WoW Forever Black Market Auction House
The Black Market Auction House came to WoW Forever from modern WoW, and it brought a second goblin with it. One agent auctions rare gear and pets to the highest bidder. The other sells the rarest crafting materials at fixed prices, with no limit, which quietly decides how much a Black Lotus can ever cost on the regular Auction House. Both stand in a small goblin port on the far side of a new zone, so most players will hear about them long before they find them. Below, we show where the Black Market is and how to get there from either faction, how bidding works, what is on the auction since launch and at what opening bids, every item on the fixed-price vendor with its price, the Gift of Galloping mount speed buff, the discounts that work there, and what Blizzard still hasn't explained.
What the Black Market Auction House Is in WoW Forever
The Black Market Auction House (BMAH) first appeared in Mists of Pandaria. It looks like a normal auction house, but players can't list anything on it. A goblin agent puts up a few rare items, everyone bids, and the highest bid when the timer runs out wins. There is no buyout. The gold you pay goes to the NPC, not to another player, so every finished auction removes gold from the game. That is the point: in an interview after launch, the developers called the Black Market a place for gold to go, because without one the game slowly fills with gold and prices inflate.
WoW Forever splits the job between two NPCs, both titled Agent of the Black Market. Madam Swyndle runs the auction. Mister Graphed is a plain vendor: you click, you pay, you get the item. Both are level 60 and belong to the Gadgetzan faction, and both factions can trade with them.
| Detail | Madam Swyndle | Mister Graphed |
|---|---|---|
| What she or he does | Runs the Black Market auction | Sells materials and one consumable at fixed prices |
| How you pay | Bid; highest bid wins when time runs out | Buy outright, no stock limit seen |
| What is on offer | Dungeon Set 1 gear, pets, toys, tabards, a few mounts | 14 rare crafting materials and the Gift of Galloping |
| Location | Powderfuse Port, Riverglades, /way 78.2 51.8 | Same hut, a few steps away |
Where to Find the Black Market Auction House
Both agents share one hut in Powderfuse Port, the neutral goblin town on the east coast of the Riverglades. Type /way 78.2 51.8 if you use a waypoint addon. The Riverglades is a new level 35 to 45 zone between the Badlands, the Burning Steppes and the Redridge Mountains, and Powderfuse Port sits on its sea side, away from both faction towns.
Don't look for the Black Market in Booty Bay or Gadgetzan. Early beta threads guessed both, because the agents carry the Gadgetzan faction tag, but neither town has them.
How to Get to Powderfuse Port
There are two practical ways in, plus a slow one.
- By boat from Tanaris. A goblin ferry runs from Steamwheedle Port on the Tanaris coast straight to Powderfuse Port, and both factions can ride it. This is the easy route for Horde players and for anyone in Kalimdor: south through Thousand Needles into Tanaris, then the boat.
- On foot from Redridge. Alliance players can ride east through the Redridge Mountains and take the new fork toward the Riverglades, then cross the zone to the coast.
- Through the Badlands. It works, but the mobs on the way are around level 40. Beta players who tried it on low-level characters said the boat is far easier.
Our WoW Forever travel routes guide covers every boat and portal in the game, including the Steamwheedle Port ferry.
How Bidding Works at Madam Swyndle
Talk to Madam Swyndle and the Black Market window opens. It lists each lot with its name, level, type, time left, seller (always Madam Swyndle) and the current bid. One lot is shown larger on the right as the Hot Item. At the bottom there is a gold field and a Bid button. That's it: no buyout button, no way to post your own items.
Bidding is simple. You either match the opening bid or type a higher amount, and anyone can outbid you until the timer runs out. Whoever holds the highest bid at that moment wins the item.
This is what the lots looked like on the live servers and in the beta:
- Few lots at a time. In the first week on the live servers the window showed five lots: four Dungeon Set 1 pieces at 400 gold and a Dark Whelpling at 100 gold as the Hot Item. In the beta players saw anywhere from one to seven.
- Daily rotation. In the beta lots were replaced roughly once a real day. Blizzard hasn't confirmed a schedule for the live servers.
- Long timers. The Time Left column only ever showed Long or Very Long, in the beta and on the live servers alike, so a lot you see in the evening is usually still open the next day.
- Opening bid is a floor. A lot can sell close to its opening bid when nobody else wants it. In the beta a Tabard of Frost went for 105 gold and a trading card tabard for 231 gold, while a rare mount with a 3,000 gold opening bid was expected to end much higher.
Since Forever has no realms, the bigger open question is who you are bidding against. Blizzard hasn't said whether a lot is shared by your whole region, your ruleset or something smaller. We list this and the other unknowns at the end of the guide.
Black Market Auction House Items and Opening Bids
Lots fall into three groups, and each group opens at its own fixed price. Cosmetic items start at 100 gold. Dungeon Set 1 pieces, the Tier 0 armor from Classic, start at 400 gold, and they make up most of the auction at launch. Rare mounts opened at 3,000 gold in the beta.
