Auctioneer Tutorial – Posting Items Using the Simple Auction Post TabPosted by xenith on March 30th, 2009
- Auctioneer Tutorial – Introduction to Auction House Scans
- Auctioneer Tutorial – Posting Items Using the Simple Auction Post Tab
- Auctioneer Tutorial – Using Appraiser
- Auctioneer Tutorial – Advanced Appraiser
- Auctioneer Tutorial – Search for Resale Items
- Auctioneer Tutorial – Using Searchers and Filters in SearchUI
- Auctioneer Tutorial – Improve Your Profits Using BeanCounter
- Auctioneer Tutorial – How to Auctioneer from A to Z
In this second part of my tutorial on how to make gold in WoW using Auctioneer, I’m gong to show you one really simple way to use the addon to make gold.
For a lot of players, SimpleAuction contains all the functions that you need. You will get the improved Browse tab and the simple Post tab which allows you to search for items and post items easily. You will not get the more advanced Appraiser window for posting, nor will you get the SearchUI or BeanCounter. These last two are primarily useful to people who are intending to use the auctioneer method (buy items at a low price and immediately resell for profit) covered later in this e-book.
The simple interface is a great, easy way to make gold in WoW without spending too long figuring out the add-on.
If you only want to sell items that you gather, loot or craft, SimpleAuction may well be enough. In this case, you can download the simpified version of the add-on from the Auctioneer Addon site downloads page. Click the icon for the current Release version at the top then select the download in the Auctioneer section (not AuctioneerSuite - this is the full version). Make sure to delete or disable the full version if you already installed it.
Now head on over to an Auction House and interact with the Auction House NPC to display the interface. The add-on makes some useful modifications to the default Browse window. This will still be the default screen that you see when you visit the Auction House. You can always click the Browse tab to come back here.
If you installed the Auctioneer simple package instead of Auctioneer Suite, you may not see all the tabs and buttons shown in the image.
The main changes to notice are those in the list of items (provided by the CompactUI module in Auctioneer):
- the stack size and minimum level in separate columns
- a checkbox at the bottom of the list that allows you to display price per item instead of total price. This is very useful for making price comparisons.
- a color-coded percentage of market value (if you have the add-on configured to show this).
This is a great feature if you want to make gold in WoW because it will help make sure you never pay too much for an item. You will need AuctioneerSuite for this to work since simple Auctioneer doesn’t provide statistics to calculate market value.
Now, click on the Post tab. This tab provides a simple way to post items on the Auction House for the best possible price. You will need to have performed at least one good scan before using it and the more recent the scan was done, the more relevant the price it recommends for your items will be. So if you haven’t already, go ahead and scan now by clicking the Play button at the top of the window.
To auction an item, drag the item (or stack) to the box at the top left (currently ‘Borean Man O’War’ in this screenshot). Directly below the item name, you will see what is being auctioned and for how much using the current settings. When you are happy with this, click Create Auction to post the items.
In the left hand bar, you can see settings for this auction in more detail. You can also edit anything that you are not happy with. If you like, you can change the bid and buy out prices for your item. But generally you will want to use the suggested price.
You can also edit how your items are stacked. In the screenshot above, you can see they are auctioning one stack of 10. But you could changes this to 2 x 5 and auction two separate stacks of 5 items, price adjusted accordingly. One good gold secret of World of Warcraft is to only list items in full stacks if players always want to buy full stacks. Some stackable items sell better if posted singly, so experiment with different stack sizes for your items.
You can also set the duration of the auction. I always set mine to 48 hrs personally (because I am lazy and don’t want to relist often). The downside to this is that your deposit will be higher. But you only lose the deposit if you do not sell the item at all.
The important options are at the bottom. If you already have this item listed on the Auction House, you can select the ‘Match my current’ option to list extra items of the same type at the same price.
Select ‘Undercut competition‘ to automatically undercut other sellers by a percentage (the exact percentage is configurable in the options. I find the default works well enough). You should usually use this option, but look out for sellers with ridiculously low prices and don’t bother undercutting them. Particularly for trade and faction items that sell in large amounts, the cheap stuff will sell quickly then people will start buying your modestly priced items and you will make more money than if you had undercut the stupid cheap ones.
Finally, you can select ‘Remember fixed price’ to use this price for all future auctions of this item (until you change the option or manually edit the price). Most of the time, you won’t use this. You are usually better to set prices in line with the current market.
If you want to update the list of auctions of this item, click the Refresh button.
When everything is to your liking, click Create Auction. Often, this is all you will need to do to list an item, so you can get everything on the Auction House very quickly. What better way to make fast gold that with single-click price optimized auction listings?
If you want to learn more about Auction House gold making strategies, Mayley Winters has launched a complete video series that shows you how to master the Auction House. Check out my review here.


March 24th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
“The downside to this is that your deposit will be higher. So if you sell it in the first 24, you wasted that extra few coppers; but it’s a risk I am willing to take!”
A quick clarification: higher auction durations do indeed increase your deposit costs. However, your deposit cost is refunded to you if the auction sells successfully (and then they take out an even bigger AH cut), which you can see on the invoice you get in the mail along with your “Item successfully sold” mail.
So you don’t actually lose anything if your item sells in 24 hours rather than 48. The only time you lose is if the item doesn’t sell at all.
March 25th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Thanks Dinesh. I’ve updated the tutorial with your clarification.