Can you buy WoW accounts?

This article will answer the question "Can you buy WoW accounts?" and if so, how to do that, and how to do it safely. We recognize that many people may be unfamiliar, apprehensive, or uncertain about the prospect of buying a WoW account or an account for any other game for that matter, and we want to make sure you have all the correct information before making a purchase. This article reflects the opinions and experiences of AccountShark.net, but we will try to keep it as unbiased as possible to give you the most accurate insight. 

The simple answer to the question is: YES! You can in fact buy WoW accounts. At AccountShark, you can buy WoW accounts for both retail and Classic WoW. The account industry has existed since the dawn of online gaming itself. Although to many people the thought of buying an account may seem daunting, or even wrong, there are millions of players globally who engage in buying accounts or other gaming related services and items daily. There is no question about whether it is or isn't possible. The industry itself would not have existed for years otherwise. Buying an account is something people consider when they lose their own account due to a ban and don't want to restart their progress, need an "alt" character to raid with to meet their guild's needs, for lack of time to spend weeks or months grinding content just to get ahead, or to simply unlock a larger collection cosmetic items such as mounts, titles, and transmog. It is not recommended for brand new players to buy accounts, simply because there is nothing better than being brand new to WoW and experiencing it for the first time. The reason WoW has retained its popularity for years is because people are attached to their earliest memories in the game. You will enjoy your time in the game more by leveling up, making friends, and experiencing old content for yourself for the first time more than simply jumping into what the "endgame" has to offer.

How do you buy WoW accounts?

There are a couple ways in which you can go about buying a WoW account. The most common method to buy a WoW account is through a reputable, specialized website. These sites typically know what they are doing and have streamlined the process to make it easy, quick, and safe for you - the buyer. These sites generally buy accounts from the sellers themselves and resell them on their own platforms. Other sites function as "auction" sites and allow individuals to list their accounts for sale there while taking a cut of the proceeds. The auction style sites are arguably less safe than the alternatives who buy accounts and resell them due to the fact that they are not personally "investing" in each account listed for sale on their platform or reviewing every seller who advertises an account for sale. Not all account selling sites are created equal, and you should verify their reputations online using forums. A forum is significant because a legitimate account shop will have an online presence there with verifiable feedback. If a website does not have a forum presence, there is probably a reason for that, and you should exercise caution.

AccountShark.net has a presence on the largest gaming marketplace forums in the world: EpicNPC and OwnedCore. These types of forums hold all their sellers, buyers, and members accountable for their transactions. This means that if an issue arises with a transaction, the issue can be reported publicly on the forums until it is resolved or someone is banned. A solid forum presence and lack of public disputes means a seller or marketplace is reliable and can be trusted. 

The second method for buying a WoW account is to buy directly from the player themself without the use of an intermediary marketplace like AccountShark.net or elsewhere. Maybe your friend or guild mate is quitting the game and has expressed interest in possibly selling their account. Buying from someone you trust like a friend is a great way to buy an account. There is no substitute for peace of mind! To a lot of players who quit, selling their account out of lack of interest in the game or boredom is a great way for them to recoup some of the time and effort they've invested. It's a way for them to "get something" for all their hard work. You can also browse eBay, forums, and even Craigslist for accounts to buy.

There are pros and cons to both ways to buy WoW accounts. Buying from a website means you will probably be paying a higher price than you would be paying from an individual. That's because the business has to turn a profit on their investment and also justify the cost of coverage for the buyer in case something happens to the account later on. At AccountShark, we do not charge extra for insurance - your coverage is automatically included in the price of your purchase. Insurance and warranties are a great bonus and incentive for buying from a reputable website like AccountShark.net or others. When you buy directly from the player themself, this is not included, and if that person is a stranger then you may run into issues in the future. While it might be cheaper to buy from an individual directly, you are not covered in the event of that person deciding to scam you weeks, months, or years into the future. Websites like ours properly review accounts and the sellers themselves for any red flags. While issues can arise, they are rare, and mitigated heavily by the best safe-practices in the industry. 

