Every day we see three to five threads about people having money problems. We see an equal number of threads about ways to make money. Most of them focus on farming and there are also quite a few about NM monster camping.
The thing about farming is that for most people its tedious and boring. NM hunting is even worse because it is tedious, nerve racking and may have no payoff at all. Does that mean that I don't think people should make money this way? Of course not. If it works for you, then do it. But this thread is aimed at people who hate farming and hate NM camping.
Every once in a while people will talk about working the AH like the stock market, but to date I have never seen anyone explain exactly how it works. So here goes:
WORKING THE VENDORS
The first way to make money off the AH is to find items that sell for much less at the vendor. A great example is the en-spells for RDM. They sell for 1,500-,3500 at the vendor in Selbina, and frequently go for double to triple that when sold at the AH.
Scrolls are by far the best item to do this with because they are consumable. Every mage will need certain spells, and they can never sell them back at the AH so this elimates some of your competition.
The higher the base value of the scroll the more profit you are likely to make, but the slower it will sell. So in my case I will, for example, buy various bar scrolls in Jeuno and sell them for a modest profit in each of the starting cities. On my main I will sell higher end scrolls in Jeuno that I buy in cities like Selbina or Raboa. The En spells are a great example.
Working vendors is a great way to make profit, but it is also highly competitive. I made great money on bar scrolls for a long time, but eventually the profit margin dropped because more people were doing it. But there are always other scrolls (like poison) that you can do this with!
Remember that when a city is in last place it loses access to many items that are still available elsewhere. Importing things like scrolls will net you a tidy profit.
BUY IN BASTOK, SELL IN WINDY
Buying from vendors is not the only way to use the AH. Things like Conquest items always sell for less in their home city. So if you pick up some low level conquest items from the AH in Bastok you can often double your money if you sell them in Windy. Another great example is things like Warp, Drain and Aspir. You can make great money by doing the quest, but you can make even more by selling it in a city other than the one where you do the quest. For example Drain sells for 20k in Sandy, and 36k in Windy.
SPECULATION
This is the most difficult, but also one of the most rewarding ways to make money off the AH. It takes a lot of forethought, and you also run the rist of being wrong so use this with care.
The process is simple. Buy an item that you think is going to become more valuable, and sit on it til the price goes up.
For example I recently played BRD up to 55th level, and so I took the time to look ahead and see what my spells were going for. I noticed that Mage's Ballad 2 was going for about 30k. I also noticed that I was having a difficult time getting into parties because there were at least 8 BRDs in my level range.
Since each and every one would need Mage's Ballad 2, and there were rarely any for sale it stood to reason that the price would go up. So I bought all the copies of Mage's Ballad that came available. Then waited a week. Sure enough the price leapt up to 80k. So I sold all three of mine for between 70-80k and made around 150k profit.
I sold at the right time, but in the week since then prices have fallen back to 40k. Why? Because other people saw the sudden price change and farmed Mage's Ballad to cash in on it. The supply increased, and since most of the BRDs in that level range had their scroll the demand decreased.
I hope these tips help. Some people may notice that I did not give too many specific examples of items, but that's not because I am protecting any sort of secret. Different items go for different amounts on each server, and you are going to have to find out for yourself where the profit lies.
This whole process takes some getting used to, but with mules I spend 30 minutes each morning setting up auctions and when I come home at night usually net around 50-100k. So give it a try and save yourself countless hours of farming!
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How I made 2 million gil by working the AHFollow
/em claps
Good one Ark!
But how do I make millions of gils without any effort? That's what I really want to know! ;) j/k
Great alternative to repetitive-strain moneymaking. From your experience what sort of startup capital do you need? Do you think it's feasable with 2k? 10k? 50k?
Good one Ark!
But how do I make millions of gils without any effort? That's what I really want to know! ;) j/k
Great alternative to repetitive-strain moneymaking. From your experience what sort of startup capital do you need? Do you think it's feasable with 2k? 10k? 50k?
The best way to get started is to make 10-20k gil for capital. I did this by doing the Warp and Drain quests, but things like Selbina Clay and similar quests can provide this capital. Or you could even start a job at level 1 and farm crystals.
If you are 20+ BCNM can be a great way to make capital as well, though BCNM 40 has the best payoff with Erase and Phalanx.
If you are 20+ BCNM can be a great way to make capital as well, though BCNM 40 has the best payoff with Erase and Phalanx.
