we can work around it by Expanding Markets. Let's drop down the page and look into what he is selling:

Looks like a taste of a few different pies. Not really heavy in any main area, and here is where you can take advantage. Like I mentioned above and below, instead of playing the defense, roll into offence and take on new markets that he isn't selling in. He has some Shadowspirit Diamond cuts, but not uncut. Go there. He has only a few Enchants posted. Get the others on the AH. Yup, go there too. Unless this guy/gal reads you, or stalks you, then you have many options for some sales....until they mirror you. So get up, get out, and make some gold!

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Are you an AH Stalk"er" or Stalk"ee"? Should you Be?

Hey Folks!

I have a few posts finally lined up, so keep an eye out the next few days. As I was writing what would be today's post, I started rolling into a topic that hasn't been hit on. Stalking the AH.

In this post, I will cover a bit of pro's and con's when dealing with these types of folks. Then you need to decide if you fall into either category with your sales, and well....if you don't see either, you need to take off the horse binders and look for it on your server, and.....gasp!.....see if you can be one to better your sales!

AUCTION HOUSE STALK"ERS":

The dreaded "I can't win. These guys (or this guy) is always on, he is always posting and reposting, I can't beat him". Or maybe "It seems that everytime I branch into a new market, it's open, no competition, then a day later it's saturated with goods". Whatever the complaint, how do you know you are being stalked? What are you gonna do about it?

First off, you have heard to add your competition to your friends list. Or maybe to "flag" their toon and see what they are crafting. You might even get a new bank toon to stop their trail cold (albeit for only a short time before they catch on- see below on how). While all of these are viable defense mechanisms, they won't save you from them.

What you can do is diversify. Or expand. Or even, as the saying goes, "If you can't beat em, join 'em". Now I am not expecting you to camp the AH 24/7, but what I am saying is get into different markets and let them follow you. Are you crafting "lesser" gear? With cheap mats? Get into a bit more costly goods. Are you being "nickel and dimed" with your posts? I wouldn't recommend this all the time, but you can drop the profits to just above your crafting cost to attempt to "bully" them out of the market. Are you seeing where I am going here?

AUCTION HOUSE STALK"EES":

Not many folks are on this list that read my blog, but you might want to think about it. Basically, you are flipping everything I mentioned above on stalkers. You take some time and beat out and destroy your main competition in any given profession or AH niche.

Start off by finding your nemesis. Get their name, pull up TuJ or use Auctioneer and do a "character search" to see their markets. Mirror the items they are selling. If they make "X", you make two of "X". If they are farming cloth, you farm cloth. If they are on 24/7, you take note of where they are, and dissect what they are doing there (always in SM? cloth farmer. always in Hyjal? Herbs and Ore. always in Org? AH camp. in BB? Neutral snatcher) then make your move.

This option will piss people off to no end. If you have been on the receiving end of this, you know the feeling. If you have been on the other side, you are laughing all the way to the bank. A-he, he.
As I listed above, there are ways to defend this way of AH sniping. The most popular is changing their AH toon. The power to defend this is they need more time to log onto other toons, re-craft, then mail, then open, then post. Alot more time, and you can use that to your advantage to get into more markets. An easy way to see this is to buy one of their crafts, and see who crafted them.

This is nearly a sure-fire way to find out your "crafting competition" and if they are selling under a bank toon. Sneaky, huh?

Even sneakier is the new addition to TuJ, Seller Notifications (read the post over at Undermine for more info). This is a sure fire way to assist you in undercutting issues. That is, until they notice.....

Hopefully this post got you thinking, and will make you broaden your mind when it comes to dealing with AH competition. All you need to do is think a bit more and not let yourself get frustrated. Answer your questions of why you are having "X" issue in selling your goods......Why is your competition doing that? How are they selling it so cheap? How are they on 24/7? Then figure out the answer. There are a ton of tools at our disposal for AH'ing. Are you using them?

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Making Gold in WoW- Are you Puzzled?

Generic title, huh?

I know, I know. The title itself leaves you with a ton of empty questions. Time and time again, and throughout everyone's gold making experience, they hit a brick wall. I hear it often, that "you guys [bloggers] pull in 10K a day, and I want that, but I can't do it!". Do I have an answer? Sure....but you might not want to hear it.

I have been in the gold game for years, so I will let you in on a (not so complicated) secret: You need time and gold to make gold.

Let's look at a few examples:

You have 10K in hand. You don't have a guild bank, you log in once every other day. You have a stack here and a stack there of goods to sell. You have, at most, around 50 auctions a day. You sir/madam, are not going to pull in a ton of gold. My guess is you might make hundreds on a good day. You know what? That's good. But, and emphasis on the but, you need gold (and stock) to make more gold. A good number I figure is that one percent of your liquid gold you have you should be pulling in a day. 10K=100g. Don't worry, it will creep up, you just need to re-invest that gold to continue making more.

You have 100K liquid. You just got a guild bank, you log in "almost" daily. You are starting to build up a stockpile of materials, and you are starting to know what sells on your auction house. You read blogs. You do what you can to get the sales. But you are struggling. You are pulling in around 1K a day, and can't get much more. You wonder why. 1%'er. You are doing exactly what you should be doing, but once again, get your stocks up. You need to continue to stock up on goods on the low end (price point) on your server, and repost during the high times. This is where the AH gets interesting, and more of a "watch and learn" than the "read blogs and learn".

