Staying Ahead and Sinking Some Gold

I am not a business person; I repair medical equipment for a living at a Veteran's Affairs hospital. So a lot of my "Aha!" moments in this business endeavor are pretty much common sense to a person who is familiar with selling stuff. Heck, I've never even held down a retail job, so I don't even have that kind of experience to draw on.

With that said, let me clue you in on a little discovery I've made in the learning process.

Keep some Inventory on hand.

It turns out that I can't sell what I don't have - who knew?!?! Anyways, in an attempt to broaden my item base, I started making the Savage Saronite gear. I made one of each of the helm, legs, and chest. Just one....of each....

Now, on the good side, I figured if the items didn't sell, I wouldn't be out a whole lot. But what I really didn't count on was the items actually selling! And quickly at that. Ok, well, it was only the chest piece, but dang it sold fast!

So, I'm going to start keeping an inventory of items that have a good history of selling. I've already done it for Titanium Rods and Tempered Saronite Bracers, and just have to build up my stock of the Savage stuff.

And speaking of the rods, the undercutters filtered out, and I was the only one left....and then there were none on the AH. So, I'm thinking that I'll continue to list mine for my predetermined set price and sell them occasionally. I'm making about 21 gold per sale, so it's not a huge amount, but helps out.

That previous paragraph also brings to mind another aspect of my business that is very helpful (IMA[rrogant]O): I'm in no hurry to sell stuff. I have enough money to get by - yes, it'd be nice to power level my other professions, but it's not absolutely necessary.

I think when people get in a hurry to sell their wares, of course, prices drop and the bottom falls out of the market. As my short experience in the Titanium Rod market has shown, the patient person can sometimes wait out the undercutters and get his asking price. Of course at other times, like in the Nerubian Leg Armor kit market, it seems that the market hadn't settled out when I jumped in, and I'll probably end up selling my kits for less than I originally thought.

And, finally, a last thought that I'm chewing over: Customers. I'm thinking about trying to put together a clientele list. The idea is to provide consumables at a discounted price to dedicated customers. This would involve quite a bit more work than I'm currently involved with, but also has the potential to create a nice steady income.

One of the downsides include having to be available to provide the service (and this may be what ultimately kills the idea). I can try to counter this by getting my customers to buy in bulk and providing them with the names of my alts. But I can just see the time when I'm in the middle of a Heroic, and one of my customers has an urgent need for whatever. I think I just talked myself out of it...lol.

Of course, my customers would have to understand that I couldn't be available 24/7 and that I wouldn't be available even though I was online. I'll still muse on this and see what else floats to the top....(and we all know what floats!)