This all makes sense, but to make millions doing this involves a very long period of time, and forget spending money on armor or weapons, because there goes all the money you just saved up.
It would work if this is all you did and did not play the game =(
It would work if this is all you did and did not play the game =(
Once you know what sells, buying it and mailing it to the right mule takes very little time. I spend no more than 30 minutes each morning and 30 minutes when I get home from work doing this each day, and currently I pull in roughly 50k every day.
From your sig it looks like you spend a LOT more time than that camping NMs...
From your sig it looks like you spend a LOT more time than that camping NMs...
just a slight correction:
not less in their home city... less FROM their home city. You can go to any nation and the CP points are the same for the same items (you just have to talk to your consolate's signet guard). Its only the other nations stuff that costs more CP's. So you could go to windy's Bastok Consolate, buy something with CP points for same as you would in bastok, sell in windy before you leave. This way you're not wasting a trip just for this, but you're doing it while you're in town.
EDIT:
The spells idea is very good to. However, I've noticed you can purchase en spells in windy waters, so therefore, this trick really only works with bastok and sandy. Apparently, news of this trick travels fast as there's 2 - 3 spells on AH at a time and they sell at about 1 or 2 per week. I have noticed that with the II spells, I can turn a lil better profit. I suggest writing prices of the spells and availability of them before you go. Find which sell the most/best if possible as well (nothing like having 7 slots of spells and equip NOT selling). I found I can buy curaga II for about 11k and sell it for 15k.
Edited, Thu May 27 13:00:24 2004 by ElvaanKrem
Quote:
Things like Conquest items always sell for less in their home city.
not less in their home city... less FROM their home city. You can go to any nation and the CP points are the same for the same items (you just have to talk to your consolate's signet guard). Its only the other nations stuff that costs more CP's. So you could go to windy's Bastok Consolate, buy something with CP points for same as you would in bastok, sell in windy before you leave. This way you're not wasting a trip just for this, but you're doing it while you're in town.
EDIT:
The spells idea is very good to. However, I've noticed you can purchase en spells in windy waters, so therefore, this trick really only works with bastok and sandy. Apparently, news of this trick travels fast as there's 2 - 3 spells on AH at a time and they sell at about 1 or 2 per week. I have noticed that with the II spells, I can turn a lil better profit. I suggest writing prices of the spells and availability of them before you go. Find which sell the most/best if possible as well (nothing like having 7 slots of spells and equip NOT selling). I found I can buy curaga II for about 11k and sell it for 15k.
Edited, Thu May 27 13:00:24 2004 by ElvaanKrem
i also do stuff like this...
someone might say, i'd rather spend time farming, that's guaranteed gil.
but like arkelias said, you spend time learning items and prices, it can pay off too.
i have never really had to farm...i just do it to break up the exp grind. and also just to get to know a zone better (like which part of the zone, what stuff, to farm)
dont know how much ive made but im sitting at 800,000 gil..this is cash..not including my gear and stuff i used up already (like magic scrolls and gob bags and house upgrades)
the other side of this is yes, i dont do exp groups every time i get on. i might be on a whole saturday afternoon w/o once getting into a party. what am i doing?
just exploring, questing, various stuff that in the end doesnt net me any gil or exp points, just knowledge of the game.
all the while stuff at AH is selling (hopefully) and i have more options to buy things as the chance presents itself.
you're sorta right that if we never get higher levels (spend gil), the gil keeps accumulating.
but when you know the ways to make money, you'll always get more money when you need it.
Quote:
It would work if this is all you did and did not play the game =(
Nope. I've been doing several of these things for a while now and am still playing the game. True, equipment upgrades sometimes cut into the amount of "investment gil" that I have available, but it doesn't interfere with my game play. It just slows the amount of profit that I make for the next day or two.
oh... on a side note, this method and repeatable quests are my main source of income. Second would be NM drops and third would be farmed items. I have multiple characters on the same server so I can send stuff out and sell up to 28 items on 3 different AH's at any one given time. If I need quick gil to get a starting capitol, I'll do the kazham airship quest a few times or change to my 28mnk/13thf and farm gil in the Grotto.
This is again all about, it takes money to make money. Actaully, this is exactly how real world companies work. They buy up the competition and sell them, creating a monopoly.
