Some of this is common knowledge, other of it isn't. This thread will be summed up within 2 posts. First post is in regards to accounts, the second post is in regards to items. This is a WiP however; there should be information you are unaware of here. In advance; thanks for reading, and I hope you learn something.
Disclaimer: My previous knowledge in regards to buying and selling items/accounts. I should be a vouched user in the Vouch List. Regardless; my experience on this website is that I am an ex-moderator, I have vouched for many people listed in the linked thread such as @Neslya . I'm not as experienced as say the Knucklehead admin however; I am just trying to help people out when trying to buy and sell things.
First; regardless of level, character and any grandfathered gear or titles. If a character or an account has any grandfathered TCG items, this will increase the account's base value by a bit (depending on how badly the buyer or seller wants to either buy or sell the account). In most cases, TCG loot does not retain its base value once redeemed regardless of how old and rare it is. However; it will add a value, depending on how badly either the buyer or seller wants to get rid of the account. If the buyer really wants say, a Spectral Tiger mount, and the account has it. The buyer might spend more money to purchase the account if they don't have to spend face value for a Spectral Tiger mount. On the flip side, if the seller, doesn't care about value of TCG items or mounts, they may try to sell the account for cheaper than what people would suspect, which draws attention to the thread/seller which can (and usually does) increase offers on the account if the seller wants to sell said account for character or account value.
Moving on; grandfathered or items, titles, vanity items, feats of strengths can increase and decrease the value on an account. As I recall there is a certain EU(?) 19 who has a realm first Fishing FoS. That is extremely rare and does increase the account's value, however since activity (US/EU in bgs) has died while Arena activity has sky rocketed. The cost for that account can go up, or even that character if one chooses to sell characters from one account to another. Which I will describe in the paragraph below. Alts and other end-game characters can also increase the value of an account (even if it is in a miniscule amount, this is also dependent on how badly the seller wants to get rid of the account, as well as how badly a person wants to buy said account).
When selling individual characters, the buyer must purchase an account (usually to the current expansion) as well as have the last name of the primary account. This is so Blizzard can see that a character is going to another "Family" member, which may be immediate family (and which is what is generally assumed by Blizzard). It might take a couple of hours for one character from account A to go to account B, so please be patient and always keep the buyer/seller in the skype call, or whatever means you are using to keep contact with them. PRO TIP: Try to have multiple ways to contact the buyer/seller, in case either DC's from a skype call, or randomly goes silent during chat. In extreme cases, please follow and read/keep in mind Shane's Thread on Paypal Disputes. as well as Mocha's "Code of Conduct" on Scamming. As Mocha has said. Warning: Trade at your own risk - You are responsible for all transactions. As always, make sure you use the Vouch List to see the current updated list of trusted buyers/sellers on this website.
Make sure you properly label what you are selling, You can not sell a car in the newspaper with an add that reads "car, four wheels, goes places" The same applies to selling your wow account. "WTS 70 Mage 2000 gold" is not a good enough title. The title must include class, faction, server, HP, MP, crit %, spell bonuses, etc, and of course.. PRICE! The body of what your selling must be descriptive and should mention character progression such as what areas you can raid in, what gear you have, etc. - It is important to remember that a picture is worth a thousand words. You can describe a sports car to someone that has never seen one.. they won't go "Ooh!" until they see a picture. The easiest way to take a picture of your warcraft, wow account is to get a character profile. I do not recommend using an armory profile. Do not make overstatements about your account, you buyers will lose trust the same way that you trust someone that knocks on your door and says they have the best vacuum cleaner in the entire world.
Prep your account for sale! Remove authenticators, deguild your characters, remove all battletag/real id friends and even stop recurring billing of your credit card. You might even want to tell a few friends so that they don't freak out and email the game company that some stranger is playing your account and you were obviously hacked. Show the price/value in your title or body! This is important for forum selling! Some sellers get discouraged if they have to ask and simply will not ask or make an offer! Consider you last trip to the store, if you want something and the price isn't there, you might skip the item. Convenience, is key!
CD Keys, Secret Questions and Answers are very, very important. After Blizzard's last problem with hackers obtaining information, people had the option to change secret questions/answers. If your buyer cannot provide a CD key, make sure, you can obtain the SQnA. This is an added layer of protection against a possible scam. If you have ALL CD Keys as well as Question and Answers, this can (and generally does) increase account value by at least 50 to 100 dollars. Again; all dependent on how badly the seller or buyer wants the account either bought or gone.
