So what is Auctioneer?

Its an Add-On to the WoW user interface that expands the functions of the Auction House in the game. Basically it provides just about every feature that you could ask for when it comes to getting rich at the Auction House. If you are trying to figure out how to make gold in WoW, this add on should be one of your first steps.

The main way that the add on helps people to make gold in WoW is by gathering information and analyzing it for you. You can use Auctioneer to scan all the auctions that are currently listed and record the item that is being sold and the price that it is being sold at. You can run the scan daily and over time you will begin to build a very clear picture of what items sell for a good price.  Auctioneer can also compare auction host sales prices to NPC vendor prices and even what the disenchant potential value of the item is, so you know if you will make more money by selling it on the AH, disenchanting it or selling it to an NPC.

This tutorial will teach you how to use the windows and options in Auctioneer to find and resell items for profit and will give some basic ideas on strategies and settings. For more in depth info on Auctioneering strategies and advanced sales techniques, check out Mayley Winters’ highly successful video series, Check out the Auction House Mastery guide for yourself.

Downloading and Installing Auctioneer

So lets get started by downloading the Add On and installing it. Auctioneer comes in two main ‘flavors’. The full ‘Auctioneer Suite’ which contains all the fun, advanced Auctioneer stuff like Appraiser for pricing and SearchUI for finding items you can buy and resell at a profit.  Basic ‘Auctioneer’ just contains the simple pricing and posting functions, so this good for people who just want an easy way to auction items they have farmed, gathered or crafted. This tutorial covers both versions, but I advise you to get the full version because you really can make much more gold with it. Only the full version is available at Curse.com. If you want the lite version, you will need to visit the add-on homepage here .

1. Visit the Auctioneer page at Curse.com http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/auctioneer.aspx. Curse is a great source for WoW addons by the way.

   

2. You can use one of two methods to download and install it. The first is to click the manual download button and then unzip the file into your *wow install directory*\Interface\Addons. Replace *wow install directory* with the directory in which you have the game installed. If you cannot see the add-on when you get into the game and visit the Auction House, try clicking the Add Ons button on the Character Select screen and make sure that Auctioneer is listed and enabled.
3. The second method is to use the Curse Client . This is the method that I use for lots of reasons. You can download and install add-ons with a single click on the website or you can find and install them through the Curse client program. It also warns you when add-ons that you have installed are updated and lets you install the new version. This is a great help on patch days when all of your add-ons get an update at the same time. You should note that the client will gather in-game data from you as you play and add it to wowdb.com, including your character profile.

Once you have Auctioneer installed, log in to the game and head to the nearest Auction House. You should see that your Auction House window got a lot more complicated! Or maybe a lot more interesting is a better way to look at it. For now we are just going to perform a normal scan.

Auctioneer Main Controls with Scan Button Highlighted

Scanning the Auction House For Price Data

At the top of the window you will see controls similar to those on a music player. Click the ‘Play’ button to begin the scan. The text will tell you how long you can expect the scan to take. It could take up to ten minutes so plan to go get a coffee or something. Don’t try to use the Auction House while the scan is in progress because it won’t work very well. Just let its do its thing. (The good news is that there is a faster way to scan that I will show you in a later section of this guide, which will work for most players.)

Once a scan is complete, you have some data to play with. Try to scan every day and you will gain a good picture of trends as well as a snapshot of prices at a single point in time and that lets you make better selling decisions.

How Often Should I Scan?

If you plan to use Auctioneer to help you buy auctions and resell them at a lower price, you should get at least 4-5 days worth of scans (preferably 2 full scans a day) before you completely rely on the data. If you just want to sell stuff you have gathered, looted or crafted, you can get started after one scan, since you mostly need to know what is on the Auction House when you post your items.

If you want to learn more about Auction House gold making strategies, This is a complete video series that shows you how to master the Auction House. Check out my review here.