flightanons | Discussion Post #5

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Discussion Post #5 - Economynomnomnom

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Selling gened hatchlings at exaltbait prices bothers the shit out of me. I paid more for those so I could sell the damned babies for more than 7k you assholes.

So....sell them for more than 7k? Some going at that price does not magically make them all that price, I'm still selling gened starters for 20k and up.

if your dragons are decent colors you can easily get more than 20k for them.

How do you do that? I suck at selling.

look at the AH to see the going rate of decently colored dragons with the combo of genes you're looking to sell. don't use the ugly ones as a guide. be prepared to relist a few times.

alternately, try selling on the forums. or you can be like me and do both.

How do you scope out the AH for comparables without site search?

do you really not understand that you just have to scroll through a few pages and look to see what comparable colors are priced at? do you actually need that spoonfed to you?

Let us imagine I have a blue/ivory/blue.

Do I scope out 20000? 15000? 40000? I need to know a general range of what that's worth before I start scanning.

the way I search the AH when I'm setting prices is to pick the breed and genes of my dragon, sort by price, then click through a few pages until I find a dragon kind of comparable to mine. specific colors don't really have a set "worth" but if your dragon isn't awful looking you can def get something for it. are you trying to sell single gened or double?

The problem with your hypothetical is I can really only tell you how to price the hypothetical. (Incidentally, I'd go for around 15k, maybe 20-30k if it has good geneing. For example, Circuit and a nice secondary.)

What you really need to know is how to price dragons in general, which is a tricky art.

First and foremost, keep up with trends in dragon breeding. Seems like everyone is going mad for triple obsidian and triple white, or doubles of those with the third colour contrasting (but only when the primary remains white or obsidian), so those will likely sell for the highest prices. Cool colours are also a really big thing. Seafoam has a huge following, as does -oddly enough- magenta. It seems like a new thing that is coming up is the idea of Lisa Frank dragons (if you're not familiar with Lisa Frank, let's just say that the art style looks like a rainbow threw up).

The absolute most important thing that pretty much everyone is looking for but some people will not admit to is: Does your dragon look well matched? Is it gened with thought and consideration as to the colours and how they interact with the genes, as well as the appearance of certain genes with others, or did you just slap whatever on it and call it a day? Are the colours pleasing to the eye?

(Note: Contrasts can be pleasing to the eye, but you should only aim for one contrast. For instance, I have an aqua/pink dragon that people seem to love. He has the contrast between colours, BUT aqua is a fairly warm blue and pink is actually quite cool for a warm colour. The two colours also have similar brightness. So while he isn't matched, he's not a mess of contrast. On the other hand, most people will readily agree swamp/magenta is ugly, even those of us who like aqua/pink. Why? Not only do you have the green and pink contrast, but magenta is extremely BRIGHT while swamp is fairly unsaturated. Add in the coolness of swamp while magenta is bright enough that it seems fairly warm (though it may, in fact, be cooler toned), aaaand it's too many contrasts. Also, you do have to consider breed. Guardians tend to look awkward with any sort of contrast, in my opinion, whereas Faes pull them off best. Mirrors can be tricky, and I can't advise with Tundras as I don't care for the breed.)

Oh, yes, and the one question that a lot of people will say doesn't matter to them, because it might not on a conscious level, but actually does affect decisions made unconsciously: Does your eye colour suit the dragon? You really will be able to sell for a higher price if the eye colour matches than if it doesn't.

"But anon," you say, "This isn't giving me hard and fast numbers!"

That's because I can't, not without seeing each dragon you want to sell. And even then I could be wrong. Generally speaking a magenta/swamp atrocity of a Tundra with Earth eyes will never net you more than 5k unless there's a really heated Dominance battle. Beyond the fugliest of fuglies, though, it's hard to say. If you're good at objective decision making, look honestly at your dragons and just come up with a price. Any price. Then search the AH for dragons like yours at that price to see what turns up. If all you're getting is triple obsidians or neonwings or whatever and that's a far cry from what you have, then chances are you should probably ask your friends what they'd buy your dragon for. If it's pretty close (say you're seeing neonwings, but your dragon is charcoal with blue wings), then maybe knock a thousand or two off your price and list for that.

Always start at the high end of whatever price range you're looking at. If it sells for higher, you get more money! If it doesn't, then you can lower the price. If you have an adult, it'll generally sell for about 2k more than a hatchling of similar colours, especially in the exaltbait ranges.

The most money can be had by selling through the forums or Tumblr. Especially check the Wanted forum if you feel you have something desireable. There are people willing to pay beaucoup d'or to get very specific dragons, and if you have that dragon... wouldn't you want to sell it for the most you can get?

Your best bet to learn how to price dragons, though, is to just go through the AH. Sit there and be willing to trawl through many pages. Do not sort by price while doing this, you'll get nothing out of it. Sort by expiration so you get a wide range of prices per page. First, just absorb the information you see. Then start to evaluate dragons. Consider if you'd pay the price being offered for a dragon. Start noting what prices certain combinations seem to go for.

Above all, be patient. And if you really need to get a dragon out of your lair fast, you may have to exalt it. (If it's an adult, I recommend trying to get a few levels on it first. More money.)

This is an excellent guide and everyone should read it.

One thing to add: breed what you love, what you want to see. Personally I've got my bright and dark neonwings pairs set (and one darkwing with neon bodies) which still net a decent profit, but I'm looking to get into warm and neutral colors too. Often people complain about all the blues/purples/etc. and are told that's what sells, so I'm trying something else. Am I expecting to be rolling in cash? Nope, not at all, but it's something I want to do and something others have expressed interest in.

Profit's nice, but if you can set aside a pair to churn out specialty dragons for the niche markets then more power to you.

Thank you buckets.

It's not easy to sell high in this market, but I hope this helps. Don't think you have to sell at bottom of the barrel prices!

I have some more tips I'll type up when I'm at my computer.

(Just remember: aesthetically pleasing dragons and patience. They don't need to be popular colours or genes, they just either need to look good or be unapologetically awful to a theme. See: dragons that deliberately are bred and gened to look diseased. They will sell, but don't expect to recoup costs in one breeding unless you get incredibly lucky.)

I was afraid my aesthetic standards didn't match the market's, but once I looked in the right places I realized I was on-trend or even slightly ahead of it. :)

I've tried selling them at more, but no one is buying them. Guess my colors just suck.

If people want the colours, they'll pay your asking price.

You may have to relist a few times but not necessarily try to be the cheapest.

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Discussion Post #5 - Economynomnomnom

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