The Auction House is the engine of the World of Warcraft player economy. For those dedicated to making gold, mastering the Auction House is a critical skill. In The War Within (TWW), region-wide commodities and realm-specific gear, combined with LIFO posting and fee structures, set the rules for profit. This guide lays out practical methods to price, post, flip, craft, and track results with TSM and allied addons, with risk controls for both fast-moving markets and long-tail inventory to achieve Auction House success.
In this guide, you’ll find:
- Market foundations: region-wide vs. realm-specific items, deposits and the 5% cut, LIFO posting order.
- Reading the economy: supply and demand cycles, weekend spikes, patch/season windows.
- Essential addons & alerts: TSM/Auctionator/CraftSim setup, saved searches with thresholds, cancel-scan cadence.
- Flipping playbook: vendor shuffles, materials arbitrage (with a micro-case), transmog & pets long-tail.
- Crafting for profit: niche recipes and cooldowns, Concentration/Ingenuity, work orders pricing, and SLA.
- Risk management: fake floors/manipulation, overexposure definition, diversification framework, deposit discipline.
- Templates: TSM pricing strings for commodities/gear/transmog and sniper rules.
- KPI dashboard: weekly metrics and a margin-tracking sheet.
- Black Market Auction House: core mechanics, bidding increments, and locations.
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Part 1: Auction House Fundamentals (Region vs. Realm, LIFO, Fees)
Region-Wide vs. Realm-Specific Markets (WoW TWW)
- Region-wide (commodities): Stackable items such as ores, herbs, cloth, pigments, enchants, and many crafting materials are listed across the entire region. Prices gravitate toward regional averages, volume is high, and competition is constant. These are often considered trade goods.
- Realm-specific (non-stackables): Most equipment/gear, bags, many pets, and unique items are listed only on your realm. Prices are idiosyncratic, spreads are wider, and mispricings on valuable items are common.
Auction House Fees: Deposits & the 5% Cut
When selling items, two unavoidable costs eat into your profit. Failing to account for them is a rookie error.
- Deposit (refundable only on sale): This fee, paid upfront when posting items, scales with the item’s vendor value and the auction duration.
- 12h = base cost
- 24h = 2× base
- 48h = 4× base
This system punishes spamming worthless items and encourages thoughtful listing durations.
- Auction cut: A flat 5% tax is taken from the final sale price. Always bake this into your margin math; a 10% markup is really less than 5% profit.
LIFO Posting Order (Last-In, First-Out)
This is a simple but profound rule: at the same price, the most recently posted auction sells first. When you open the Auction House window and see a wall of similar items at the exact same price, only the one at the very top is actually selling. This means undercutting by a single copper is often a pointless race to the bottom. The professional’s move is to match the lowest price to get LIFO priority. The fix for a stagnant listing is to cancel and repost it, but you must weigh the cost of that lost deposit.
Part 2: Reading Your Realm Economy (Supply/Demand & Patch Windows)
To succeed, you must pay attention to the natural rhythm of the market and overarching market trends. The entire economy is driven by supply and demand; understanding supply sources and predicting demand shifts is the core of making gold.
Weekend Spikes & Weekly Demand Cycles
Player activity isn’t constant. Weekends are peak hours, bringing a surge in both buyer traffic and listing churn. Expect higher turnover and occasional short-lived price distortions as supply struggles to keep up with demand. Conversely, listing during off-peak hours on weekdays can sometimes allow you to buy low from players just offloading items without checking the current price. As a result, prices fluctuate more dramatically during these transitional periods.
Patch & Season Windows: Demand Surges for Mats & Crafted Gear
New content is a gold mine. A new patch, raid tier, or Mythic+ season creates a massive, predictable spike in demand for consumables, new gear, enchants, and the base mats needed to craft them. These become high demand items overnight. Margins peak in the first few days. Prepare your stock in advance and liquidate it as the wave crests. This is especially true on raid nights when every guild’s raid team is stocking up their guild bank.
Baselines & Detachments: DBRegionMarketAvg, DBMarket, DBMinBuyout
Monitoring market trends is crucial.
- Commodities: treat DBRegionMarketAvg as your equilibrium.
- Realm gear/pets/transmog: watch DBMarket and DBMinBuyout.
