Back when I was reaserching the AH I found several ways you could make money:
Selling pets was a common one.
specifically:
http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?witem=29363
some dude on thottbot said he sells these things like w/i one hour of putting them up.
I personally have had some luck w/ ancona chickens.
http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/item.ht...23;source=live
I try to make @ least like 5-6g on each sale. I have sold some for like 12-15g.
Selling Pets is no sure bet though IMO. Market is smaller, and it it is easy for someone to put one up for less gold, thus hindering your sale. I just do this b/c I'm a level 33, and cant really earn gold effectively (like 70s can).
My bro sits all day and trades shards, plants, hides, and cloths... Seemes tedious and boring, but his lvl 70 got an epic mount as soon as he leveled, and he still had like 7k gold sitting around. Plus he has like 3 characters who's entire inventory is filled up with items. Important to note: he spends a hell of a lot of time on the AH, and loves it.
I usually do this:
Filter AH for rare items (blue)
search armor and weapons for mispriced or low priced items.
So far I have gotten an Underworld Band for ~1g, Beguiler Robes for like ~75s, and some other items way below MP prices.
http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?witem=1980
http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?witem=7728
I spend very little time doing this. No more than 3-5 minutes a day.
I'm trying to be a 39 twink, so I don't do much grinding.
My bro uses some addon called auctioneer (I think). I dont like it, and I dont use it. But he considers himself a "pro AH trader"
, so maybe it is a good addon?
I sometimes use wow economy if I have no idea what this item is worth (despite thottbot and alakazam research):
http://www.wowecon.com/
Also, my bro explained to me 1 time why selling armor and weapons in the AH is a bad thing (opposed to trading, or CODing it), but I forgot why that is.
He also has a list of ppl (w/ notes on them) that sell stuff regularly (maybe stuff they crafted, or leather they skinned, etc...) and he often times does business directly w/ them.
I think a good strategy, if you love the AH, would be to have characters on several servers, b/c often times after 10-20 minutes of surfing your AH you are kinds of spinning in circles.
I think if you are good at the AH, you can make alot of gold.
I have also heard that tayloring and DEing certain items can yield a ton of gold. (unfortunatly I forgot the particular items).
Main thing I WOuld say is: google/reaserch
then: expirement on the AH, and find your own niche.
I don't have much gold (like about 90g maybe?). But it has slowly been building up just from doing what I do (and running a few instances/leveling).
Also, always pick up stuff that drops (even if the armor/recipe looks dumb). On my server (tichondrius) uncommon (green) lvl 29 cloth armor can easily go for over 20g.