What and where I am going with this is DONT GET FRUSTRATED in your quest for gold in WoW. There are many different options to make gold in each auction house, and you need to find them. Sure, you can hire me to Coach you, you can buy my Gold Guide, you can buy 20KLeveling, and you can learn what is needed to make gold. But the absolute best way to learn is to know your AH, and on a more personal level. How you ask? Here's a few things to get started:

• What are the ebb and flows of the market? Do you notice that Volatile Life is sitting around 5g on Mondays, and kicks up to 14g on the weekends or vice/versa?
• Are you always looking for "x" material- Noticing it's never on the AH? Farm it. If you can't, find someone that can. 
• Are you re-investing your profits? Do you have a guild bank to store your AH schtuff? Do you have a stack (at least) of each material that you use in your crafting? No? Get stock my good friend. 
• Are you only in one market? Or two? Or ten? Or fifty? Remember, gold is gold. Whether you make 5g on a sale or 500g, profit is profit. The lesser profits are normally the easiest. Vendor items, gear "flips", and quick to craft items normally give the least amount of profit whereas high risk (BoE mounts, TGC cards, BoE epics) will give the most profits. *but beware of a potential loss if not done correctly.
• Do you post Auctions? Or better yet, do you FOLLOW up on them? Do you see what is selling and when? When you sell "x" glyph, do you already have 3 of the same posted? Do you automatically run TSM or recraft another and repost? Or do you just run to your bank and grab one and toss it on the AH immediately? Know your role. As I mentioned many times before, if it's not on the AH, it's still selling.....for someone else. They get your sales. Take advantage of that. Let that sink in. 
• Are you utilizing posting "times" correctly? Do you utilize your 12, 24, and 48 hour auctions? Auction "fees" go by a percentage of vendor price, then multiplied by length of time. Are you posting your epic BoE's for 48 hours and paying 20+ gold if it doesn't sell? Day after day, week after week? Or are you selling your Enchant Scrolls on 12 hour when it's only silvers more to post 48's? Take that in consideration.
• Are you utilizing posting "days" correctly? Are you posting your items on Tuesday night for 12 hours or 48 hours? Are you posting your Ore 7 days a week and losing out on the highest prices on Thursday evening? Those gems/enchants used to sell like hotcakes on Tues and Thurs nights (raid times on your server), so you only post then? With the dungeon queue, you might want to reconsider and rock them 24/7. 

Think of WoW like a Puzzle:

Everyone has to start out with a "kiddie" 6 piece puzzle (the 1-10K'ers). The first few times you put it together and pull it apart, it gets easier each time (the 10-50K'ers). But then, you get "older", and it turns into a 20 piece, then a 100 piece, then a 1000 piece. You can work on it all hours of the day (post/repost), and get it done faster, or you can break it down into hour blocks and knock it out little by little (the every other day posters). It's up to you on how you play with your "AH" puzzle, and how well you understand the process, and more importantly, how quick you gain gold. 

After time, you will realize when you open the box, you seperate into shapes/corners/edges/colors/etc (multiple markets). You might pick one part of the puzzle to work on first (posting days), maybe the "easiest" part of the picture (posting times). Then you go into another part and branch off (vendor items to crafting goods), and so on and so on. 

Then, you realize that you are missing a piece. You look all over, can't find it anywhere. Maybe the cat ate it. Maybe the dog. Maybe your kid/sister/brother/parent (competition). Now, you are on a hunt for it. You need to find that piece. Are you one to give up, and throw it away? Or are you the one that will, after completing your puzzle (other than that one missing piece) will "make your own"? What I mean here is going "outside the box". Making your own niche market that no one has talked about (in any blog/forum/website) that is a market on your server that no one else is in?

This, my friend, is where I feel the "top of the mountain" is in gold making. And boy, does it feel good to reach that peak. 

What to do now? Start another puzzle......

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48hr Auctions for the Win?!

Hey folks!

As you already know, I have been hit and miss lately on my posting schedule. Alto's summer schedule will be a few posts a week, but don't worry, they are still coming, I am not going anywhere.

But work. And golfing. And playing with my daughter. And drawing. And family. And...well, you get the picture. WoW takes a backseat. Which brings me to this post:



Auction posting times. You might have some bloggers swear up and down with 12 hour. Or 24 hour. Then you get me. Telling you to not block out 48 hour postings. I know you are thinking right now..."Why would I post <insert hella  AH fee item here> for 48? The undercutting wars is just a waste, and I don't get sales". Well, you are definitely correct there. However the majority of other items (and yes, even gems) I post on a strict 48 hour schedule (and yes, TSM is set for 48. Yeah, Glyphs. I said it...).

Now another question pops into your head...."That's mos def server dependent Alto". Yeah, not so much. It goes back to one of my #1 AH rules...."IF IT'S IN YOUR BAGS, YOU AREN'T SELLING". So if you know you won't be logged in for a day or two, get them buggers up on a 48. Who cares that it costs a bit more gold, you will have more sales. More sales= More gold in your pocket. Do you know anyone that is "rich" that doesn't spend money to make money? Didn't think so.....

Since gems have basically one of the highest "fees" that you have to deal with (as most others are just silvers- once again, the higher the vendor value, the higher the AH posting "fee")- due to the overall mass of sales, reposting, etc, it's still viable if you absolutely have to. Now if you are a log in daily type, and don't mind cowering infront of the AH, by all means, 24 hour should work fine. But for the rest of you (us), this is the way to roll.

Still have doubts? After not even logging in for two days:

*In case you are wondering, no decks, no epix, mainly glyphs (13K), cards (8K), and "flipping" under 80 items (blues and purps) were what sold (a few pets and a few gems were on the list too, but not significant sales).

