Booty Bay Broker User Guide
Learn how to use price tracking, charts, alerts, and calculators across Retail, MoP Classic, TBC Anniversary, and Season of Discovery.
24 min read
Getting Started with WoW Price Tracking
Why Track Prices?
The World of Warcraft economy has tens of thousands of items traded every hour across hundreds of realms. Prices shift constantly based on supply, demand, patch changes, raid resets, and player behavior. Without a price tracking tool, you are essentially trading blind — you have no way to know whether an item is overpriced, underpriced, or trending up or down over time.
Booty Bay Broker solves this by collecting regular price snapshots from every active realm and storing the full history. This lets you:
- Spot buying opportunities — identify items selling below their historical average and buy before prices recover.
- Time your sales — sell when prices peak rather than guessing. Weekly patterns (raid reset spikes, weekend farming dips) become visible in the charts.
- Compare realms — see how prices differ between high-population and low-population servers to find arbitrage opportunities.
- Evaluate crafting profit — the Professions Calculator cross-references material costs against finished item values so you know which recipes are profitable before you craft.
- Track the WoW Token — monitor real-time WoW Token gold prices across regions to decide when to buy or sell tokens.
The Home Page
When you first visit bootybaybroker.com, you land on the home page. This page presents a game version card for each supported version of World of Warcraft. Each card links directly to that version’s Auction House price tracker.
Selecting a Game Version
The site supports four WoW game versions: Retail (the current live version including Midnight), MoP Classic (Mists of Pandaria progression servers), TBC Anniversary (Burning Crusade Anniversary Edition), and Season of Discovery (the Classic-era seasonal servers). Switch between game versions at any time using the version dropdown in the site header navigation bar.
Choosing a Realm
After selecting a game version, choose a realm to view auction data. The realm panel includes a search/filter box — type any part of a realm name to narrow the list. Realms are grouped into connected-realm clusters, so selecting any realm in a cluster shows data for the entire group. Your realm selection is saved locally in your browser per game version.
Faction Auction Houses (Classic Only)
In Classic versions (MoP Classic, TBC Anniversary, and Season of Discovery), the Auction House is split by faction. After selecting a Classic realm, toggle between Alliance and Horde. Retail uses a unified Auction House shared by all factions, so the faction toggle does not appear there.
Searching for Items
Autocomplete Search
The search bar appears in the site header navigation, on the dashboard page, inside the Auction House toolbar, and on individual item pages. As you type, an autocomplete dropdown shows matching items. Search requires at least 2 characters. Use arrow keys to navigate and Enter to select.
Category Browsing
In the Retail layout, the left-hand category tree shows all item categories (Weapons, Armor, Consumables, Trade Goods, Gems, etc). Click a category to expand its subcategories, then click a subcategory to load items of that type. In the Classic layout, categories appear as blue button panels on the left sidebar.
Filtering and Sorting
Retail: sort buttons for Name, Price, Quantity, and Quality. Classic: additional filters in the search row:
- Min Level / Max Level — filter by required character level.
- Quality — Poor (gray), Common (white), Uncommon (green), Rare (blue), Epic (purple), or Legendary (orange).
Search Tips
- Search is case-insensitive — “copper ore” and “Copper Ore” return the same results.
- Partial names work — typing “flask” will find all flasks.
- Search respects your selected game version. An item in Retail may not appear in Classic searches.
Navigating to Item Detail Pages
From the Retail Auction House, clicking an item populates the right-hand detail panel; a “View Full Details” link takes you to the item’s dedicated detail page with expanded charts and a complete listings table.
Using Price Charts
Interactive Chart.js charts visualize pricing data throughout the site — in the Auction House detail panel, the Classic item modal, the dashboard quick-view modal, and the full item detail page.
Price History Chart
The Price History chart shows how the item’s price has changed over time. On the full item page, three toggleable series are available:
- Min Buyout (orange) — the lowest buyout at each snapshot.
- Avg Buyout (gold, default) — the simple average of all buyout prices.
- Market Value (Weighted) (green dotted) — the quantity-weighted average.
Time Range Selection
- 24H — last 24 hours, best for short-term fluctuations.
- 7D — weekly patterns (weekday dips vs weekend/reset peaks).
- 30D — monthly trends across patches or content updates.
- All — complete price history since tracking began.
Volume Chart
Bar chart showing how many units were listed at each data point. High volume usually means the item is commonly traded; low volume indicates a rare or niche item. Sudden volume spikes may correspond to patches, weekly resets, or holiday events.
Price Distribution Chart (Full Item Page)
Shows the spread of current buyout prices across all active listings, grouped into buckets. Tight clustering indicates a competitive market; wide spread indicates disagreement among sellers or pricing mistakes.
