My record so far was a 900M ring I bought and used for myself, only to later sell it for 5b gold. Same with a 9/6 Mempo I got for 2b and ended up selling for 5b. Witching Hour for 1.5b later sold for $250 in RMAH. Ice Climbers I got for 3b off of another player and later sold for $250 in RMAH.
That's flipping. And it's a dying art. Flips happen player-to-player now with advertising via forums and trade channels, not so much with the AH because true quality items are hard to find there.
...Really, don't treat the game like a job. It's not worth it. I'm telling you from experience, you'll only face frustration and a boatload of time wasted.
If you thought you can sell 1-2b gold in the last 6 months for RMAH price, you are naive. Out of the percentage of players that do buy gold in general, the majority of those players buy via third party. Why? Because before patch 1.08, the minimum for gold was 25 cents per million while it was significantly less than 10 cents per million everywhere else. So if you need 2 billion gold, instead of paying $500 in the RMAH (plus tax), you'd pay $200 flat on another website.
Yes, that's against the ToS, but honestly, not many players follow the ToS to the dot and I can say with confidence that the vast majority of people in general will be willing to take the chance to save over $300 any given day.
In the past month, gold has been hovering around 2 to 3 cents per million. As soon as the price for RMAH gold drops to 25 cents per 10 million, you can bet third party gold will drop to one or two pennies per million.
Players have been converting real currency to RMAH gems to sell in the AH for gold. That's how it was done. That's part of the reason for gems skyrocketing to 200M a piece during the gold fiasco because players were duping gold in RMAH, buying gems in mass, and selling them for colossal prices in the AH, thinking that's even more gold for them to dupe.
Your gold will devalue consistently over time. Your items' real money value, however, will not—as long as they have stats players will still go for, such as Mempo.
I'll throw this bit out this comparison in another similar thread before (hence why I said—in a very exasperated tone—"another one of these threads?")
That was my original Triumvirate, all the way back in December 2012. Based on DiabloProgress, it's still the 16th best Triumvirate in the entire American server.
I sold it for $250 back in December when I cashed out. It was about the equivalent of 1-2 billion gold.
Last month or so, I was hunting for a new Triumvirate and thought about digging through my connections and sources to track down the current owner. I found him. And guess what he wanted for it?
A minimum of 10 billion gold. You know what that's equivalent to in the past month in terms of real money? Approximately $250.
The real-money value of your gear does not change as long as players still desire it. But the gold equivalent will continue to climb as long as gold becomes cheaper and cheaper.
More and more high-end items are now RMAH only considering they're usually worth well over 2 billion gold. Can you find a 6 crit chance Mempo in the gold AH? Absolutely not. And if you do, be prepared to flip that for over 300% of its value.
You don't make money in this game unless you play the AH full-time, as if it were a real job. And even then, chances are it'll be below minimum wage considering you can go days without a sale. In addition, if you were to treat it as a real job, you'll have to follow current builds trends, negotiate sales on third-party sites and risk losing your account, on top of camping the AH day and night to snipe 2 billion gold items or snipe underpriced RMAH items. It's not happening. Never once did I think, on my own, I'd be able to make sufficient money in this game.
When I was chasing DPS for my wizard in September through December 2012, I spent well over $3,000. When I cashed out, I managed to get back $4,000—which out of that, I pocketed one grand and spent the remaining 3K on re-gearing. I'm in the hole now since I'm mostly maximizing my stats as a hobby (and hobbies cost money). So in three months time, I made about $1,000? That's like working for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, less than minimum wage. Plus, all the "money's worth" is in high-end items that players rarely let go.
You want my Ice Climbers? I'm willing to let it go for $650 minimum or a little over 25 billion gold. You want my sword? It's valued at $1,000 minimum or 40 billion gold. My Tal Rasha's Allegience? I might settle for $700.
Not that I actually paid anywhere near that much for any of them, but gold's value went down, there haven't been any new drops in the past few months that came anywhere close to matching up with such items, and as more players reach new gearing heights, there's more demand for high-end items and less supply. Oh, let's not forget the many accounts that were banned or BoA'd after the gold exploit. Two of my friends (high-end characters) have been perma-banned. Three others have been BoA'd. That's 5x 9/6 Mempos gone forever. 10x trifecta rings, trifecta gloves, Zuni Trails, Lacunis, etc. never to enter the market ever again.
9 ias, 4 cc Mempo? That's mid-tier now. You're not going to make any sustainable income off of that aside from some additional spending money if you have a real job. It's like me selling on eBay all my old collectible cards from my childhood. I'm sure as hell not going to keep collecting them and selling them off as my income.
damn i feel bad for these guys that put in hundreds and thousands of dollars into rmah/gear just to see it worth nothing over night. pretty fucked up if you ask me!