There have already been a lot of people cornering a certain market to make profit, but sometimes it's not neccessary. Same thing with the scroll of Raise II, it went form 90k to being sold for 250k a couple weeks later. Dark Staff prices have been jumping between 420k and 500k. I already bought and sold Dark Staff at low/high prices about 4 or 5 times. When you are looking at items 400k~500k+ a given 50k~100k difference isn't as much as perceived... Of course, it is!
Essentially the more gil you have, the more money making power you command. There are items that swings between 800k ~ 1 mil in the turn of a few days. It all depends if you have the gil to play the market.
Edit: I've gotten to level 56 with high of almost 800k in 29 days play time through these concepts. Sometimes if you are in need of gil, you have to bite the dust and farm for it. However, I avoided it as much as I could ^^; Essentially these are two concepts I've learned: the higher your level = the higher your earning powers. The more gil you have, the more gil you can make. It's kind of a cycle, where it order to keep advancing you need to pay close attention to the economy and market, because each server at each given day is very very different. On the same server, everyone should pay close attention to as many different "market" as possible each day.
Edited, Thu May 27 13:11:35 2004 by uclapaul
There have already been a lot of people cornering a certain market to make profit, but sometimes it's not neccessary. Same thing with the scroll of Raise II, it went form 90k to being sold for 250k a couple weeks later. Dark Staff prices have been jumping between 420k and 500k. I already bought and sold Dark Staff at low/high prices about 4 or 5 times. When you are looking at items 400k~500k+ a given 50k~100k difference isn't as much as perceived... Of course, it is!
Essentially the more gil you have, the more money making power you command. There are items that swings between 800k ~ 1 mil in the turn of a few days. It all depends if you have the gil to play the market.
Edit: I've gotten to level 56 with high of almost 800k in 29 days play time through these concepts. Sometimes if you are in need of gil, you have to bite the dust and farm for it. However, I avoided it as much as I could ^^; Essentially these are two concepts I've learned: the higher your level = the higher your earning powers. The more gil you have, the more gil you can make. It's kind of a cycle, where it order to keep advancing you need to pay close attention to the economy and market, because each server at each given day is very very different. On the same server, everyone should pay close attention to as many different "market" as possible each day.
Edited, Thu May 27 13:11:35 2004 by uclapaul
Scholar
43 posts
Quote:
Sometimes if you are in need of gil, you have to bite the dust and farm for it.
Ummm, please, bite the bullet and farm. Hate to lose another player.
The way the game is set up, you just can't be exping every minute you're on.
I've been sitting on lvl 55 for a better part of a week. What have I been doing in that time? Raising windy fame (aka pissing money away on beehive chips), trying to get all my af and saving up for a dark staff.
Being a white mage sucks because you can't farm, but you learn to make money other ways. I've taken up mining gusgen (not a huge money maker, but fun!) and I know certain spells which sell more to a vendor than at the AH. There's a quest in windy that is repeatable and I can get the materials for less money at the AH. I'm gardening some in my mog house, I've done utsusemi. I've cooked and sold to vendor.
Its not that hard to make money, it just takes time. I might not get that dark staff as fast as say a hume red mage, or someone with a thf, but you have to be patient.
That's one thing I hardly see with players. They want an exp group NOW (just grab anyone to fill spots), they want 1million gil NOW, they want people to help them get their AFs NOW but are unwilling to take time and help others.
Have a little patience kids it really pays off if you look into things, try some stuff out, research and spend money to make money ;(
I've been sitting on lvl 55 for a better part of a week. What have I been doing in that time? Raising windy fame (aka pissing money away on beehive chips), trying to get all my af and saving up for a dark staff.
Being a white mage sucks because you can't farm, but you learn to make money other ways. I've taken up mining gusgen (not a huge money maker, but fun!) and I know certain spells which sell more to a vendor than at the AH. There's a quest in windy that is repeatable and I can get the materials for less money at the AH. I'm gardening some in my mog house, I've done utsusemi. I've cooked and sold to vendor.
Its not that hard to make money, it just takes time. I might not get that dark staff as fast as say a hume red mage, or someone with a thf, but you have to be patient.
That's one thing I hardly see with players. They want an exp group NOW (just grab anyone to fill spots), they want 1million gil NOW, they want people to help them get their AFs NOW but are unwilling to take time and help others.
Have a little patience kids it really pays off if you look into things, try some stuff out, research and spend money to make money ;(
Quote:
The way the game is set up, you just can't be exping every minute you're on.
