If you are utilising a profession to make something to sell there are always going to be a number of factors that have to be taken into consideration.
Ultimately what we are all looking for is maximum profit from minimum effort. Why spend all your gaming time farming, manufacturing and AHing for gold - when that doesnt leave you enough time to spend your hard earned wealth?
As with any manufacturing profession - be it in WoW or elsewhere - the costs of the materials must be less that the amount you receive from the final product. Unfortunately this isnt always the case in WoW. A classic example are bandages - which is a good example because its a single step process.
On my server the cost of one stack of nethweave cloth costs around 4g. This will create 20 netherweave bandages (worth 2g70s) or 10 heavy netherweave bandages (also worth 2g70s).
Obviously this means that you would be mad if you decided to make and sell bandages - rather than sell the netherweave cloth.
However - one stack of netherweave cloth will also produce 4 bolts of netherweave - which sell for 1g 25s. So with a decent tailor you can make almost a gold just by creating the bolts thats around 25% profit.
However is this 1g enough for you to buy up all the netherweave cloth you can find and sell the bolts? Probably not - because of the whole range of factors - not least market flucations, AH fees and the fact the profit margin is fairly narrow (in WoW terms anyways). Plus your time sitting watching your tailor turn the cloth into bolts is worth more than 1g surely?
If we look at things that can be made with bolts of netherweave we come across the netherweave bag - a very popular 16 slot bag. Bags are made from 4 bolts of netherweave and a single runed thread (purchasable from a vendor for 50s). Bags sell for around 8g on my server.
OK so as a tailor we have two ways to make this bag:
But if we go back to our previous example - we werent willing to turn the cloth into bolts for 1g but we are willing to make bolts and then make a bag for the same extra 1g profit. You are going to spend the same time to make the bolts - so why all of a sudden are you willing to make them when you werent before?
Well two reasons in fact:
To make a Deadly Scope - you need an engineer and the following materials (approx costs on my server in brackets):
1 x Mithril Tube (2g 50 each)
2 x Aquamarine (3g 50s each)
2 x Thick Leather (25s each)
Total Cost to make - 10g. Sell Price 25g. Profit 15g (150%)
However Mithril Tubes can also be made and requires 3 mithril bars. But a mithril bar costs 1g 20s. So if you start making you tubes yourself - they are going to cost you 3g 60s instead of 2g 50s. Whats even worth is that a mithril bar can be smelted from mithril ore - but mithril ore costs 1g 40s.
In the worst case scenario where you made a scope completely from raw materials it would cost 11g 70s to make (rather than 10g), would lower your profit from 150% to 114% - PLUS it would take you longer to produce the scopes meaning less profit per hour.
So you need to know your manufacturing processes - the prices of every part required. This means you HAVE to know your professions inside and out. And trust me it gets a lot more complicated that the Deadly Scope example above.
Glyph making is again a multistep process if we start from raw materials.
Herbs are milled into pigments. Pigments are turned into inks. Inks are combined with parchment to make glyphs. At every step in the chain the product can be sold on the AH - and where you decide to sell is crucial to maximising profit. In the following exmaple we will not be producing glyphs themselves... just the parts required to make them:
Again an example from my server - where Tiger Lily costs 10g a stack.
Milling two stacks of Tiger Lily will (on average) give me 20 azure pigment and 2 icy pigment. 20 azure pigments produces 10 Ink of the Sea. 2 Icy Pigment gives me 1 Snow Fall Ink.
Prices on my server:
Azure Pigment - 1g
Icy Pigment - 10g
Ink of the Sea - 1g75s
Snowfall Ink - 16g
OK so running the figures - 20g investment in Tiger Lily results in 4 options:
So we all mill our Tiger Lily and sell the pigments right? Well actually no. Why? Because the sales of pigment themselves are actually very low - whilst inks sell a great deal faster.
To conclude - there are times when its worth selling raw materials. There are times when its worth selling manufacturerd products. There are times when its worth manufacturing produces from raw materials and times when it isn't, and unfortuantely there are also times when its worth moving one step further through a process even though Auctioneer would tell you that stopping and selling would make you the most gold.
What YOU have to work out is when each of these situations apply. It will vary from server to server, from Alliance to Horde, from weekdays and weekends. You need to know the costs of every step of a process, and know what sells and how quickly.
Anyone who says making gold is easy is right - you just have to invest some time in researching your niche to make sure you get it right.
Thats where the tipping points come in - what are yours? % profit? Speed of sale? Amount of time willing to invest in making your product?
Ultimately these are your decisions to make - but each choice will have an affect on your bank balance
Ultimately what we are all looking for is maximum profit from minimum effort. Why spend all your gaming time farming, manufacturing and AHing for gold - when that doesnt leave you enough time to spend your hard earned wealth?
As with any manufacturing profession - be it in WoW or elsewhere - the costs of the materials must be less that the amount you receive from the final product. Unfortunately this isnt always the case in WoW. A classic example are bandages - which is a good example because its a single step process.
