Have Enough Money to Buy Mount at Level 40!

Update: I changed the instance levels for Stockades and Deadmines

This guide starts out at level one and ends at level forty, it is designed to help make mount gold the fastest ways possible.

Some of the other auction house/gatherer guides are going to be much better than this one, but not many are directed to lower levels and thus useless to what level range this guide is directed to.

Before we start this guide out. My golden rule: IF YOU NEED IT WEAR IT! IF NOT SELL IT!

Useful AddOns:

AutoProfitX: This addon places a nice little button in the vendor window that, when pressed, sells all greys to the vendor. Saving alot of time.

Cartographer: Many people suggest Cosmos over this map addon, but I like this one much better. In addition to co-ords it places icons of treasure and regents you have found over time. Allowing you to go back and re-collect if need be.

Tips:

Have AutoLoot on constantly (Main Menu > Interface options > Basic Settings) it saves alot of time. The one exception to this is when in instances, DO NOT have autoloot on in an instance. It's a discourtesy and will often get you kicked from the group.

Have two gathering professions by level 10. Be conscientious of what skill is most suited for your area, and change as need be. Gathering becomes less useful as time goes on and professions like Black Smithing and Enchanting begin to make much more money, but as you are a lower level gathering can make you oodles of dough. I suggest having either Herbs and Skinning or Mining and Skinning depending on your area (ie, mining over herbs is unwise if you want quest in Tirisfal Glades or Mulgore, but wise if questing in Durotar and the Barrens). Skinning is great, sell the pelts of animals you skin, easy way to make money whilst gaining experience.

Use a talent calculator. This seriously saves time and money. If you know how you want to specc, then you are less likely want to specc over again and re-speccing is expensive. Specc in the talent tree that would do most damage (ie Warriors specc fury, Rogues specc combat/assassination Priests go shadow and Warlocks go affliction).

Buy bags before going into the second questing area. Try to buy at least two ten slot bags off the auction house, the money that goes into them is refunded in the form of more loot.

Besides to buy bags, don't buy anything you don't need on the auction house. Wasting money on a robe or shiny dagger that's just going to be replaced soon is a very bad idea.

Run instances. I have been call an "instance whore" because I will run an instance any time any place, I suggest going into LFG and go about questing until the group is ready to go, no use standing around. Instances can take forever to get going so quest and grind, or whatever, until the group is ready.

Put 1 of every 2 gold away for mount savings (this is what this guide is for after all).

Sell everything you don't need.

Loot:
Levels 1-10: Sell everything to vendors. Even greens. Nobody on the Auction House will want your level 1-10 stuff except other level 1-10s, which won't be able to pay enough to make it worth the deposit fee (note: some higher levels may want lower level stuff for alts). *

*The two exceptions to this are ore and herbs. Sell them on Auction house. Remember to smelt the ores into bars first, 20 copper bars can make up to 1g on the AH

Levels 11-20: Greys: Sell to vendor. Greens: Up to level 15 sell to vendor, from level 15 on use Auction House(see below on how to use the auction house correctly)(don't go out of your way, selling greens to vendors is okay some times). Blues: Put all blues on Auction House. Blues can make you a lot of money as they are rare.

Levels 21-30: Greys: Sell to vendor. Greens: Put on Auction House. Blues: Put on Auction House

Levels 31-40: Same layout as above.

Souldbound loot: Sell to vendor (even if it's blue, sell it to the vendor if you don't want it or can't sell it on AH.)

Instances:
Run them often. They give great exp and great loot. They can take awhile to get together and get finished so make sure you have a good three or more hours where you can assure playtime. This, of course, is impossible to do all the time, so just do your best.

Levels 1-10: Boo-hoo, you've got no instances!

Levels 11-18: Ragefire Chasm for Horde (Orgrimmar). There are no Alliance instances.

Levels 18-25: Wailing Caverns for Horde (the Barrens). Deadmines for Alliance.

Levels 25-30: Black Fathom Deeps for Both (Darkshore). The Stockades for the Alliance (Stormwind City).

Levels 30-40: Scarlet Monastery (Tirisfal Glades). Preferably Armoury, Cathedral, or Library. Graveyard isn't quite worth it, I've found.

Tips about Instances: Only need what you need to wear, not sell, and ALWAYS ask before needing. Greed everything else.

Instances, however long they take to get a group together, always result in exp and loot. They are worth the time.

Gathering Professions:

Have at least one gathering profession at all times up to level 40.

Gathering professions come with a spell, too. It finds the material you are looking for. If you find a material, it appears as a golden blip on your mini-map (it is identical to the one that shows where questgivers awaiting your return with a finished quest are). Have this on constantly.

Levels 1-30: Skinning and Mining or herbs.

Levels 30-40: If you love skinning, keep it, if not dump it around these levels. Keep the mining or herbs (whichever one you have).

Using the Auction House:

This is a big thing to your success. Using the Auction House properly is the difference between making money and losing it.

Always put auctions up for the longest amount of time (24hrs).

You are more likely to make a sale if you put the auctions up on Friday night, Saturday afternoon, or Sunday afternoon.

Before putting up an auction, make sure to look up other auctions for the same item you are selling. If there are more of the same items on auction do this:

Greens levels 15-25: Sell, at buyout, for 15 silver LOWER than the lowest price the item is going for (unless the price seems ridiculously low) (make the starting bid 10 silver LOWER than the buyout). Even if you would make less money, if you make a sale and no-one else does, you still make more money in the end.

Blues levels 15-25: Sell for an EVEN amount as the highest seller (unless the price seems ridiculously high) (Keep the buyout about 10 silver lower, too). People like blues. Sell them for high and you will probably make a sale anyway.

Greens levels 26-35: Sell 25 silver cheaper than the lowest at buy out. 15 silver cheaper starting bid.

Blues levels 26-35: Sell for an EVEN amount as the highest seller at buyout. Starting bid 20 silver cheaper.

Greens levels 36-40: 50 silver cheaper than lowest. 20 silver lower staring bid.

Blues levels 36-40: Even amount as highest. 25 silver lower starting bid.

If there are none of the same items on auction:

Greens levels 12-25: Sell at 50 silver - 1 gold buyout and make the starting bid 10 silver lower.

Blues level 15-25: Sell at 1 gold - 2 gold buyout 10 silver lower starting bid.

Greens levels 26-35: Sell at 75-1.50 gold buyout and the bidding price 25 silver lower.

Blues levels 26-35: Sell at a 1.50 gold - 3 gold buyout with starting bid 30 silver lower.

Greens levels 36-40: Sell at 2 gold - 4 gold buyout with starting bid 50 silver lower.

Blues level 36-40: Sell at a 10 gold - 20 gold buyout with 75 silver lower starting bid.

Ask around for the prices of blues if there are none on auction, too. You don't want to get ripped off selling a super high-priced item.

By level forty, if you use the tips I gave you you should have enough money to buy your mount right away.