So let's make a deal. If you want to be legit in your AH sales, and you have limited playtime, make sure that you pay that little extra and go with the 48's. You won't be disappointed.... =)

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Dealing With Farmers through the Auction House

Hey folks!

I received a reader email yesterday asking a question that is in all our heads, and after starting to answer him, I decided to make a post due to this being an issue I hear quite a bit.....

Hi Alto,


So I have been reading through a couple of blog posts from your site and others. I haven't been able to find the topic that I have been looking for. I understand that it's much easier to have people farm mats for you while you pay a certain price. I'm just not sure how to approach them in making the offer to send their mats to me for a good price. Speaking about buying it for a good price how much would be a reasonable offer....maybe 20g off the AH price?


Thanks,
Alex

Alex,

We all have this thought, and most (it seems) do not act on it. We bite the bullet, buy our mats from the AH, and go on with our day. I fall into that category at times, normally assuming (and you know what they say about assuming...) that they A) don't speak english B) won't respond or C) don't care to deal with people (that's why it's on the AH in the first place, and not in trade).

Serious "Sweatshop" WoW Gold Farming

Let's look at an example: Obsidium Ore. We know since patch 4.1.0 that the "floor" price is 30g, but if you use my 6/36 method, you know from some quick math that they are worth 52g on your server (if you aren't aware of my "rule", you can read the comments on 4.1.0: Whatcha need to know). On the AH, they are 40g and there is one farmer that has 102 stacks at that price. Straight away, we know that at a 12g profit per stack (at current prices) we can make a quick 1200g, right? Easy money, just takes some time to profit.

So now I ask the question back to you, is 1200g worth it to you for your time to "shuffle" them? Let's just say for instance that it is. Do you buy em all up anyways? Think about this.....say you do talk to the farmer. Is 35g per stack a fair offer? You spend 10 minutes arguing with him (due to he posted 150 stacks, and 48 had already sold at the 40g) and you lowball an offer of 30g to buy em all right now (he stands to lose 1000g by selling them to you now, and you stand to gain 1000g). He gets offended, and basically tells you to F off. Sound familiar? Probably.

What I would do is offer him to save time. You know that the Obsidium Ore usually has sold for 42g per stack since the patch dropped last week, right? So the current 40g is a good price. I would send him/her an in game mail stating:

Dear XXXXX,


I purchased all your stacks (102) of Obsidium Ore at 40g in the AH. I would like to have a constant supply, feel free to save the AH fees and COD me as many as you can get (no more than 200 stacks a day) for 38g per stack and you won't have to deal with posting them. Deal? Lemme know!


Thanks again!


Obviously, if you see the person in game, you can do basically the same in chat. Why did I not offer less? I want to establish a relationship with them. I don't want to gouge them, as I am still profiting.

Ignore is a powerful function in WoW (see a post by Khailor about ingnoring) and to lose a prospective farmer would be bad. After a few days of getting the 200 stacks, if you are greedy, you can let them know that you have a supplier for 35g per, if you want to risk losing them. It's a risk, and....well.....is it really worth losing a constant supply to gain a few hundred gold? In my eyes, no. But you might see it differently.

Are you feeling where I am going with this? It's all about where you want your profit margin to be. If you are profitable vs. time, then don't hesitate to snatch em up at the 40g (and still send the mail). If they are 50g in the AH, is it worth only 200g profit for your time? I would think not, that is when you would push the envelope and ask for 40g (for at least a 1K profit on your side).

Overall, I hope that gives you a bit of insight on my thought process, you can either use it or lose it. There are quite a few variables when getting new farmers, so take my advice with a grain of salt. 72% of the time it works 51% of the time (or something like that...who knows really). Remember too that if you don't buy them, someone else will, and like that famous guy in that famous movie said "If you aren't first, you are last". Words to live by in the AH....

I have an oldie but a goodie post on Finding Farmers on your Server if you want to read a bit more.....

I am hoping that some of my readers might have seen similar issues, if so, holler out what you did or do in this style situation (and no xander, not your idol "The Situation").

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Alto vs. Undercutting - "How To" Using Auctionator

Hey folks! I hope the start of your weeking is going well. I have stayed away from my Auction House addons lately, and hadn't had a vs. lately, so I figure we are due for one...

This post is directly due to undercutting. Now we all know that TSM works great for this, but for those that are haters on that Addon, or just plain out don't want to mess with it, here's your chance (and a great one at that).

Of all the posts here and there on using Auctionator, I have yet to see this option, and it's one that I use quite a bit. Now it does take a bit of time to use (about a minute per 100 auctions), so depending on how many you have, it's safe to figure off of that number. It's kinda like the old school scan for Auctioneer, basically click it and work on something else, as it is time consuming, but worth it...So let's get started:

Go down to the lower right side of the screen, under the "More" tab (1). Yeah, I know, most people have never even used this. Bear with me.

Now hit up the "Check for Undercuts" button on the opposite side (2). Click that. Now sit back and enjoy (once again, about a minute per 100 auctions).

After this "scan" has ran it's course, you will have another window pop up. Here, you will see how many auctions have been undercut, and you will now have to spam your left click (or keybind) on the "Start Cancelling" button. Hows that? Easy, huh? No more clicking through everything.....





Now be sure to wait a minute (ok, maybe 30 seconds) before you leave the AH or close the window. It takes a bit of time for the addon to complete cancelling. Now hit your mailbox, and poof! Relist.

A very simple addon to use, a little known addition to this addon, and a time saver as well as another tool to help you with your sales. Gotta love addons! =)

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Glyph "Auto Auction" Bot - What I Now Know...

Here is a HUGE issue as of late that is extremely frustrating to deal with, the AH Glyph bot.

