In 2007, hundreds-of-thousands of World of Warcraft players purchased Gold in exchange for real money. The “Real-Money Trading” industry (RMT as it is known) has reacted to this new phenomenon and now hundreds of new RMT companies have been set up.

If you’ve heard the term “RMT” or “Gold Seller” before, it was most likely in a negative context. Many players will tell you of their negative experience with buying Gold, either having Gold deleted from their account (by Blizzard), never having their Gold delivered or, in the worst case, having their account stolen. The increase in rogue companies (due to the industry’s increased success) has lead to the current climate of mistrust between players and the RMT industry.

Like any other marketplace, there are several steps customers can take to protect themselves from illegitimate companies. We have summarized our 5 main rules to follow to ensure you have happy experience when buying Gold:

1. Experts Know What They’re Talking About

You can quickly tell whether or not a company is credible and able to deliver by talking to their Live Support/Chat. Good companies will have their customer service department populated with professional staff who are knowledgeable about MMORPGs; bad companies will have their customer service shipped out to China or India.

If the people you speak to are unwilling to answer general gaming questions (the type you would use to test someone’s knowledge) and become hostile because of it, it’s more than likely because they don’t know what they’re talking about. If they engage you in conversation and know their stuff, you’re good to go!

2. Where Is Your Gold Coming From?

Blizzard attempt to delete all Gold they believe to have been bought from RMT companies. They use a number of different systems and metrics to be able to track Gold and RMT companies must be extremely careful to avoid the Blizzard ban-stick.

The location of the trading character (i.e. the IP address of the account) is the most commonly used factor to ban an account. Put bluntly, if you have Gold traded to you from an account in China, the Gold will likely be deleted within 6 hours. All too often players complain about having Gold deleted from their mailbox or directly from their character soon after it is traded to them.

We strongly advise you find a North American, European and Australasian company to deal with, as this will severely cut your chances of losing Gold post-trade. You can usually tell where a company delivers from by talking to their Live Support; if they sound Chinese, they probably are.

3. The Truth About Delivery Times

The biggest black spot on the RMT industry is the term “Instant Delivery”. As players demand that Gold be delivered quicker and quicker, many leading RMT companies have started advertising “Instant Delivery” of Gold on all servers. This usually means delivery within 30 minutes (stated in the small print) but reports from customers would suggest otherwise.

When buying Gold you should expect to wait anywhere from 1 to 12 hours, and in some cases up to 48 hours. This is due to the stockpiling issue within World of Warcraft – if a company stores too much Gold on a single account, Blizzard will ban it. Therefore, stock levels need to be kept relatively low to avoid massive losses when accounts are banned. Companies such as WoWMine built a large following of new customers in 2007 due to their instant delivery claims, but their inability to deliver on this promise has left their reputation in pieces and with very few loyal customers.

We suggest that you ask the company directly how long Gold will take to deliver. If they give you an estimate between 1 and 12 hours, they are likely a reputable company. If they claim to deliver in less than 5 minutes, move on to the next company.

4. The 3Cs – Customers Confirm Credibility

A method often taught in Sales School is to include customer testimonials in order to display the credibility of a company. The problem customers often face is whether or not this endorsement is truthful. Thankfully most major RMT companies participate with BizRate; an independent ranking system that allows users to rate and review companies. Before you buy Gold from any company we suggest visiting www.BizRate.com and search for the company profile (you can see our profile here). This will give you a good indication of the company’s legitimacy and ability to deliver on their promises.

5. What Can You Do If All Goes Wrong?

Sometimes you follow all the rules, do everything right but still things go wrong. In this case you need to be able to get your money back or make the company deliver as promised. Unfortunately the laws of your country are not universal, so if you buy from a company on the other side of the World, you will find it extremely difficult to demand a refund or threaten them with legal action.

If you follow these guidelines you are much more likely to have a positive buying experience and be able to enjoy spending your piles of Gold. Never leave it up to the chance that everything will go alright – you should always take steps to protect yourself from all situations.

What About MOGS?

The reason we have taken the time to produce this article is two-fold. Firstly, we want all gamers to be fully educated about RMT purchases. There are too many people put off purchasing MMORPG services because of rogue companies who don’t comply to these standards. Secondly, we want to show the World the standards that we live by. We have carved a niche as the only major American RMT company (with ALL our major competitors based in China) by following these guidelines and continuing to delight our customers - check out our BizRate ranking here to see for yourself.