How much gold can you make as guild leader?

GarnetFire17

elantaura wrote: »

I think for many the money is in the opportunity i.e they are checking notes and item and donations and are often first to see the cheap sale i.e if someone listed 20 kutas for 20 000 etc.
i started to note this as i got richer that when i put bulkitems up cheap, or do really low stuff to clear my inventory - that its the guldmaster who normally buys them. 90% of the time
So they are getting money just not by taking it directly, but just by using opportunity.
ironically i would not have an issue if they did - so long as they always have a top vendor. dont deliver on that and then i have an issue.

That is another issue. Most people don't consider how cuthroat it is between guilds. My guild has been infiltrated by spies, my spot had been targeted by a guild hopping all over the place several times never knowing when they were going to strike again and they pretty much did the same to everyone in mournhold. I had to try to talk to some other GMs of guilds that were allied with that guild to smooth things over. One of the top 2 guilds is even having problems finding a spot the last few weeks. I have seen Guilds lose bids because some angry ex member wanted vengeance. Guilds are going to lose their spot some times because you can't see who is bidding against you, how much, or when. When you lose its terrible because you have to think when you have to try to move to another spot or do you try to get it back, but then you have to bid maybe twice as much as last time because the other guild might bid twice as much thinking you are going to do that, but they might not even be trying to stay there, but you can't take the chance so you bid double and then a little more, which is why guilds need to have gold stockpiled.

You are right that it is really important to maintain a trader consistently. But it takes a long time to get to that point. You need to build a reputation kind of like prison rules so that people know not to try to mess with you. Even so, people will sill try to mess with you every now an then because the grass is greener on your sweet kiosk spot. But you know, either way we are the bad guys for either losing the spot, or for monopolizing it. That's GM life right there.

Violynne

DRAGON_KILLER_HUNTER wrote: »

Most people say they do zero profit and need to put their own gold (where is that coming from) into bids but i dont believe this.

Most people are right. Stop and ask yourself a question: do you honestly think hundreds of people in a guild would still participate if the guild leader was taking their gold for profit?

That's not to say there aren't shady guild leaders out there, but they also don't run 100+ member guilds.

One of my first guild joins was a rough experience, but not from a guild leader. From a member. The leader set up the bank as an honor system and asked for contributions for the bid. Unfortunately, it seems the guild leader gave responsibility to an officer to monitor the funds, and the officer instead took the gold, many useful items, and left.

The majority of guild heists usually aren't the result of leaders taking advantage, but of officers they appoint.

The worst are players who "thank the guild" for being accepted, then take advantage of the honor system.

You'll find more damn players screwing over guild members than you will of leaders.

Think on that before you criticize what most say.

jaschacasadiob16_ESO

Well I think that the OP should have clearly separated trading and non trading guilds.

Trading guilds require a lot of investment, but hey, none would run them if not for profit. I remember last summer one guy, who took over a trading guild after the previous owner simply left, explained me that it is usual that the owner takes all the gold in the guild bank. We are talking about millions, including that same week donations meant to bid on the trader.

I have never run a trading guild and I guess I never will. I am sure they do require a huge initial investment but if properly done they become very profitable. Most owners actually have multiple accounts which they use to bid on multiple traders at once. Bidding on main city traders requires millions, so if they play this game is simply because they are making a huge profit.


Non trading guilds usually have poor or no traders at all. They probably require the owner to invest his own money and a lot of time. It's passion, not profit the driving force here. Now many of them ended up forcing donations (gold, mats, recruits, ...) to even talk in chat. I consider these guilds as toxic and try to avoid them.

Vahrokh

Having been a guild leader myself in another MMO, I cannot fathom why someone would invest hundreds of hours into something that provides him no benefits at all.

Unless someone is really here just for the sake of roleplaying, if you own a trading guild you should be a sort-of-broker, that is someone who makes profits. Else it's a nonsense.

