Pet Prices Sky High!

[Cyberninja]

Can anyone tell me the reason why the pet prices on the AH skyrocketed in the past 6 months? I've been buying and selling pets for the last year so I have a solid idea of what they have sold for in the last year. For some reason nearly any pet on the AH is 5-10x what they were just a year ago. For example, I can remember buying the Purple Puffer for 5k...now you can barely touch it for less than 30-50k. I know, I know "but that's a rare trading card pet" you say. I realize that...but it's pretty much any pet on the AH. Spineclaw crab=30-60k...I bought them last year for 8-12k. Bronze Whelpling...I remember buying those for 2.5k and now you can rarely get them for less than 5-20k. Seems like everything is just super overpriced now...

[Yazhi]

Personally, I have seen a huge increase on the prices of all TCG pets including puffer that you mentioned. My thinking is as the game is no longer produced there is only a finite amount of codes left (other than the very rare occurrence of seeing them on a bmah). This has seen prices rise up.

Another big thing which I am personally grateful for, is I haven't seen a dupe wave in a little while, there was a good time when you could get a spectral tiger cub for a few thousand gold, ethereal trader the same, many people took advantage of that.

I'm sure there are traders with a lot more knowledge on the subject then myself, but I just see it as supply and demand, and if you can't get any more of them prices will naturally rise.

Only other thing I can think of is: Just because they are on the AH for that price, doesn't necessarily mean they are selling at that price

[Peanutty]

Short answer: supply and demand.

The so-called "cheaper" TCG pets are in demand now because they don't seem to be hit by the same duping issue/concern that the high end ones were, which makes them now rarer in comparison. They also don't appear to be available via BMAH either, unlike the kites, soul trader, etc.

Bronze Whelps, they were cheap at one point because a lot of people were doing the pre-xpac event and that's now over. Spineclaw Crabs are high because they're a pain to farm and with even fewer people farming TI that reduces the amount of crabs spawned, killed, and dropping pets.

Only other thing I can think of is: Just because they are on the AH for that price, doesn't necessarily mean they are selling at that price

And this, too. Someone can ask 999k for a Purple Puffer but I'm pretty sure it's not going to sell.

[Topaz]

There is also the problem of inflation, since money is much easier to get by since it was a year ago it has a lesser value. The funny thing is that at the end of MoP it was the exact opposite (at least on my realm), since there was nobody playing prices got really low (whelping below 5k with black going below 1k,ToT pets going below 1.5k as well as the pandas and elemental spirits from the dailies).

[Poofah]

And this, too. Someone can ask 999k for a Purple Puffer but I'm pretty sure it's not going to sell.

Another issue is that the market has shrunk considerably. In MoP I competed with 10+ pet sellers on KJ, now I've stopped and there's only 1 consistent seller with high-end pets the last time I checked (Katiekaboom). If only 1 person is ever listing a Purple Puffer, they can list it for a crazy price and just wait for a buyer to come along. This definitely has to do with supply/demand to some extent, but frankly I have 3-4 Purple Puffers on my KJ bank alt and I just am not motivated to list them over and over. Pets were hot in MoP and now they're not, hence I think the petmongers have largely stopped participating in the market.

[Paladance]

Is really [pet]Seaborne Spore[/pet] such a rare?

In comparison non-ticket Darkmoon pets (Europe):
Syd the Squid ~2,5-10k
Darkmoon Eye ~4-15k
Moon Moon (5.5%) ~5-20k
Darkmoon Rabbit ~30-100k

Two first can't be farmed at all, other have a certain spawn rate (Moonfang is triggered, that happens rarely than before).
And that all one week a month.

[Peanutty]

Is really [pet]Seaborne Spore[/pet] such a rare?

Seaborne Spore is just another pet where RNG can kind of screw you, due to its lower drop rate (in comparison to the other 3 pets). I had a terrible time trying to get it to drop (got over 20 Periwinkle Calves though), so I ended up trading for it or buying it.

