Diablo III auction house tips
Make a killing whilst killing
Whatcha sellin'?
Diablo IIIs real-money auction house has only been live for two weeks now, but already people are making a killing selling fake products for real cash. While weve only been able to make a small sum ourselves (thanks to whoever bought our Legendary belt for $2!), weve wrangled together a few gamers who have made hundreds of dollars each, and asked them for their secrets. They reluctantly agreed, and weve assembled their tips into a guide that should, hopefully, have everyone rolling in dough or at least making a few bucks.
Farm Inferno for level 60+ gear
Obviously, youre going to find the best stuff in the highest-level areas, but just about any spot in Inferno has the potential to drop awesome loot. Work your way around the opening areas of Act I, or try tackling Act II, III, or IV with friends.
Buy stuff for gold and sell it for cash
Youll notice that some of these tips will get you tons of gold, but not too much cash. Theres a reason for this: items bought or sold for gold can also be bought and sold for actual money on the RMT auction house. Some have said that the conversion is nearly 5 million gold to 40 dollars, though weve heard others say its much, much lower. Either way, getting a ton of gold is an easy way to get a ton of cash.
Break down and sell ingredients gained from level 60+ stuff that isnt worth keeping
While you farm Inferno for awesome gear youre undoubtedly going to find plenty of non-awesome gear. In fact, expect a 50:1 ratio of badness to goodness if you want to maintain your sanity. That said, even a bad drop can be turned into a good thing. Anything higher than level 60 can be broken down into crafting materials, which can be sold on the commodity market. This works like a stock market, with prices fluctuating every day (usually peaking during the week and dropping on the weekend). That said, dont undersell yourself. Pricing your materials at slightly over the current rate will likely still get them to sell.
Know which stats sell and focus on those
Right now, high-level gear with Vitality and Resist All sell for the highest prices, since theyre essentially necessary for competing in Inferno mode. Magic and Gold Find, too, can be sold for high prices, as theyll help players find gear that they can sell. Remember these stats, and be sure to save anything that has them. That said; also keep an eye on patch notes for buffs or nerfs, since you can react accordingly. When they nerfed Increased Attack Speed, for instance, Crit items raised in price, and some saw this coming and made a killing sniping these items early.
Don't discredit regular ol' blues
Its easy to overlook magical items (or blues) when you find them, as they usually only have two or three statistics, but its possible for these to still be worthwhile. Sure, a Rare item can have a bunch of stats, but a perfect magical item can have the right stats, and thats all that matters. They usually sell for less, but theyll still sell on the Auction House as long as they have the stats players want.
Check NPC vendors whenever you can
Those magical items that have the potential to be crazy good? Theyre not just lootable, but buyable, too. Vendors sell randomized magic items, and theyll occasionally roll perfect stats, making it easy to buy and resell for a profit. Weve heard of people finding gear for a few thousand gold that they were able to turn around for ten times that much, so check the vendors whenever youre in town seriously, why not?
Make use of Trade chat
Though it might seem archaic to spam chat for buying and selling items when theres an Auction House to use, its still worth paying attention to. The AH takes 15% off of your product, and some people are willing to buy and sell items directly via chat in favor of losing a small percentage. Using this, youre sometimes able to get good deals that you can, in turn, flip on the AH. People will also buy and sell unidentified level 63 gear here for millions of gold, giving you an easy way to build up a few million bucks if youre not interested in taking risks.
Dont be afraid to take a gamble
If youre willing to play it fast and loose, simply search the Auction House for good buys and hope you get an opportunity to completely corner the market. If you notice there are only three or four 1200 damage bows and you can buy them all, do it, and then raise the price by a few million and sell them back. Bam, you now have the monopoly on the high-damage bows.
Search the Legendaries
If you know which stats are the best, look at the lowest-priced legendary items and see if anyone has dumped theirs on the bottom half without doing their research you might get lucky. You might find a perfect item mixed in with the imperfects, allowing you to resell this diamond in the rough for a huge profit.
Who wants to be a millionaire?
And if you want more Diablo III tips and tricks check out Diablo III tips and tricks and our Diablo III bosses guide.
Hollander Cooper was the Lead Features Editor of 12DOVE between 2011 and 2014. After that lengthy stint managing GR's editorial calendar he moved behind the curtain and into the video game industry itself, working as social media manager for EA and as a communications lead at Riot Games. Hollander is currently stationed at Apple as an organic social lead for the App Store and Apple Arcade.