Buying and Selling Valor Boots for Profit

I've seen many players advertising that they are selling "Valor Boots" in trade chat as Patch 4.1 gets closer and closer.

I'm going to go into the details of how you can check the the Valor boot market (using Auctionator Shopping Lists), get boots at a good price (via haggling) and profit by selling them on the auction house (at the right price).

Getting Your Ducks In A Row
Before we can hope to make profit buying and reselling (AKA flipping) Valor boots we have some homework to do. The saying goes "Measure Twice. Cut Once" and that's exactly what we are going to do.

To get started we need the addon "Auctionator". (Download Auctionator on Curse) We will be using the "Shopping List" feature of Auctionator to make it quick and easy for us to get a rough idea where the Valor boot market is on our own server.

So called "Valor boots" are epic bind-on-equip (BOE) epic item level 359 boots available from the Valor Quartermaster for 1650 Valor Points. Since these boots are not bind-on-pickup (BOP) they can be purchased and then traded/sold.

Building Your Shopping List
Once you have Auctionator installed head to the auction house and open the auction window. On the bottom of the auction window you will find a tab labled "Buy".

Auctionator "Buy" tab and "New Shopping List" button.

On the "Buy" tab select "New Shopping List" (on the lower left). Name the list (something along the lines of "Valor Boots" works well). You should now have a new blank shopping list.

I've made a list the names of all the various Valor boots available below. Copy and paste the a name from the list into the Auctionator search dialog box and press "Search".

Valor Boots:

• Boots of the Perilous Seas
• Eternal Pathfinders
• Fading Violet Sandals
• Melodious Slippers
• Moccasins of Verdurous Glooms
• Rock Furrow Boots
• Treads of Fleeting Joy
• Woe Breeder's Boots

Auctionator "Search" and "Add Item" buttons.

Once the search finishes press the "Add Item" button on the lower left to add the item to your new shopping list. (Even if there are no current items available you will still be able to add the item.) Repeat the steps above until all Valor boots are in your shopping list.

Once you have your list set up you can check the Valor boot prices of your server's auction house by simply selecting the "Valor Boots" shopping list in the Auctionator "Buy" tab and selecting the "Search for All Items" button in the lower left.

Auctionator "Search for All Items" button.

Waiting for the Prey
The reason most players choose to bark in trade chat to sell their boots is that they have the best chance to sell them. The buyer gets to choose which pair of boots they would like to buy. Once they know the selection the seller purchases the boots with their own Valor Points and sells the boots to the buyer for the agreed upon price.

The reason I bring this up now is that Patch 4.1 will introduce Heroic Zul'Aman as well as Heroic Zul'Garub. These will offer higher Valor Point rewards than current heroics.

Also Blizzard is switching the way bonus Valor Points are gained. They are changing from gaining bonus Valor Points on your first heroic dungeon of the day to the first 7 heroic dungeons of the week. What this means is that players who only log on a few days a week can now get a full weeks worth of Valor Points (as opposed to only the few days worth they were receiving before Patch 4.1).

In addition Valor Points will be purchasable with Conquest Points (obtainable in player versus player (PVP)). This means that there will be many more Valor Points coming into the game once Patch 4.1 hits.

The number of players selling valor boots will increase. This will increase the supply of valor boots available and most likely lower the overall profitability. Now is the time to make a profit flipping Valor boots.

Pouncing
Watch trade chat when you are on a major city for players selling Valor boots. When you see someone selling them for less than you've observed in the auction house whisper them with an initial low-ball offer.

I tend to offer about 60% of their barked price. If they advertise for 5000 gold for the boots I'll start with an offer of 3000 gold. Their initial reaction will be to balk at it. That's to be expected. We are haggling here. They may come back with a counter offer to which you will make a counter offer slightly higher than your initial low-ball.

If all goes well you will be able to come to an agreement on a price you both can live with. I can often shave 1000-1500 gold off their initial price by good bargaining. If you can't come to an argeement wish them luck and let them know your offer is still on the table.

Decisions. Decisions.
Once you have an agreement to purchase a pair of Valor boots re-check your "Valor Boots" shopping list one last time before heading to the Valor Quartermaster to purchase your boots.

The Valor Quartermaster in the major cities sell the "Valor boots".

Which pair of boots you decide to purchase is determined by many factors. (It's more of an art than a science.)

Listed below are a few considerations when choosing which boots to buy for resale.

• Which boots are already for sale on your server? You may avoid those to limit competition. (Of course the current ones selling may be doing so because they are popular and move quickly.)
• Which boots aren't for sale on your server? Filling a gap may make a quicker sale. (This gap may also exist due to that boot being very unpopular.)
• Which armor types are used for multiple classes and spec? For example plate strength boots (3 classes and 5 specs) may sell better that leather intellect boots (1 class and 1 spec).
• Which boots could you use as an upgrade for one of your characters if they don't end up selling?
• Which boots are selling for the greatest profit at the moment? (Be aware that just because they are listed for a high price doesn't mean people will pay that price.)

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