The developers said they kept the launch offer conservative, with only a few mounts and pets. Their example of who the Black Market is for: a player who has killed Darkmaster Gandling several times and still has no helm from him.
| Lot type | Opening bid | Examples seen |
|---|---|---|
| Pets, toys and tabards | 100g | Dark Whelpling (live), Sprite Darter Egg, Hippogryph Hatchling, Cat Carrier (Black Tabby), Parrot Cage (Green Wing Macaw), Flowery Lashling Bud, Wilted Lashling Bud, Carved Ogre Idol, Perpetual Purple Firework, Tabard of Flame, Tabard of Frost |
| Dungeon Set 1 (Tier 0) pieces | 400g | Boots of Elements, Vest of Elements, Coif of Elements, Pauldrons of Elements, Magister's Crown, Magister's Robes, Magister's Leggings, Dreadmist Mantle, Dreadmist Robe, Devout Crown, Devout Robe, Devout Sandals, Beaststalker's Mantle, Beaststalker's Pants, Beaststalker's Boots, Shadowcraft Spaulders, Shadowcraft Tunic, Wildheart Boots, Helm of Valor |
| Rare mounts | 3,000g in the beta | Deathcharger's Reins (beta only), Riding Turtle (late beta) |
Every Dungeon Set 1 piece binds when picked up, so you can't win one and sell it on. The mount was different: Deathcharger's Reins is account-wide in Forever, so one win would cover every character on your account. It showed up on the Black Market in the first days of the beta, and players objected that a mount people farmed in dozens of Stratholme runs should not be for sale. The developers confirmed that it is not on the Black Market at launch, so you have to farm Baron Rivendare for it, though they didn't rule out adding it later.
Dungeon Set 1 pieces in Forever also carry reworked set bonuses. Hover any piece above to see them.
Expect the list to change. Blizzard hasn't published the full loot pool, and the developers described the launch offer as a careful start, so more mounts and pets may come later.
Mister Graphed: Fixed-Price Materials
Mister Graphed stands next to Madam Swyndle and sells 14 crafting materials plus the Gift of Galloping. Nothing rotates and nothing runs out: his list shows no stock counter on the live servers, and in the beta players bought stacks of Black Lotus without hitting a limit.
Nine of his materials carry the Scarce tag: a new Forever tag for rare materials that drop now and then while you gather or skin. The other five are top level 60 materials, Black Lotus and Arcane Crystal among them. Prices follow the tier of the material. Item level 25 materials cost 5 gold, item level 45 ones 20 gold, and every level 60 material, Black Lotus and Arcane Crystal included, costs 50 gold.
| Item | Price | Item level |
|---|---|---|
| Pristine Leather | 5g | 25 |
| Frilled Lichen | 5g | 25 |
| Pyrite | 5g | 25 |
| Pristine Hide | 20g | 45 |
| Rosecap | 20g | 45 |
| Bauxite | 20g | 45 |
| Pristine Scale | 50g | 60 |
| Stranglevine | 50g | 60 |
| Pitchblende | 50g | 60 |
| Death Lotus | 50g | 60 |
| Fel Crystal | 50g | 60 |
| Torbernite | 50g | 60 |
| Black Lotus | 50g | 60 |
| Arcane Crystal | 50g | 60 |
| Gift of Galloping | 150g | 60 |
How the Price Cap Shapes the Auction House
The vendor matters even if you never buy from him. Nobody pays 80 gold for a Black Lotus on the Auction House when a goblin sells unlimited Lotus for 50. In the interview after launch, the developers explained that they added him because some reagent kept going crazy in price, and a vendor lets them set a ceiling instead of spawning more of it.
A ceiling is not a price, though. In the first week the Auction House sold everything on his list for much less. This is what our European scan showed on November 10:
| Item | Mister Graphed | Auction House, November 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Pristine Leather | 5g | about 5s, over 3,000 listed |
| Pyrite | 5g | about 2s, over 1,000 listed |
| Pristine Hide | 20g | about 3s, over 2,800 listed |
| Rosecap | 20g | about 18s |
| Stranglevine | 50g | about 1g 75s |
| Pristine Scale | 50g | about 3g |
| Arcane Crystal | 50g | 20g |
| Black Lotus | 50g | 25g to 40g, 11 listed |
Thousands of players leveled gathering professions at once, and the Scarce materials piled up. At these prices buy from the Auction House, not from the goblin, and treat his list only as the most you will ever pay.
For gatherers, the ceiling means Black Lotus and Arcane Crystal will never reach Classic prices, so don't plan a farm around them. The low-level Scarce materials may climb back later: in the beta they dropped only for gatherers of level 25 or below, so once the launch crowd outlevels those zones, fewer of them reach the Auction House. Even then, the 5 gold vendor price is the most they can be worth. Until then, sell them at the market price, which still beats the 1 silver a vendor pays for Pyrite.
Our WoW Forever gold making guide shows which gathering and crafting professions still pay with these caps in place.
