It's Disgusting. And it Oozes. Help me get rid of it!

January 31, 2011 11:46 AM

WorldofWarcraftFilter: Help me sell my Disgusting Oozeling!

I recently got a [Disgusting Oozling], I think it was in the goodies bag from doing a fishing daily quest. I was excited to see that these little guys were currently going for 15k on the AH. Woot! Unfortunately, I've been trying to sell the thing for a month now. I figured with all the new Cata material, and people making money hand over fist, I'd be able to sell it. There appear to be two other people on my server trying to sell one, and theirs don't seem to have moved either.
Are there any tips or tricks to selling expensive items on the AH? I keep putting it up (and undercutting the other sellers), but it never seems to sell. I've dropped the price down to 9k, at one point, with no takers. I don't really have much interest in keeping the thing for a pet, and I'd love to make some gold off of it to pay for a Chopper! Help!

Bonus question: Not sure how the AH works - am I paying the AH EVERY time I put this thing up, even if it doesn't sell? Is it a percentage of the sale price? If so, I'm wasting a TON of money trying to sell this thing. Thanks for the help!

posted by Spyder's Game to sports, hobbies, & recreation (16 answers total)

Use chat to advertise it, preferably the auction channel. Link the item, then say something great about it, how it looks, how awesome it is, and end with the current price vs. auction house price.

And yes, you are wasting money every time you place it on the AH.
posted by Sufi at 11:52 AM on January 31, 2011

I should have added:

Advertise often, but no more than once every half hour. And ignore any bashing you most likely will get. There will always be someone to gawk at the price, don't bother responding. Hit your macro and ignore the rest of the chat. If someone wants it they will message you.

And post on your server forums.
posted by Sufi at 11:56 AM on January 31, 2011

That pet is up on my server for closer to 5k. I know you'd love to make oodles of money on it, but it probably isn't actually worth $15k or even 9k to anyone. Wouldn't 5 or 6k be a huge windfall as well? Basically it was a found item, so I would think 5 or 6k would be a fine load of cash to suddenly come into.

Just because you see something listed for 15k doesn't mean anyone is actually ever going to pay that. Someone might, but you've already tried for a month. It is not a "cute" pet, so there goes a huge chunk of the pet-buying public right there.

On the other hand, you could hold onto it until Cataclysm has been out longer. Eventually people will have purchased all the purples they need, and will have more spendable dough.
posted by Glinn at 12:03 PM on January 31, 2011

The cost to put something up for auction is based on its vendor price. Things like enchanting materials, which have a ZERO vendor price, cost one silver no matter what they are (this is handy.)

If you -sell- an item, you get the deposit back, and then the AH takes a cut of the selling price. On your faction's AH, this is 5%. You can put it up on the neutral AH that either faction can access, but it'll cost you 15% (it used to be 30%, gawd). These percentages, again, assume it sells.

Agree with Sufi -- if you use /trade, don't advertise very often. I'd say maybe once ever ten or fifteen minutes AT MOST ... any more and you're going to piss off a lot of people. Server forums can reach lots of people too.
posted by Heretical at 12:06 PM on January 31, 2011

That is to say, every ten or fifteen minutes.

Also, I have played WoW for far too long and sold way too many things on the AH.
posted by Heretical at 12:08 PM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Making money on the AH is one of my favorite things to do in WoW.

1. Listed prices do not indicate sales. They can be pure wishful thinking.
2. You pay the deposit every time you list it. The amount of the deposit is listed at the bottom of the AH window when you set up the sale, and is based on the item type and the length of the listing. Some items seem to factor in the selling price and some don't. For the Oozeling, it's probably not a large amount.
3. Best windows to sell unusual/expensive items is Friday night > Sunday afternoon.
4. Sometimes you have to wait a while to luck out and find a buyer who is in the mood AND has the gold AND notices your auction.
5. I don't advertise myself, but for a rarer item like this (that people aren't likely to stumble across) it's worth a shot. Do it on peak hours - Friday nights before most people raid, and saturday afternoon same. Don't spam - as others have said, half an hour between ads at least.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 12:10 PM on January 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

I hate to say it, but especially this winter? Snow days also seem to be decent days for selling stuff on my PvE server. No planned raids, bored people sitting around in town waiting to see what comes up...
posted by gnomeloaf at 12:40 PM on January 31, 2011

