Guide to the Auction House (Part 2)

By Darkgolem

In the first portion of this article, I explained some rules of thumb for selling in the auction house, and how to determine the value of an item.  However, the value of an item does not always match how well it should sell in the auction house.  For example, tier 1 materials often sell for wildly varying prices, even though often they take about the same amount of time to gather.

Examining the Market

The economy in LOTRO is based upon need not supply.  That is, you must look for what people need, rather than what you have a lot of, to determine what price to set for an item.  For example, look at tier one scholar products.   Among tier one scholar products, you should sell battle and warding scrolls for the most, crafting scrolls for the least.

How do I know this? Examine scholar recipes more closely; almost everything that you can get from a scholar can be replicated at the tier two level of scholar abilities, with the exception of scrolls of minor battle and scrolls of minor warding lore.  Items of tier one usually are replaced by a better item at level thirteen or so.  For example, a woodworker might buy a scroll of lesser woodworking lore, since the better scroll of woodworking lore is not available until level twenty four, but it is unlikely that a woodworker is going to purchase a scroll of minor woodworking lore, because there is only a six level difference between when the minor and the lesser scrolls are available.

At level seven, most players are working toward the second tier of crafting items quickly.  They are not concerned about creating products for sale, just getting to tier two.  So they are unlikely to purchase a minor crafting scroll.  In addition, since most players get to level thirteen fairly quickly, it is less likely that minor crafting scrolls will be much needed by a character.

Minor crafting scrolls are not particularly valuable.  This leaves lesser athelas and lesser celebrant salve potions, plus minor battle lore and warding lore.  The former two items use only early third age relics, while the latter two items use all three items.  However, note that the potions are replaced at level fifteen, meaning that again, there will be less demand for this, since level fifteen is not hard to reach.  But the battle and warding lore scrolls are not replaced until level twenty four with a better version.

Summarizing, almost everything created by tier one scholar crafting is replaced by level fifteen, so most players will level to that point too quickly.  Furthermore, crafting scrolls are less valuable at low levels, because most players are not interested in crafting for product but simply to get to further tiers.  Since the only items that a tier one scholar can make that will not be outdated by level fifteen are battle and warding lore scrolls, these should be considered the most valuable.

However, just because the battle and warding lore scrolls of tier one are the most valuable does not mean they sell for a lot.. it means that, among the products of tier 1 recipes, they should sell for the most.  What "the most" is, is not always a lot.

Does this mean that scholar tier one materials have a low value, since most of the items they form have a low value?  Remember that most persons who are playing scholars just want to get quickly through tier one crafting points.  

The value of materials is determined by the value of the product they make, and the difficulty of acquiring the material.  Unless you have a character with the particular profession, it can be difficult to know how hard it is to get a particular material, and set a price for that material.  However, you can look at the auction house at prices for these materials or ask around to find out how hard it is to find these materials.

In the case of scholar tier one materials, these items are very difficult to get.  It can take an hour or more to gain a stack of fifty of early third age tablets, for example.  Since every scholar recipe uses these tablets, these are in high demand among players who wish to breeze through their tier one crafting requirement.  While a vial of say, lesser athelas is not particularly valuable, considering how quickly you can gain a level which grants access to better athelas potions, the materials which make them can be quite valuable.  I personally have sold stacks of tablets for 800 silver.

Selling Materials

Probably the most effective way to make money in the auction house is via the sale of materials.  This is for two reasons.  One is that the materials are reliably obtained, the other is that the math of earning money is reliably measured with materials.  Here is a great example.  Let us say you wish to sell medium skins.  Simply gather medium skins, then sell them, using the prices of other medium skin auctions in the auction house as a guide, with a fair profit above the value that you could earn otherwise in the time it took you to gather these skins as the minimum price.  Set it for a two day auction and include a buyout.

When it sells write down how long it took to sell, and include the price you set.  Do this again, or even a few times, hiking the price up each time, until you have hit the maximum price before an item does not sell in an auction.  Now you know the value of a item.  Also, keep in mind that items sell for less during weekdays, because there are fewer people around to bid on items.  Prime time to auctioning anything is a auction going from Friday evening to Sunday evening.

You can cause a glut in the market when you sell the same item over and over.  Another option, if your set on making money by selling “mats” in the auction house, is to sell different mats, using the same process described above, first selling skins, then other materials, over time.  This way, the demand for one of your materials will increase while you are selling other materials in turn.