I love it when I find a rank 1 lvl 24 war with some lvl 16-18 lizard gear and is asking how he/she can make gil to get scail mail (providing they have tact enough to ask how to make it... some will just ask for the gil or gear). This shows me that there's a good probability that said player just parties and levels. Maybe the first 12 levels were solo'd and thats how he/she was able to afford the lizard armor. I usually tell the person to get to rank 3 and get some quests along the way. I may even suggest some good ones (like the dirty signpost quest in Jugner. I think I did that as a lvl 16 mnk... just gotta be sneaky.)
After some quests, and rank 3 is acheived, said war should have at LEAST 10k from the whole ordeal. If they can't buy things with that and turn it to 15k, they need to try so they get familiar with NPC vs AH prices.
BTW... I love when people sell Bind for 20 gil in their bazaar. Thats a quick 40 gil profit for me.
I've made about 3.5M worth of gil (what I've got on me now), and another 2+M worth of equip, as well as another 1~M worth of misc stuff (Crafting/etc)
There's no reason to ever farm. farming sucks. :P (Oh, so does camping)
The majority of this gil has been made from Buying/Selling (Which I tell people all the time, and they say its impossible to make that much).
It only takes 30-60 minutes every morning and night. :P
There's no reason to ever farm. farming sucks. :P (Oh, so does camping)
The majority of this gil has been made from Buying/Selling (Which I tell people all the time, and they say its impossible to make that much).
It only takes 30-60 minutes every morning and night. :P
Well it probably won't work now :)
*Gets ready to see 50 en- scrolls on all the AH's now as every gil-needy newb floods*
*Gets ready to see 50 en- scrolls on all the AH's now as every gil-needy newb floods*
Easily, just have one or 2 mules sell for you, preferably in 2 diferent cities, the rest is demand & supply. If you just sold 1 scroll of Firaga in each city, change to 1 scroll of Stone II in each, successively change what you sell. It can be anything, for example, nah..... I won't tell what I do..... ;) It would get ruined. Just that getting 50 K a day ain't bad, right? (If all stuff sells in 24 hrs...) Just try to keep up 25-100 K in funds available at all times for your AH purchases. So, what you spend on equipment is equal to the gross profit, or less.
[quote]
*Gets ready to see 50 en- scrolls on all the AH's now as every gil-needy newb floods*
[\quote]
lol, I wouldn't be surprised. Part of the key to making money this way is to watch the long term prices and memorize a few vendor prices and where to buy them. Be ready to adapt to change. Know that some items aren't available due to conquest and controling regions and that prices also vary with fame. A good example of fame influence is the level 32 RDM spell Dispel. It goes for 67k on the Jueno AH on my server, but if you have no fame, it would cost you 80k to buy it from a vendor in Windurst! The cheapest way to get it is to go to Rabao and buy it there with max fame.
Also, paying attention to AH prices helps me decide where I farm. I used to go for tremor rams until they became extinct, the market flooded, and the price of skins and horns dropped 300-400 gil each.
On another note, the price of silk thread was up for a few weeks on my server as well. Now it's back down again.
Edit: how do you get this BB code to work? /cry
Edited, Thu May 27 14:37:42 2004 by StarhazeDynamyu
Edited, Thu May 27 14:39:30 2004 by StarhazeDynamyu
*Gets ready to see 50 en- scrolls on all the AH's now as every gil-needy newb floods*
[\quote]
lol, I wouldn't be surprised. Part of the key to making money this way is to watch the long term prices and memorize a few vendor prices and where to buy them. Be ready to adapt to change. Know that some items aren't available due to conquest and controling regions and that prices also vary with fame. A good example of fame influence is the level 32 RDM spell Dispel. It goes for 67k on the Jueno AH on my server, but if you have no fame, it would cost you 80k to buy it from a vendor in Windurst! The cheapest way to get it is to go to Rabao and buy it there with max fame.
Also, paying attention to AH prices helps me decide where I farm. I used to go for tremor rams until they became extinct, the market flooded, and the price of skins and horns dropped 300-400 gil each.
On another note, the price of silk thread was up for a few weeks on my server as well. Now it's back down again.
