87-88 MoP Item Sales Analysis & Adjustment

Once I've been working a new market for a while I like to stop and take stock of what's selling and what's not so I can adjust accordingly.

I did this for the "85-89" Mists of Pandaria market that I started preparing for before 5.3 and have since been selling in since Patch 5.3 dropped.

In analyzing this market I came to some conclusions and interesting discoveries that allowed me to adjust my tactics. Head past the jump for more.

Measure Twice

The reason I wanted to get into the "85-89" (now 87-88) market was due to the 30% reduction in experience required to get from level 85-90 that was introduced in Patch 5.3.

My plan was to work the market in a very similar way to my current 83-84 MoP item markets. (See The Big List Of 77-79 & 83-84 Item Flipping Information and My New 85-89 MoP Item Market - Initial Results And Design.)

The first interesting fact I found when researching selling items from level 85-89 was that there was no such thing as a level 89 Bind on Equip item. They don't exist.

I know it sounds strange but BOE items go from 88 straight to 90. This means that I was able to eliminate level 89 items from my searches. Now we were down to level 85-88 items.

Sales Analysis

After selling level 85-88 items for a few weeks I decided to do some analysis to see which of these items were actually selling.

This would (hopefully) allow me to narrow down the items I was selling by eliminating item categories that didn't sell.

The method I used was very similar to how I analyzed my 83-84 item sales. (See Level 83-84 MoP Armor Sales Data And Analysis.)

Results

	Item Prefixes	Type	Number Sold Horde	Number Sold Alliance	Total Sold
	Level 85
	Growing	Cloth	-	6	6
	Mushan Hide	Leather	1	2	3
	Snake	Mail	1	1	2
	Miner	Plate	1	1	2
	Shamanic	Jewel/Cloak/Off	-	-	0
	Barbarian	Weapon	-	1	1
		Total	3	11	14
	Level 86
	Brewer's	Cloth	-	1	1
	Swamp	Leather	1	1	2
	Willow	Mail	-	1	1
	Snowy	Plate	-	1	1
	Grummle	Jewel/Cloak/Off	-	-	0
	Rigid	Weapon	1	1	2
		Total	2	5	7
	Level 87
	Trellised	Cloth	3	2	5
	Thresher	Leather	3	8	11
	Mountain	Mail	5	-	5
	Highpeak	Plate	4	3	7
	Bejeweled	Jewel/Cloak/Off	4	2	6
	Inlaid	Weapon	5	4	9
		Total	24	19	43
	Level 88
	Waterfall	Cloth	3	3	6
	Vine	Leather	5	2	7
	Yak	Mail	5	5	10
	Temple	Plate	3	-	3
	Immaculate	Jewel/Cloak/Off	12	8	20
	Engraved	Weapon	7	4	11
		Total	35	22	57

Adjustments

As you can see from the sales numbers above the level 85 and 86 item sales just don't stack up to the level 87 and 88 sales.

I sold a total of (14) level 85 item and (7) level 86 items. In contrast I sold (43) level 87 items and (57) level 88 items.

With those disparities in mind I decided to stop buying and selling level 85 and level 86 items. I know only buy and sell level 87 and 88 items.

Level 85

So why did I sell so few level 85 items? I think a few factors may have contributed to the low sales.

Many players may simply use their previous level 85 items to start leveling especially if they raided in Cataclysm.

The beginning quest rewards and even the vendor-sold level 85 items may be lower then their raiding gear.

Another reason why level 85 sales may be slow is that there are level 85 crafted Mists of Pandaria armor that is available for purchase often at low prices.

The last reason may be that there are "Adventuring Supplier" NPC vendors that sell level 85 items in many if the starting areas.

Level 86

As for why level 86 items aren't selling I'd imagine that many of the same reasons that the level 85 items aren't selling.

Along with that there is the chance that players don't really see that much of a difference in level 85 and level 86 items.

Another possibility is that the quest rewards when leveling through Mists of Pandaria satisfy player's level 86 item needs.

Level 87 and 88

I was happy to see these item sales numbers. It reinforces my belief that getting into the level 87-88 markets was a good idea.

Since moving exclusively to 87-88 I've been able to lower my inventory by not having to stock level 85 and 86 items that weren't selling.

It also saves me time and money not having to purchase and store extra items and therefore gives me more room to stock up on level 87-88 back stock.

Sales So Far?

So how have my level 87-88 item sales been going since this analysis? Pretty good. I've been able to supplement my 83-84 item sales really well.

I'm selling the 87-88 items for right around the same prices as my level 83-84 items. Buying for 45g for armor, 75 g for weapons. Selling for 245 for non-plate armor, 395 for plate and 1H weapons and 495 for 2H weapons and Hunter weapons.

As mentioned above I think many players are leveling their 85+ alts now that the experience that is required to level from 85-90 has been lowered by 30%. I know I'm leveling mine.

If you're interested in getting into a new market definitely give level 87-88 items a look. You may be surprised how well they sell.

Additional Reading:

• The Big List Of 77-79 & 83-84 Item Flipping Information
• My New 85-89 MoP Item Market - Initial Results And Design
• Buying 83-84 MoP Items With Auctioneer Saved Searches
• 77-80 Cata & 83-84 MoP Item Flipping Pricing Lists

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