Cheap Saronite Ore?

Recently I've noticed the market price of Saronite Ore dropping like a rock and decided that I needed to take advantage of it. Leaving too much ore available at low prices will depress the prices of Infinite Dust, Titanium Bar, and Bold Scarlet Ruby, among other things. Since I'm heavily involved in these markets, I've got a vested interest in supporting the prices.

I found 100 stacks of Saronite Ore on the AH at a buyout price of 12g50s. Since I'm currently well stocked on Infinite Dust and Titanium Bars I decided that I wasn't really interested in either Prospecting/Shuffling or Transmuting that much of it. Being a little low on Cardinal Rubies I prospected 40 stacks of it to resupply, leaving myself with 60 stacks. So I smelted it into bars and sold it to the closest vendor. I queued up the smelting and walked away to do some work around the house. At 25g per stack of Saronite Bar, I'm just breaking even on this.

Even though I won't make a single copper on those 60 stacks directly, I've likely made significant gold by keeping those cheap mats out of circulation.

Has anyone else ever purchased at break even or a loss just to regulate the market?

Work with Your Guildies

Just because you don't have every profession in the game is no reason to not use them to profit if the opportunity is available. The odds are good that someone you know has the skill you need and isn't using it as a source of income. Many people level their professions just to get the profession bonus for their main toon and never craft single item with the intent of posting it on the AH. If you can find a profitable item and a friendly crafter in your guild you can move into a market without the hassle of picking up a profession yourself.

One example of this that I frequently use is the Arcanite Rod. Used by levelling enchanters, these are in near constant demand on my server and yet rarely found on the AH. Since I don't have a Blacksmith, I've made an arrangement with one in my guild. I send him enough mats to make between 10 and 20 per week, paying him 5g per rod for his time.

Cost of Mats = Approx 32g(4x Dense Stone, 3x Arcanite Bar)
Tip per Item = 5g
Total Cost = 37g
Market Price = 55g
Total Profit = 18g(not including AH cut)

In this scenario we have a happy crafter who is now making some money with his rarely used profession, and a happy gold gobbler turning a profit with a minimum of effort. This particular item may not be the most profitable on your server, but the same strategy can be applied to almost any market where an opportunity exists.

Use your Alts Wisely

Serious gold making players almost always have a line-up of alts to leverage the different professions available to them and it's important to make the right choices for which professions to take. It's not critical to have every profession, but the difference in profitability increases exponentially the more markets you have available to you. So what's the best way to go about choosing which professions to take?
Do your market research for your particular realm. Not all realm economies are created equal, and for that matter the faction economies on each realm tend to vary widely. Use Auctioneer scans for a few weeks to get a good feel for what will sell and identify areas that are currently under served by your realm's crafters. Professions that pair well together:

Alchemy/Herbalism
Skinning/Leatherworking
Jewelcrafting/Enchanting
Mining/Jewelcrafting
Mining/Blacksmithing
Enchanting/Tailoring
Herbalism/Inscription

You don't necessarily need to pair professions like this, it all depends on your server. If cheap mats are consistently available on your AH, then replacing a gathering profession with another crafting profession may be the way to go. However, one thing that should be avoided is redundant professions. I read a post earlier this week from an alleged gold guru who stated this was his gold making "machine":

Toon1 - Mining/Jewelcrafting
Toon2 - Mining/Blacksmithing
Toon3 - Mining/Alchemy
Toon4- Mining/Tailoring
Toon5 - Herbalism/Inscription

To me, this seems like a lost opportunity. Why have 4 toons with 450 mining when one can do the job equally well? I would drop mining on three of them and replace them with Transmute specced alchemists to take advantage of the epic gem transmutes, leaving my list looking like this:

Toon1 - Alchemy(transmute)/Jewelcrafting
Toon2 - Alchemy(transmute)/Blacksmithing
Toon3 - Mining/Alchemy(Elixir)
Toon4- Alchemy(transmute)/Tailoring
Toon5 - Herbalism/Inscription

Even with the recent changes to the epic gem market, this would still prove a more profitable set-up.