Classic WoW Auction House Guides (Classic Only)
The information found on this page will help you understand what items have value in this era of World of Warcraft and why. I've broken the page down into advice based on the Phase that the game is in, this is a theme with the Blizzard version of these servers. Each time Blizzard has made WoW Classic servers they go through phases which release new content every couple of months. Depending on the phase you are in, different items will have value at different times.
No one really cares about Elemental Earth when you're still clearing Molten Core. However, once you get closer to AQ it starts to become more and more profitable until AQ hits and it skyrockets in price. The same is kind of the opposite for Elemental Fire. That retains value when Molten Core and Blackwing Lair are the main dungeons people farm and it loses value when people move into AQ and Naxx since they don't consume that item as regularly anymore.
Of course there are some items which retain value throughout all of Classic, one such example is the Twink items that characters use in Battlegrounds. Gear that is considered exceptional for Level 19, Level 29 and Level 39 will retain value throughout this entire era. It's worth noting that Level 19 is the most popular, 29 second most and 39 is going to be the least popular twink bracket. Not many people twink out a level 39 character, although it does become slightly more common in TBC and WoTLK.
Level 19 Twink Items to Buy & Resell
Level 29 Twink Items to Buy & Resell
Phase Guides
Phase 2 (Dire Maul, Battlegrounds)
Phase 3 (Blackwing Lair + Darkmoon Faire)
Phase 6 (Naxxramas)
Youtube Video (Phase 1) Auction House Tips
Youtube Video (Phase 1.5) Auction House Tips
Youtube Video (Phase 2) Diremaul Items of Value
Youtube Video (Phase 2) Twink Items
Youtube Video (Phase 3) Pre-BWL Information
Youtube Video (Phases 1, 2 and 3) Big Ticket Items To Watch For/Flip
General Auction House Advice
In this section you'll find some general tips/guidance on how to use the Auction House to your advantage. For the most part these tips are universal and can be applied to any phase/expansion and even other games. To give you an example of what I mean and also my best tip, it's always best to buy from the AH on Mondays/Tuesdays and it's always best to sell on Friday/Saturday.
Most players log on during the weekend since that is a break from the work week. Friday night and Saturday night are the two best times for listing your items because the economy is booming. Everyone is logging in and buying what they need for upcoming raids or weekend fun. On the flip side, Sunday night into Monday is when you will start to really notice prices declining. Everyone is finishing up their weekend fun and listing their loot on the AH. During this period everyone keeps undercutting one another over and over, this always results in the best prices Sunday going into Monday.
The logic behind this is the majority of people play on weekends and that number dwindles significantly on Monday since everyone works during the week. Supply and demand are both very high on Sunday but towards the end of the day when everyone starts to log off for the week they list what items they have and the supply ends up being much higher than the demand.
Normally there is very little demand until Monday night, but this depends on the item and server. The best time to buy is normally between 3 - 8am before anyone wakes up on Monday, this of course isn't possible for all of you since most of you have lives... Which is exactly the reason this trick works. As people start to wake up you'll notice the prices increasing until the evening which is when everyone is done work and logging back in. Sometimes the prices will plateau here and remain this way until Friday when they start their weekend pricing again. Other times it will take until Tuesday to fully clear out the backlog of stuff people farmed on the weekend.
Tip #2: If you want to get started with buying and reselling but you don't know how, pay attention to 2 - 5 different items you get a lot of and their prices on the AH. However many items you can handle is perfect to start with. Check these items every day and try to sell them on Friday - Sunday. Pay attention to what they normally sell for and the day. You want to keep a price in your mind for the item that you know you can get--that way whenever Monday comes around and you see the item 50% below what you know it normally sells at, you can buy it and resell it later.
Tip #3: Try to focus on items you can do multiple things with. Sometimes the market gets so over saturated with the items you're trading in and there's nothing you can do. We can remedy this by converting our items to something else that holds value. This will sometimes require you to have other characters you can send the items too which have crafting professions. A few examples are turning Runecloth into Runecloth Bags or a cheap item (like Runecloth Belt) to Disenchant. Many herbs can be converted into consumables with Alchemy, Dreamfoil is used in practically everything. Thorium can be used for Grenades, Arcanite Bars, Field Repair Robots, Thorium Widgets, Lionheart Helms and a few other things depending on how many extra items you want to gather.
You should try to keep in mind all of the various items which are used in quests too. Mithril Casing is used in Chasing A-Me 01, Gyrochronatom for Gyro... What?, Frost Oil for Coolant Heads Prevail, Patterned Bronze Bracers for Stone is Better Than Cloth and there's a couple more which many people do. There's a nice spreadsheet here with more info.
- alliance and horde on same server auction house tip
- get an auction house addon