The Jewelcrafter's Snatch List

Thanks for waiting on me, everyone.  Today I want to talk about items that every Jewelcrafter should have on his or her snatch list.  It's a pretty straightforward list, but before we jump into it, I want to take a sentence or two to touch on a couple key points.

Floors.  I just spent a post last week telling you how to manipulate these.  It's important to understand that most people know about absolute vendor floors.  Unless you're camping the AH, you're probably not going to find Obsidium Ore going south of 54g / stack.  Because of this, it's important to understand your own risk tolerance - that is, how far above a floor you're willing to buy.  If you don't know this, then hopefully after reading, you can chew on it a bit more and figure it out - it's important, and it will help you run your business a lot more smoothly.

Thresholds.  Simply said - don't contribute to an economy of falling prices.  Set your thresholds high, and remember to take into account the 5% AH cut.  For example, I never sell any uncut gems for less than 19.5g each.  Yeah, that means I almost never list Alicite, but I can find other things to do with it.  Thresholds are important because they help you calculate your risk tolerance by giving you a floor for your profits.

Stockpiles.  With items that have a guaranteed vendor floor, this isn't much of an issue, but with other items (Chimera's Eye, Volatiles, Pyrite), you want to be careful not to stockpile too much, or you risk losing money to deflation.

The Jewelcrafter's Snatch List:

1. Obsidium Ore - The absolute vendor floor for a stack of Obsidium is right at 55g/stack.  If you wait until it's 55g / stack to buy it, you might as well start buying Fortune Cards and holding your breath.  I buy these anywhere from 63g/stack and under, knowing that I can easily make the 8g/stack above the vendor back when I resell.  Be aggressive in the amount of volume you buy, but don't buy more than you have time to handle.  Anything you don't buy will fuel your competition.  Obsidium typically yields 6 uncommon gems and 1/3 rare gems per stack. 
2. Elementium Ore - The absolute vendor floor for a stack of Elementium is around 38g/stack.  It may strike you as odd, but that's how it is right now.  Rare gems vendor for less than uncommon ones.  Typically you'll see Elementium priced higher than Obsidium.  Risk tolerance here should be more relaxed, as you can easily snag 80g+ for a cut rare.  I buy Elementium from 75g/stack and below.  Elementium typically prospects into 4 uncommon gems and 1 rare gem.
3. Pyrite Ore - This one is trickier.  Vendor floor is only slightly higher than that of Elementium.  I usually don't keep too much of this in stock, either.  When I do buy Pyrite, I try to make sure it's going for <160g/stack.  It typically prospects into 4 uncommon gems, 2 rare gems, and 8 volatile earth per stack.
4. Volatile Water / Fire / Air / Earth / Life - If you have JC recipes that use this for crafted gear, you need to be able to slowly absorb the low-priced inventory.  At 75 volatiles per crafted item, you may snag a good deal on the first 10-20, but the rest will likely blow your total costs out of the water.  It's important to stockpile these over time, slowly allowing the prices to remain at a reasonable price.  Volatile Life can be an exception, but still helpful to have on-hand.
5. Chimera's Eye - The Truegold of the Jewelcrafting world.  This is similar to Volatiles, above, these are expensive.  I buy any <450g each, but you might try something lower.
6. Carnelian, Jasper, Alicite - Face it - enchanting mats are hot.  I burn through Carnelian, Jasper, & Alicite faster than any other gems doing Craft->DE.  This means that any time I prospect more Ore, I'm left witha  growing surplus of other gems that are selling more slowly.  To balance this, consider buying more of these gems raw off the AH when the price is low enough.  Of course the vendor floor is 9g each, so I buy anything at 12g or below.
7. New Meta Recipes - They're not out yet, but when 4.0.6 goes live, these recipes will be rare world drops.  They will command a nice coin the first week, so setup your snatch list now.

That's it.  As promised - pretty straightforward.  The key is buying mats above their floor so that your competition never can, and so that you get first crack at reasonably priced mats.  This keeps your margins and your supply healthy, and will frustrate your competition.

As for figuring out your risk tolerance, tomorrow's post will directly address it - I've got a hug surprise for you guys that you won't want to miss.  I also plan to have that epic post this week, so stay tuned.