| Ever since auction houses entered World of Warcraft, | | | | something discussed in most of the best strategy |
| the economy has never been the same. Auction | | | | guide's. |
| houses are an NPC service offered in World of | | | | If you wish to sell or buy an item, the first step is to |
| Warcraft's three major cities. Ironforge houses the | | | | visit your nearest house. These are usually filled with |
| Alliance-specific auction house while Orgrimmar runs | | | | people and located close to a bank and a mailbox. The |
| the Horde-specific auction house. Alliance players | | | | more lag you get, the closer you are to finding an |
| cannot use the Orgimmar one and Horde players | | | | auction house. Once you find it you should see a |
| cannot use the Ironforge one. | | | | number of vendors. You simply need to click on one of |
| The one house that is an exception to this is the | | | | these auctioneers to open up the auction interface. |
| Gadgetzan. The Gadgetzan one is run by the greedy | | | | The auction interface is composed of three main tabs: |
| Goblins and allows trade between Alliance and Horde | | | | Browse: Allows you to search through all the auctions |
| players (they don't care what faction you are, only if | | | | that are currently open for bidding. |
| you have money). The advantages and disadvantages | | | | Bids: Allows you to track all the auctions that you have |
| to using the different types will be discussed later. | | | | bid on (and up your bid if outbid). |
| Auction houses do not come without their risks. To | | | | Auctions: This allows you to track any items that you |
| place an item up you will have to pay a deposit fee. If | | | | have put up for auction. |
| you sell the item the deposit fee is returned to you, but | | | | The final part of any auction is retrieval. In the old |
| if the item fails to sell you loose the deposit fee. | | | | World of Warcraft economy both players had to be |
| The deposit fee is based on three values: Base Value | | | | logged in and meet in a central location. Using auction |
| of an item, Starting Price, and the Duration of the | | | | houses, the product is automatically mailed to the |
| auction. The goal is to manipulate these values so that | | | | buyer and the currency is automatically mailed to the |
| you gain the most profit from the sale of an item while | | | | seller. If your item does not sell and the auction duration |
| limiting the risks of losing a large deposit fee. The art of | | | | ends it is automatically sent back to your mailbox (the |
| managing these risks and overall seller strategies is | | | | deposit fee is lost). |