Jewelcrafting Gold – A guide to the leisurely side of Warcraft gold farming

One of the things I like so much about jewelcrafting gold is that I can earn it without having to put a lot of time into it.  It’s almost an auto-pilot method of gold farming.  I spend just a couple of minutes a day working on it and derive a fairly steady stream of cash.  Granted it’s not necessarily big money, but it’s easy and it’s regular and it adds up in the long run.  How does this cash generating method work?
 
We’ll start off with the bad news.  There is practically no money to be made in the lower levels of jewelcrafting.  In order to make it big, you have to level up fairly high.  That is to say, you have to get your skill level at least up to the point where you can cut the gems that the average player is socketing their gear with.  Anything below that you’re doomed to failure before you even start.   You’ll also need to pick up a few patterns, which is much easier in Wrath of the Lich King than previously.  You can get some from factions, many from doing the JC daily (which is quite easy), and the rest you can buy or find in instances.
 
Once you have a few patterns you’re ready to start making money.  It’ll take a couple days to get the information you need, but it’s not much work so don’t worry.  Head over to the auction house and look through the gems.  There are two pieces of information you need: what are uncut gems selling for, and what are the cut versions selling for.  Keep in mind that prices on the auction house vary, so don’t go with the very first price you see.  You’ll want to check over the course of a couple days.  Try to get a feel for who is selling, how much they are selling, and what the average price for different gems is.  You can write it down, use a mod, or just ballpark it in your head.
 
Once you have an idea of what the prices are, the gold farming can begin.  Each day, log on the auction house and look at the prices of cut gems.  Find one that is missing or under-represented.  Maybe there are no +atk gems, or there’s only one and it’s way overpriced.  If you have a gem of the right color, quickly cut it and put it on the AH for a more reasonable price (don’t go too low).
 
At the same time, check the prices of uncut gems.  If you see any that look good cheap, buy them right away.  If there are some that aren’t necessarily underpriced, but you need one to cut for a sale, buy the regularly priced gems.  You’ll have to balance the amount you can afford to invest in uncut gems – you might have to pass up a good deal if you already have 10 of those in stock, or pay a little more than usual if a certain cut gems skyrockets in price.
 
I use this method pretty regularly because it only takes me 5 minutes a day to check up on the auction house.  Give it a try and see for yourself if jewelcrafting gold isn’t the easiest type of gold to farm.