Inactive Account? Twinks? Bank Alts? Several end-game toons? Perhaps gold cap? You always should provide evidence of the value of your account via screen shots. Always blank out character, guild, and realm names (as you can be reported and banned by Blizzard for account selling). You can always sell alts as it only takes a new blank account (in your last name), and $25, but buyers will happily pay for it. Why? - Because it's secure.
Misc Tips in regards to Accounts:
1) If selling something virtual that can be divided up, such as coin, do small transactions until you trust your buyer. If you trust the buyer, you should be able to transfer an entire guild over to a level 1 - xxx alt and not get into trouble. As you are simply passing leadership over to another character.
2) Click off active buffs before taking screenshots, you don't want your customers accusing you of misrepresentation. The last thing you want to do is mislead or cause problems with your potential buyers, am I right?
3) NEVER visit an account reselling website or forum while Warcraft is running. Warden will see the URLs, page titles, etc. Surfing behavior reported by Warden will influence ban decisions. This should be basic and common knowledge.
4) Don't abbreviate ANYTHING. Transmog sets, vanity items, feats of strength. Whatever the bloody hell you have on your account. DO NOT ABBREVIATE IT Unless its common knowledge (i.e: T3). This can cause potential miscommunications and mislead a potental buyer which could ruin a sale.
5) If you have sold an account and have other accounts, be aware of the following hazard. If you sold it to a botter or a farmer, the original registration and payment details point to YOU and that can be linked to your other accounts. If the new user is a ban risk, you might want to reconsider. Use unique registration info for all of your new accounts. If a company sees you have more than one, that raises suspicion anyway. It is never to your advantage. However, if you have a tricky reclamation to do, they could ask for a photo ID... and that is why it's good to register as friends or family members. Fictitious identities are bad.
6) Do not make changes to account information. If you try to duck your buyers by trying to be anonymous, then they will not trust you. Also, remember that they are probably going to change the information after they get the account. This is bad. Game companies are beginning to flag and review accounts that have information changed. If it gets changed TWICE in one month, your ass is going to get banned and you will have an angry customer. Account information may be reviewed for accuracy by the game company. Seymore Butts at 555-123-4567 is a bad idea.
Disclaimer: My previous knowledge in regards to buying and selling items/accounts. I should be a vouched user in the Vouch List. Regardless; my experience on this website is that I am an ex-moderator, I have vouched for many people listed in the linked thread such as @Neslya . I'm not as experienced as say the Knucklehead admin however; I am just trying to help people out when trying to buy and sell things.
ACCOUNTS / CHARACTERS
First; regardless of level, character and any grandfathered gear or titles. If a character or an account has any grandfathered TCG items, this will increase the account's base value by a bit (depending on how badly the buyer or seller wants to either buy or sell the account). In most cases, TCG loot does not retain its base value once redeemed regardless of how old and rare it is. However; it will add a value, depending on how badly either the buyer or seller wants to get rid of the account. If the buyer really wants say, a Spectral Tiger mount, and the account has it. The buyer might spend more money to purchase the account if they don't have to spend face value for a Spectral Tiger mount. On the flip side, if the seller, doesn't care about value of TCG items or mounts, they may try to sell the account for cheaper than what people would suspect, which draws attention to the thread/seller which can (and usually does) increase offers on the account if the seller wants to sell said account for character or account value.
Moving on; grandfathered or items, titles, vanity items, feats of strengths can increase and decrease the value on an account. As I recall there is a certain EU(?) 19 who has a realm first Fishing FoS. That is extremely rare and does increase the account's value, however since activity (US/EU in bgs) has died while Arena activity has sky rocketed. The cost for that account can go up, or even that character if one chooses to sell characters from one account to another. Which I will describe in the paragraph below. Alts and other end-game characters can also increase the value of an account (even if it is in a miniscule amount, this is also dependent on how badly the seller wants to get rid of the account, as well as how badly a person wants to buy said account).
