If you haven’t already done so, you should read entry #1 below. This covers the very basic principals of the Trading Post that you must understand before you begin. Please also note that at the start of this tutorial, I had 3100 gold. I'm simply adhering to only spending 50 of that total amount to begin with and only then spending the profits earned from this diary. By the end of this diary series I should have 4100 gold (1000 gold profit being the target).
There’s several questions that I keep being asked as part of this ongoing diary. I’ll try to answer them today.
“How many of an item do you buy?”
In all honesty, I make that up depending on the item I’m buying but it all depends on how much money I have at the time. When I’m placing Buy Orders on an item that’s as little as 1 silver, there’s no harm in just placing 250 Buy Orders. After all, it’s going to cost you very little and if you do manage to secure all 250 Buy Orders (unlikely) you’ll make an awesome profit. As for Exotics or Rares, these can cost a lot. Some Exotics as much as 2 gold each. It’s unlikely, unless you’re stinking rich, that you could place buy orders for large quantities of these. I tend to try to buy around 5 for Exotics and 25 for Rare items. At worst I’d only then be stuck with a handful of expensive goods.
“What if someone has undercut my listing?”
It honestly doesn’t matter. You might technically be down on funds because you’ve bought an item that hasn’t sold, but you also now have an item that’s going to provide a profit at some point in the future. If you really needed, you could liquidate your purchased items by simply re-listing them at a break even price, rather than one that secures a profit. Only today I sold two Exotic daggers that I’ve had listed for four days. They gave me a return of 9 gold (from an original purchase cost of 3) but took a while to sell, even with multiple listings in front of them. Patience is key.
“How do you choose what to buy?”
I honestly have very little strategy here besides picking items that turn a profit. That’s all that matters. Of the things I regularly buy, Staff and Dagger weapons always sell well and so do bags (regardless of slot size) they’re my staple items that allow me to always turn a profit. Anything else is fair game and of my experience with the Trading Post, anything seems to sell regardless of how bad it is (don’t ask me why).
“How long do you spend per day placing Buy Orders and listing items?”
I make sure I spend no more than 30 minutes placing my buy orders. I’m sure I could fine tune my searches and item selections, but I’m just not interested in spending my entire day looking at the Trading Post. You don’t need to. Flipping, as I see it, should be complimentary to your play and it shouldn’t take long to do.
Having answered those questions, I’ve officially finished 7 days of flipping. I actually took a break on Sunday and Monday because I was jam packed with other things. It was a worthwhile break, I think, because it allowed me to take stock of what I’ve still got listed and what profit I’ve made. Surprisingly, the only thing I’ve got left to sell are the mini’s I bought, a large batch of Orichalcum Boot Lining’s and a handful of weapons. In total, it’s probably about 35 golds worth of goods but very little in terms of physical items. Most of the money is wrapped up in the mini’s and Oricalchum Boots. As for everything else selling over the weekend, that surprised me a fair bit and in total, it brings me to 185 gold profit, 50 gold remaining still in my original float and 35 gold (or there abouts) tied up in items on the Trading Post. In total, I’ve earned around 220 gold in a week. I think that’s pretty good going and demonstrates that earning nearly 1,000 gold in 4 weeks isn’t an impossibility. Do I want to maintain this momentum? I’ll try but I’ve noticed it’s getting harder and harder to fulfil buy orders.
I ended up listing for dozens upon dozens of items on Friday and Saturday and surprisingly, only some Exotic Assassin weapons came in. They still gave me over 1 gold profit each, but I was hoping for more. The Pearl Quarterstaff sold quickly and so did all the inscriptions I bought (I think 25 in total). I ended up placing repeat buy orders for these items and fortunately, managed to bag another 10 of the weapons as well as some other Exotic daggers (Berserker’s Iron Dagger of Rage). All of them sold, alongside many of the other items I was waiting on.
Now that I’ve a pot of around 235 gold to play with, I’m hoping to be able to place much more buy orders. As to whether I can net another 185 gold in the next 7 days? Here’s hoping.
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