Based on this information, the best and most effective way to buy WoW accounts would be to use a reputable, specialized website. While you might spend a little extra, the cost of having peace of mind knowing you are covered in the event of an issue, and the comfort of having a reliable, knowledgable source for support is invaluable. If you do choose to buy off a third-party, make sure you are buying from someone you know and trust. 

Is it safe to buy WoW accounts?

The risks involved with buying an account are few, but they are significant and should be discussed. The primary issue is called an account recall, which is where the person who sold the account originally (who is referred to as the Original Owner) recovers their account through Blizzard's ticket system. This is a rare occurrence, but it can always happen nonetheless. When buying an account from a website, most sites offer some form of insurance as we discussed earlier that cover you in the event of a recall. You should ask whatever website your using to buy a WoW account what their policy on this is, and make sure you are protected. When buying an account from a third-party, you don't have the same protections against a recall. If you buy from the Original Owner themselves, and they are the only ones who can recall their account, who will cover you in the event of them deciding to do that? Nobody. 

The second risk is a potential ban. Can you be banned for buying WoW accounts? While this is extremely rare and unlikely, it is not out of the question entirely. Malicious friends or guildmates of the Original Owner, or even your own friends, could always report you if they find out you bought an account and don't agree with the decision. While this may only result in a warning, or nothing at all, you should always be cautious of who you share information with if you're unsure how they would feel. Sometimes account buyers can expose themselves by making it obvious that they bought an account and draw unwanted attention to themselves that could lead to repercussions. Bans related to botting is also a possibility, but much less common in 2021 as it was in the past. A seller could have bottled on the account to gear it up or get it to level cap quickly While banwaves have happened in the past for account sharing, the large majority of people who buy accounts will never have a single issue, or even receive a warning. In our experience, we have never witnessed anyone be banned for simply buying an account.

Buying a WoW account from a specialized website like AccountShark remains the safer option with both of these risks in mind. A properly ran website will have policies, agreements, and practices in place to ensure the accounts they are buying and subsequently offering for sale are as safe as possible for buyers. Although for the most part it is impossible to always be certain of a seller's intentions or account's safety, websites like AccountShark.net take every necessary precaution to thoroughly review sellers and their accounts before buying them and listing them for sale. We make sure all sellers are the Original Owner of the account they're selling and require them to sign an agreement with our company prior to selling their account to ensure that they understand the terms of the transaction, and outline any repercussions they may face if the contract is violated. Websites want to mitigate risk as much for themselves as much as for the buyer since it costs us time and money to investigate claims, remedy issues, and payout compensation for unresolved problems, so it makes sense why they would take those extra steps to make sure an account is as safe as possible.

Alternatively, buying from a third-party individual does not include the same benefits. If you buy an account from the Original Owner themselves, they may decide they "miss" they game after a period of time and want to come back to it. Rather than buy a new account for themselves or start a new account, they will most likely just recover their old one. After all, they sold it to you, not a company, and they don't believe you will do anything to stop them from getting it back. In many cases, they will just keep the money you paid them for the account as well. While this is fraud by definition, and a scam, it is much more difficult for an individual to pursue any recourse for a loss like this than it would be for a website who is more familiar in the field. It is also difficult to determine if you are actually buying an account from an Original Owner themselves, or if the Original Owner has sold and recovered their account in the past. You could be the second, third, or sixth owner, and unless you know how to verify that, it is difficult to know if you are getting true and correct information from the seller. Here are some things you can do to more safely buy a WoW account from a third-party individual:

• Review past tickets before you buy. Make sure your account has not been recovered or hacked in the past.
• Have the seller verify themself as the Original Owner. 
• Get all account information from the seller. Email, password, security question answer are all mandatory. Old CD keys, while not necessary, are nice to have.
• Get an agreement from the seller in writing and have them acknowledge that the sale of their account is final.
• Make sure the seller has cleared his friends list and left his guild.
• Immediately transfer your character to a new server and change it's name. Choose a new faction if you'd like. 
• Change the email and password associated with the account.