Raraaku

I think there are much easier and less stressful ways to make more gold than trying to lead a successful trading guild with a half-decent trading hub and managing many, many members just to skim off some profits. I don't doubt that a few GM might do such things, but they are most likely the extreme minority. I don't envy those who run large trading guilds, it's nearly a full time job managing one. Except, in the real world you don't have to constantly outbid rivals in a bidding war to keep your business every week in which the cost only goes up the majority of the time. Creating a trade guild, maintaining and managing it effectively enough to obtain a somewhat successful trading spot just to skim profits isn't the easiest way to make a quick profit. Let alone the potential blow-back on you if your guild ever found out you were doing such a thing, your guild collapses, and you essentially get blackballed by the rest of the trading (guild) community as former members recount your actions to their new guilds. At least blackballed in terms of ever obtaining a leadership position again.

Soul_Marrow

DRAGON_KILLER_HUNTER wrote: »

Thanks, thats the kind of answer i am looking for. not the guildmaster liars all saying the standard phrase - "yeah we make zero profit but spend millions of our own gold and our time into bids and managing the guild" ...for sure you do

Do you really think there is some video game world conspiracy? You think these guys came here to lie to you? You must also think the Earth is flat.

If you think they make gold off of their members then you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. I highly suggest you go form a trading guild and try to be successful...I would honestly be shocked if you were able to obtain a trader location for a single week, let alone a few weeks in a row. The amount of work involved in running a guild in this game is beyond full time.

I created one of the largest trading guilds on my server and even as a large guild, If you lose a trader for a week (god forbid you lose it twice) then you have to answer to your members and risk losing them or risk them going elsewhere, etc. These people pay you for a membership so they expect certain things to remain consistent and, as a guild leader, you are personally responsible for maintaining these expectations. The money continues to be siphoned off in other ways more and more as well. The bids are blind bids, therefore, you NEVER know what to bid so you always have to bid high. These are used as a gold sink for the economy. The bigger you grow, the more expensive it gets just like ANY business. The spots begin to cost more and more, then you pay recruiters and farmers and officers, etc.

The ONLY gold you make is from your own sales and typically that gets put back into the guild along the way to help maintain...or to a sister guild that you started, etc. We also spend our REAL money for gift cards or to gift mounts or to buy items for guild halls, etc. You have no idea what it takes and I highly doubt that you would have what it takes given what I have read so far. For you to come in here calling these people liars is absolutely absurd. If they run a successful trader guild then good on them. It certainly isn't easy. These people can log into the game 40 or more hours a week and STILL never even play the actual game.

Congrats to and thank you to all the GOOD guild leaders and officers who help maintain the community in this game.

Get a grip, guy.

ArvenAldmeri

I honestly dont believe all the gold that comes from fees is going all for the bids, especially with certain popular people who I heard are taking money from the guild bank, but who knows, they never show guild bank balance or history so there is no proof for this, neither there is them denying anything if they dont provide proof of innocence either

Tabbycat

For those in trade guilds, I am pretty sure that you can look in the guild history tab, it might be under sales - I can't remember exactly, to see how much your guild paid to rent the guild trader for the week. I bet a lot of you would be surprised at how expensive it is.

Soul_Marrow

ArvenAldmeri wrote: »

I honestly dont believe all the gold that comes from fees is going all for the bids, especially with certain popular people who I heard are taking money from the guild bank, but who knows, they never show guild bank balance or history so there is no proof for this, neither there is them denying anything if they dont provide proof of innocence either

This completely exposes your ignorance on the matter. This is not an insult, you simply need to do your research. Do you realize that other guilds send spies to join guilds and collect as much information as possible in order to obtain a leg up for bidding? They hide the gold amount for a reason, they move locations for a reason, they bid high and keep things among officers to a reason. Simply start your own and try to be successful. That is the biggest lesson you will ever receive on the subject. It will be an eye opener for sure.

Facts are facts regardless of what you think. Your belief doesn't change what is true.

