Auctioneer ( AddOn ) Auctioneer is an AddOn that scans and tracks Auction House data , including bid s , buyout prices , and listed quantities . The Auctioneer AddOn was created by . This AddOn is the core of the Auctioneer Suite package of AddOns which includes Auctioneer , BeanCounter , Enchantrix , Informant , and Stubby . The Auctioneer AddOn and Auctioneer Suite compilation are maintained by an international team of active developers lead by and . Usage . Auctioneer obtains its data through scanning the Auction House . Scanning is initiated by the user and no further action is required until the process is complete . There are two different scans possible , a " slow " scan using / Auc Scan or a " fast " scan using / Auc GetAll . The first method , used when clicking the " Scan " button or the " play " button from the " Scan Control Console " , located in the upper left of the " Browse " frame , takes about 10 - 15 minutes , all depending upon the number of items / pages on the Auction House at a given time . When using the " fast forward " button , from the " Scan Control Console " , your client pulls the entire Auction House contents at once , so the scan is extremely fast , taking roughly three to five minutes to complete the scan and the statistical processing . Each client is limited by Blizzard to using the GetAll command once every fifteen minutes . Both scans obtain nearly the same data ; the " GetAll " ignores the name of the seller , which allows its faster speed . Partial scans of a single item may be done from Auctioneer ' s " Post " frame or the " Appraiser " frame , which will quickly compare the price of the item being placed for sale to the current listings / auctions of that item . It is highly recommended that , even when using partial scans , a full " slow " or " fast " scan should be completed roughly each game session or two . Doing so ensures that an accurate price history is recorded for all items , even those a player does not currently have in their inventory . When starting out , users should ignore the pricing recommendations until they have scanned the Auction House once or twice a day for at least a week ; that will allow Auctioneer to gather the data needed to make accurate recommendations . Outside the Auction House , users may mouse over item icons or links to bring up an extended tooltip , which will include a fully configurable set of data . The user can decide to show the Market Price , which uses Probability Distribution Functions from all active statistic modules to recommend a purchase / sales price , numerous outputs from each of the Statistic Modules , and the vendor sales / purchase prices . All are extremely useful when deciding whether to pick a certain quest reward , purchase an item directly from another player , et cetera . The developers take care to help ensure that people are not able to " fool " the statistics by placing some items on the Auction House for outrageously high or low prices . This used to be an issue , but , there are internal functions to help ensure that only the " real " , valid auctions are counted . Keep in mind that , even though steps are taken to ensure that the pricing recommendations are correct , Auctioneer should only be one input into the mind of a user who knows their marketplace ! In addition , there have been many reports that so - called " gold guides " copy much of their information from the Norganna ' s AddOns Wiki and Forums , so users can save their ducats and read the information for free on the official site . Auctioneer is the key component of the Auctioneer Suite , which is the version packaged and uploaded to the main Auctioneer Download page , Curse , and WoWInterface . Com . The Suite is completely modular , so that a user can pick and choose which modules they would like to be active , and which they would prefer not to load / use . Historical Point . In October , 2006 the BottomFeeder portion of Auctioneer was removed due to potential conflicts with botting and automated program policies . The following was released by the creator of auctioneer on the website ' s news page : Norganna - 2006 - 10 - 13 01 : 43 : 53 : " Because of so much dispute amongst whether BottomFeeder is or is not legal , I have contacted Blizzard to see what they thought . I have been informed that this addon does not please them , and they want it gone , so I am voluntarily removing it from this site as of now . " Upon the advent of WoW 2 . x , BottomScanner was added to the Auctioneer Suite , retaining most of BottomFeeder ' s utility ; however , without automatic buying and selling that called its use into question . The BottomScanner functionality was expanded upon and included with the new SearchUI , which was included in the 5 . 2 release of the Auctioneer Suite .