Paper or Plastic? Bag Sales Are Up

During Wrath, I eschewed making any Netherweave Bags. They were selling for about 7g and the materials were around 5g. For the time it takes to make them I didn't think the return was sufficient. About a month into Cataclysm prices were up to 15g to as high as 20g and the materials held pretty close to Wrath levels. This made Netherweave Bags worth my time.

I sold over 300 Netherweave Bags in January at an average price of 16g. This translated into an average profit of 10g per bag. 3,000g profit in this one niche was pretty nice. There were about 5 major sellers in this space and I suspect we all did fairly well.

Netherweave Bags are back to being crap again because some jackoff decided he wants to own this market for 11g per bag. He lists 75 Netherweave bags at a time. Materials have climbed up to 7g-9g. These margins were not sustainable for me in Wrath and they aren't now either. Lol, he's probably writing a blog somewhere about how he has monopolized this market!

It wasn't really worth my time or energy to fight for this market space. If the seller has sufficient materials stockpiled to keep it up, good for him. He can make his 11g a bag all day long.

However, I needed a new market, and I think I've found it. Two markets, actually.

I see this seller active in Hypnotic Dust and Greater Celestial Essences too. He has done the same thing to these markets, severely undercutting everyone and living on what appears to be very thin margins. He has a few sales for Plate Armor too with the same strategy.

This is a great example of why diversification makes sense. One must not only be diversified among markets but also within professions.

Embersilk Bags

A few weeks ago, Embersilk Cloth was selling for 6g-8g per unit, or 120g to 160g per stack. Embersilk Bags were selling for between 420g to 440g. Since it takes 15 bolts of cloth to make one bag, 75 pieces of cloth at 7g each is over 500g--more than the sales price of the bag. Add in the cost of 15 Hypnotic Dusts at an average of 8g and that's another 120g.

Buying materials for 600g to make an item worth 440g is not a tenable business plan.

The only people selling Embersilk Bags during these conditions were the ones who were farming a large quantity of the cloth. I searched the sellers and they pretty much all had Tailoring professions. 

However, now lots of people are leveling in Cataclysm zones. Embersilk is now listed at or below 3g each very regularly in the AH. That brings the cloth costs down to 225g per bag. And remember that guy who is destroying the Hypnotic Dust market? Yeah, the one making all the Netheweave Bags. He is selling Hypnotic Dust at or below 5g each all day long. That makes the Hypnotic Dust investment another 75g per bag.

My investment for cloth and dust is roughly 300g per bag. They are still selling for 400g to 425g in the AH. I'm selling an average of 2 bags per day during the week, and as many as 10 per day on weekends.

I will take the 100g profit per bag all day long. Also, because I have a Jewelcrafter who does the Obsidium Shuffle every day, I accumulate tons of Hypnotic Dust so I don't have to purchase it from the AH.

Mooncloth Bags

My secret weapon is Mooncloth Bags.

At the end of Wrath I bought all the Mooncloth I could, usually for 4-6g per unit. I came into Cataclysm with 7 stacks of Mooncloth. Even now, I find and buy Mooncloth for 14g-18g each.

To make a Mooncloth Bag I need one Mooncloth, 4 Bolts of Runecloth and one Runethread. One stack of Runecloth will make 5 bolts, and a stack of cloth sells for about 3g. Therefore, material costs are roughly 10g per bag.

But here's the secret: I bark them in /trade. I say something like "why throw your hard-earned gold away on bags? When your leveling alts outgrow their bags, you can't resell Netherweave Bags in the AH--buy Mooncloth Bags from me. Guaranteed not to rip, fail or BOE. That's right--they don't BOE."

I list my Mooncloth Bags for 50g and will sell 4, 8, or 12 within minutes after barking. That's a nice markup of 40g or so per bag.

Sometimes other people list their Mooncloth Bags for 20g, 25g, etc. I just wait until they those auctions disappear, list my bags and bark a few times.

Bags = Gold

My first reaction to the wall of Netherweave Bags at 11g was to get pissed. I looked up the seller to see where I could attack him to punish his market tomfoolery. After I cooled down a bit I realized I could make a ton more gold by just shifting my emphasis slightly.

Everyone needs bags. Embersilk are the best 22 slot options right now, and I think Mooncloth Bags make more sense and earn me more gold than Netherweave.

Hope this helps you as well.