Is it worth it to lvl up a pet before you auction it?

[Dazz]

If you stone upgrade a pet, is it still worth it to try to level it up a bit before you auction it so that you can put it up for more gold? Is it really worth the time or will an upgraded pet sell fine as lvl 1 without needing to go through the effort to level it, based on what you notice if you watch AH pet auctions? I have a few pets I've upgraded then leveled to different levels ranging from 4 to 9 to 15. I notice people don't seem to care to pay more just to have a pet with some levels. Is it ever worth it or should you really just sell an upgraded pet as lvl 1? Been thinking about this, any feedback is appreciated, thanks!

[Smokes]

For the most part, I really don't think so. You can charge more for a fully leveled 25 pet, but I notice a lot of those sitting on the AH for a long time on my realm. I paid 500 gold more earlier today for a level 21 disgusting oozeling over the listed level 1s, but had it been more of a price jump, I personally would have just bought the level 1 and leveled it myself.

I've heard it said that some people level a pet just a little to get it listed first in the AH list.

[Adumbledore]

I agree. The level 25 pets on my realm (Kil'Jaeden) are generally grossly overpriced. The average price I would say is 4-5k for a level 25 pet. I won't purchase any level 25 pets for more than 1500g, and even that's pushing it. I can usually find level 1 pets for much cheaper than that (most of them aren't even 1k), so I just go for those. I'll keep my 3500+g and take an hour to level the pet to 25.

[Imeagle]

I don't think it is. As a collector it's so easy for me to lvl up a pet. I just throw it into my rotation with the daily tamers and before too long the pet is lvl 25. As a buyer when I'm looking to buy a pet on the AH I'm not looking at it's level but it's price. Price is much more important to me than level.

[Yamum]

Levels do add value, but that value is subjective. In my experience (over 3M gold in gross pet sales), when people want to buy a pet they either want the cheapest or they want a level 25. However, if there are two of the same pet for sale at the same price, and one is a higher level than the other, which do you think will sell first?

Make some economic calculation.

1) How much is your time worth? ( x gold per hour)
2) How long does it take to level a pet?
3) Is the extra price you gain from selling a higher level pet greater than or equal to the value of your time?

The answer should be easy.

[Maizing]

I usually level a pet to 9 before putting it on the auction house. It doesn't take much time and I can kill two birds with one stone by using low level tamers to level both the pet and an alt.

I have found that level 9s sell well enough and I can usually get a little more gold than I would for a level 1. I chose level 9 as my "sell at" level because it doesn't take much of my time, there is an achievement for getting 75 pets to level 10 and if a pet has a few levels on it, it can stand up to being put up against level 25s better... all of which add a little value to the pet.

Now, I would not put in the time or effort to level all the way to 25 (especially since I still have a lot of my own pets to level up) as it doesn't add enough value to make it worth my time or effort.

[Mentalgiant]

On Elune, most level 25 pets kind of just idle on the AH. Personally, you're better off selling it as soon as you obtain whichever pet you want to sell. But, certain pets, like the Son of Animus, and Ji'Kun Hatchling, should sell fairly quickly for a reasonable price at level 25.

[Chrth]

Can't double-check right now because servers are down, but I'm pretty sure you can't even see what level a pet is on the Remote Auction House. So buyers using RMAH will reject your level 25 premium cost because they'll think you're just try to sell high.

[Azrile]

I don't think it is. As a collector it's so easy for me to lvl up a pet. I just throw it into my rotation with the daily tamers and before too long the pet is lvl 25. As a buyer when I'm looking to buy a pet on the AH I'm not looking at it's level but it's price. Price is much more important to me than level.

Any buyer who has enough savvy to recognize that a common pet has been upgraded with a stone, is savvy enough to level that pet very quickly. Price matters more.

[Mehetabel]

I don't think it is. As a collector it's so easy for me to lvl up a pet. I just throw it into my rotation with the daily tamers and before too long the pet is lvl 25. As a buyer when I'm looking to buy a pet on the AH I'm not looking at it's level but it's price. Price is much more important to me than level.

This goes for me too.

[Cdeveau]

Unless the $ value between the lvl 1 and the lvl 25 is the same, I'll buy the lvl 1. I'll time myself tonight, but I believe it takes me just over half an hour to lvl a pet from 1 to 25. Paying for a lvl 25 pet makes no sense to me for that reason.

[Adumbledore]

Unless the $ value between the lvl 1 and the lvl 25 is the same, I'll buy the lvl 1. I'll time myself tonight, but I believe it takes me just over half an hour to lvl a pet from 1 to 25. Paying for a lvl 25 pet makes no sense to me for that reason.

Exactly. The only way I'll purchase a level 25 pet is if there are no other levels that are cheaper. Even then, if the pet is exorbitantly priced, I won't buy it.

[Cdeveau]

Exactly. The only way I'll purchase a level 25 pet is if there are no other levels that are cheaper. Even then, if the pet is exorbitantly priced, I won't buy it.

Agreed on the exorbitantly priced pet. If the cost is outrageous I'll ignore the pet altogether.

And as a follow up I took a living fluid from lvl 1 to lvl 25 in 43 minutes and 25 seconds using no pet buffs at all. I only used the living fluid and a stable of nine lvl 25 moths to lvl the fluid.

[Graven]

Yet another here who attaches little to no value to pet level. When buying, I won't consider pet level into the value calculation at all, and likewise, when selling I don't add anything to the price if the pet is levelled. Getting a pet that is already level 25 is convenient, of course, but I'm not willing to pay any gold for that small added convenience.

[Ishildur]

If you post here you're not really the kind of person who needs to buy a lvl 25 pet or gains much convenience from doing so... however if you're selling on a high pop server with lots of competition having the pet maxed may mean making a sale as opposed to not. It does add a little bit to the price. Again, not for people like us, but for people who's playtime is taken up with other things.

Since I'm getting there as far as having all my pets at 25th lvl (should only take one more alt to 90) I'm going to start leveling pets to sell. I don't need anyone to level pets for me, but there's people out there who maybe did the whole get to 25th lvl, they beat the pet trainers and then they haven't had much time to level up a lot of pets... they might be just a few pets short of the minimum for the timeless stuff, or they'd just like more variety just in case for that. I know it won't make me a huge amount of money, but I might be able to make some quicker sales as opposed to having to repost the same pets again and again.

[Tiggindy]

I think there's value, because not everyone is me. :p Some peeps would rather have the convenience rather than do the dailies, assuming you're charging a reasonable price.

As far as leveling goes, IMO the value is there for 25, for anything less you may as well level yourself if you're going to be forced to go battle anyway.

On high pop realms (like area 52, where I made a horde toon to look at pets on their AH) there's oodles and oodles of leveled pets going for silly prices on the AH, because everyone wants gold there so they can buy cheap pets for back home, or to buy a rare pet they don't see back home. For this kind of server, there's way less value because everyone is competing for the pet sales.

On other servers, there's probably value because such a thing isn't as common.

For Lothar, my general rule of thumb is that I tack on 750-1000g for stoning a pet and/or tack on 1500-2000g for a level 25. I think it's reasonable, and I've had little problem making sales. YMMV