World of Warcraft: Advanced AH Tips for the Average Joe

The best way to earn money in World of Warcraft is via the auction house. Most players know this, but what they don't know is how to make the most out of it. Many people will tell you that the best way to earn money in WoW is to have at least one and preferably two gathering professions. Gathering professions include mining, skinning, and herbalism. Yes, they can earn you some gold but they take an awful lot of time devoted to (very boring) farming. If you want an alternative way, listen up.

The best combination of professions, and I've switched multiple times, is-in my opinion---mining and jewelcrafting. It's absolutely ridiculous how much people will pay for gems that you can cut, even prior to reaching max level.

I've got 375 mining and about 355 jewelcrafting. What I do is this: I buy out all of one particular ore on the AH or I farm the materials myself via the mining skill. I make sure there are no ores of the kind I need left on the auction house. To do this, you do need to put up a hefty sum, especially for higher level ores such as adamantite ore or fel iron ore.

Once you have the ore, then you cut the gems. Sell them for maximum profit. Many people swear by a modification to WoW called Auctioneer-I agree that it is useful but I recommend researching the prices yourselves to get the most you can out of the gems you are selling.

I make the most cash with Glowing Nightseye. Nightseye, the material required to make the Glowing Nightseye gem, costs on average 38g, but your server could be a different story. Hopefully that gives you a sense of how much gold you'll need to initially have just to buy out the ores and cut the gem. Then again, because its so expensive, you shouldn't have to buy that many Nightseye.

According to Wowhead, Glowing Nightseye sells for 45g each, on average. So you pay 38g per Nightseye, and you should get somewhere around 45g when you sell the cut gem. Of course, if you put down the cash to buy out all the Nightseye, you effectively own the market for that item and can set the price much higher. I sometimes see profit margins of over 200-300% by doing this, but as I mentioned, it really does require a lot of cash to start out.

If you don't have that kind of startup cash, never fear: you can still earn a decent profit by simply selling blue quality gems. Teardrop Living Ruby, a blue quality gem that adds +18 healing and +6 spell damage, should sell for around 60g buyout price. Living Ruby, the item that is required to make Teardrop Living Ruby, has an average buyout of 48g. Spend 48g, earn 60g. Realize though that if you don't buyout the market for the gem you are selling you'll probably have to undercut your price by a good 3-5%, possibly more depending on the total price of the item.
So that's what I do to earn a decent profit. Of course there are other combinations of professions you can profit with, but after having switched professions several times, I simply do not find other combinations as profitable--as least not now, and things do certainly change. When they do change, I'll just have to write another short guide.