Large, rapid deviations from these baselines flag flips, exits, or holds. Rapid price fluctuations are often your biggest signal.
Part 3: Essential Addons & Alerts (TSM, Auctionator, CraftSim)
A good add on is essential for efficiency.
TSM Setup: Price Sources, Auctioning Ops & Sniper (WoW TSM guide)
- Core price sources: TSM uses data points like DBMarket (realm average), DBRegionMarketAvg (region average), and DBRegionSaleAvg (actual recent sale prices) to inform its logic.
- Auctioning operations: These are your automated rules for posting. You define minimum, normal, and maximum prices, as well as post caps and durations. This automates your selling decisions with precision.
- Sniper: This feature performs timed scans of the last page of the Auction House to instantly surface newly posted underpriced items relative to a pricing rule you set. It’s a powerful tool for catching deals the moment they appear.
Alerts: Saved Searches, Thresholds & Cancel-Scan Cadence
Purpose: surface actionable price changes without noise. Here’s a compact capability matrix to decide which tool handles each task.
| Task | TSM | Auctionator | CraftSim | Notes |
| Post operations (Min/Normal/Max) | Yes (groups, per-bucket ops) | Basic (manual posting) | — | TSM automates pricing bands and quantities. |
| Cancel scan (regain LIFO) | Yes | Yes (fast) | — | Use often on commodities; sparingly on slow movers. |
| Sniper (deal finder) | Yes | — | — | Runs below-price rules to surface underpriced listings. |
| Shopping lists & saved searches | Yes | Yes | — | Group by bucket (mats/gear/long-tail) with thresholds. |
| Price sources (DBMarket, DBRegion*) | Yes | — | — | Feeds ops/sniper with realm/region pricing. |
| Accounting / ledger (avg buy/sell) | Yes | Limited (recent prices) | — | Use for weekly KPI and margin checks. |
| Grouping & import/export strings | Yes | — | — | Shareable operation strings per market. |
| Mailing integration | Yes | — | — | Faster collection of AH mail (gold/items). |
| Crafting cost & profit (crafting source) | Yes | — | — | Pulls cost into pricing (for crafted goods). |
| Destroy/transform value (mill/prospect/DE) | Yes | — | — | Compare raw vs processed profit. |
| Work-order support | Indirect (costs) | — | Indirect (profit sim) | Use for quoting commissions and quality targets. |
| Reagent quality handling | Yes | — | Yes | Simulate/price different quality mixes. |
| UI performance on large scans | High | High | N/A | Both handle modern AH speed well. |
| Learning curve | High | Low | Medium | Start with Auctionator; graduate to TSM; use CraftSim for crafts. |
| Best use case | Full AH automation | Quick buy/cancel & lists | Pre-craft profit checks | Combine all three for coverage. |
Saved Shopping Searches (TSM / Auctionator)
- Mats (region-wide): alert when price < 70% DBRegionMarketAvg or < 65% DBMarket.
- Gear (realm-specific): alert when price < 60% DBMarket or < 50% DBRegionMarketAvg.
- Transmog/Pets (long-tail): alert when DBRegionMarketAvg > 5,000g and price < 35% DBRegionMarketAvg.
- Group searches by bucket (mats/gear/long-tail); enable an in-game sound cue for snipes.
Cancel-Scan Cadence (Auctionator / TSM)
- Commodities: run a cancel scan every 2–4 hours on peak days (Fri–Sun) and once near prime time on weekdays; post 12h durations to limit deposit burn.
- Gear / Long-tail: one pass daily or skip cancels; use 24–48h durations to avoid churn. This discipline of posting items is vital.
Part 4: Flipping Playbook — Best Items to Flip in WoW & Materials Arbitrage
Flipping items is a cornerstone of making gold in World of Warcraft. The simple mantra is to buy low and sell high.
Vendor Shuffles
Limited-supply recipes and niche vendor goods can be relisted for a higher price. Use vendorBuy/vendorSell floors so fees don’t erase gains.
Materials Arbitrage
When DBMinBuyout dips well below DBRegionMarketAvg, accumulate the trough and relist near the mean. For processing flips, check destroy/crafting sources to see if milling/prospecting/disenchanting raw materials or simple crafting converts to value. This is a great way to find undervalued goods.
Materials-Arbitrage: Micro-Case (illustrative)
- Item: current-tier ore (e.g., Ironclaw Ore).
