Wednesday 19 January 2011

What should I do?


I'm not quite sure of how much [Obsidium Ore] I have. In the last few days I've bought it only when it was selling for less than 45g, but that's still a lot of stacks.

I can't prospect fast enough to empty my mail, and I can't sell or craft/disenchant fast enough to get rid of the gems I prospect. I think I'll make some kind of "craft and vendor" feast (I already cut and vendored some of my gems, actually... but not a lot of the,. I guess less than 100), the problem is that this takes time and I need to watch the process, since cut gems don't stack and fill my bag quite fast.

You can see in this image the gems I cut in the last two days. You can notice [Hessonite] and [Zephyrite]s are slightly less than the others, this is because I've crafted/disenchanted a lot of them... But since I don't want to flood the AH of enchanting mats, I've something like 120 Greater Celestial Essence in my bag, trying to sell them a few at a time (soon I'll stop trying this and just put everything on the market). Prices for [Jasper], [Alicite] and [Zephyrite] are ~9g, so the auction house cut doesn't make it worth to try to sell them (except, in the case of [Jasper] and [Zephyrite], when there is the daily... But I think that by then I'll have too much of them to sell everything). The price of Hypnotic Dust is now ~10g and lowering, so crafting [Alicite Pendant] isn't an option.


I decided to use the [Hessonite] I have also to do a little experiment (which may or may not involve also [Nightstone])... Since I'm obviously using them to make [Hessonite Band], I decided to write down everything I get from them, so I'll have some good statistics of the blue procs and the quantity of mats made disenchanting the greens. I know that similar things have already been done, but it doesn't hurt to bring some other data. For now I crafted 155 of them, getting 17 blue rings. I could also try to sell them raw, since they're one of the few gems selling for more than 9g, but I prefer to get my numbers.
Do you have any creative idea of what to do with the gems and/or the [Obsidium Ore]?
All my [Alicite] are going to be cut and vendored, and the same goes for [Zephyrite] and [Jasper] gems.
I've tried to cut them in "rare" cut learned only from recipes and not from the trainer, with mixed results: [Stormy Zephyrite] sold well for some time, especially perfect ones. Have you seen any of this recipe-learned cut selling well on your server? Do you want me to try some of them?

(I should also find a way to get rid of [Elementium Ore]. There are hundreds stack at 44g each in the AH right now, and everything I do can't make them disappear... someone is simply posting more of them.
Since now I have had great results selling Hardened Elementium Bars, but I'd be more happy if I could diversify, and my BS isn't yet at level 84)

12 comments:

  1. Why on earth would you cut and vendor Jasper!? Jasper Rings are an excellent way to get dust, and if dust is selling for 10g a piece, you're set to make decent profit. Jasper Rings cost 1 Jasper, one Setting, so that's 10.2g total: 9g opportunity cost for the Jasper, 1.2g for the setting (with exalted discount). 1.5 dusts per DE is a safe estimate, so that's ~5g profit on each ring. And that's not including Blue procs with can sell on the AH for ~100g! Same goes with Alicite: Profit on the dusts at your prices won't be that great, but the Blue procs sell for around 200g on my server, so you could make up the loss from dusts there.

    If you have access to an alchemist, Shadowspirit x-mute will get rid of gems fast, and will bring you awesome profit too. I easily go through a stack of SS gems a week, and that might be a conservative estimate. If you don't have an alchemist, hire one from your guild/trade.

    Zephyrite is the only thing really worth cutting and vendoring, and even then keeping a few stacks handy for the daily is a good idea.

    As for flooding the AH, depending on how much stock you're putting up, I'm not sure that's a big problem. My AH is usually quite stocked with Dusts and GCE. Dusts don't move quite as fast, but GCE rarely stay up for more than a day, even if I do get undercut a bit. You could also look into using the extra dusts/essences to craft scrolls and sell them. Prices for scrolls on my server are starting to rise, so this could be a viable and profitable way to deal with extra dusts/essences.

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  2. Sadly blue procs on Alicite don't sell well on my server as in yours... The reason I'm not trusting them and jaspers as a source of Dusts is that prices are still going down. However, I'll try a little more with Jaspers, ready to jump out of it if prices continue to fall.

