Using the Bank, the Auction House, and the Mail system
_
Instead of retracing your steps to get back to
the Trade District, look for one of the Guard NPCs in Old Town.
When you find one of them, hold your mouse cursor over him or her. If the
cursor turns into a map symbol, that means that this Guard can provide you with
directions to a wide variety of locations throughout the city. Right now, we
want to find the Bank in the Trade District. Talk to the Guard, click on "Bank,"
and then click on "Trade District Bank." When you do, the Guard will
put an indicator on your World Map Screen and on your Minimap that looks like a
small red flag; you can use this indicator to guide you to your destination. When
you arrive at your destination, the indicator will disappear.
As you can see, the Trade District can get pretty crowded.
Walk inside the Bank and speak to one of the Bankers. When you do, your personal Bank window will open up, along with your Backpack and bags:
_
Anytime your bags are getting full, you can store items you
don't want to sell in your Bank. Simply drag any item you want to store from
your bag to an open slot in your bag window. You'll also notice a series of red
slots along the bottom of the Bank window, and a message asking if you want to
purchase space for an additional bag. Don’t worry about this feature right now,
but in the future, you can buy bag slots so you can expand your Bank storage
space by adding bags to it! When you're done in the Bank, close the Bank window
and head back outside into the square. The building you can see just beyond the
fountain is Stormwind's Trade District Auction House.
Auction Houses are where Players can go to sell items to one another in a controlled environment. There is at least one Auction House in each Race's capital city as well as other cities like Shattrath City in Outland, and Dalaran in Northrend. All of a Realm's Auction Houses are linked together, and sell the same items, even across Factions!
Head over to the Auction House. It will likely be very crowded, but you should still be able to get close to one of the Auctioneers. Right-click on the Auctioneer, and you'll see this interface window:
Auction Houses are where Players can go to sell items to one another in a controlled environment. There is at least one Auction House in each Race's capital city as well as other cities like Shattrath City in Outland, and Dalaran in Northrend. All of a Realm's Auction Houses are linked together, and sell the same items, even across Factions!
Head over to the Auction House. It will likely be very crowded, but you should still be able to get close to one of the Auctioneers. Right-click on the Auctioneer, and you'll see this interface window:
_
To look for a particular item, type its name into the text
box in the upper-left corner of the window. You can also add filters to your
search according to item type (use the menus on the left side of the window), Level Range,
and Rarity. You can also click check boxes to only display items your Character
can use, and to display an item on your Character (useful for weapons and
armor).
When you find an item you'd like to bid on, click its entry to highlight it, and then click the "Bid" button. If you'd like to buy the item outright (and its seller has listed a buyout price), click the "Buyout" button instead. If you don't have enough gold to bid on or buy a particular item, the "Bid" and "Buyout" buttons will be grayed out. Whenever you bid on something, there's always a chance that someone could come along and outbid you before the auction for that item ends. For that reason, you should periodically check back at the Auction House to make sure you don't lose an auction!
Now, let's make some money by selling some of the Copper Ore you've gathered with Mining! Open up your bags & Backpack. Now, click on the "Auctions" tab at the bottom of the Auction House interface to bring up a screen where you can start your own Auctions. On the left half of the window, look for an empty slot under the words "Auction Item." Now, drag a stack of Copper Ore from your Inventory over into that empty slot. If you're not sure how much to charge, briefly head back to the "Browse" tab and search for Copper Ore to see what other people are charging for a stack of the same (or similar) number of pieces of Copper Ore.
A good rule of thumb is to look at the buyout price of the lowest seller, and then charge a slightly lower buyout price than they do. Then, set your initial bid price to a lower amount than your buyout price. For example, if you were charging a buyout price of 12 Gold for a stack of 20 pieces of Copper Ore, you might set an initial bid price of 9 Gold. Note that you can use a pull-down menu to decide whether you want your prices to be per item, or per stack of items. For the sake of simplicity, leave it set for "per stack" pricing for now.
Now, look at the Deposit line in the "Auctions" tab screen. This is how much money you'll have to pay to start your auction. If your item sells, the Auction House will take a percentage of your sale for itself, but your Deposit fee will be refunded. If your auction ends without a sale, you lose your Deposit fee.
You can also adjust the length of time your auction runs, with options of setting it for 12 hours, 24 hours, or 48 hours. For now, leave the length at the default time of 24 hours. When you're satisfied with the way everything is set up, click "Create Auction." Now, you just have to wait until someone either buys your item through bid or buyout, or the Auction runs out. When the Auction is over, you'll receive your money (or returned item) through the in-game Mail system. Let's go take a look at that now.
There is a Mailbox in a corner between the Bank and the Gilded Rose Inn. Right-click on the Mailbox to bring up the Mail interface window.
When you find an item you'd like to bid on, click its entry to highlight it, and then click the "Bid" button. If you'd like to buy the item outright (and its seller has listed a buyout price), click the "Buyout" button instead. If you don't have enough gold to bid on or buy a particular item, the "Bid" and "Buyout" buttons will be grayed out. Whenever you bid on something, there's always a chance that someone could come along and outbid you before the auction for that item ends. For that reason, you should periodically check back at the Auction House to make sure you don't lose an auction!
