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Diablo 3 Auction House pricing strategies


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So I'm finally starting to find some pretty decent drops to sell in the AH. And after selling 20 or so items, I'm trying to figure out what my strategy is going to be. Here are some of my thoughts...

 

Minimim bid - do you set it at 100 or do you set it at, say, 2000 which is roughly what the item might cost from a merchant? I think my strategy will be to roughly match the merchants. This means prices of 1000-5000 depending on how good the item really is. BUT, if I'm totally unsure of an item, then I'd rather it sell then not sell, so I'd set it at 200-500 and hope the auction does it's thing.

 

Buyout price - How fast do you need money? Did you just lose several HC toons in a row and you're broke? Then set a reasonable buyout price. Sure, you might lose some profit, but a properly priced item will sell within hours rather than the standard 36 hour auction. Also keep in mind that you can only sell 10 items at a time, so if you have 100 items in your stash, then you need to move them faster, rather than at max profit. On the other hand, I had a helmet go for 18,000 when I thought it was only worth 8,000, so if you're not in a rush, let the auction work for you. Also keep in mind that some players want something they can use right now, not tomorrow, so they'll pay a little more for that convenience.

 

When to put things in the AH - auctions are 36 hours. Many players play in the evening. This means that starting an auction in the morning means the 36 hours will expire in the evening when the most players are around to make last minute bids. My plan is to log in every morning before I leave for work and top off my 10 items. And actually, if you can manage to do it around noon, then your auction would expire around midnight the next day, which would be ideal for getting lots of last minute bidding.

 

Don't get discouraged by slow bidding - if you don't set a buyout price, don't get discouraged by slow bidding. At 12am, I had only 1 bid on 10 items. By 7am, I'd sold 6 of 10. This is because many players want something they can use now, not tomorrow, so they'll look for items with shortest time remaining and/or buyout prices.

 

Mule toons - yep, I had to go here - last night my stash was so full of stuff for myself or the AH that I had to create a mule toon to hold some of it. The nice thing in the AH is you can switch which toon your looking at, so you don't have to leave the AH to sell stuff off your mule. But keep in mind that if you're having to use mule toons to hold your overflow, then you need to use reasonable buyout prices to get that gear sold faster.

 

So what's your pricing strategy?

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So what's your pricing strategy?

 

For me, it's quite simple actually. I just input the stats of the thing I'm about to sell and search for similar items. Then I come up with a competitive buyout price (most peeps want their goods then and now like you mentioned) so that it pulls their attention when people browse. I set the auction price about 25% lower than the buyout price, but after reading your strategy, I might set the bid lower and let the AH work its magic. Also, I always make sure to crazy upmark rings and amulets, while also undermarking all weapons/offhand (NOT shield though). This is because if you look, people will pay thousands for 1 ring, but only a couple hundred gold for a sword or such. Thanks for the topic masteff! :thumbsup:

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I'm a bit different in how I use the AH. For starters, if an item doesn't have a BO price I don't even look at it. When I'm shopping I put in the stats I'm looking for, then sort by BO, cheapest to highest. Then I scroll through the pages to get past the N/A's.

 

When it comes to selling I'm all about moving items fast. I very rarely sell anything over 5k. Only if it has a very desirable attribute will I raise the price. The only time I sell stuff high is if I'm re-selling a legendary that I've outgrown. Then I usually just try to list it at the price I paid for it.

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I do not really have a strategy. What I have always done is just leave the starting bid at the default (I think it starts at the price a vendor would buy the item for) and just go starting bid x10 for the buyout. Recently, I have started having trouble moving stuff. After reading this thread, I am wondering if I am just pricing the stuff so cheap it does not even get noticed. :unsure:

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After reading this thread, I am wondering if I am just pricing the stuff so cheap it does not even get noticed. :unsure:

 

That's a possibility. Sometimes people will gloss over an item with a super low value because they immediately think that something is bad/undesirable about the item and move on. Try upping those prices a tad and see if it makes a difference? :agreed:

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Recently, I have started having trouble moving stuff.

 

I wonder if the arrival of the RMAH has more people trying to sell in the GAH? While HC doesn't have an RMAH, the publicity of it would have more people thinking about the AH in general.

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My tip is more for those buying than selling :-

 

I search for the item I want. Then I look for time left and bid for stuff that has only minutes left and very low bid prices on them.Then I put in as low a bid as I can and watch incase some-one else starts bidding. I always set a max price in my head and won't go above that. So far I've not been beaten too many times. This way, I may not get the best item, but a 'good enough to get by' item. I haven't broken the bank for the perfect item that we all dream of, but I can get by for the next couple of lvls and come back and see what's on offer.

 

Steve.

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I always have a min and max bid. The min bid will be some random number like 3856 to make it appear there has already been some action on the item and interest may be high. I'll set the max somewhat high but in range of similar items. The trick is finding a total that while expensive, is low enough for that impulse buyer who needs it now.

 

Have the min and max somewhat close. if min bid is 1,000 and max is 90,000 my first thought is the item is over-priced and there is no interest in it. But if I see min of 23,550 and max of 55,000, then I initially think it's a desirable item that is reasonably priced and if I really want it, I should go for the buy-out now. Again that is just first impression. If I see a buyout that is extremely high I won't even look at it, even if current bid is low (I'm a buy-out kind of guy)

 

If an item doesn't have a max bid, I'll most likely ignore it. Don't have the patience to wait - I like instant gratification :)

 

I have sold several level 35-45 items for over 100k. It just depends on what mods are on item. I wrote this in another thread but will list here. Playing Hardcore I will look for these mods (based on playing my Monk)

 

Vit

Str/Dex/Int (whichever one my character uses)

Elemental resists (resist to all is a great one)

Socket(s)

Life on Hit

Increased Attack Speed (got nerfed in last patch)

 

So I look for Vit/Dex first. It basically has to have them. And then look for other mods. I recently sold a piece of equip (think it was a level 45 helm) that had high Vit/Dex, 2 sockets, +Life on Hit and one or 2 other mods for 250k.

 

Many items I won't bother selling. If it doesn't have a high attribute mod - it's hard to sell for much. So I'll typically sell or salvage. I tend to try and sell the good items that are highly desirable. It means less auctions but I get high returns and never have an issue where I have 10 auctions going at one time. So I have the flexibility to add anything I find in-game to the auction immediately.

 

The only thing I really hoard are good rings/amulets. I have a couple that would probably sell very high. They're hard to find so instead I keep them for me...it's HC - I want to stay alive :D

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The min bid will be some random number like 3856 to make it appear there has already been some action on the item and interest may be high.

 

This right here is golden. Will definitely look into the random number idea :thumbsup:

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I've suddenly realized one very real issue... people even finding your stuff in the AH. I've been trying to figure out why my sales have dropped to zero and my conclusion is:

1) All the news about the RMAH has more people trying to sell stuff (in both the gold and money AH's). More stuff to sell means more clutter (and should also mean lower prices).

2) The AH only shows 500 items. Filtering and sorting can help, but if your item falls outside the 500, it will never be seen. I couldn't find my own items unless I seriously filtered my results.

 

In the SC AH, if you filter by "buyout", you'll find a few items w/ very low min bids but uber buyouts... my theory for why the sellers did this is that when buyers toggle the buyout list, 1/2 the time, they'll be at the top of the list.

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