Girarde's Inscription Emporium

So last week I discovered a new Blog “The Greedy Goblin.” It’s well written and while I do not tend to agree with the author on a number of points, (specifically surrounding guilds and PUGs.) I have been very interested in his approach to making money on the Auction House. As such he inspired me to go into “Business” for myself and open up my own little Inscription shop.

Gevlon’s philosophy basically revolves around the idea of thinking of the Auction House like a business. When you think of it in that light it becomes easier to create a business plan and start making profits. (Can you hear the Ferengi in me?) You can begin to analyze things like raw materials, labor (will you craft this for me?) and then personal time investment. Thinking like this, (and well from the advice in his blog) I have begun my own little Inscription business for myself.

Why Inscription? Well a couple of reasons.

1.) Low start up cost: The inventory itself is relatively low cost, meaning low risk. I didn’t have to sink hundreds of gold to make one piece that if it doesn’t sell ruins my business. I instead get to produce a number of smaller items. If any individual item does not sell, I’m not out a terribly large amount of money.

2.) Reasonable Demand. Everybody needs glyphs. All classes, all races. While you don’t necessarily need a lot of glyphs everyone needs one from time to time. With Blizzard constantly changing the mechanics that demand increases.

3.) Flexible Raw materials: First off, inscription is very flexible in the types of herbs it can use. All Northrend herbs mill into the same pigments (Although higher level herbs may give more pigments or more rare pigments, I’ve not researched this yet) So I can load up on materials on the cheapest herbs I can find in the AH. Goldclover is expensive? Buy a stack of tiger lily. Also for inscription herbs become pigments which become inks, which become glyphs. If the herbs are especially expensive, I can perhaps still find a deal on the pigments or the inks. In this way it becomes easier to keep my costs down.

4.) Profit Margin: Most my glyphs sell for at least double the cost of my raw materials. Many sell for four or five times my initial cost.

So last Tuesday I took my 20 best glyphs, made 3 of each and put them on the AH. I’ve been keeping track my costs, my profits and what sells in a small excel spreadsheet. Every 2 days when my auctions end I “restock” and produce additional glyphs for the ones that sold out the previous auction.

The initial results are promising. I’ve been able to sell about 20 glyphs every auction period (2 days) or so. After my second set of auctions I had already recouped my initial investment. As of last night I was over 400 gold in the black with over 50 glyphs still up for sale. The additional perk is that I have been able to use my left over supplies to make scrolls and glyphs for friends. I’ve also been getting enough Icy pigment from my millings that I’ve been able to keep up my Inscription research. So while I’m not the goblin businessman that Gevlon proliferates. I am turning a nice little profit for myself and should keep myself from ever having to grind gold again. After all as Rule of Acquisition # 41 States: Profit is its own reward.