Today, I wanted to take this opportunity to share the results of my recent commodity flipping. Most of the sales posted are regarding markets I’ve recently shared with you. With any luck, you’ve joined in and have your own stories to tell.
It’s finally here, the Umbral Ink Shuffle. You’re probably wondering, what do you mean it’s here? In Shadowlands, the primary ink we can trade is Umbral Ink. We need the valuation of Umbral Ink to be low enough to make the shuffle worthwhile, and with Umbral Ink averaging 48g on E.U, that moment is finally here.
Before my extended break, you might have read a snippet from my previous post regarding the potential of using the new Shadowlands Ink Traders to shuffle Umbral Ink for Old World Inks. The prices for certain Old World Inks have since gone up in value over the last couple of weeks. The drastic changes could result from the new shuffle or players merely using Old World herbs and pigments to craft their own Old World Inks for crafting or selling.
Before I get started, the valuations used in this guide are from The Undermine Journal (TUJ) and for the region, EU. They are also an EU Median Price. Median is the average price of an item for the region, not the realm. Before you follow any advice detailed below, I urge you to check The Undermine Journal for the exact valuations for the items mentioned for your region and (more importantly) your realm. Failure to adhere to this advice will return incorrect values and incorrect profit margins. Also, consider crafting Umbral Inks for greater profit if Umbral Pigment is cheap enough.
If you read my post from August 2020 about the Roseate Pigment shuffle, you’d have shuffled and stocked up many Old World Inks in preparation for Shadowlands. Many who used this method might have finally sold off their inventory/stock and now use the new shuffle or alternative means. If this is the case, this could explain the increase in prices too. Roseate Pigment was as cheap as 15g on average before Shadowlands released, meaning 30g-45g (or greater) for Old World Inks was a lucrative shuffle. Now Umbral Ink is approximately 40-50g, and we’d need to sell shuffled Old World Inks at 75g or above to make this a viable/profitable shuffle too.
For the readers unfamiliar with this shuffle, here’s a brief breakdown.
Purchase/Craft Umbral Ink
Visit your nearest Ink Trader.
Option 1) Trade one Umbral Ink for one profitable Common Ink.
Option 2) Trade Ten Umbral Inks for one Uncommon Ink (*)
(*) I don’t believe option 2 to be profitable at this time.
In alphabetical order. Price = The Undermine Journal’s (EU Median Price) Average price by the region!
Because Scribes require the above Inks for leveling Inscription and are necessary for crafting Glyphs, these would be in high demand. If these valuations concur with your realms valuations, I suggest using this shuffle, but only for the inks profitable on your realm.
Inks that could become profitable at a later date.
Common Inks:
Uncommon Inks: (remember to calculate 10x Umbral Ink for 1 Uncommon Ink with this trade)
If this shuffle isn’t profitable for you on your realm, please be patient. Umbral Ink’s valuation will continue to fall further as the quantity outgrows the demand, otherwise known as supply and demand. The population of your realm will also dictate Umbral Inks valuation, as outlined below.
Example:
Outland – Umbral Ink (20g) High pop
Azuremyst – Umbral Ink (219g) Low Pop
With a new patch on the horizon and potentially many players following this guide, Umbral Ink’s supply may fall and not meet the current demands, slowly increasing its valuation. I urge you to adapt to any future changes and monitor this market closely. Immediately stop using the shuffle if it becomes unprofitable.
The ink trader shuffle has been a steady stream of income over previous expansions, and early signs show that the Umbral Ink shuffle in Shadowlands will be just as profitable. As more people get into this market, we may see a fluctuation in Umbral Ink’s value – the ink’s supply and demand and the emergence of a new patch will ultimately dictate this. We must monitor this market and immediately adapt to any changes in price, failure to adapt will lead us to lose gold and potentially lose any profit gained.
Thank you to Wowhead for use of their data. All links for items within my blog, direct you to their site. This helps the reader understand the items within my guides.
If you have any questions regarding this guide or want to share your experiences or success stories, please comment below. Please remember there are measures in place when commenting, and I will need to approve it before it’s published – this is to protect the website and those that read the content from potential malicious comments. Although not necessary, but if you appreciate my work, (and in a financial position to do so) please consider donating towards the upkeep of this website! Alternatively, sharing my blog/post using the ‘sharing tools’ below is beneficial too.
Thanks for reading!