Hobby. Golf costs money. Mountain-climbing costs money. Biweekly excursions to your favorite pub costs money. Decking out your car costs money. Building new power desktops cost money. This game costs money (if you choose to play in such a way).
And as I've said, no value drop. Your Mempo cost you 1b? Well, guess what, you can sell it for 2b now. Congratulations.
If you want to flip, invest in 1b - 2b items.
My record so far was a 900M ring I bought and used for myself, only to later sell it for 5b gold. Same with a 9/6 Mempo I got for 2b and ended up selling for 5b. Witching Hour for 1.5b later sold for $250 in RMAH. Ice Climbers I got for 3b off of another player and later sold for $250 in RMAH.
That's flipping. And it's a dying art. Flips happen player-to-player now with advertising via forums and trade channels, not so much with the AH because true quality items are hard to find there.
...Really, don't treat the game like a job. It's not worth it. I'm telling you from experience, you'll only face frustration and a boatload of time wasted.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
If you thought you can sell 1-2b gold in the last 6 months for RMAH price, you are naive. Out of the percentage of players that do buy gold in general, the majority of those players buy via third party. Why? Because before patch 1.08, the minimum for gold was 25 cents per million while it was significantly less than 10 cents per million everywhere else. So if you need 2 billion gold, instead of paying $500 in the RMAH (plus tax), you'd pay $200 flat on another website.
Yes, that's against the ToS, but honestly, not many players follow the ToS to the dot and I can say with confidence that the vast majority of people in general will be willing to take the chance to save over $300 any given day.
In the past month, gold has been hovering around 2 to 3 cents per million. As soon as the price for RMAH gold drops to 25 cents per 10 million, you can bet third party gold will drop to one or two pennies per million.
Players have been converting real currency to RMAH gems to sell in the AH for gold. That's how it was done. That's part of the reason for gems skyrocketing to 200M a piece during the gold fiasco because players were duping gold in RMAH, buying gems in mass, and selling them for colossal prices in the AH, thinking that's even more gold for them to dupe.
Your gold will devalue consistently over time. Your items' real money value, however, will not—as long as they have stats players will still go for, such as Mempo.
I'll throw this bit out this comparison in another similar thread before (hence why I said—in a very exasperated tone—"another one of these threads?")
http://www.diablofan...d-consequences/
More and more high-end items are now RMAH only considering they're usually worth well over 2 billion gold. Can you find a 6 crit chance Mempo in the gold AH? Absolutely not. And if you do, be prepared to flip that for over 300% of its value.
You don't make money in this game unless you play the AH full-time, as if it were a real job. And even then, chances are it'll be below minimum wage considering you can go days without a sale. In addition, if you were to treat it as a real job, you'll have to follow current builds trends, negotiate sales on third-party sites and risk losing your account, on top of camping the AH day and night to snipe 2 billion gold items or snipe underpriced RMAH items. It's not happening. Never once did I think, on my own, I'd be able to make sufficient money in this game.
When I was chasing DPS for my wizard in September through December 2012, I spent well over $3,000. When I cashed out, I managed to get back $4,000—which out of that, I pocketed one grand and spent the remaining 3K on re-gearing. I'm in the hole now since I'm mostly maximizing my stats as a hobby (and hobbies cost money). So in three months time, I made about $1,000? That's like working for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, less than minimum wage. Plus, all the "money's worth" is in high-end items that players rarely let go.
You want my Ice Climbers? I'm willing to let it go for $650 minimum or a little over 25 billion gold. You want my sword? It's valued at $1,000 minimum or 40 billion gold. My Tal Rasha's Allegience? I might settle for $700.
Not that I actually paid anywhere near that much for any of them, but gold's value went down, there haven't been any new drops in the past few months that came anywhere close to matching up with such items, and as more players reach new gearing heights, there's more demand for high-end items and less supply. Oh, let's not forget the many accounts that were banned or BoA'd after the gold exploit. Two of my friends (high-end characters) have been perma-banned. Three others have been BoA'd. That's 5x 9/6 Mempos gone forever. 10x trifecta rings, trifecta gloves, Zuni Trails, Lacunis, etc. never to enter the market ever again.
9 ias, 4 cc Mempo? That's mid-tier now. You're not going to make any sustainable income off of that aside from some additional spending money if you have a real job. It's like me selling on eBay all my old collectible cards from my childhood. I'm sure as hell not going to keep collecting them and selling them off as my income.
Hobby. Golf costs money. Mountain-climbing costs money. Biweekly excursions to your favorite pub costs money. Decking out your car costs money. Building new power desktops cost money. This game costs money (if you choose to play in such a way).
And as I've said, no value drop. Your Mempo cost you 1b? Well, guess what, you can sell it for 2b now. Congratulations.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site