Demand data

[smithcj97]

Quick question, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how the demand section of the guide works.

The normal business model states that when supply is low, demand will be high, which generally correlates with higher prices for an item.

It doesn't seem that zygor's gold guide works this way. Can someone explain it to me in layman's terms? It seems that the higher the number the better...right? Thanks!

[ZG Support 1]

Demand in the game is a measure of how many of that item are sold in a day (roughly). So (for example) Windwool Cloth might have a high demand selling as much as 10000 per day when compared to a Sharp Knife that won't sell because no one will buy it. Unfortunately you can't apply a 'normal business model' to the AH in WoW because there are tons if items that have very low supply but this is because there is a very low demand for the item. This results in the prices dropping as people are trying to sell something that no one wants. And for items where there's a lot of them on the market and there is a high demand, the price can sometimes be low as well from everyone undercutting each other trying to sell their listing.

It can get complicated on the AH. Suffice it to say that when you see us referring to an item's demand that's a measure of how many are actually selling (estimated) based on auction durations (and other factors) between our historical scans.

[Zygor Admin]

The normal business model states that when supply is low, demand will be high, which generally correlates with higher prices for an item.

While generally true in real life, supply being low in WoW can be a result of the item not being in high demand in the first place. For items that most players expect a quick turn around on, like farmed items, you want to see a steady demand (est. daily sold). For more niche items that have a more slow selling process, like crafts, or items you buy to resell, demand isn't as important as player knowledge. We try to give players some helpful information by scoring the item and providing demand, but in the end, it usually takes some experimentation to find the best sellers and once you do you can exploit it.