- Signal: realm DBMinBuyout = 40g; DBRegionMarketAvg = 57g → spread ≈ 30%. This is a classic opportunity to buy low.
- Buy: ≤ 40g up to 4,000 units (cost 160,000g).
- Relist Plan: 12h cycles; price bands Min 50g / Norm 54g / Max 58g; post caps of 2,000 per listing. The goal is to sell high.
- Expected Window: 24–72h during patch spikes; otherwise 3–5 days, assuming stable regional demand.
- Net at 54g sale: Net/unit ≈ 54 × 0.95 − 40 = 11.3g. This simple flip generates good money.
Transmog & Pets (The Long Tail)
Low velocity, high margin. Breadth beats depth. Price off DBRegionSaleAvg/DBHistorical, cap posts to 1 per item, and accept multi-week horizons. These are often rare items that can be sold for a much higher price.
Best Items to Flip (Starter Baskets)
- High-turn commodities: current-tier herbs/ores, enchanting materials, gems, pigments, intermediate reagents.
- Bags & reagent bags: steady baseline demand, watch deposit vs. margin.
- Current crafted gear & PvP catch-ups: price around patch/season beats.
- Green/blue gear with good stats: realm-specific pricing can be soft; flip mislisted pieces. Finding these undervalued items is a great feeling.
- Battle pets & transmog: long-tail inventory for chunky wins.
Part 5: Crafting for Profit & Work Orders
Crafting professions are another excellent avenue for profit.
Niche Recipes and Cooldowns
Target recipes gated by rep, drops, or special vendors. Use CraftSim to test mat qualities and finishing reagents; only spend Concentration where it pushes the item into a reliably profitable quality tier. Selling these crafted items can be very lucrative.
Work Orders: Pricing and SLA
- System: Public and personal orders continue; expect periodic NPC personal orders providing mats and rewarding profession progression.
- Pricing: Commission = crafting cost + Concentration premium + time premium (rush fee if requested). Don’t be afraid to charge a higher price for high-quality, efficient service.
Part 6: The Black Market Auction House (BMAH)
How it works: No buyout; highest bid wins. It lists rare items, discontinued, or unobtainable items, and acts as a gold sink. Bids must exceed the current price by a fixed increment. You must be present when the auction ends to claim your winnings.
Locations in TWW:
- Dornogal: Madam Goya at The Fissure. This major city will be a hub for activity.
- Undermine: Madam Gosu within the city’s market quarter.
What appears: Notable retired mounts, rare pets, transmog, and the Unclaimed Black Market Container. The limited availability of these items drives their value. Many are no longer obtainable from sources like quest rewards.
Part 7: Risk Management & Advanced Strategy
Avoiding Manipulation
One of the most common mistakes new goblins make is getting tricked by market manipulators.
- Fake floors/resets: This is when a wealthy player buys out all of a specific item to create an artificial shortage, then relists their stock at a hugely inflated price. Don’t fall for it. Anchor your decisions to long-term data like DBRegionSaleAvg, not the manipulated DBMinBuyout.
- Bait churn: Aggressive micro-undercuts meant to panic sellers into lowering their prices. True Auction House success comes from trusting your pricing strategy and having the patience to wait for the market to stabilize.
Overexposure (Risk Management)
Overexposure is when a single item or market holds more than your weekly sell-through capacity or exceeds a set capital cap (e.g., 25–30% of your AH bankroll), sharply increasing risk. Avoid putting too much money into one basket.
Diversification Framework
A key to mastering the Auction House is diversification.
- 70% liquid high-velocity (mats, consumables)
- 20% medium velocity (bags, current crafted gear)
- 10% long-tail (transmog, pets)
Part 8: TSM Templates & Sniper Rules (Starter Baselines)
These templates are sane defaults designed to streamline your posting items strategy and help you find undervalued goods automatically. Calibrate them to your realm’s specific economy and your personal risk tolerance.