I have just recently started "fighting" with one, and regrettably, I have very little defense. I am working on finding ways to work around them, and as of yet, I have found little that works, other than using....cough....blizzard tickets, which I have seen absolutely nothing in return.

This bot, well, they are undercutting me (every 10 minutes to be exact), are hard to fight....if you are in the same situation, you know what I mean.

I first hoped that I just had a wow addict on my hands. Then I realized there must be some automation involved. I did not see this toon show up anywhere. Really. No where. Gone. Cancel their auctions, repost undercutting me. Jeeezus. Talk about total frustration...... 

So after some "homework" to find out more about how they work (so I can decipher how to beat these things), I got some information, and what I found was disturbing. Here's a few clips from an article on them...

" It provides automatic buying, bidding, selling and undercuting for the World of Warcraft auction house. On top of providing a quick easy way to buy and sell items, it includes a method called "baiting" which will take advantage of undercutters to net you more items at the prices you want!"

"XXXXXX runs without the use of the World of Warcraft client, it is nearly impossible for the program to be detected. The program uses your browser to navigate the Remote Auction House the same way any human would. Since the program started there have been no bans as a result of using this software, and it is unlikely there ever will be."

 Those are fairly huge claims, huh? Now a fellow blogger (remind me if it's you) posted a while back about getting a "AH botter" banned, but in that case, they were using a toon in game, which is another program all together. The part that gets me is.....this is all done by remote. You don't even have to be in the game. So therefore no "watch" by Blizzard.

Now before I toss my laptop across the room, I am going to calm down. I am still getting sales here and there, but..... I am losing. It's extremely hard for me to say this as I feel that no matter what I have seen on the market, I have prevailed in one sense of the word or another. But I am losing. There. I said it again.

I am going to keep diving deeper into how I can beat these, and you can bet that when I find something, I will holler. For right now, I have to say our only defense is offense.....

And one last thing on this.....a quote from the author of one of these hated programs.

"Sorry for the lack of updates the past couple weeks. I have been extremely busy with school and just completed my last final. I am going to start working on adding new features and fixing any bugs you guys have reported. The next update should include the ability to limit the amount of items purchased as well as a few other features. Stay tuned as I will post updates in my progress."

Great.....other features? Blizz, if you somehow read this, please do something, this can and will destroy your game. Not only for me, but others as well. Just read your forums:

Glyph Bot Strikes Again
You Win Auction House Bots

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"Help! I Can't Make Gold" --- Selling on the Auction House

Ugh. You know what? This is something I have seen and heard quite a bit over my blogging "career". If it isn't those exact words, it's something near: "I was making gold, and lately, I just have too much competition" or "I got bullied out of "X" market". There's many of them. You know what I say to that? One question, simply answered.

No, it isn't "oh, go do this, pick up this, grab these mats, craft this, post at this time and at this price" or something to that affect, which, although it is good advice, but no advice helps if you don't do one thing.....

I have coached near a dozen folks over the past month, I have assisted people with answering questions in emails, on skype (altosgoldishadvice), through twitter messages (@altosgold), a bit here and there in IRC, basically everywhere, and the number one issue that people have with making gold can be answered by one simple statement.....

I can hear you now. "CMON ALTO, GET TO THE POINT!". Great! I like your enthusiasm. Now use it. The number one issue folks have with making gold is......Auctions. Not that they are getting undercut, not that they are only posting once (or twice) a day, not that the materials cost is too high, but the issue is that they do not post auctions. Easy huh? Mos definitely. Do me a favor. Check TuJ (if you are US) and search yourself. How many active auctions do you have? 5, 10, 100, 500? 1000?

Ok. now, check your personal bank. If you have one, check your personal guild bank(s). What do you see? Schtuff? Probably. And alot of it. Why are you not selling it? Why are you not using the items in there to craft and sell? Ok, you might have some stockpile of XX item(s), but my point is why are you not listing them? And don't give me the "They don't sell" or "They cost too much to list" answers. Not a good enough excuse. I don't buy it (see the pun there?).

Ok, ok. You are wondering if this makes a difference. I keep a contant 4-600 auctions on this toon (shown below). For those unfamiliar, the top is when I post, the bottom is sales.

As you can see here, you need to keep a constant supply in the auction house to get consistent sales. Other than a few blips here and there (and server downtime), I basically have sales every hour of every day....and I am not on 24/7, I am not always undercutting, I am not always canceling and reposting (with the exception of glyphs here and there). I just keep things in the AH. Simple as that.

Or are you the type that gets into a market, sells a few here and there, gets into another market, and forgets about the first one? Probably. Alot of us fall into that, and I admit that it happens to me as well. But it happens. Dust off your shoulders, get back in.

Once again, this is so simple. But it's the simple things we forget about the most, and this is one of the traps that we all fall into, and it really disrupts our "goldflow". I will leave you with a thought:

"If you don't have it in the AH, there is no sale. Someone else is getting gold because you are slacking. You need to always have something posted. Always. If you can afford it, always have two of them in the AH. If one sells while you are away (sleeping/working/etc), there is another one to sell....Once you get back logged in, make/craft more, repost so you have two, then go on with your day"

Get to "work", and start making that gold again!

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Help! I Need Somebody, Help! Not Just Anybody! Using Auctionator

Eh Beet-ulz (you might have to read that again...say it out loud if you have to)

I think they said it best with that set of lyrics. Time and time again, whether it is answering emails, "PM's" on Twitter, or chatting on Skype or on Friday's meetings in JMTC, I get asked quite a few questions. I always do my best to answer them. I have done many posts on reader's questions that just cannot be answered in a quick response, so I dedicate a post to them.