In order to verify a seller as the Original Owner, you may need to request they provide you with an ID or passport photo. This is a standard practice in the industry and most sellers expect this. However, you should keep in mind that regardless of what information you receive, a seller will always be able to recover their account and you will not be able to "recover it back" from them using the same information. Blizzard requires anyone recovering an account to provide timestamped verification that they are the Original Owner of an account, and no one except them will ever be able to produce this information. 

While none of these things will guarantee that you will not have an issue in the future, they help mitigate any unnecessary risks. It is impossible to fully eliminate the risk of an account recall, but it does not hurt to take extra precautions and cover all your bases when you are spending any amount of money on a new account.

Can I buy WoW characters?

You can buy WoW characters too! Buying a WoW character is actually a safer alternative to buying a whole account. This is because that in order to buy a WoW character it has to get moved to a brand new Battle.net account entirely separate from the original. In order to transfer a character to a new account, the names on the account must match. You can add any email, password, and security question you like to the new account. While it is not possible to update the name on a WoW account, you are are much safer buying a character instead of a whole account for a couple reasons.

The primary reason is that the Original Owner most likely will keep his "main" account in lieu of transferring off one of his characters for you. This means that the new account will be one that he does not have access to, or the information for (besides the email, which is required to initiate the transfer). If they tried to recover the new account, they would basically admit to Blizzard that they sold their character since they authorized the transfer from their main account to begin with. This would most likely lead to them just getting themselves banned, so it's very unlikely that anyone would even try. Additionally, selling just one character does not leave them without an account entirely, so they can still play normally and make a new character without ever wishing they had an account to come back to. This gives you, the buyer, peace of mind knowing that you won't have to worry about them wanting their account back down the line. 

How to buy WoW characters?

Buying a WoW character is easy. In order to buy a character, you first must create a brand new account under the same name as the original account. You can select your own password, email, and security question answer - only the full name needs to match. This is typically the Original Owner's name. Once that's done, the Original Owner or seller will initiate a transfer of the character from the main account to the new one. The transfer includes a new server change of your choice and a free character name change if the name is reserved on the server you choose. The name can be reserved in advance by making a level one on the same faction with the original character's name to ensure it gets flagged to be changed when the transfer is done. The transfer process generally takes about 20-30 minutes to finalize. 

What transfers with a WoW character?

The only things that transfer with a character are:

• Any items in the character's inventory (bags, bank, or void storage), and any currently equipped items.
• Mounts are NEVER transferable. Including gladiator mounts. The only mounts that transfer are dungeon and raid "Glory of..." achievement mounts (i.e. Rusted Proto-Drake, Volcanic Stone Drake, Violet Proto-Drake, Heavenly Crimson Cloud Serpent, Spawn of Galakras, Infernal Direwolf, etc.)
• Character-specific titles transfer, while others do not.
• Transmog sets are transferable as long as they are physically present in the character's inventory. Certain transmog sets like MoP CM sets can be purchased from the appropriate vendor if the character itself earned the appropriate achievement for unlocking the set. 
• Legion Elite PvP sets can be purchased in Dalaran if the character earned the appropriate achievement for that specific season. BfA and Shadowlands Elite PvP sets can not be transferred without the physical pieces in the character's inventory.
• Mythic+ scores do not transfer across accounts.
• Rated PvP rankings do not transfer across accounts. 

While the things that transfer with a character are limited, if what you need is transferable, buying a WoW character is a secure and cheaper way to get what you need without the potential risk of buying a whole account. This is a great solution for players needed to buy a new geared character to raid with, or for someone looking to play on a character with a specific transmog set or title without paying for all the extra fluff that a whole account includes. 

Is buying WoW accounts worth it?

With everything we've discussed in mind, only you can decide whether buying a WoW account is worth it or not. If your guild needs you to swap classes on short notice and you don't have time to level up and gear a character, buying an account might be a better option than buying a "boost" that could get you banned in the process. If you missed out on a rare transmog or Legacy mount, or just didn't play back when it was available, buying an account would be a great way to get exactly what you want. If you have a low-risk tolerance, buying a WoW account might not be the best idea for you. 

If you need a safe place to buy WoW accounts, AccountShark.net is here to help! Check out our huge selection of WoW accounts and characters today today.