Flaminir

Threads like this trigger me more than anything else on here... That some people don't understand the work & passion that goes into running a guild, and even worse belittle it & say you're crooks or making millions....

From a PC/EU server perspective we are NOT getting rich! The total opposite.

The number of guilds and competition for trader spots is huge. The bids have been rising as a result.

If you aren't a specialized trading guild in one of the 2 or 3 top spots then your bid to income ratio from the inbuilt sales tax is a joke. & if you aren't in one of these then charging members is tricky.

My guild for example does a bit of everything in the game.... we're a big'ish guild now, and have a regular trader in a decent city. The members chip in where they can, but I still end up putting 25million gold into the guild each year myself!

I average 10-12 hours a week playtime just doing stuff to earn that gold & do the other stuff required to support the guild so the other 499 players can have a better experience... That makes over 100million gold, and 2000+ hours of my time donated to the guild so far... hardly a profit!

And then some ignorant little N'wah like the OP comes along and posts this kind of nonsense!

Feed him to the Mantikora!!!

Mic1007

I know the leaders of my trading guild don't make anything from leading the guild, as they put all the gold into bids, raffles, and auctions. Like the rest of us, they make their own gold through trading.

Prof_Bawbag

@Flaminir No idea why you get triggered. Most of the people who make these threads and throw accusations around are those who do nothing but leech from the guilds they're in (expect free crafting, want people to jump on their requests for grouping and so on) . As soon as someone has the audacity to ask for something in return, it's when these people get on their high horse. They judge everyone by their own leeching standards.

Are there dishonest GM's? Yes there is. No point anyone denying that, but on the whole, most GMs are good folk who do put their own gold into the guild. Whether the leeches believe that or not is an issue with the leech him or herself, not with the GM. Of course GMs will get all defensive, just like the leeches get all defensive when someone calls them a leech. People don't like hearing negative *** about themselves whether it's true or not, so a defensive stance is to be expected either way.

Soul_Marrow

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

@Flaminir No idea why you get triggered. Most of the people who make these threads and throw accusations around are those who do nothing but leech from the guilds they're in (expect free crafting, want people to jump on their requests for grouping and so on) . As soon as someone has the audacity to ask for something in return, it's when these people get on their high horse. They judge everyone by their own leeching standards.

Are there dishonest GM's? Yes there is. No point anyone denying that, but on the whole, most GMs are good folk who do put their own gold into the guild. Whether the leeches believe that or not is an issue with the leech him or herself, not with the GM. Of course GMs will get all defensive, just like the leeches get all defensive when someone calls them a leech. People don't like hearing negative *** about themselves whether it's true or not, so a defensive stance is to be expected either way.

I totally agree, but the issue I have with it is that the accusers are toxic. They try to poison everyone else with their bad ideas and false righteousness. They don't want a discussion or the truth, they want a vacuum...an echo chamber. They want reinforcement so they can rally the troops essentially. You saw how he behaved when he got ONE response that agreed with him. They are basically a cancer to the community because they are trying to destroy it, whether intentional or not, with their accusations. These folks need to gain a healthy dose of logic, reality, reasoning, self-awareness, and perspective. OR they simply need to not speak on something they know nothing about. This is the typical reactive type personality you see on social media spreading around nonsense because they don't exist firmly in reality. It does cause issues for others whether it be directly or indirectly.

driosketch

SirAndy wrote: »

DRAGON_KILLER_HUNTER wrote: »

Most people say they do zero profit and need to put their own gold (where is that coming from) into bids but i dont believe this.

In the 4 years of "The Sidekick Order" me and the co-gm usually have to supplement about 100k in gold each week for a guild trader from our own gold.

Unless you are running a large trading guild, there simply is not enough gold to cover the costs of a trader.

You will have to get donations from members, do weekly raffle events or simply cover the cost yourself.

This. I do writs every day for about 12k gold across a few characters. I'm in a couple other guilds with traders. If I have a good enough week, I absorb what I put in to the guild bank plus what I toss to the other guilds to help support their traders. I bid the entire guild bank, and if I lose a week, I don't change how much I donate next week and bid the increase amount. I would be a lot richer without being a GM, but it's part of what it takes to keep a guild healthy and active.