    I have an alchemist ^^
    I have 102 Shadowspirit and I'm having an hard time getting rid of them, since there is a deep-undercutter that loves to put 10-15 at a time at 100g less than their price. I'm selling some of them cut, but obviously it takes a while.
    I'll get another recipe soon, avoiding those of the "deep-undercutter". That should let me sell some more Shadowspirits...

    Most scrolls are still selling at less than 10g, and I don't see anything for more than 25g... Actually, this may be part of the reason prices on mats are getting lower and lower: it's better to buy the scroll than make it, but Enchanters needing mats to level are less than at the beginning. I'm still stacking recipes for when prices start to normalize.
    As a side note, in my server dusts move faster than GCE :/ I wonder why there is this difference between my and yours.

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  3. A few things I'd suggest, Kreaton.

    #1 - Stop prospecting. Until your stockpile subsides, you don't need more gems in your inventory. You can still buy ore, but be selective - you can afford it.

    #2 - Start crafting Alicite Pendants & Jasper Rings to DE. I don't know what dust is going for on your server, but this stuff flies off the shelf on mine for 260g / stack (13g each) - especially now that guilds are starting progression.

    #3 - Stop Making Metas. Definitely these will move faster when sold raw, but keep a few cuts up, and about 5-8 raw at a time until your stockpile dies down a bit.

    #4 - Post metas at a normal price. Forget about that undercutter. Metas should move fast enough for you to ignore him.

    Last - Keep selling Zephyrite, Nightstone, and Hessonite raw. GCEs move slower than dust on my server too, so consider selling some Carnelian raw, and using some for GCE. If you have trouble selling blue jewelry, keep an eye on the prices of Small Heavenly Shards, and consider DE'ing the Jewelry (each give 1 SHS). You might do well to use my spreadsheet to look at your options. The numbers won't mean a lot, but the analysis of gems would help guide your shuffling to the right places (vendor, DE, sell raw, transmute, etc.)

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  4. @Stede:

    #1 Yes, I think I'll stop prospecting... Otherwise I'll get crazy ^^'''
    But seeing all that ore underpriced! It's difficult not to buy it :/ I'm a bit embarrassed about it, it feels like an addiction ^_^'''

    #2 Jasper Rings are still good to disenchant, Alicite Pendants sadly aren't.

    #3 I've done it already (I just make so I have 4-5 on the AH at any time, but I don't cut more than that) ^^ I don't see them moving raw, though...

    #4 When the "deep undercutter" is online he reposts anything people buy from him (there are always 10-15 raw shadowspirit), so there is no way people will buy mine.
    I manage to sell a few of them when he isn't on-line.

    I don't think selling Zephyrite raw is a great idea on my server, except on the daily day :/ actually, it sells for less than 9g (I'm not buying it since I'm having trouble with mine already). I will surely keep some for the day there is the daily ^_^
    Here you can see how zephyrite is going on my server

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  5. I know how you feel - whilst my banks don't look quite this full, I certainly have trouble NOT buying underpriced ores too. My other problem is that my JC is also my scribe so the same toon is milling almost as many herbs as she is prospecting ores - I've worn a groove in the path to the mailbox!

    Zephyrite is a pain - I usually manage to sell 20-30 raw gems on daily day but it doesn't come up as often as the others seem to. Blues sell eventually for OK money & I have an enchanter so I'm doing scrolls - some sell better than others & due to my overabundant supply, I'm perhaps not as careful about pricing as I should be but I need to shift some of this stuff before my next ore buying spree kicks in!

    The other option perhaps is to use your alchemist to transmute some of the excess green quality gems to blue quality gems - at least it will shrink your stock levels a little & hopefully the cut blues will sell for more eventually. Obviously this would depend of herb prices as well but may be worth a look.

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  6. There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

    Don't worry about getting rid of them so quickly, and ore's will not stay at that price forever. If I was in your spot, I would be filling my banks and keeping the AH full (basically with the advice above).

    With that stock, you can and will control the market on your server. If you get rid of all of your stock in a few days, and you see the prices skyrocket, you will wish you had them all back....so at that ore price, I would definitely keep buying. It's better to be in your situation that to be in mine, with ores going for 120g per stack and barely holding 1/2 tab.