Tracking WoW Token Prices
The WoW Token lets players exchange real money for in-game gold. Unlike regular Auction House items, token prices are set by Blizzard based on region-wide supply and demand — every realm in a region sees the same token price. Prices update roughly every 10 to 20 minutes. NA and EU operate as separate markets with independent pricing.
Understanding Token Price Cards
The WoW Token page shows price cards for NA and EU regions. Each card displays the current price, a 24-hour change indicator (green = price up, red = price down), and the region label. Cards update in real time without a page refresh.
Token Price Charts
An interactive price history chart plots token prices over time. Use the region toggle to switch between US and EU. Time range buttons include 24H, 7D, and 30D for both short-term monitoring and long-term context.
Token Price Statistics
- 24-hour high / low — volatility for the day.
- 7-day average — mean price over the past week.
- All-time statistics — historical highs, lows, and averages for long-term context.
Professions Calculator
The Professions tab on each Auction House page gives a complete view of crafting recipes, material costs, and estimated profits for every supported profession.
Browsing Recipes by Profession
Use the profession dropdown to filter recipes to a specific profession (Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Engineering, Inscription, Jewelcrafting, Leatherworking, Tailoring). Each recipe shows its name, crafted item link, material list with quantities, and profit indicator.
Understanding Crafting Costs
- Total material cost — combined cost of all required materials at current market prices.
- Crafted item market value — current selling price of the finished product.
- Estimated profit — crafted value minus material cost.
- Profit margin — profit as a percentage of material cost.
Using the Gathering Calculator
The Gathering Calculator helps estimate gold-per-hour for farmable materials — herbs, ores, cloth, leather. Select a gathering item, view the current market price, enter your farming rate (items per hour), and the calculator shows your estimated gold income.
Recipe Data Sources
Recipe and material data is sourced from WoW game data files and kept up to date as new recipes land in patches. Retail has the largest recipe database; MoP Classic covers recipes through the Mists of Pandaria expansion; TBC Anniversary covers Burning Crusade recipes.
Market Heatmap
The Market Heatmap gives a bird’s-eye view of which items are moving across the economy. A color-coded grid shows recent price movement for each item or item group.
Reading Cell Colors
- Green cells — prices have dropped; potential buying opportunities.
- Red cells — prices have risen; potential selling opportunities.
- Cell brightness — magnitude of change; bright = large movement, muted = small drift.
- Neutral cells — price is close to its recent average.
Time Window and Filters
A time window selector (24H, 7D, 30D) lets you choose the comparison period. Classic game versions also show a faction toggle (Alliance/Horde); Retail uses a unified market, so no faction toggle appears.
Clicking Through to Item Detail
Click any cell in the heatmap to open the matching item’s full detail page with complete price history, volume charts, and listings table.
Auction House Cart
The Cart tab keeps a running gold total of items you’ve added from the current realm’s Auction House so you can plan purchases without flipping between tabs.
Adding Items
Add items from the Classic item detail modal, the full item detail page, or the Professions calculator. Every add-to-cart button uses the item’s current Auction House price at the time you add it.
Viewing and Managing the Cart
The Cart tab shows each item with its name, quantity, current unit price, and line total. A cart-level total shows the grand total. Adjust quantities or remove items directly in the cart.
Per-Game-Version Isolation
Each game version has its own cart. A TBC list will not mix with a Retail cart. Switching the game version in the header swaps the cart view — matching how crafting actually works in-game.
Retail vs Classic: Game Version Differences
Different WoW game versions have distinct economies with different items, supply levels, market dynamics, and Auction House mechanics.
Retail (Midnight)
- Largest and most active economy with the widest variety of items.
- Unified Auction House shared by all factions — no faction toggle.
- Region-wide commodity trading — trade goods, consumables, and reagents are priced the same across all realms.
- Data source: Blizzard API with frequent, reliable updates.
MoP Classic (Mists of Pandaria)
- Covers the Classic progression servers currently in the Mists of Pandaria expansion phase.
- Faction-specific Auction Houses — Alliance and Horde separate; use the faction toggle.
- Data source: TSM (TradeSkillMaster) exclusively. Classic versions do not use the Blizzard API.
TBC Anniversary (Burning Crusade)
- The Burning Crusade Anniversary Edition servers with their specific Outland-era item pool.
- Faction-specific Auction Houses — same as MoP Classic.
- Data source: TSM (TradeSkillMaster) exclusively.
Season of Discovery
- The Classic-era seasonal servers, with their own reworked item and recipe pool.
- Faction-specific Auction Houses — same as the other Classic versions.