When selling individual characters, the buyer must purchase an account (usually to the current expansion) as well as have the last name of the primary account. This is so Blizzard can see that a character is going to another "Family" member, which may be immediate family (and which is what is generally assumed by Blizzard). It might take a couple of hours for one character from account A to go to account B, so please be patient and always keep the buyer/seller in the skype call, or whatever means you are using to keep contact with them. PRO TIP: Try to have multiple ways to contact the buyer/seller, in case either DC's from a skype call, or randomly goes silent during chat. In extreme cases, please follow and read/keep in mind Shane's Thread on Paypal Disputes. as well as Mocha's "Code of Conduct" on Scamming. As Mocha has said. Warning: Trade at your own risk - You are responsible for all transactions. As always, make sure you use the Vouch List to see the current updated list of trusted buyers/sellers on this website.
Make sure you properly label what you are selling, You can not sell a car in the newspaper with an add that reads "car, four wheels, goes places" The same applies to selling your wow account. "WTS 70 Mage 2000 gold" is not a good enough title. The title must include class, faction, server, HP, MP, crit %, spell bonuses, etc, and of course.. PRICE! The body of what your selling must be descriptive and should mention character progression such as what areas you can raid in, what gear you have, etc. - It is important to remember that a picture is worth a thousand words. You can describe a sports car to someone that has never seen one.. they won't go "Ooh!" until they see a picture. The easiest way to take a picture of your warcraft, wow account is to get a character profile. I do not recommend using an armory profile. Do not make overstatements about your account, you buyers will lose trust the same way that you trust someone that knocks on your door and says they have the best vacuum cleaner in the entire world.
Prep your account for sale! Remove authenticators, deguild your characters, remove all battletag/real id friends and even stop recurring billing of your credit card. You might even want to tell a few friends so that they don't freak out and email the game company that some stranger is playing your account and you were obviously hacked. Show the price/value in your title or body! This is important for forum selling! Some sellers get discouraged if they have to ask and simply will not ask or make an offer! Consider you last trip to the store, if you want something and the price isn't there, you might skip the item. Convenience, is key!
CD Keys, Secret Questions and Answers are very, very important. After Blizzard's last problem with hackers obtaining information, people had the option to change secret questions/answers. If your buyer cannot provide a CD key, make sure, you can obtain the SQnA. This is an added layer of protection against a possible scam. If you have ALL CD Keys as well as Question and Answers, this can (and generally does) increase account value by at least 50 to 100 dollars. Again; all dependent on how badly the seller or buyer wants the account either bought or gone.
Inactive Account? Twinks? Bank Alts? Several end-game toons? Perhaps gold cap? You always should provide evidence of the value of your account via screen shots. Always blank out character, guild, and realm names (as you can be reported and banned by Blizzard for account selling). You can always sell alts as it only takes a new blank account (in your last name), and $25, but buyers will happily pay for it. Why? - Because it's secure.
Misc Tips in regards to Accounts:
1) If selling something virtual that can be divided up, such as coin, do small transactions until you trust your buyer. If you trust the buyer, you should be able to transfer an entire guild over to a level 1 - xxx alt and not get into trouble. As you are simply passing leadership over to another character.
2) Click off active buffs before taking screenshots, you don't want your customers accusing you of misrepresentation. The last thing you want to do is mislead or cause problems with your potential buyers, am I right?
3) NEVER visit an account reselling website or forum while Warcraft is running. Warden will see the URLs, page titles, etc. Surfing behavior reported by Warden will influence ban decisions. This should be basic and common knowledge.
4) Don't abbreviate ANYTHING. Transmog sets, vanity items, feats of strength. Whatever the bloody hell you have on your account. DO NOT ABBREVIATE IT Unless its common knowledge (i.e: T3). This can cause potential miscommunications and mislead a potental buyer which could ruin a sale.
5) If you have sold an account and have other accounts, be aware of the following hazard. If you sold it to a botter or a farmer, the original registration and payment details point to YOU and that can be linked to your other accounts. If the new user is a ban risk, you might want to reconsider. Use unique registration info for all of your new accounts. If a company sees you have more than one, that raises suspicion anyway. It is never to your advantage. However, if you have a tricky reclamation to do, they could ask for a photo ID... and that is why it's good to register as friends or family members. Fictitious identities are bad.
6) Do not make changes to account information. If you try to duck your buyers by trying to be anonymous, then they will not trust you. Also, remember that they are probably going to change the information after they get the account. This is bad. Game companies are beginning to flag and review accounts that have information changed. If it gets changed TWICE in one month, your ass is going to get banned and you will have an angry customer. Account information may be reviewed for accuracy by the game company. Seymore Butts at 555-123-4567 is a bad idea.
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