Auctioning — Commodities (mats, reagents)
- Min: max(120% crafting, 70% DBRegionMarketAvg, 65% DBMarket)
- Normal: min(95% DBRegionMarketAvg, 110% crafting)
- Max: max(120% DBRegionMarketAvg, 140% crafting)
Auctioning — Gear (realm-specific)
| Bucket | Min | Normal | Max | Duration | Post Cap | Stop After (expires) | Notes |
| Commodities (mats, reagents) | max(120% crafting, 70% DBRegionMarketAvg, 65% DBMarket) | min(95% DBRegionMarketAvg, 110% crafting) | max(120% DBRegionMarketAvg, 140% crafting) | 12h | High (split stacks) | 3 | Low deposits; frequent cancel scans on peak days. |
| Bags / Reagent bags | max(85% DBMarket, 75% DBRegionMarketAvg) | DBMarket | 140% DBMarket | 24h | 2–4 | 3 | High deposits; avoid overposting; watch margins. |
| Crafted gear (current tier) | max(110% crafting, 85% DBMarket, 75% DBRegionMarketAvg) | min(110% crafting, 100% DBMarket) | 160% DBMarket | 24–48h | 1–2 | 3 | Price Concentration into cost if guaranteeing quality. |
| Realm gear (BoE greens/blues) | max(80% DBMarket, 70% DBRegionMarketAvg, 150g) | DBMarket | 150% DBMarket | 24–48h | 1–2 | 3–5 | Wider spreads; don’t chase micro-undercuts. |
| Transmog / Battle pets (long-tail) | ifgt(DBRegionMarketAvg,5000g,40% DBRegionMarketAvg,2500g) | 70% DBRegionMarketAvg | 200% DBRegionMarketAvg | 48h | 1 | 5 | Slow velocity; breadth over depth; patient relists. |
- Min: max(80% DBMarket, 70% DBRegionMarketAvg, 150g)
- Normal: DBMarket
- Max: 150% DBMarket
Sniper — Below-Price Rules
This helps you find undervalued goods automatically.
- Materials: min(70% DBRegionMarketAvg, 60% DBMarket)
- Gear: min(60% DBMarket, 50% DBRegionMarketAvg)
- Transmog: ifgt(DBRegionMarketAvg, 5000g, 35% DBRegionMarketAvg, 0g)
Part 9: KPI Dashboard (Track Weekly)
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Tracking your performance is the final, crucial step in mastering the Auction House. At the end of each week, take a few minutes to log your key performance indicators (KPIs).
Core KPIs
- Revenue (Gross/Net): How much money did you make before and after the 5% cut and lost deposits?
- Sell-through rate: What percentage of the items you listed actually sold?
- Median days to sell: How long does it take for items in different categories to sell?
- Average margin %: What is your actual profit margin on successful sales?
This data provides a clear, honest picture of your efforts in making gold and will illuminate what’s working and what isn’t, allowing you to refine your strategy for long-term, sustainable success in the World of Warcraft economy.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I set profitable TSM operations as a beginner?
Start with simple bands per bucket. Commodities: Min 70% DBRegionMarketAvg, Normal 100% DBRegionMarketAvg, Max 130% DBRegionMarketAvg, duration 12h, stop after 3 expires. Gear (realm): Min 80% DBMarket, Normal DBMarket, Max 150% DBMarket, 24–48h, cap 1–2. Transmog/Pets: Min 40% DBRegionMarketAvg (only if region avg > 5,000g), Normal 70%, Max 200%, 48h, cap 1. Review TSM Accounting weekly; if sell-through is low or deposit burn rises, raise the Min or lower the cap.
What’s a safe profit margin for flipping materials?
For high-turn mats, aim 8–15% net after the 5% cut and deposits; in volatile weeks (patch/season starts) target 15–25%. For slower markets (bags, crafted gear), 20–35% gives room for price dips. Use: net = sale × 0.95 − cost − deposits and test on a small stack before scaling.
How many items should I post per cycle?
Post roughly one day of typical sales per mat, not your entire stock (e.g., 1–3k units depending on market size). Gear: 1–2 each per 24–48h. Transmog/Pets: 1 each. Refill after sales or on cancel-scan; this limits deposit waste and avoids walling your own price.
Does undercutting by 1 copper still help in the Auction House window?
No. With LIFO (same-price sells last in, first out), matching the lowest price and reposting restores priority. Undercutting by a token amount only compresses the market and erodes margins. Undercut only when the current low is above your Max or clearly mispriced.
Which auction duration should I use—12h, 24h, or 48h?
