[Highlander]

Hi guys,

I've had some ongoing success on the RMAH, in particular with flipping items.

Whilst flipping per se is against the terms of use, it's not hard to make money with the same philosophy as long as you use the items a bit along the way.

I made a video explaining the process I go through as well as key concerns which you can find here:

You Tube

You Tube

If you suffer from standard Gen Y and younger impatience, there is a table of contents posted in the user comments too. I cover some other local issues as well, like AUD RMAH vs USD RMAH, for the purposes of flipping.

Here is a summary:

SUMMARY

Flipping is the buying of items with a view to resell for profit.

Items can be flipped on an auction house for profit. All you need is:

•Some capital: Can be in game items, gold or $20 on your credit card.
•Sufficient in-game knowledge to understand item system: I'd recommend being level 60 and having Inferno experience.
Flipping works because the Diablo auction houses are unsurprisingly inefficient.

However, flipping is against the Terms of Use for the RMAH, so you need to be mindful of this. You can still buy and sell items, but instead you can use them for a time. Consider it like renting the item... except you make money. In doing so however, don't take too long, as the broader item economy is continually devaluing very quickly in real money terms over time.

This video address key concepts of

1) Buy cheap but sell fair

As the buyer, you have total control over the purchase. Use this control to snipe cheap items. When selling items, sell at a fair price or slightly less, failure to get this right can tie up your capital for 36 hrs (or six months in gamer years).

2) Identifying key price points

Looking for a bargain is best done by sticking to relatively stable, predictable items in consistently high demand.

Look for 'key' or 'Must have' stats. The simplest one here is DPS on weapons, but it could be life on hit, attack speed on gloves/rings, movement speed on boots, etc. Can also include a combination, such as DPS with +300 life on hit. This will change, but the principal remains the same.

Search for these at levels where things just can't be found. For example, you simply cannot find a 900 dps one hand weapon below $20. Once you have identified stats and levels that cannot be found at a particular price point, keep raising the price point until they appear. This is easily if an item and stat is regularly traded.

If a new item is posted below that point, it'll disappear within an hour or two. THAT is where you know things are actually selling at those levels. At or just below that point is the optimal sale price.

This is the price (less $1 fee) that you need to beat when trying to snipe items.

By sniping items at a bargain, and selling for a low price that is still fair, you maximise your turnover and reduce the time inventory ($s worth of items) is inaccessible to you for reuse. Remember, you don't make money from listing items, only from selling items.

Some useful stats and combinations I've found useful include:

•DPS on weapons: Many seem to assume that the DPS on weapons are all equal, 900k DPS on a mace = 900 dps on a dagger. However, in that case, a dagger will have a higher attack speed, which helps out anyone using life on hit, will help out anyone using a mojo/source as they will get to add the offhand damage more often and helps everyone with mobility.
Similarly, because critical hit damage or increased attack speed are already calculated into the dps of a weapon, it seems that these get ignored.

•I also find stats that are 1% below the maximum but have complimentary useful stats can often present good value.

3) Keep checking and snipe bargains

Now, just take note of a few points and keep checking on them. If you see a 900 dps weapon pop up for sale below $20, grab it!

When visually searching these item lists, look by the time of the listing. If a listing shows it has 1 day, 11 hours remaining, it has only recently been posted. That might be worth grabbing. If an item hasn't been purchased after it's first 12 hours of being listed and it has less than a day to go, it's unlikely worth getting.

Other useful tips:

•Items with no buyout price or a stupid (eg: $250 when clearly worth less) buyout price can also present good value for bargains as these are found in search results less often. However, bidding well before close of auction can tie up your capital.

•Using a Battle.Net balance can speed up processing times and reduce ongoing costs (no taxes or % based fees) as opposed to Paypal. If you want to cash out, you just need to flip your items one last time.

•GAH is far less predictable and the minor RMAHs (eg Non-USD, non Euro) have less volume of trade which makes for more volatility as well. This means more opportunity, but also less predictability.

•This is not a risk free strategy, you will occasionally make mistakes. I recommend you try to keep this lower through smaller more frequent transactions, especially until your confidence grows.

The big risk in this is that you can get screwed. A rapid shift in the metagame, or more likely a patch, could significantly reduce (or to be fair, increase) the value of your inventory. Beware scheduled maintenance! Try and cash items out before any scheduled maintenance if you can do so without undercutting yourself hard.

If you have any questions, please pop them in here. I think a lot of people have really varied experiences with the AHs, but with a consistent approach and in-game know-how there is money to be made by anyone really.

Quick Comments

	nirvAnA:	nice!
	Cyanide:	I don't think buy on GAH and selling on RMAH is considered flipping though. It's the equivalent of selling gold I guess.