Now, let's make some money by selling some of the Copper Ore you've gathered with Mining! Open up your bags & Backpack. Now, click on the "Auctions" tab at the bottom of the Auction House interface to bring up a screen where you can start your own Auctions. On the left half of the window, look for an empty slot under the words "Auction Item." Now, drag a stack of Copper Ore from your Inventory over into that empty slot. If you're not sure how much to charge, briefly head back to the "Browse" tab and search for Copper Ore to see what other people are charging for a stack of the same (or similar) number of pieces of Copper Ore.
A good rule of thumb is to look at the buyout price of the lowest seller, and then charge a slightly lower buyout price than they do. Then, set your initial bid price to a lower amount than your buyout price. For example, if you were charging a buyout price of 12 Gold for a stack of 20 pieces of Copper Ore, you might set an initial bid price of 9 Gold. Note that you can use a pull-down menu to decide whether you want your prices to be per item, or per stack of items. For the sake of simplicity, leave it set for "per stack" pricing for now.
Now, look at the Deposit line in the "Auctions" tab screen. This is how much money you'll have to pay to start your auction. If your item sells, the Auction House will take a percentage of your sale for itself, but your Deposit fee will be refunded. If your auction ends without a sale, you lose your Deposit fee.
You can also adjust the length of time your auction runs, with options of setting it for 12 hours, 24 hours, or 48 hours. For now, leave the length at the default time of 24 hours. When you're satisfied with the way everything is set up, click "Create Auction." Now, you just have to wait until someone either buys your item through bid or buyout, or the Auction runs out. When the Auction is over, you'll receive your money (or returned item) through the in-game Mail system. Let's go take a look at that now.
There is a Mailbox in a corner between the Bank and the Gilded Rose Inn. Right-click on the Mailbox to bring up the Mail interface window.
_
This is your in-game Mail Inbox, where you can retrieve
messages and items that are sent to you by other Players, by certain NPCs, or by Blizzard
themselves. Simply click on a message's icon on the left hand side of the
interface, and that message will pop up to the right of the main Mail window.
If the message you receive has any gold or items attached to it, you can claim
them by clicking on their icons near the bottom of the message window.
Any Mail messages that you don't delete yourself will stay in your Inbox for 30 days. After that time, they are deleted automatically, even if they still have gold and/or items attached, so make sure you pick up anything that's sent to you!
If you want to send a message or some items to someone, click the Send Mail tab to bring up the outgoing Mail interface.
Any Mail messages that you don't delete yourself will stay in your Inbox for 30 days. After that time, they are deleted automatically, even if they still have gold and/or items attached, so make sure you pick up anything that's sent to you!
If you want to send a message or some items to someone, click the Send Mail tab to bring up the outgoing Mail interface.
_
The interface for sending Mail messages is fairly easy to
use. Simply type the Character name of the Player you want to send a message
to, type in a Subject line, and then type your message in the main text box. If
you want to send any items, drag them into the open item slots near the bottom
of the interface. Note that the more items you attach to the message, the
higher your Postage fee becomes.
Now, take note of the buttons just above the "Send" button marked "Send Money" and "C.O.D." If the "Send Money" option is highlighted, you can enter amounts of Gold, Silver, and Copper Coins that you want to send to the recipient. If the "C.O.D." option is highlighted, you can use the Gold, Silver, and Copper slots to enter a money amount that the recipient must pay in order to receive the items you're sending them. This is a very wise option to use if you want to sell something to a Player you don't know, in order to make sure they can't take things without paying for them (sadly, there are jerks playing the game who would do something like that).
Once you're done familiarizing yourself with the Mail system, take a look at some of the other Players around you. Notice how many of them have bracketed text above their heads along with their names? That bracketed text is the name of the Guild that they belong to.
Now, take note of the buttons just above the "Send" button marked "Send Money" and "C.O.D." If the "Send Money" option is highlighted, you can enter amounts of Gold, Silver, and Copper Coins that you want to send to the recipient. If the "C.O.D." option is highlighted, you can use the Gold, Silver, and Copper slots to enter a money amount that the recipient must pay in order to receive the items you're sending them. This is a very wise option to use if you want to sell something to a Player you don't know, in order to make sure they can't take things without paying for them (sadly, there are jerks playing the game who would do something like that).
Once you're done familiarizing yourself with the Mail system, take a look at some of the other Players around you. Notice how many of them have bracketed text above their heads along with their names? That bracketed text is the name of the Guild that they belong to.
This website is not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
World of Warcraft, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor, and Legion are registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
World of Warcraft, its associated expansions, all content described by this guide, and all images contained in this guide are the sole intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Any questions, comments, or concerns about this guide? E-mail: [email protected]
World of Warcraft, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor, and Legion are registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
World of Warcraft, its associated expansions, all content described by this guide, and all images contained in this guide are the sole intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Any questions, comments, or concerns about this guide? E-mail: [email protected]