I enjoy helping folks. I enjoy finding niche markets for people, I enjoy seeing that when I advise someone to do something it works.

Last night, I was answering a few questions here and there (like most nights I am on) and I tossed some information out:

After the new xpac release, the Cata Herbs in my AH were sparse. Not that there wasn't any available, but the prices were just too high for my "normal" purchasing needs. When I invest, I prefer to [at least] double my investment or I don't feel it's worth my time. So I needed to look a bit further into my AH to see what I can do. My glyph supplies were running low, and I wasn't sure which route to take.

Using Auctionator, I typed in "Glyph of" and tapped search. After 50+ pages, I started seeing that there were multiple options to purchase them for slivers, and restock and resell them by "resetting" the price. I know I have talked about this before, so you should be on the same page. If not, just do a quick search on this page to find the post.

Now fast forward to last night. In Skype, I was chatting it up and explaining my process on "flipping" items in the AH. How I do it, what I look for, and how to buy/resell them. Then I mentioned to him to use the "Glyph of" search. We talked it over, and advised him as we went along. Glyph of XXXX (a healing totem I believe), a few listed as 20s, a few at 40s, and a few around a gold. Total investment was less than 5g. I had him relist for 125g, even though the "normal" price for the glyph was around 30ish gold.

We went through a few more, and I had him buy out a few different situations (back to the "you can give a man a fish when he's hungry, or you can teach him to fish so he is never hungry again"). Another Glyph had a few gold of buyouts, then it went to 6g, 7g, and so on. We bought out to the 6g, and listed at 10% under (setting up the Auctionator for 10% undercut versus the "preset" 5%).

Around 30 minutes later, he hollered out "holy s#$%! Alto, you were right! I just sold a glyph or 125g!". That is the feeling I look for. Hearing that just made me realize once again why I do what I do. I have a blog to inform. I have a blog to help. But behind all that, I guess my main vice is greed. I enjoy giving advice and getting that feedback of a job well done. When I help someone, I get a feeling of pride. It's my drug. I actually get a high from it. No, not that hazy, gotta eat cheesy puffs high, not that "seeing sounds and hearing colors" high, but a boost of adrenaline (I am not a doctor, I am sure there is a name for it....maybe that's my addiction?).

Back to the title of my post, Help! I need Somebody! I need to feed my addiction....

I am once again gonna toss this out there. Are you stuck making gold? Are you at a stall point? Have I done a post that you are completely confused how to pull off? Holler. Send me an email with a question, and in the subject line write blogpost. I will either respond to you in email or you will see your answer posted. This isn't a "I have this, this, and this, and I don't know what to do", that is more for my coaching program. I am looking for a specific issue you have, and I will help you get through it.

So help me help you. =) Thanks again!

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Has There Been A "Rift" In Your Sales Too?

Zath is in the House. I just read his post about Cricket's, Where did everyone go? and hopped back to a post I was writing earlier in the week to add a few things and publish for your reading pleasure (and as an "extended" comment to our buddy Zath).


I really, really, did not want to ever mention Rift in my posts, but I need to make an exception...

I am noticing something. Normally on the average Wednesday on my server, we accumulate around 30,000 auctions. Right now, I just finished a scan and we are sitting at a measly 23K. I hate to even say this, but there is quite a bit of love of WoW moving toward (what seems) Rift. The auctions are less, the movement in Org is really slow, I have zero hint of lag happening.


My sales seem to slow a bit, nothing really to dramatic, but with less of the auctions in the armor and weapons, I am losing out on one of my favorite gold making areas, the "flip", which will be affecting me this weekend. *Edit- I know it's only midday Saturday now, but I am seeing about a 50% decline in these "lesser" markets. I have posted quite a few times, especially my popular post among readers, The "Weekend Clearance Sale- Are You Prepared?".

I can remember back to when Warhammer came out, there were quite a few that ventured over there, and I saw a dip in auctions at that time, but not as much as this week has caused.....especially with the "kiddies" and college students, I was preparing at looking down at 40,000 auctions daily, with the weekend possibly hitting 45K, and we are only a bit over half that number.

*Edit- Now this is extreme speculation, but does the terrible action in Japan (thanks for the holler Zoxy) have anything to do with this too? I hate typecasting folks, but the "chinese farmer" word is tossed around quite a bit, and with all the devastation there, will we see a influx/reduction on our servers?

Is this something you all are seeing as well? Will I have to re-access my sales structure on flipping "lesser" gears in the AH? Is [cough, cough] WoW slowly ending it's reign in the MMORPG world? Although I highly doubt it, we could be having our own recession in our little part of the world we call World of Warcraft.

And you are thinking ____________? Am I right to think this? Or is it just a "glitch"?

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Did you Forget Something? Dust off those Unused Professions!

JMTC has their carnival tomorrow, and here is my "entry" post.  If you haven't already, I want you go over and check it out, as there are quite a few bloggers now with a ton of information. Now for my post, here is how you should start taking on specializing and diversifying the AH on your server. Ready? Set? Go!



Pic from Jack Nadels:
Use What You Have
To Get What You Want



How good are you on the AH? Have you hit 10K, 50K, 500K, a Million? Whichever spot you are at, you mos def need to use what you have to get there. Think about that a second.....

Use what you have. Now this is gonna be completely common sense, but hear me out, as this basic necessity may have passed you by. Use what you have.....

