Also be sure to check out the Diablo 3 Item Value Calculator
This guide is intended to help those who don't know what to do with the bag full of gear they just acquired on a farming run, and either spend way too much time trying to decide what to do with each piece or don't know that a particular stat is worthwhile and miss out on substantial gold as a result.
While not hard and fast standards, these are the rules I usually stick to during my own farming sessions to give me the best results. (EDIT - This is for softcore AH only - don't use this if you play hardcore).
I. What Goes on the AH
Ideally, you are looking for items worth 10k+ on the AH, minimum. Anything less isn't worth your time or the auction slots, so they can just be sold or salvaged. Here are my general rules for each type of piece:
Armor Generally- The following are stat combos I look for on a piece where I think it will sell for 10k+ on the AH. If no number is listed for the stat, then that just means that typically any amount (on a level 60 item) should work.
- 15%+ magic find
- 18%+ gold find
- 220+ dex
- 220+ int
- 100+ int / 100+ vit
- 100+ (int or vit) / 50+ All Resist (AR)
- 100+ dex / 30+ (any resist) / 50+ AR
- (int or str or dex) / vit / AR
- vit / AR / armor
If the piece has a socket, consider that socket worth 40 of int/vit/str/dex and see if it meets one of the above. If the armor piece has one of those combos put it in your bank for the AH; if not I sell or salvage. This is however subject to the special slots below.
Special Armor Rules - The following pieces have additional stats to look out for that may alter the above list.
- Helm - Needs 20%+ magic/gold find in the absence of a socket. With an empty socket, it can have as little as 12%. (EDIT - for clarity, I don't mean to imply thatall helmets need MF/GF - just that if it's all that piece brings to the table, it needs this amount to be worth selling on that stat alone)
- Bracer - Crit chance of 5%+, paired with high int or dex or any int/AR, int/vit is worth saving.
- Gloves - Keep anything with + crit chance and/or 25%+ crit damage can sub for another useful stat on the general armor list with int/dex gear.
- Boots - 11%+ movement speed can be subbed for a useful stat on the general armor list with int/dex gear.
- Amulet - Needs 20%+ magic/gold find to keep based on that alone. Also, keep to AH with any of the following: 300+ life on hit, 13%+ IAS, 7%+ crit chance, or 60%+ crit damage. These numbers can be lowered if paired with each other or any other useful stat.
- Rings - Exact same rules as Amulet, but divided by half. Generally, only half of the stats required of other armor are needed to save the ring. Rings sell well - when in doubt, save it.
Weapons - As we all know, weapons are mainly about DPS. Therefore my criteria is all about the minimum DPS a weapon needs to be sold. The quick and dirty cutoff is this: 1-handers need to be 700+ DPS and 2-handers need to be 1000+. This, however, can change based on the following, which I've roughly put in DPS terms (so a stat labeled -50 DPS means that a 1-hander with that stat should be kept at 650+ DPS, etc.)
- Hand-Crossbows: +100 DPS
- Bows / Crossbows: -75 DPS
- Cold Damage (X-bow Only): -150 DPS
- 100+ dex/int/vit: -50 DPS
- Socket: -50 DPS
- 50%+ Critical Hit Damage: -50 DPS
- 150+ Life on Hit (1h Only): -100 DPS
Off-Hands - I'm by no means an expert at this slot, and the lack of search functionality on the AH makes it a hit-or-miss proposition to attempt to generalize patterns in what sells well. Here is what is important to know, however:
- Sources/Mojos - The biggest factor is the +damage, where you want the top number to be 300+ to ensure a sale. Crit chance of 7%+ or high int also helps.
- Quivers - (Edit - credit to not_a_haddock) Good ones have some combination of 100+ dex, 8+ max discipline, crit chance, High%+ IAS, and +x% of elemental arrow / hungering arrow.
- Shields - Ideally, you want a high block percentage (17%+), the highest block amount (3.7k-4.7k), and 1100+ armor, plus a few useful stats (dex/vit/Life %/AR mainly).
Beyond these tips, off-hands seem to track the same numbers as general armor for magic find / gold find percentages.
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Guide continued after the page break..
II. I've found an item I should AH. Now what?
To effectively list gear on the AH, the first thing you should do is look for comparable items. What you want to do is find your item's "primary" stat, so that you can search for comparable items accordingly. For example, let's say you have some shoulders with 150 int, 50 vit, and 35 AR - in this case "int" is your primary stat. What you then want to do is search for shoulders using tight parameters for your primary stat, and looser parameters for the others. Here then, I would do a search for all shoulders with a minimum 140 int (tight), 25 vit (loose), and 20 AR (loose), and price myself under the lowest that comes up under that search.
By doing this, you ensure that someone who primarily wants int (and thus will be attracted to your piece in the first place) will choose yours based on cost over the dozens of other similar pieces. Also, don't be afraid to significantly undercut the pieces in your search if it seems that none of them are selling. If the lowest items all have 1d 11h durations, chances are they are priced appropriately and you don't need to undercut much. If they have been up a while, however, you may need to price substantially lower to ensure a sale.
Finally, a few more tips:
- Don't sweat heavily undercutting when you are sitting on a bag full of things that need to be put up on the AH. The 10 item limit can become a huge bottleneck toward making money, and it is better to make a chain of sells where you lose out on some potential gold than have your slots tied up by gear that you priced too high.
- If you need to clear some bag space quick, sell your gold find / magic find gear first. This gear has a very stable market, and you can undercut for very little and still effectively ensure a sale within 10-15 minutes.
- Always socket your items with plain squares (not flawless, but plain) before putting them up on the AH. The specific gem used depends on the nature of the item, but try to compliment the primary stat if possible.
- Utilize the string of 9s. There is a reason every store in the world does it - 99,999 gold just looks a lot less than 100,000 gold, especially when listed next to each other. Selling everything with trailing 9s is a great way of minimally undercutting and still selling your gear quickly.
III. This item is trash. Do I sell it, or salvage?
This answer may change over time depending on whether the essence market remains constant, but for right now the answer is simple:
- Salvage all level 60 gear and level 59 rings, amulets, and follower specials.
- Sell all other gear (first checking that your level 55 weapon isn't a level 60 in disguise with a reduced level requirement!).
Right now, inferno essences (guaranteed with level 60 drops) are selling at ~2k gold, and you also have a chance at salvaging yellow/orange mats which sell for even more. This makes salvaging easily worth it for level 60 gear of all types.
So that's what I've learned so far after a few weeks of farming and learning the AH. There have been countless times I've almost salvaged something such as a blue amulet with solely 500 life on hit only to check the AH and end up selling it for half a million, and hopefully this prevents others from making that same kind of mistake.