Edit: how do you get this BB code to work? /cry
Edited, Thu May 27 14:37:42 2004 by StarhazeDynamyu
Edited, Thu May 27 14:39:30 2004 by StarhazeDynamyu
Very good suggestions. I'll be bookmarking this thread! hehe
this can also work at really low levels on a smaller scale if you don't have a lot of cash to start this up. Take for example the Fetich parts in bastok, they sell for 200 at a merchant and often times I see them on Ah for 50 or so. also look for quest items where the item pays more than AH. usually people who don't know Crawler Calculus is for a quest http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/quests.html?realm=Windurst&fquest=68
that pays 600 for 3, will undercut to sell them on AH. Buy 3 at 50-100 for a total of 150-300 and do the quest for a profit of 300-450, which done 2 or 3 times may just make you enough for that new weapon or spell. For instance this quest is not repeatable
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/quests.html?realm=Windurst&fquest=184
but a 400 gil block of animal glue will get ya 1500 gil. the glue is used in tradeskilling so the price is usually pretty low. I also do what Ark does quite a bit like buying NM drops in the city nearest it drops like Mist silk capes: Buy in Windy for 18k and sell in bastok for 25k, but it doesn't have to start on a large scale. His post was more to inspire you to take a few minutes and truly understand how the supply and demand works in our society and I would have rated him up if he wern't a 5 already...lol /clap
that pays 600 for 3, will undercut to sell them on AH. Buy 3 at 50-100 for a total of 150-300 and do the quest for a profit of 300-450, which done 2 or 3 times may just make you enough for that new weapon or spell. For instance this quest is not repeatable
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/quests.html?realm=Windurst&fquest=184
but a 400 gil block of animal glue will get ya 1500 gil. the glue is used in tradeskilling so the price is usually pretty low. I also do what Ark does quite a bit like buying NM drops in the city nearest it drops like Mist silk capes: Buy in Windy for 18k and sell in bastok for 25k, but it doesn't have to start on a large scale. His post was more to inspire you to take a few minutes and truly understand how the supply and demand works in our society and I would have rated him up if he wern't a 5 already...lol /clap
Awesome, nice job explaining and helping people out who are willing to invest a little time.
I'll add one, buy the "Wool Hat" in Windurst for 11k at the hat shop and resell if for 15k, its used in the Moogle expansion quest
I'll add one, buy the "Wool Hat" in Windurst for 11k at the hat shop and resell if for 15k, its used in the Moogle expansion quest
Also Brass flowerpots go for ~1k gil at Boytz' Knickknacks in Bastok Mines, and they sell for 1.5k-2k in the Bastok AH.
Oh man, I got on the list of the expression misuse police. Sorry, it was earlier in the mouring. I'm at work. I can't think straight, thanks for point that out. I'll bite the bullet =P
This sort of gil making obviously work, and the more capital you have, the more profit you will gain. But like I said, it depends on the market which is different on different server each day.
One more thing is, there are many many items you can buy off from AH that actually sells for more to NPC!! You can spot some easy ones when the items doesn't really seem good, and not for any particular craft, but sells pretty consistently at a certain price at AH. I remember a particular axe that I've seen selling for 10~11k in jeuno AH that actually sells for 16k to NPC. haha, I knew because I had a lower version of an axe, and I always check the price to vendor all items I have. The lower version sold for 11k to NPC, so I figure a higher version should be more.
This sort of gil making obviously work, and the more capital you have, the more profit you will gain. But like I said, it depends on the market which is different on different server each day.
One more thing is, there are many many items you can buy off from AH that actually sells for more to NPC!! You can spot some easy ones when the items doesn't really seem good, and not for any particular craft, but sells pretty consistently at a certain price at AH. I remember a particular axe that I've seen selling for 10~11k in jeuno AH that actually sells for 16k to NPC. haha, I knew because I had a lower version of an axe, and I always check the price to vendor all items I have. The lower version sold for 11k to NPC, so I figure a higher version should be more.
don't forget the butterfly axes in mhuara. They sell for 600-800 gil (depending on your fame) and sell on AH for 1.5-2k depending on the server. The taru behind Rycharde sells them... be sure to grab a couple.
God I hope not too many people get a hold of this information. You pretty much just advertised my gig! Meanie!
God I hope not too many people get a hold of this information. You pretty much just advertised my gig! Meanie!
Scholar
24 posts
I've found that the public school system is a wonderful tool to help me make money. I've been watching individual items versus stacks. A while back zehrun soot was selling for 100 gil each, or 3000 for a stack (let's see 100 * 12 is 1200 right?). Simply kept buying singles until the price went up, then sold the stacks for 3000. I've seen it work the other way too. Like right now on my server, stacks of Ice crystals are going for 900, but singly they are 300. You can increase your money 4 fold, but it takes more time with singles, and the price could drop out before you sell them all.
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