Tuesday, April 21, 2009

My Broker

I don't have a banker. I have a broker. I can't tell you the name of my broker. Why? Well first, I'll tell you why I call this character a broker and not a banker.

To me a banker is just a pack mule - a character used to store your junk. You park him at the bank and he runs from there to the mailbox and that's it. Sure, your banker can post stuff on the auction house for you, but the vast majority of his time is spent moving goods to the bank or his bags.

A broker is a character that is used to play the auction house. My broker has a section of a bag dedicated to keeping 1 of a few types of goods just so that I don't have to type in the name when I search for them. For example, a stack of saronite, 1 infinite dust and 1 buff food. The reason I only use a stack of one is that it makes it easy to see what the market price is when I mouse over it. It makes determining prices for items I post easier to compute if I feel that Auctioneer isn't pricing well due to the quantity on sale at the time. My broker is also the character I use to scan the auction house every morning and holds the vast majority of my cash.

So, why don't I reveal my broker's identity? Because sometimes I undercut and sometimes I buy low and relist and some of the people I undercut and relist from are guildmates or players I know in game. I don't do it maliciously. Most of the time I don't even realize I've undercut them until I do another scan of that item and see their name listed. If someone I know undercuts me I definitely don't take it personally, quite the contrary, I expect them to in order to be competitive and make money. I just don't want to deal with the possibility that one of them would take it personally. The Greedy Goblin would probably scold me for this but sometimes when I see a guildmate has something posted, I'll even post at the same price even though he/she has no idea who my broker is.

1 comment:

  1. WOW Rorik...you are sooo kind (SUCKER) hehehe. Just kidding:) I know how you feel. I was speaking with your wife about the market last night and when I saw she had a couple of flasks up I waited a few minutes to list mine so hers would sell first. A one-time courtesy you could say:)

    Although I do have a bank alt, I prefer to sell on my main because I have other things I can use my main for while watching the AH. She will make gems, do shout outs for stuff I have in my bag etc. If I use my lowbie LVL 1 bank alt, she is kinda useless.

    I don't like to undercut guldies but I think we all realize its part of the game.

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