And Now for Something Completely Different

It's a maintenance morning once more, and my numbers don't look great. This refers to my gold count, which had dropped to about 22k, and my arena points, which are still at 700. I'm hoping the rumors of a one-week Season 8 delay are true, so I didn't just throw away 14k honor, or effectively 300g.

The gold has a good reason for the drop, however. The buying/stockpiling of epic gems is continuing, with only a few at a time being posted as the market price of certain cuts crests around the 200g mark. My ink reserves are almost completely stockpiled, just 10 stacks short of being able to do my weekly mass-recraft. It burns through about 800 inks every time I restock, and over 200g worth of parchment (at Revered).

The main reason the gold is so low, however, is because of friends.

One of my best friends started playing WoW around the same time I did. We server-hopped as other folks in our social circle started playing, hit mid-20's (just high enough to never want to restart), and quit after several months. Eventually, I ended up on the server on which I currently play, and when my friend got back into the game after a long hiatus, he followed me there.

Now, he has a fresh 80 Warlock and a computer not quite powerful enough to tolerate Dalaran. He's an Enchanter/Herbalist, which is a bit frustrating; he posts scrolls intermittently, but my desire to not be a complete jerk keeps me price-matching him instead of undercutting. So it's a little hiccup in my posting routine and a few more bits of information that need to be considered when I go to liquidate my Enchanting mats. I sell him mats and vellums at production cost when I have spare material lying around.

It's the Herbalist bit in which I'm most interested. I pay him a decent price under my buying threshold, in the neighborhood of 17-18g/stack, for Adder's Tongue and Icethorn. He has a job where there's lots of downtime and farming is about the only activity he can commit to, so he has a decent rate of herb-gathering.

So, for hitting 80 this week, I bought his epic flying, on the condition that he'd either repay me over time, or send me the 275 stacks of herbs equivalent. It's not entirely a loss, unless having 27k instead of 22k would enable me to make a substantially higher amount of money, but it does skew the week's numbers.

New Frontiers

Aside from pushing further into the markets in which I'm already established, this week saw some more odd items get posted, a mass-Jewelcrafting marathon (Holy Posting Fees, Batman!), a few epic gems go up, and a reset of both Belt Buckles and Lichbloom, with the latter being more successful.

A few farmers had posted Lichbloom well under its normal price, in the 20-25g/stack range. I bought them all out, reposted 1g under the next stack at 40g, and sent the six errant pieces of Lichbloom to my alt.

My alt then posted each individual Lichbloom at 29g/ea. Five sold within the hour. I'd feel bad, except that the buyer was a level 58 Death Knight. See also: banking toon. Incidentally, she's a heavy poster of herbs, and I've bought a lot of stuff from her in the past.

Buying Thresholds, Relative Profits, and Scams

I've noticed an interesting phenomenon of late. Let's use Titanium Ore as an example.

Titanium Ore is steadily on the Auction House at 285g/stack. In Trade, some of the bigtime Jewelcrafting moguls post macros buying at 265g/stack, 270g, etc. They post this whether or not someone is advertising "WTS [Titanium Ore] 250g/stack."

The interesting bit is that if the price on the Auction House drops to their limit, they'll just change the macro until prices go back up. 265g/stack courtesy of Auctioneer Thathung? "WTB Titanium Ore 260g/stack COD any time." Same story with Saronite Ore, or Lichbloom, or what have you.

They're not interested in the price of the goods as an absolute, nor are they considering profitability vs. time when they're setting these prices.

They're looking at the relative price of the goods, the instantaneous value of the commodity, and offering less than that instantaneous price, because that must mean they get a good deal.

I've noticed the reverse when buying epic gems from somebody. They'll be unloading a stack of 20 Cardinal Ruby, say, and I whisper them offering 2.5k/stack. The reply? 2550. 2600. Some marginal, insignificant increase, to show that they're getting more than you think it's worth. That's just fine and dandy. I'll actually pay 130g/ea, since I'm turning around and posted Bold Cardinal Ruby at 190g/ea. My limiting factor is stock, not gold, and while the seller wins this pissing match, I still turn one heck of a profit.

Which brings me to a conversation I had last night with a seller, moving epic gems.
[2: Trade] Mule: WTS [Cardinal Ruby] other epics PST
[W To: Mule] WTB Cardinal Ruby / Majestic Zircon in bulk, 2.5kg/stack
[W From: Mule] Cardinal Ruby 130g, Ametrine 100g
[W To: Mule] How many do you have?
[W From: Mule] 5x cardinal, 2x ametrine
[W To: Mule] I'll take all of them.
[W From: Mule] Hold on, I may have a buyer.
[W To: Mule] I'll throw an extra 50g on to your pricing, and meet you in Orgrimmar.
[W From: Mule] 900g? Let me check with competition.
[W From: Mule] Bid is 910g.
[W To: Mule] Ok. He can have them. Thanks anyway.

*Head to Org AH, check some prices*

Mule has invited you to a group.
[Mule]: Org bank.

*Trade complete; +5x Cardinal Ruby +2x Ametrine, -900g*
[Mediocrates]: Thanks. Glad the "buyer" backed out. Have a nice day.

There's never a real bidding war. The other guy is just trying to squeeze a few more gold out of you. I offer a bit extra for an immediate sale and I'll travel to the guy if he's selling at a good price, but don't let them into your wallet with that whole "Someone else wants to buy, what are you offering?" nonsense.

Weekly Update tonight after maintenance/work, with a quick business report.