Well that’s pretty obvious isn’t it?
However traditionally, in Warcraft you have been told to achieve this in one market.
It has been a matter of buying low, then waiting..and waiting  for that one market to change.
This works (to an extent) – the problem is EVERYONE WHO PLAYS THE MARKET DOES THIS.

Every other guide  we have read tells you to do this.
In fact later in this guide we will tell you how to do this PROPERLY. Including Inventory costs, storage costs and valuing your players downtime

But items can be changed by characters. Smelting, Milling, Prospecting and Disenchanting – the sub skills or Mining, Inscription, Jewel crafting and Enchanting have the ability to change one ingredient into another.

Regardless of what other guides tell you, turning ore into bars in not necessarily the most profitable route.

What is the mindset of the average player. Well we’ll tell you. It can be summed up.

“I’ll level and grind this week, and at the weekend I’ll group up and do some instances – and put whatever I’ve farmed on the AH because it’ll sell quicker on Friday and Saturday”

That’s it, that’s what the vast majority do. Later we’ll show you how to take advantage of that. After a while you will be able to guess to within a hour or so when is the best time to buy up all the cheap stuff, and when to wait to post your own.

Importantly we show you how other players habits and  the fear of item not selling – can make you a small fortune on a regular basis.

Making 500 gold an hour – well that’s definitely possible. We’ve made far more. But if you are smart you are not farming for gold. You make a wise investment – learn how to store it cheaply and efficiently (we’ll show you how to get a load of cheap storage) then offload at sky high prices into a hungry market.

Ok, now we are going to go through some steps to get you into a position to make money. Explain the choices you need to make along the way – and explain how these choices will fundamentally alter the way you can effectively make money

First, if you haven’t already, chosen your server go to www.wowrealmstatus.net or similar

Yup these guys know their stuff. Every realm listed, and if you press on the link to a server you are interested in they will break down the quantity of each faction, and show the “load” levels as a percentage of server capacity.

Remember the following :

High load servers = most fluid market

Large imbalance between factions = market opportunities for you if you ever dabble in cross market trading

• PvP = Low level items more likely to sell, particularly the items with a
  level requirement of 29, 39, 49, 59 and 69. (PvP Toon’s may buy these)
• PvE = Easier farming,

But on the down side a “mature” and full server status could mean your low level greens may not sell.
(see the sub chapter on professions to see how you can still make loads of money from these items however)

TIP: Don’t pick a PvP server if you don’t want to play in a PvP environment. Likewise don’t pick a PvE if you want to wander around “laying down some serious carnage” on the opposition faction during the normal course of play. Having fun is the most important part. Pick a style you will enjoy.