If you are stuck at X amount of gold and wondering why, I can give you one answer (but do you really want to hear it again?) "USE WHAT YOU HAVE". I mean really use it. If you have a toon, and your have Jewelcrafting and Leatherworking (just a for instance here, it can be anything, keep reading...), and you only cut gems and post, what is happening with your other craft? Nothing? Collecting dust? Get the Pledge out and dust that off!

You have professions for a reason, be it to craft goods for yourself or your guild, add to your "buffs" from the profs, but most of you reading this will have a profession for making gold. So why aren't you using it to post your AH? Because you don't want to hit your next 100K mark. That is the only answer you can give. I won't believe anything else.

"Well Alto, it's only 420"

So go burn one. Wait, what? Really, you need to utilize that prof to make you gold. There is probably a reason you stopped leveling. Raiding, got bored, ran outta cash, etc. Whatever excuse you had, you stopped. Pick it back up. If you stopped leveling it, my guess is you also have random mats in your bank near that level too. Use them. Check TuJ or wowhead to see what is available at that level. In leatherworking, there are quite a few niche markets, not all sell daily, but often enough to make a profit. See where I am going with this? Good. Now get it done.

"Alto, I stopped at 515 because I ran out of materials, and the cost was too high"

I am gonna guess that was a few months ago now. The mats have dropped considerably since then, and you need to recheck the AH again. Get up to "cap", and then get some epix recipies (I am still using the leatherworking as an example, but this works with most "crafting" profs other than scribes- as Cata added very little to that prof glyph wise). You spent time leveling that to get to the 515, go that little bit further, because now is the time to make your $$, before 4.1 and a bit after that they will still be selling too (for the ilvl requirements for the heroic 5 mans).

"Bah. There's too much competition"

I have to call bullshit on that one. I really, really, hate that. Too much competition to me means "I am too lazy to look at the different areas". I can personally guarantee there is a niche market somewhere in each profession. Glyphs? "I get undercut". Ok, I believe you. But I bet there are glyphs that aren't even up in the AH right now. It might be a level 25 glyph that sold for 12g last post, but if there isn't one there, it won't sell, amirite? I am. Check. Spend your time, and it will payoff. Guaranteed. Oh, you are a Jewelcrafter? "The gems are worthless, all of them". I call bullshit again...Ok, so you must have every single cut available, along with every "crafted" necklace, ring, etc. And you have checked each one of them at the AH. I bet there are at least 5 "cut" gems that aren't even on your AH. And the crafteds? Yeah, probably half of them aren't on their either....

"Well, to tell you the truth, I was looking at changing profs to XXXXX, because I am bored of it, and haven't used tailoring in a while"

Look above at that answer. Have you checked EVERY possible craft? Are you posting EVERY possible craft? Once again, I see so many folks that don't utilize what they can, or should be, posting daily. You aren't on everyday? Post 24 or 48 hours.....

"God Alto, you know how much AH fees I will lose on 48 hour posts?"

Yeah, I do. But you know how much profit you are losing? You are gonna risk a 10g AH fee if it doesn't sell against a 2-4K profit? Once again, that is one of the worst excuses I have heard. You know Johnny, if you keep saying this stuff, I am gonna have to kick you outta class, I don't think you are even reading what I am talking about....


So in order to specialize and diversify, you need to first see what you can do, what markets (or niches) you have available in your AH, and what time you are willing to spend to find what you are looking for. If you have more money than time, or are just stuck, you can always go to my coaching program and I can assist you in finding what you have been searching for.....gold.

Now log into your toon and start crafting and posting. Then after you sell some, come back and holler. Chanks!

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A "How To" on Selling Goods - 4.0.6 Enchants Example

This post is once again directed from a reader email that I received yesterday. Mila asked about the new Enchant formulas and how to price the scrolls. Even though this post is geared toward them, the information contained here will work with any "rare or epix" item (you just might have to use your imagination a little).

Whether you are a blacksmith, tailor, leatherworker, or what-have-you, take the info below, and just "tailor" it to you and your prof. While reading, you will see how I set market prices for "new" items (after patches, after new BoE's come out into the AH). I will cover a few things here: pricing, AH comparison, estimating worth/value, and dealing with buyers in /tells. Without further ado, here's you's go!

So with the drop of 4.0.6 recently, we came across a few new enchants:

Enchant Bracer- Agility    +50 Agility
12 Hypnotic Dust
2 Maelstrom Crystal
15 Volatile Air

Enchant Bracer- Major Strength    +50 Strength
6 Hypnotic Dust
2 Maelstrom Crystal
25 Volatile Earth

Enchant Bracer- Mighty Intellect  +50 Intellect
4 Hypnotic Dust
4 Greater Celestial Essence
2 Maelstrom Crystal
15 Volatile Water

Now if you were one of the first to pick up these enchants, you are probably freaking out wondering if you are ever gonna get your "investment" back. Whether you paid 10K, 15K, or 25K for the "drop", the market is still pretty slim right now. When you factor in each one is 2 Malestroms, and those are probably sitting around 2-3K right now (on the low end), you are looking at a 6500g enchant. Crafter cost....

So now we have to decide a few things. One, what profit margin you are looking to get. First, you will need to check to see if anyone is selling the enchants in your AH. If you are on a US server, check The Undermine Journal to see what the traffic is on the 'chant.

"Alto, there are a few I see, and they are going for 7K"

Keep one constant at that price. A 500g profit (or 499g99s99c) is better than zero. In this case, I do not want you to buy out the 7K and list for 10K. Go all the way down to 200g profit. I would not recommend to go lower than that. Peace of mind.

"Alto, I haven't seen any yet. None. What prices do I sell them for?"

