“Certain items are always valuable and worth X amount of gold.” — FALSE

I get frustrated when I read guides that push a player toward certain specific items as a means to make gold. The worth of an item isn’t set in stone…it’s based on supply and demand.

Supply — if there’s only a few of those items available, it is generally worth more. If they’re as easy to find as dirt on the ground, it will be worth less. (Think Diamonds and Dirt….Diamonds are hard to find, Dirt isn’t.)

Demand — how much do players want the item. You can have the only Slimy Ogre Loincloth on the server. If it doesn’t do anything and doesn’t help anyone, no one is going to want it, and it will be worth less. (Think Diamonds and Dirt….Diamonds are pretty, and a symbol of wealth and love, so people may want them. Dirt is…just dirt.)

OK…thus ends the quick lesson in the law of Supply and Demand. There are OTHER factors that tie into the Supply and Demand. Think about what those might be. If you’re on a young server, the first time a rare weapon drops, the supply is still low, so the value might be higher than if it dropped on an older server. So from server to server, values differ. But even within a server, because Blizzard is always changing the game, the supply and demand can change. If Blizzard increases the drop rate, the supply will go up, and prices will drop. If Blizzard adds a new quest that uses a common item, the value of that item will go up (like Jaggal Pearls).

This is why it’s important to use Auctioneer or WoWEcon to track prices. Even if you don’t use Auctioneer to scan for deals, having some tool that gives you the general ballpark feel for what an item is worth to other players is a critical weapon in the arsenal of a gold-maker.

FACT #4 – The Law of Supply and Demand directly impact your ability to make gold in WoW.