"I have just one question: How much do you move in raw numbers on a daily basis in the AH? And I don't mean gold, but numbers of active auctions, sales, and returned auctions?"
If you are familiar with TuJ, then this picture below is self explanatory. This is my constant auctions over the past few weeks. I peak around 320ish, and you can see there are some days where I am not even posting. Keep in mind I run on the higher end when I see trends (i.e pre patch, weekends, raid days, etc.) as you can see from looking at the page. This is my main AH'er, my two others are minor, floating from 30-150 auctions a day (but I normally don't have too much playtime with them- so their auctions are broken- only posted on raid days, or three days a week if I can remember... )
This "map" below shows the sold volume that I average, broken into daily and weekly sales off the AH. It's just a habit of mine, but I rarely (I should say never, but maybe a few items a week) cancel and repost. I would rather have something not sell than losing my AH fees/ reposting, and basically double my "donation" to the AH.
"Alto, it's the same difference either way. You might get a sale if you undercut instead of leaving it"
That was a great point. Let me rephrase this then. On some "quicker" moving items, it's a viable option. But I am not one to follow that direction. Now I might repost stock that I have, but once again, for some reason, I HATE to cancel auctions unless I absolutely have to. You say tomato, I say tomato. (Ok, that doens't work unless you say it out loud- it's supposed to be like "You say tomaaato, and I say tooematoooe". In other words, what works for me might not work for you. Get it now?).
For returned auctions (I am sure in comments someone has an addon for this, so holler!) I can only look at my Postal/Mailopener to see what has and hasn't sold:
Now when you look at these, you can see that overall the sales from above averaged to 45% of my posted auctions sold (202 returned out of 452 that ended). Now we all know in a perfect world, 100% would sell. I know when cata started I was running about 70% because the market was there, and things were flying off the shelves.
You might have a higher or lower sales percentage, if you are higher, great job! You know your market! If you are lower, you need to focus on what you are selling at what time, and try to change either your posting days/times/ or take a look at the items you are trying to pawn off. Are they a common item? Are they Cata worthy? Are they only used in leveling jewelcrafting from 325-330? A quick way to check this is go to http://www.wowhead.com/ and see exactly what your item is used for (if you don't know already). If it's only used for one or two things, odds are saying it will sell for less than something that has 10 uses. See where I am going with this?
I am pretty happy with seeing I am still selling near the 50% mark, but I want you to think of something else.
202 auctions didn't sell. In this case, these are since the weekend, quite a few of them are my "10%" flipping for gear. I post those at two 24 hour intervals from Friday evening through Sunday evening. I am just guessing here, but even on the low end of AH posting fees, figure 1g each to post. So I "wasted" 200+g for just those auctions. Not bad when you consider total sales, but still gold lost into thin air.
Now when I see this, I think about what markets I am losing. Not the winning ones....
"Alto, why? The winning ones are the paydays! Who cares what doesn't sell!"
Since alot of my posts are similar niches, they will most likely sell consistently. The "losers" are the ones I focus on for the sheer fact that I need to make them win. Now like I mentioned, my "fire sale" on the weekends is a very hit an miss, so those are not what I focus on. I price them right, and if there is no demand, well, there is nothing I can do about that. I can't make people level a toon (leather based) at 38 that needs a blue chest. As I cannot make someone buy and epic cloth headpiece at lvl60. But I can focus on a niche item like the Volatiles and see when the markets ebb and flow, and try to sell at a peak time with the most sales for the most profit.
What I am talking about is why my Jasper uncuts didn't sell. Or my Agile Shadowspirit cuts. What about my pots? Elixirs? Or my enchants? Now my answer is........
Do you know what? Why don't you guys help answer this? Now besides being undercut, what are the other reasons that this would happen? Cmon, don't skip over this, you know you are thinking about something right now, write it down and help! I know you are smart (because you are reading my blog!) and I am sure you can help your brothers and sisters that are reading this and need advice, so it's your turn...(and I know you have answers!). 3.......2........1........GO!