On my server the cost of one stack of nethweave cloth costs around 4g. This will create 20 netherweave bandages (worth 2g70s) or 10 heavy netherweave bandages (also worth 2g70s).
Obviously this means that you would be mad if you decided to make and sell bandages - rather than sell the netherweave cloth.
However - one stack of netherweave cloth will also produce 4 bolts of netherweave - which sell for 1g 25s. So with a decent tailor you can make almost a gold just by creating the bolts thats around 25% profit.
However is this 1g enough for you to buy up all the netherweave cloth you can find and sell the bolts? Probably not - because of the whole range of factors - not least market flucations, AH fees and the fact the profit margin is fairly narrow (in WoW terms anyways). Plus your time sitting watching your tailor turn the cloth into bolts is worth more than 1g surely?
If we look at things that can be made with bolts of netherweave we come across the netherweave bag - a very popular 16 slot bag. Bags are made from 4 bolts of netherweave and a single runed thread (purchasable from a vendor for 50s). Bags sell for around 8g on my server.
OK so as a tailor we have two ways to make this bag:
- Buy a stack of netherweave cloth (4g) and a runed thread (50s). Convert the cloth to bolts and make the bag. Cost to produce 4g 50s. Sell Price 8g. Profit 3g50s
- Buy 4 x bolt of netherweave (5g) and a runed thread (50s). Make bag. Cost to produce 5g50s. Sell price 8g. Profit 2g50s
But if we go back to our previous example - we werent willing to turn the cloth into bolts for 1g but we are willing to make bolts and then make a bag for the same extra 1g profit. You are going to spend the same time to make the bolts - so why all of a sudden are you willing to make them when you werent before?
Well two reasons in fact:
- You are going to have to buy the bolts for 5g which means more investment from you. Investment = risk. The lower the risk the better.
- Profit margin - option one gives us 3.5g profit for every 4.5g invested - approx. 78% profit. Option two gives us 2.5g for every 5.5g invested - approximately 45% profit. Suddenly the act of making the bolts yourself isnt just making 1g, its the difference between 45% and 78% profit.
To make a Deadly Scope - you need an engineer and the following materials (approx costs on my server in brackets):
1 x Mithril Tube (2g 50 each)
2 x Aquamarine (3g 50s each)
2 x Thick Leather (25s each)
Total Cost to make - 10g. Sell Price 25g. Profit 15g (150%)
However Mithril Tubes can also be made and requires 3 mithril bars. But a mithril bar costs 1g 20s. So if you start making you tubes yourself - they are going to cost you 3g 60s instead of 2g 50s. Whats even worth is that a mithril bar can be smelted from mithril ore - but mithril ore costs 1g 40s.
In the worst case scenario where you made a scope completely from raw materials it would cost 11g 70s to make (rather than 10g), would lower your profit from 150% to 114% - PLUS it would take you longer to produce the scopes meaning less profit per hour.
So you need to know your manufacturing processes - the prices of every part required. This means you HAVE to know your professions inside and out. And trust me it gets a lot more complicated that the Deadly Scope example above.
Glyph making is again a multistep process if we start from raw materials.
Herbs are milled into pigments. Pigments are turned into inks. Inks are combined with parchment to make glyphs. At every step in the chain the product can be sold on the AH - and where you decide to sell is crucial to maximising profit. In the following exmaple we will not be producing glyphs themselves... just the parts required to make them:
Again an example from my server - where Tiger Lily costs 10g a stack.
Milling two stacks of Tiger Lily will (on average) give me 20 azure pigment and 2 icy pigment. 20 azure pigments produces 10 Ink of the Sea. 2 Icy Pigment gives me 1 Snow Fall Ink.
Prices on my server:
Azure Pigment - 1g
Icy Pigment - 10g
Ink of the Sea - 1g75s
Snowfall Ink - 16g
OK so running the figures - 20g investment in Tiger Lily results in 4 options:
- 20 Azure Pigment + 2 Icy Pigment = 40g
- 20 Azure Pigment + 1 Snowfall Ink = 36g
- 10 Ink of the Sea + 2 Icy Pigment = 37.5g
- 10 Ink of the Sea + 1 Snowfall Ink = 33.5g
So we all mill our Tiger Lily and sell the pigments right? Well actually no. Why? Because the sales of pigment themselves are actually very low - whilst inks sell a great deal faster.
To conclude - there are times when its worth selling raw materials. There are times when its worth selling manufacturerd products. There are times when its worth manufacturing produces from raw materials and times when it isn't, and unfortuantely there are also times when its worth moving one step further through a process even though Auctioneer would tell you that stopping and selling would make you the most gold.
What YOU have to work out is when each of these situations apply. It will vary from server to server, from Alliance to Horde, from weekdays and weekends. You need to know the costs of every step of a process, and know what sells and how quickly.
Anyone who says making gold is easy is right - you just have to invest some time in researching your niche to make sure you get it right.
Thats where the tipping points come in - what are yours? % profit? Speed of sale? Amount of time willing to invest in making your product?
Ultimately these are your decisions to make - but each choice will have an affect on your bank balance
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