    What has also worked for me is checking the opposite faction and seeing the prices over there. Normally, the major farmers hit one side and not the other.

    If there is a significant change in prices, send out a tell in /2 about gems/dust/etc in bulk. Then talk to them about flipping through the neutral AH. Or just find a guildie with toon that can assist on moving them over. It helps quite a bit being able to play both sides, as sometimes there are HUGE differences in AH items.

    Hope it helped, let me know how it works out for you!

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  7. @Nev:
    Thanks ^^ It helps to know there is someone in a similar situation :-)
    Sadly, most blue quality gems are going at very low prices. Amberjewels are actually cheaper than Alicite, and Inferno Rubies are the only one consistently selling at more than 30g (although in some days they're near to 50g)

    @Altolycus:
    OMG!
    I'm actually already doing cross-faction trading, and I was aware that gems prices were nearly the same both sides... After your comment I went to check again, and I found out that while enchanting mats prices have fallen down in the last weeks alliance-side, it's not the same there. I'm aware it could just be this night, since I wasn't controlling it well, but I think I'll still risk and try to send something there. Thank you!

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  8. The best advice I have seen so far is have patience and wait out the market. Prices are volatile and will change. In regards to your stock of SSD's, I think that after patch 4.0.6 comes out and the new SSD patterns begin to drop, the demand for SSD's will increase and their price will go up as well. I recently a little run in with an undercutting competitor as well and wrote a blog post about outsmarting the competition you may also want to have a look at.

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  9. Glad I can help!

    It's always a great way to get "out of a rut" when your AH is not agreeing with you. Not alot of people are into cross factions anymore (other than the pets or recipies) so I am happy to hear that this might be a viable option for you. Now don't forget that the "cut search" will work well too for snatch and grab (re-selling), just make sure that you get a solid base of scans on the other faction before you get into that side of it.

    Good luck, and keep us posted! I would like to know what kind of profit margin you are seeing!

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  10. Great post, Ali!
    You've been added to my blogroll (I don't know why you weren't there already).

    @Altolycus: I'm actually one of those people using cross faction trading just for pet and recipes ^_^''' since prices are changing so fast with Cataclysm, I decided to focus just on my side for a while, thank you for showing me the error of my ways!

    I'll try to make a new post regarding this as soon as I get some interesting numbers.

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  11. I'm jealous of your server's ore prices. There doesn't seem to be too many farmers on my server, as Obsidium and Elementium have been going for similar prices for a while. I count myself lucky if I find either one going for less than 120g a stack. I even tried to hire a friend to be my personal ore farmer and he said he only farms enough to cover his own professions. I wish I could stockpile as many gems as you've got!

    As for gem prices, I once decided to pick up the pattern for Quick Amberjewel, as there was little competition at the time. All of a sudden it's now going for 14g, which is about the same price as the raw gem. Popular cut, poor choice on my part, I guess. I have 2 Jewelers, so over a 3 day span I can get 2 new patterns to sell.

    As for all that extra Obsidium and Elementium, there's plenty you could do with the bars since you've already got gems coming out of your ears. Try making some of those engineering pets, if you have a tinkerer. Would be a good way to get rid of some of those Jasper, too. Also with engineering, you could make the Gnomish X-Ray Scope, or trade in Obsidium Bolts for some cogwheels to auction. Check the price of Elementium Rods on your server, as those may or may not yet be a viable market to get into.

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  12. I have something like 35 Quick Amberjewel and 25 Smooth ones too ^_^''' When I saw prices down to 10-20g I bought everything and reposted at 100g. Some sold, so I'm probably on par talking about gold, but I really don't know what to do about them now!
    Anyway, if you have two JC a bad pattern shouldn't hurt you so much!

    Engineering seems really interesting, and I'm talking to a friend of mine that could do some of those things for me... Talking about that, remember not to keep any stock when 4.0.6 hits.
    There will be a big decrease in the number of volatile air needed to craft anything, so prices will likely change (profit margins shouldn't change, anyway). I talked about a post about 4.0.6 Changes in Engineering

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