Diablo 3 RMAH Flipping Formula Basics

Buy Low - Sell High

Flipping For Profit In Diablo 3

When it comes to turning a profit on the dual auction houses in Diablo 3, there are a variety of basic tactics for making gold and real money profits.  One of the main tactics for turning a profit is through "Flipping". 

Flipping is the basic term used for the process of buying something at one price and selling it at a higher price, which results in a profit for the seller.

Flipping should not be confused with increasing an item's value.  A true flip uses the exact same item, in the exact same condition, without any improvements.  The item just gets flipped for a higher price tag.  Don't get it confused with flipping in the housing market, as often times those homes are fixed up before being resold.  Which means they were bought and then improved upon to get a higher value and selling price, so they aren't a true flip.

An example of Diablo 3 flipping would be buying an amulet off of the in game vendor to sell for a profit on the auction house, like I discuss in the post: Making Diablo 3 Gold With Amulets.

An example of improving an item's value in Diablo 3 would be buying an item with a poorly chosen gem and then replacing it with a more appropriate gem, like Adam discusses in his post: Swapping Gems For Profit. 

The Diablo 3 Basic Flipping Formula For The Gold Auction House

Anytime you are wanting to flip an item for profit, you need to be fully aware of the transaction fees associated with auction house sales.  While the cut that Blizzard rakes off of every auction house transaction is pretty steep, there still are profits to be made in both the Gold Auction House (GAH) and the Real Money Auction House (RMAH).  You must incorporate the fees into your prices or you could be losing money, when you expected to gain.


The Gold Auction House Rakes 15% of Your Final Sale Price

So when you buy an item to flip, you need to account for that 15% fee that gets rake off the top.

Cost / .85 = New Break Even Sale Price

So if you buy an item for 6,000 gold, you need to sell it for 7,059 gold just to break even.  If you flipped that 6,000 gold item for 7,000 gold, then you would actually be losing gold and would net 5,950 gold after Blizzard gets their fee.  Ex: 7000g sale - 1050g fee (15%) = 5950 Gold Net

NOTE:  Don't assume you can just multiple Cost x1.15 to get the correct sale price.  You must divide by 0.85 to get an accurate answer.


When using the RMAH, you have to account for two 15% fees for commodities and $1 +15% fees for equipment sales.  This means it is easier to focus on moving items you purchase with gold into RMAH sale, and focusing on equipment sales results in the lowest transaction fees.



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