One and a half to twice the mats cost (remember, that's YOUR mats cost). So if you pay out of pocket 4.6K, then you should cut that in half (2.3) and add that to your inital investment, so you end up selling on the low end for 6.9K.  See where I am going with this? Pretty simple. If one sells quickly, then what we will do next is add 1K. If it sells, then add another. If it doesn't, drop it back down. Okie Dokie?

"Alto, after listing, I am getting tells with folks having mats, and will tip for it"

This is a great thing. I normally charge half my markup in the AH. So using the numbers above, you can safely charge 1K. Now here is the kicker. If you keep an eye out on your "popular" guilds, and see that they are one of them, do this....."I have been charging 1K to enchant this, but I will cut it in half if you holler at your buds. Anyone in your guild can get one for 500g if they supply the mats". Now "big money" might not tell his/her guild, but you put a bug in their ear, and it's still freebie profit. Feel me there?

"Here we go, I got another one for you....Someone isn't wanting the chant, they are wanting it on a scroll. They said that they are putting it on their "main", and offered a 500g tip.....they also mention that the one you have listed in the AH is too high, the mats only cost 4.6K."

Ugh. Bad situation. Before saying "yes" right away (I just told you to take 500g for a tip...didn't I?), you can assume that this guy is going to try to flip it (remember you have one in the AH for 2.3K more than the mats, right? If not, he just reminded you...). So you get 500g, he gets 1800g, and you lose a sale because he just undercut your auction.

In this scenario, I would tell him "I am sorry, but I am the only one with this chant that is selling the scrolls, and I hate doing this, but I can go 1K to put it on a scroll for you (that way if he does sell, at least you got 1K, and you can undercut the shit outta him for lying to you...), or if you log on your main, I can chant your bracers for 500g."

"Alright, you are doing good covering scenarios Alto. Now I got one for you.....You get a tell saying "why would I pay 6.9K for that when i can get XXX for a couple hundred gold? You aren't gonna sell that, how low can you go on it?"

This is probably the worst situation for a sale. How good of a salesman/woman are you? I would have to respond with "The reason the lesser chant is XXX is due to that's an old enchant. If you want me to sell you that one, I have one I can sell you for XXX (cheaper than AH). The reason that scroll is so expensive is that it's the best. Have you seen the materials to make it? I am barely making profit. So if you want to heal/dps/tank/ at Wrath level, by all means, it's up to you. But you have to pay for the best, and these are the best. Welcome to Cata bud!"

Now thats a long tell, but you get my point. You want to let them know that if that is too rich for their blood, you can sell them the "lesser" scroll (more sales). Then you want to tell them mats cost (they might not know). Then you want to tell them that there is little profit (you aren't lying. you are still at a loss from the 15K you paid for it....).

Now I want to reiterate a few things here:

One, you NEED to have one of all your major "crafts" in the AH at ALL times (as you can afford). You should know your market to see what is selling, if not, you can check around (The Undermine- even if you are on a EU server, just to check the "going rates" and the average sales per day).

Two, DO NOT sell for a loss, unless in dire need. I would hope that you have listened to me about investing in anything, no matter what it is, that you should NOT put more than a third of your bankroll into a "quick flip" (herbs, ores, volatiles- at a "farmer rate" or CHEAP...), and if there is a chance that it won't sell fast (epix crafted, the rare scrolls above, etc), don't invest more than 10%. This way, if it doesn't sell right away, or the price fluctuates, you aren't freaking out. You still have your "stockpile" of gold to invest in other areas. Feel me?

I hope this helps clear up a few things about newer items and how to go about selling them. Pricing, AH comparison, estimating worth/value, and dealing with buyers in /tells.

For my seasoned (no, not with salt or pepper, the "pro") readers, do you see anything I left out here? Did you actually get through the whole post? If you did (haha), I bet you are thinking about something right now. How about tossing a comment for the folks out there? Thanks ahead of time for the support!

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The Weekend "Clearance Sale"- Are you Prepared?

Ahhh. Feels good to be back to my "normal" posts. I am looking to cover some information to assist you in being "weekend prepared".

Now we do know that we see a spike in players on the weekend. You will normally see around a 10-15% spike in the AH posts done between Friday night and Saturday night. My main server goes from around 24K auctions to about 27K on these times.

This presents not only fierce rounds of undercutting, but also a great time to utilize others for finding great items to flip. Time once again to dust off your banks/bags and do some "soul" searching.

"Well Alto, we are getting what you are saying, but what exactly are you talking about? Get to the point already...."

Alright. During the week when I am doing my scans for flipping items (I utilize Auctioneer for this, really the only reason I keep this addon around). I have posted on how to do this a few times, so I am not going to hit on a "how to" as you already know how I do it.

"We know this already, are you just doing a double post to fill space? And why don't you just use Snatch for this, or use the TuJ email for it?"

Lemme answer this for you. God you guys like interrupting my posts, don't you? Nope, no double or triple posts, you already know how to flip on purchasing, I am hitting on when/how to sell those flips. I try not to utilize snatch due to I would rather take one minute to scan through the posts manually (this also helps you get used to seeing whats in the AH and knowing your market- I used to but have gotten away from it). The Undermine email setup is great for snatching up deals, especially if you have Mobile AH. I have enough things going on during the day let alone adding one more to my schedule, but by all means, if you can, it's a great option.

Now to the guts:

Buying:

Once again, it should be part of your AH ritual to do the Auctioneer scan, and buy up anything that is listed under the 10-20% threshold (depending on your available gold-flow). Your weekend ritual should be a bit different, as this is when the mats prices drop (and quanties are there to buy bulk). Be it leather, cloth, ore, herbs, bars, food, pots, etc. This is when you want to snatch up those items for resale. You feel me?

