Guide to making deals

Introduction

Hey there! More than a few times in recent months I’ve been asked by people what my ‘secret’ is to having the things I have in Warcraft. They’re usually referring to some mix of my different mounts, titles, gadgets, achievements, gold or other miscellaneous curiosities.

The thing is…other than having played the game a bit longer than some I’ve always considered myself to be a pretty average player. I’m able to set goals for myself and then put in the time and research to achieve them comfortably. In thinking about this a bit more lately there is one important element I’ve been overlooking. That element is communication, and more specifically the gentle art of persuasion.

I intend to make this something of a regular topic on saate.net in coming months. While there are hundreds of guides to making gold around, very few – if any – actually focus on the people side of things. In this guide I’ll be sharing the techniques I use in negotiating with people – techniques that help me get the best out of trade deals and which have contributed to me making hundreds of thousands of gold.

Enjoy, and as always your feedback and personal experiences would be a welcome contribution!

-Saate

1. Know the product

This is all about awareness of your product. If you don’t know what you’re buying or why then you’re not off to the best start, are you? So let’s imagine you’ve just seen a ‘WTS’ message in trade chat that you think might be a bargain – what next?

• How much is it actually worth?
  What has the historical price of the item been? Ideally you should reference multiple sources for this information such as Wowhead, Allakhazam and Auctioneer.
• How much has it been going for lately?
  Has the item been selling for higher or lower prices lately? Things like low demand and oversupply in the market can lead to temporary price depression. If this has been the case then your seller may have been holding on to the item for a while and may be prepared to let it go for a lower price.
• How much is the deposit for listing it in the AH?
  When you’re selling on a faction auction house the deposit cost of an item is 15% of the item value per 12 hours listed. I’ve seen people make the mistake of picking up certain high merchant price items to resell and make a profit only to lose it all on deposit costs.

  A great example is the [Blade of Wizardry] which vendors for 43g. People will buy this for a ‘steal’ at 100g only to make a net loss selling it due to the 25g/48h deposit costs!



“8 Seconds. That’s the amount of time I generally allow myself to run through all the questions involved in Step 1 and Step 2. When it comes to bargains and high demand items don’t be surprised if they’re snapped up in 10-15 seconds flat. Setting yourself a quick target like that and working at it will mean more bargains more often.”

• How desirable is it? (ie how fast is it likely to sell?)
  It’s great to get something at a cheap price but if there’s virtually no demand for it you can end up hanging onto it for a very long time. For those with a large capital base that might not be such a big problem but for folks trying to flip something for a quick buck it can be a pain.
• How much competition will I have in reselling it?
  There’s nothing worse than posting an item only to be undercut five minutes later. If there’s 10 of the same item already in the Auction House and it carries any kind of deposit this can quickly cut into your resale profits.
• Is it likely to trend up or down in price due to coming patches?
  This is one to think about – is there a patch coming soon? If you had invested in Abyss Crystals prior to patch 3.2 (Argent Tournament) being added you might have been unlucky to lose as much as 60% in the value of your investment. Be extra cautious leading into patch time!
• Is it likely to trend down in price due to being flavour of the month?
  I see this kinda thing a lot, especially around holiday events and patch time right after new shinies have been added to the game. Everyone wants to be the first to have the new stuff and they’ll pay a premium for it. If you’re buying to resell be aware that when the fad fades so will the prices!

2. Profile the seller

This is an important step. Building a profile of your seller is of utmost importance because it advises you on the correct approach to use when you start talking to them. Starting from the correct position is important to any negotation. Opening too high can mean you lose profit, opening too low can mean you cause offence and lose ground in the negotiation.

• Are they in a well known/high level guild?
  Why is this relevant? Like it or not players in higher level guilds are generally more switched on or price aware. They’re more likely to check external websites for pricing information and are more likely to hold out for a price that’s closer to market value.
• How have they presented their trade chat message?
  You can tell a lot about a person by the way they present their message in trade chat. If they’re spamming it lots they’re after a quick sale. If they lower the price in subsequent messages they’re desperate. If they’re sloppy in how they present it they might have no clue.

  All of these signs can tip you off on the correct approach to use when opening a dialogue with the person.



“Look out for any language that’s urgent in nature. This is a great sign that the seller is impatient and deals are to be had.”

• What is their most gold ever owned?
  This is another good indicator of seller awareness. Someone who has a most gold ever owned of 4k is generally going to be less aware than someone with a most gold ever owned of 104k. There are addons around, such as TinyTipWealth, that give you the ability to see this stat when you mouseover a player.

3. Make your initial offer

• Making first contact
  After completing your item assessment and your seller profile it’s time to send the person a whisper either asking how much (if not specified) or offering your price.
• Acknowledge and respond positively
  Acknowledge their sale price positively, and provide your counter offer in the same smooth sentence. An example of something I might say is:

  “I’m interested in that item, 800g is a good price, probably the most I can offer to pay is 650g”

• Dealing with rejection?
  If your offer is rejected without a countersuggestion eg “No thanks” you need to take the rejection in good humor. If you can’t get it at the price that’s going to mimimise your risk and guarantee a profit then it’s not worth worrying about. I’d usually say something like “No worries mate, I’m sure you’ll sell it soon but in case you don’t and you decide you can go lower feel free to throw me a whisper :)”

  I find that this usually puts me at the top of some kind of mental ‘short list’, and when/if the player finds themselves tiring of waiting for the bigger offer I’ll get a whisper. Has happened more often than I can recall!

4. Give them a reason to walk away

Crazy talk, right? While this may seem counter intuitive it’s actually not. In any negotiation your objective is to engage the other party in voluntary compliance – in this case that compliance is having the other party agree to the price you want to pay.

The best way to accomplish this is to help them perceive you as an aide rather than an adversary. I always try to come across as calm, reasonable and helpful in negotiating with others. I provide helpful accurate responses to people and point them in the right direction.

You wouldn’t believe it but ‘laying the cards on the table’ works time after time. I’m honest about how I conduct business, I make a profit AND the people thank me. How about that!

“Giving them a reason to walk away is not always a bad thing.”

5. Be prepared to let it go

Allowing yourself to be engaged on an emotional level is simply not good for business. When you’re emotional you’re less rational and likely to concede more ground than you might have planned.

At best you’ll come away with less profit than you would have liked and at worst you’ll go from civility to hostility and create an enemy.

Conclusion

Phew! After all that there’s not really a lot to say that hasn’t already been said. I hope the overwhelming message folks reading this take away is that being nice to people will get you further in your negotiations.

There’s no other way to look at it and you know what? It’s not something that only applies to making trade chat deals in World of Warcraft. You can take some of the basic concepts I’ve shared here and apply them to real life situations for more successful outcomes.

The bottom line? Don’t be a jackass, kids!