- Data source: TSM (TradeSkillMaster) exclusively, refreshed about twice a day.
Account Features: Favorites, Alerts & Dashboards
Many core features — browsing items, viewing WoW Auction House prices, and reading charts — work without an account. Creating an account adds personalization features. Click Sign In in the top-right of the navigation bar to register with your email and password.
Battle.net Account Linking (Optional)
Link your Battle.net account from the Profile page using Blizzard’s official OAuth2. You are redirected to Blizzard’s login, authorize the connection, and redirected back. This grants access to your public profile and character information. The site never sees or stores your Battle.net password.
Favorites
Mark any item as a favorite by clicking the star icon in the item detail panel, Classic modal, or full item page. Favorites appear in the My Collection tab and on your Profile page.
Custom Dashboard
Pin items for at-a-glance price summaries. Dashboard items appear on the main page in the My Tracked Items section. Manage from the Profile page or the My Collection tab.
Price Alerts
Set alerts to be notified when an item’s price crosses a threshold. Choose a condition (Below or Above), enter a target price in gold/silver/copper, and click Set Alert. Active alerts are listed in My Collection and on your Profile page.
Profile Page
Your Profile page is the central hub for account settings (preferred region, default game version), your characters (synced from Battle.net), favorite items, custom dashboard, and price alerts.
Data Sources, API Updates & Freshness
Blizzard Battle.net API (Retail)
The primary data source for Retail auction house data is the official Blizzard Battle.net API — the same source that powers the in-game Auction House. The site periodically queries the API to collect complete snapshots of auction listings across all supported Retail realms.
TSM (TradeSkillMaster) for Classic Versions
Classic-family game versions (MoP Classic, TBC Anniversary, and Season of Discovery) use TSM exclusively. TSM aggregates market data from its addon user base. MoP Classic updates weekly; TBC Anniversary updates hourly; Season of Discovery refreshes about twice a day. A data source badge appears near the price statistics to indicate the origin.
Collection Frequency
Retail data is collected approximately every 1 hour from the Blizzard API. TBC Anniversary TSM data updates hourly. MoP Classic TSM data updates weekly. Season of Discovery TSM data refreshes about twice a day. Each collection run captures a snapshot of active auctions for each tracked realm.
Data Limitations
- Snapshot-based: prices reflect the state of the Auction House at snapshot time. Listings posted and sold between snapshots do not appear.
- Buyout only: bid-only auctions without a buyout are not included in price calculations.
- Regions: US (Americas) and EU (Europe) are supported. KR and TW are planned for the future.
- Data source availability: Retail collection pauses when the Blizzard API is down or throttled. Classic data depends on TSM schedules.
Item Database
The Item Database is a searchable catalog of every item the tracker has ever seen on the Auction House — currently over 170,000 items across all supported game versions. Access it from the Database link in the site header, or visit /database.
Category Sidebar
A category sidebar on the left organizes every item by in-game class and subclass (Armor, Consumable, Container, Gem, Glyph, Weapon, Trade Goods, and more). Click a category to expand its subcategories; click a subcategory to filter the table.
Filters
- Quality — Poor, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Artifact.
- Level range — minimum and maximum required character level.
- Equipment slot — Head, Shoulders, Chest, etc.
- Auctionable only — toggle to hide bind-on-pickup, quest-only, or non-tradeable items.
Searching by Name
The search box at the top of the page searches the database by name. Type at least two characters and results populate live. Click a result to open its detail page.
Jumping to Live Auction House Data
Click any auctionable item in the database to open its full detail page, with the same price charts, listings table, and related data you get from the regular Auction House browse flow.
Game Version Context
The database respects your current game version selection. Switch game versions from the header dropdown and the database updates its filtering context so you only see items relevant to the selected version.
Continue Reading
This guide covered the fundamentals. For deeper coverage of advanced filters, Classic-specific market behavior, the data pipeline behind each game version, and a full glossary of tracking terms, continue to the companion guide:
- Auction House Tracking Reference (Classic Coverage and Advanced Filters) — Classic vs Retail data pipeline, TBC and MoP tracking behaviour, Snipe Filter, Crafting Chain view, Seasonal Overlay, and the Auction House glossary used throughout the tool.
- WoW Token Price Tracker — Live gold prices, historical charts, and region comparison for NA and EU tokens.
- Browse the WoW Auction House — Jump directly into the Retail price tracker to start analyzing items.
- Item Database — Search the complete database of tracked items across all game versions.
- Free WoW Auction House Price Checker — Paste your bags to value every item at once using Auction House price data — no account required.
- Sort TBC Anniversary AH Prices Online — Sort by buyout for every realm while the in-game auction house sort is broken (Patch 2.5.6).