Commodities: 12h to minimize deposits and reprice often. Gear/Transmog/Pets: 24–48h to avoid cancel churn on slow movers. If an item frequently expires, shorten duration or raise the Min to curb deposit losses.
What times (server time) are best to sell?
Evenings 19:00–23:00 server time and weekends carry the most buyers. List before these windows and run cancel scans during them. Use your Accounting logs to spot realm-specific spikes (raid nights, weekly reset) and aim postings accordingly.
Where should I sell—only in capital cities?
Posting from capital cities and current hubs (e.g., Dornogal) is convenient for fast relists and mailbox/bank access. Pricing is region/realm driven, not location-based, so pick a hub that minimizes your turnaround time.
How do deposits and the AH cut affect my final price?
You lose the deposit if the item doesn’t sell and 5% of the sale on a successful sale. Price so net = sale × 0.95 − deposits − cost meets your target margin. Example: at 1,000g sale, you receive 950g before deposit and cost; adjust your Min to protect margin.
What’s the difference between region-wide and realm-specific items?
Commodities (stackables) are region-wide, so prices gravitate to regional averages and undercut wars are common. Non-stackables (gear, many pets) are realm-specific, creating wider spreads and localized mispricings—prime territory for flips.
How do I read DBRegionMarketAvg vs DBMarket vs DBMinBuyout?
DBRegionMarketAvg: regional “typical” listing price (baseline for mats). DBMarket: your realm’s weighted average (key for realm items). DBMinBuyout: current lowest listing on your realm (useful for timing). Favor region averages for commodities and realm data for gear; treat sudden DBMinBuyout dips as opportunities, not value.
What Sniper rules are safe for beginners?
Start conservative to avoid junk. Mats: min(70% DBRegionMarketAvg, 60% DBMarket). Gear: min(60% DBMarket, 50% DBRegionMarketAvg). Transmog: ifgt(DBRegionMarketAvg,5000g,35% DBRegionMarketAvg,0g). Review catches daily; widen thresholds only if sell-through and margins hold.
What are “fixed price” bands in TSM?
They’re your Min/Normal/Max rails; TSM picks the posting final price within them based on current market. Example (mats): Min 70% region avg, Normal 100%, Max 130%. If the market dips under Min, TSM won’t post; adjust bands after checking sales velocity.
What should I list items as—single stacks or large stacks?
Modern AH lets buyers choose any quantity from your listing, so stack size is cosmetic. Focus on unit price and a sensible total quantity online. For niche items, keep one listing active; for mats, spread postings to avoid being undercut across your entire volume.
What are the best items to flip as a new seller?
Start with common items that always move: current herbs/ores, enchants, gems, pigments, and bags. Add certain items like leveling/catch-up gear with steady demand. Use small allocations for long-tail (transmog/pets) until your Accounting shows consistent sells.
How do I price work orders in The War Within?
Commission = crafting cost (if you provide mats) + Concentration premium (for guaranteed quality) + time premium (rush SLA). State a minimum mat quality in your note; if mats are lower, quote an upgrade surcharge. Track tips and time spent to refine pricing.
What are Concentration and Ingenuity in crafting?
Concentration is a bar you spend to guarantee the next quality tier; it regenerates over time. Ingenuity can refund some of the Concentration used. Spend Concentration where the higher tier materially improves sale price or fill rate; skip it on low-impact crafts.
How do I avoid overexposure to one market?
Set caps: keep any single item class under 25–30% of bankroll and watch inventory at risk (items with 3+ consecutive expires). Use a weekly “clear or keep” pass: lower Max, raise Min, or liquidate a slice at break-even to free gold.
How do I spot fake floors or market resets?
Look for thin volume, sudden buyouts, and prices far above DBRegionSaleAvg/DBHistorical. If the spread looks artificial, don’t chase. Let supply rebuild, then re-enter with small postings at sustainable levels.
Is the Black Market Auction House worth using for profit?
Treat it as collection/speculation, not steady income. No buyout, bids climb in increments, and competition is heavy. If attempting a flip, factor long holding times and the risk of rotation returns depressing price.
How often should I run cancel scans and relist?
Commodities: every 2–4h on peak days with 12h postings to keep LIFO priority. Gear/Transmog: daily or on expiry with 24–48h postings to limit deposit burn. Use “stop after N expires” to cap losses and adjust bands based on sell-through.
