Auctioneering 101 - Finding A Farmer

So I've been sitting here most of the day trying to think of something I could possibly write about and while there are quite a few things I could write about I'm not really sure where to begin. So I guess I'll start with one probably the most common question I've heard around the auctioneering community: How do I find a farmer?

The answer is quite simple. Stay in trade and always keep an eye out for people selling bulk goods. You can also look through the auction house and send in game mail to the players who you notice are posting the appropriate quantity.

Also there seems to be (at least on my server) a pattern to how the farmers advertise their goods. Oddly enough farmers on my server NEVER deviate from this pattern and I can spot a farmer just by how their advertise. For my server they will always /2 WTS [Saronite Ore] [Titanium Ore].

Thats it. Only WTS [item] [item]. Can be herbs or ore and has yet to fail me. 99% of the english speaking community will generally tag something along with their links like pst, a price on the goods, or a quantity. From my experience I've yet to see a (non english speaking) farmer do this.

How do you maintain a relationship with your farmer? It's actually easier then you think. They care about one thing and that is money. They want to sell their goods as quickly as they possibly can and will generally sell things at 50-75% of AH value. Even cheaper if your buying everything they have. ;)

That brings me to my next piece of advice. Buy EVERYTHING they have regardless if you can use it or not. They remember this and if you continuously start buying everything from every farmer your name will get known eventually in the farming community. When I buy ore I buy all their titanium ore and bars, titansteel bars, every eternal, everything. Often times I end up spending 7-10k on a single purchase.

Now you might not be able to afford a 10k purchase and that's fine. Buy what you can but not to the point where you went broke. If you only have 10k spend 5-8k on goods and leave some play money on the side. Even flipping the eternals you picked up off your farmer is good income.

Also don't forget to barter with them a little. A few things I don't barter with and thats my ore and herb prices. Lotus, eternals, gems, bars, etc all get bartered. Why? because your buying these to flip generally and typically the profit margin is lower then your normal saronite shuffle or whatever you may be doing to make money.

Also I would like to note buying in game goods for in game curency is NOT against the rules and you WON'T get banned for it. I have purchased hundreds of thousands of gold in raw gathering materials. I have no idea what they are doing with the gold they receive. It's none of my business and blizzard will not take action against you. If it was against the rules I'm pretty sure 99% of the JMTC community would be permanently banned. ;)