Example:
Here is a screenie from TuJ. This shows that the price is at it's lowest on Friday, and creeps up slowly over the weekend (top image), with a downhill slope again until Saturday.

Now the bottom image is showing that the most available is on Friday as well (can you say supply vs. demand?). Now on this server (I just picked at random), Savage is best bought on Friday, and best sold on Saturday and Sunday. See how I get that?



I am interrupting you again Alto. This doesn't happen on my server, in fact, it's the opposite. The mats prices rise on the weekend!"

After all my posts you have read, you can't answer that question? Jeebus. Ok. Think about what you just said. First off, Great! I am glad you notice that. You are learning....Secondly, you should know what to do then for your personal "fire sale". Buy during the week when the prices are low, and claim the market on the weekends. Little Johnny, I am not sure why you ask these questions when you know the answer already...


Selling:

The weekends on most servers is when the "players" come out to play. What I mean by this is the Weekend Warriors come out of the woodwork. Still don't get it? Ok. Most noobs play. i.e those that aren't max level. This is when you need to be posting all the weapons and armor in your stockpile (whether it is 1 piece or 1,000 of them). Although they are not a guaranteed sale, I recommend that this is the best time to post them.

"Alto, once again you are wrong. On my server, I can't sell an item for the life of me on the weekends".

Well, you must be the only one on your server. Or you are selling for too high (I use 50-75% of market price when I list my weekend auctions for "blue" gear). My guess it's the latter of the two. Just because the "average" price is listed, well, for lack of a better term, it's average price. Think of it as you are at the grocery store, wanting to pick up, lets say, a pizza. Are you the type that will buy a frozen pie for 4 bucks, when you can get the same one on sale next to it for 3? My guess is most folks will purchase the 3 dollar one, for the simple fact they are saving money.

"Nope, wrong again. I would by the 8 dollar Digornio's"

That is another thing I wanted to hit on. There are these types of buyers as well that we need to focus on. The folks that have money. That is why I list epics at 75% plus on the weekends. Because for these guys/gals, they want nothing but the best, and will pay premium prices to flash their epix. Feel me on this one?

I hope by now you have a better understanding of the "weekend" market and how it affects us as AH PvP'ers. As you have heard me mention many times before, you need to understand your server's market, and the best way is for you to learn it and not rely on the snatch (or resale) addon for this style of AH'ing.

Yes, it can be a great asset to you, but I want you to see what is happening. This is a game, right? And if the AH is what you want to win at, this is one step you need to focus on to be the best!

Now little Johnny, do you have any more questions? No? Okay.

How about the rest of the class? Bueller.......Bueller.......

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Goldmaking After Darkmoon Faire- Alto's "How To"

First off, I want to thank everyone that commented on yesterday's post. It was a very tough decision, and the winner is......Well, I can't tell you yet, I said Wednesday! I also wanted to thank Brouck for his post dedicated to me, "The Best Blog (post) Ever!". It means alot that someone cares that much to post something like that. Alright, with that outta the way, Let's rock on!

With the end of Darkmoon, we have a bit of time before the next one. What does this mean for us AH PvP'ers? Alot. See alot of people are gonna burn up their stock of their singles, because they want their gold back in their pockets. I can't blame em, and we are here to make some profits.

"Duh Alto, we know that already. How do I make gold? Get to the point already!". Ok. First off, you are going to want to hit the AH and open up your BUY tab. Now make yourself a nice and pretty Shopping List:

*Edit- Thanks to Syn in comments for this addition- To make it a more specific List with Auctionator you can also type: Quest/of embers,Quest/of the winds. it will come up with only the cards because it searches the quest category of the "of whatever" name.

of the winds
of stones
of embers
of waves
Earthquake
Hurricane
Tsunami
Volcano

Now I hope you added these to your new shopping list. If you didn't, go back and do it again, because to do this right, you cannot miss any of them. Got it? Good.

Now in this example, you can see that every single card is up for grabs. Nice. A full deck. Let's add em up quick and compare to the screenshot above.






Lets just round up a few gold and say 15K instead of 14923g (i didnt add silvers...). And how much is the full deck going for? 29K. The card? 10K cheaper at 19K. Now you do the math....see all them zero's? 15K investment, maybe a week on the AH, and you are looking at an easy 10,000g profit. "Ok Alto, your math is jacked again, that's a 14K profit". Gimme a minute to explain...

Now don't get me wrong, you might sit on this for a few weeks, or it might sell in a day. You might /2 it up and sell it in trade with something like "WTS Hurricane Deck- 5K cheaper than AH- my loss, your gain". Or not. Completely up to you.

Now all you have to do is keep posted on the different decks, and go from there. Before you say "This don't work on my server". Tell me which server you on, because I will check. It does. Now you might not have all the cards for one deck available right at this moment, but you can always snatch up a few now and change your list to "Needed Darkmoon Cards" (yes, I have one like that in case you were wondering). Obviously, there are some decks that are not worth the "flip" here, they might be lopsided, but I hope you got my point here. Now I have done this before and hit on it in a post, but this tosses a bit of more detail for ya'll.

By the way, this is great to do for the "old school" decks as well, and save them for the week before the faire to sell off (even the day of) for the folks that pay to turn in decks or that are buying the cheaper darkmoon decks to turn in for rep.

Now I gotta ask, how did your server look after checking? Some great deals out there, huh? If you don't see anything, either you need a new script on your glasses, you need glasses, or someone beat you to the punch...But I have a feeling that quite a few of you will see some great profits out there. Lemme know!

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