Gift of Galloping
The Gift of Galloping is the one non-material item on the list. It costs 150 gold, requires level 60 and binds when picked up. Use it and your mounted speed goes up by 10% for 360 hours, or 15 days, on top of every other mount speed bonus you have, including Carrot on a Stick.
The timer counts real time. Log off for a week and a week of the buff is gone. Play an hour a day, and 150 gold buys you about 15 hours of faster riding.
The tooltip says Unique (10), which means you can carry up to ten. Nobody in the beta showed two Gifts stacking on one character, so plan on one active buff.
To get your first mount and riding training out of the way, see our WoW Forever mounts guide, which lists every riding rank and its cost.
Black Market Discounts: Bartering and Gadgetzan Reputation
Two discounts are worth knowing about before you spend hundreds of gold here.
Bartering is a Legacy perk that cuts the gold price of items from every vendor by 10%. It works on Mister Graphed, which turns a 50 gold Black Lotus into a 45 gold one. Since the October 15 beta build, Bartering no longer discounts training or repairs, only vendor purchases. Bids at Madam Swyndle are not vendor purchases, and nothing suggests Bartering lowers them. Read our WoW Forever Legacy Points guide to see where Bartering fits among the other Legacy perks.
The second discount is a theory. Both agents belong to the Gadgetzan faction, so a few players planned to reach Honored with Gadgetzan on top of Bartering and buy Black Lotus at 40 gold. Nobody showed a reputation discount working at Mister Graphed in the beta.
Black Market Tips
These are the habits that came out of the beta and the first week. Most of them are about Mister Graphed, because that is the side of the Black Market most players will actually use.
- Park a character in Powderfuse Port. Lots change about once a day. A low-level alt logged out in the hut lets you check them without crossing the Riverglades every time. Characters as low as level 20 opened the Black Market window in the beta, and level 38 characters use it on the live servers.
- Read the opening bid as a starting point. A Dungeon Set 1 piece opens at 400 gold, but a popular piece can end well above that once other players want it too.
- Check the Auction House before you buy from the goblin. In the first week every material on his list was cheaper there, most of them by far.
- Buy Black Lotus and Arcane Crystal from Mister Graphed only when the Auction House asks more than 50 gold. With Bartering, more than 45.
- Skip the Gift of Galloping on a casual schedule. The buff runs out while you are offline.
- Win only what you will use. Dungeon Set 1 pieces bind when picked up, so a Black Market armor piece can't be resold if you change your mind.
If you'd rather not grind the gold for a big bid yourself, you can buy WoW Forever gold from us.
What Is Still Unknown
A week after launch, Blizzard still hasn't spelled out all of the Forever Black Market rules, so several of them are guesswork.
- Who you bid against. Forever has no realms. Blizzard hasn't said whether a lot is shared by the whole region, by your ruleset (Normal, PvP and later Hardcore) or by smaller groups.
- Exact rotation time. Lots changed about once a day in the beta. A specific reset hour circulates in videos, but no one confirmed it in Forever.
- What happens when you are outbid. In modern WoW the gold comes back by mail, but Blizzard hasn't documented it for Forever.
- The full loot pool. Dungeon Set 1 pieces and pets are on the auction at launch, and Deathcharger's Reins is not. Blizzard hasn't said which of the other beta lots, such as trading card mounts and tabards, will come back.
More WoW Forever Gold Guides
The Black Market is one piece of the Forever economy. These guides cover the rest:
WoW Forever Black Market Auction House FAQ
These are the questions players ask most about the Black Market.
Where is the Black Market Auction House in WoW Forever?
In Powderfuse Port, the goblin town on the east coast of the Riverglades, at /way 78.2 51.8. Madam Swyndle runs the auction and Mister Graphed sells fixed-price materials in the same hut.
Can I buy items outright on the Black Market?
Only from Mister Graphed. Madam Swyndle's lots are bid-only; there is no buyout.
How much does a Black Lotus cost in WoW Forever?
Mister Graphed sells it for 50 gold with no purchase limit, or 45 gold with the Bartering Legacy perk. That price caps what it sells for on the Auction House, where it went for 25 to 40 gold in the first week.
Can you buy Deathcharger's Reins on the Black Market in WoW Forever?
Not at launch. It was on the Black Market for 3,000 gold in the first days of the beta, but the developers took it off, so you have to farm Baron Rivendare in Stratholme for it. They didn't rule out adding it later.
What is the Gift of Galloping?
A 150 gold consumable from Mister Graphed that adds 10% mounted speed for 15 days of real time. It needs level 60 and stacks with other mount speed bonuses.
Can Horde players use the Black Market?
Yes. Both agents are neutral, and Horde players reach Powderfuse Port by boat from Steamwheedle Port in Tanaris.
Is there a level requirement for the Black Market?
No level gate was seen for opening the window: level 20 characters browsed it in the beta, and level 38 characters use it on the live servers. Most of the gear needs level 54 to 58 to equip, and the Gift of Galloping needs level 60.
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