#tradeskillmaster

First, when installing TSM from Curse, you'll find there are several different modules other than the root module. The ones that are necessary to the functionality of TSM are:

Auctioning

Mailing

Crafting

AuctionDB

Accounting

Shopping

There are a couple other, optional modules. The only one I usually install is Destroying, which is extremely convenient for enchanters, scribes, alchemists and jewelcrafters.

This is what TradeSkillMaster looks like right out of the box. It can be extremely daunting, but don't worry. I will be using my fiance's shaman to demonstrate TSM, so please excuse the UI soup. The first thing we'll need to do is import the patterns we want. Hakozu is a Jewelcrafter, so we'll click on the Jewelcrafting tab on the bottom of TSM.

The first time you open your crafting window, you will most likely have to run a full scan of your profession in order for TSM to load the patterns into its database.

If you expand the "Crafts" category on the left-hand side, you will see your profession categories. I started with Red Gems. By default, all patterns will be checked, so you will need to select Uncheck All. Then, place check marks next to current patterns, the ones you would like to craft and sell. Hakozu doesn't have very many rare-quality cuts, so we're going to take the common-quality cuts as well.

Once you have all the patterns you want checked, click on Create Auctioning Groups. The only option you will have to change is to switch "All in Same Group" to "All in Individual Groups." This allows you to set individual override settings on certain patterns rather than lumping all red gem patterns into the same group. 

After you are done putting all the patterns you want into individual groups, then click on the Auctioning Categories/Groups tab in the top left-hand corner of TradeSkillMaster. TSM uses two organizational tools to auction your crafted goods - groups are the thing you craft and categories set the price points. We will need to create categories, then sort our groups into those categories.

Click on Categories/Groups on the left hand side. Then on the right-hand side, click on the Create Category/Group tab. The bottom text box is where you add categories. Simply type in the name of the category - in my case, my first category is named "Lesser Red Cuts" - and press enter. As you can see, all the groups we created are listed as Uncategorized on the left-hand side of our screen.

For this section of the tutorial I realized I forgot to take the necessary screenshots on Hakozu, so I switched over to Miria, my hunter. She is a Leatherworker, so her categories are a little bit different. In order to put your groups into categories, simply click on the newly-created category on the left-hand side of your screen. You will see any groups that are uncategorized on the left, with the groups in this category on the right. Simply click on the group and click Add to put that group in the correct category.

After you have all your groups in categories, the next step is to set price points for our categories. Click on the category in question and click on the Category Overrides tab. Most of these options are pretty self-explanatory except the Threshold, Fallback and Reset Method. Threshold is the point below which no profit is being made. If you know off the top of your head what the market price is for your good, you can put in a specific gold amount below which you don't want to sell your product. Otherwise, I encourage you to set to to 85%/% of Auction DB-Market Value. Fallback is the price you post at when you have no competition. I usually set this as a high price for the item, one that people usually wouldn't pay if your auction wasn't the only one available. Reset Method is what TSM does with your good if the price falls below your threshold. Usually I have this set to Don't Post Items, which means TSM won't post your items at all if the market price falls below your threshold.