Where did you get the 15k figure? Wowhead? A friend? Remember, economies vary hugely between servers and even factions. If it's not selling at your price and trade chat isn't panning out, consider lowering the price dramatically. Or just hang onto it for a while; people will build up a pile of cash in a few months and be more willing to blow it on the oozeling again soon.
posted by asciident at 1:42 PM on January 31, 2011

asciident - the 15k number was what the oozeling was selling for when I first checked. Since then, it's price has varied from 25k (!) to 9k, the lowest, which was my price. I may have to lower the price quite a bit to get it to sell. Too bad! I was hoping someone would pony up 15k for the little critter.
posted by Spyder's Game at 1:56 PM on January 31, 2011

The 'rare drop' pets like the Oozeling, whelplings and firefly have a true value of much less than the current 'average price' poll.

Why's this? Because it is much, much easier to grind them out now. Toons do more damage and take less damage. I can run around and one-button-kill slimes for as long as I can stand, whereas at level 80 I might have had to take five or six seconds per kill.

The number of people who want the pets is steadily decreasing as those with the cash and the time get the pets, and the availability is actually increasing because of how much faster it is to farm them.

You're more likely to be able to sell it in a couple of years when people have nothing else to spend their gold on. But if you want to sell it now, consider 5000g. For 9k, they might as well buy an epic crafted armour piece.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 2:20 PM on January 31, 2011

the 15k number was what the oozeling was selling for when I first checked.

Just remember that what you are seeing is what people are asking for - none of those auctions necessarily sold.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 4:11 PM on January 31, 2011

People might have been willing to pay for that in Wrath, but now there probably isn't just enough interest. I'd say take what money you can get and spend your time either mining/herbing and gets LOTS more.
posted by Wuggie Norple at 7:34 PM on January 31, 2011

Unless they've changed things in Cata (which is entirely possible), the Disgusting Oozling is a rare looted item from Slime-Covered bags, which are a rare drop from killing ooze/slime type mobs. Farming for it is tedious and often a big timesink. That's why you'll see high and fluctuating prices.

The people that will buy the Oozling are generally completionist/collectors, who just like having as many pets as possible. You have to keep in mind that not all collectors will necessarily have 15k to drop for a pet, especially this early in an expansion -- many people are spending their gold on crafted epics for raiding, materials for leveling their professions, flasks, etc.

I would advise posting it on weekends, when there are more people playing. Check the AH first, to see if others are up, and for how much, before you post. If you see someone has one up for cheaper than you want to sell yours for.. sit on it. Save yourself the deposit fees, and don't post it; wait a few days or a week. Since they're a pain to get, there are hardly ever more than a handful up at the same time (if even that many). When you do post, post for 24 hours instead of 48 -- the deposit fee will be accordingly less, and there's less chance that you'll be undercut and have it sitting up there for an extra day.

And as people have already said, trade chat, maybe once a half hour or so (again especially on weekends) is a good way to let people know.. and there are no AH fees. Good luck. :)
posted by Kattiara17 at 7:03 AM on February 1, 2011

I've seen an 18K estimate on sites like wowhead as the average AH price--at least during Wrath. My understanding is that they increased the drop rate on some of the rare drop pets (like the Hyacinth Macaw and the whelplings) and removed others from the game entirely. So as others have said, that figure will probably change. Still, when you're ready to sell, there's no reason to start low!

Strongly seconding what Glinn said about Cat possibly being too new to get a good price. Right now everybody is paying through the nose for the new resources and gear, to pay other craftsmen, and to buy all the new guild perks. I would seriously just bank it for a while if I were you.
posted by heatvision at 7:33 AM on February 1, 2011

This is currently one of the hardest pets to get. It's a rare drop in a bag that's a rare drop from mobs that only spawn in two areas in Azeroth. Don't sell yourself short because you're in a rush to get some gold. Wait it out. Undercut everyone else.

It's a sweet pet. Most serious pet collectors already have it. But there's new serious pet collectors added every day. When you make your macro, talk about how it turns you green and is the only non-combat pet to affect combat - it gives you a debuff!
posted by phritosan at 3:21 PM on February 1, 2011

Quick update on this and then I'll mark it closed. I stopped trying to sell it via the AH, and started hitting up Trade Chat when I was in Org.

I was trying to sell for 7.5k, and someone eventually offered me 5k for it, and I took it. Not what I was hoping for, but hey... free 5k!!!
posted by Spyder's Game at 7:53 PM on March 31, 2011