[Yazhi]

Is really [pet]Seaborne Spore[/pet] such a rare?

Seaborne Spore is just another pet where RNG can kind of screw you, due to its lower drop rate (in comparison to the other 3 pets). I had a terrible time trying to get it to drop (got over 20 Periwinkle Calves though), so I ended up trading for it or buying it.

I did those dailies...not too long admittedly. However I didn't receive a single pet from them so swiftly gave up and traded my way to victory.

I don't think I know of many that have looted the spore personally either so think it's a bit less common then some others.

[Ismenot]

Is really [pet]Seaborne Spore[/pet] such a rare?

I think maybe I was lucky because I had found a seaborne spore very fast in the pet bag
And after that I looted 2 more , of which I sold 1 very cheap less then 2 k, did not it was so rare drop

But the 3 one I sold for 12 k

[Revmrblacktn]

As a new pet collector (less 1 year), it is discouraging to find the pets at the AH for such a high price. i understand it is a money making process, but some are just not attainable. I have just had to resign myself (my obsessive nature, that is) that I will not be able to collect certain pets. All in all, I have really enjoyed collecting pets! Love this website by the way. So helpful!

[Kel]

Here's the bottom line, it's the impact of garrisons on the entire marketplace. Crafted items are now worth nothing, everything else is worth way more because it's way simple to generate a lot of gold from garrisons. So prices have gone up because gold literally isn't worth as much as it use to be. Welcome to the new world!

[Tffnynelson]

I would also note the introduction of WOW tokens could have driven prices somewhat. Some of the TCG pets sell for $50-$100 real cash but in game were going for 10-30k in game gold. But if you bought a token for $20 you got 25-33k in gold so I think that drove prices.

[Cyberninja]

Thanks to everyone for replying...I knew there had to be some logical reason prices went through the roof. I started pet battling/collecting about a year and a half ago. I have about 2.5 million gold. 95% of which I made buying and selling pets on the AH. I basically don't do it anymore because the profit margin is about 1% where at one point it was easy to make 5-10x what you bought a pet for. They are so overpriced now that its just not worth the time and effort. And before anyone says I'm greedy (lol) I've probably given away close to 500,000 gold to people that need it I even had a contest during Winterveil (some of you may be familiar with SantaNinja if you are on Dragonblight) where I gave away a bunch of gold. Around that same time I met a guy that had been desperately trying to get the Viscous Horror to drop for THREE years and didn't have the gold to buy one (dang things are 50-100K now! used to be able to get them for less than 50K 3 months ago). Anyway, I found him one as reasonable as I could (60K) and bought it for him. He traded me his Darkmoon Rabbit worth 25K...so he got his Viscous Horror at a substantial discount

[Waterlilly]

I also noticed that some of the pets on the Black Market AH always go way higher than I can afford, even the gray pets.

I hoarded dupe pets I got to list them on the AH, make a little extra gold to buy the pets I need but with people being bored until Legion drops, they are running Raids etc and farming the pets, throwing them on the AH so there are so many listed. Used to be one or two Corefire Imps for around 1k each, now there are so many they are down as low as 200 gold.

I have 2 GB tabs full of pets on my banker alt and am stuck with them cause it would cost more to sell them on the AH than I could make in gold. That's why I try to give them away, so someone can use them without paying higher prices on the AH. I am debating leveling them up and rare stoning some to sell, but not sure yet if I wanna waste time and stones on something I plan to sell.

[Chibimage]

Seaborne Spore really is that rare - 1.9% global have it.

http://www.worldofwargraphs.com/statsgl ... s-0-0.html

You can see how many people have each pet in the world.

The rarest non-Korean/Chinese/promotion pet is the Stunted Direhorn from 250 pvp@25 wins.

[Africanleopard]

From what I have seen on the AH on the three different [not linked] servers I play on, the prices don't really reflect the rarity all the time. I have noticed that usually the go to pets for battling are the most expensive....eg PWS