This is something you won't learn until to you get your own guild together and try it for yourself.

SGT_Wolfe101st

agegarton wrote: »

DRAGON_KILLER_HUNTER wrote: »

Most people say they do zero profit and need to put their own gold (where is that coming from) into bids but i dont believe this.

You don’t believe it? Why is that? Is it because you are fundamentally dishonest and you feel like everyone else must be as dishonest as you?

Or is it because you haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about ?

I am going to go with a combination of A and B!

SGT_Wolfe101st

NordDK wrote: »

On PS4 trade guild leadership most definitely profits. There seems to be a standard 10k a week dues for every guild with a capital city trader, yet some of these guilds have a difference of over 100 members between their rosters. Inb4 someone claims the guild leaders pay the over 1 million gold difference in the dues each week. In fact, most guild leaders don't pay dues at all once the guild is big enough to get traders regularly.

The guild leaders know how much they can bid and basically guarantee they've got a trader, there really aren't that many guilds out there with hundreds of members each paying 10k a week that aren't getting a good trader. Throwing all the money in the guild bank at the bid would be stupid when you can all but guarantee you can win for less, so they put what they usually do and pocket the rest.

Actually got curious about this myself back when I first got into a guild and did some asking around. Most leadership will vehemently deny making profit and will try to make you feel guilty even for asking, but I finally did find one person honest enough to admit they skimmed off the top. They wouldn't share actual amounts, but tried to frame it as getting a little compensation for "managing the guild". I use quotations because all that actually involved was making sure everyone was paying up, and auctioning off things others donated to make more money. Just mental gymnastics so they didn't feel like a sack of crap for extorting people.

The entire system is honestly terrible, there ought to be a separate bank deposit that can only be used for trader bids to stop the corruption, but frankly ZOS doesn't care, and practically encourages scamming and corruption given how the game is set up, and how little they do to stop it.

So one guy in one guild equals everyone is doing it this way? Are there guild leaders that skim, probably, are the guilds that just do as you say and "just auction and get a trader" sure, then there are the ones that guarantee a capital each week, have events every night, have 50/50's, etc etc. This is all coordinated with them actually having a life and playing the game. Not every guild leader in every guild is a POS, I would say they are the minority not the norm.

Flaminir

Soul_Marrow wrote: »

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

@Flaminir No idea why you get triggered. Most of the people who make these threads and throw accusations around are those who do nothing but leech from the guilds they're in (expect free crafting, want people to jump on their requests for grouping and so on) . As soon as someone has the audacity to ask for something in return, it's when these people get on their high horse. They judge everyone by their own leeching standards.

Are there dishonest GM's? Yes there is. No point anyone denying that, but on the whole, most GMs are good folk who do put their own gold into the guild. Whether the leeches believe that or not is an issue with the leech him or herself, not with the GM. Of course GMs will get all defensive, just like the leeches get all defensive when someone calls them a leech. People don't like hearing negative *** about themselves whether it's true or not, so a defensive stance is to be expected either way.

I totally agree, but the issue I have with it is that the accusers are toxic. They try to poison everyone else with their bad ideas and false righteousness. They don't want a discussion or the truth, they want a vacuum...an echo chamber. They want reinforcement so they can rally the troops essentially. You saw how he behaved when he got ONE response that agreed with him. They are basically a cancer to the community because they are trying to destroy it, whether intentional or not, with their accusations. These folks need to gain a healthy dose of logic, reality, reasoning, self-awareness, and perspective. OR they simply need to not speak on something they know nothing about. This is the typical reactive type personality you see on social media spreading around nonsense because they don't exist firmly in reality. It does cause issues for others whether it be directly or indirectly.

@Prof_Bawbag The part that triggers me isn't that somebody doesn't understand what goes on in the vast majority... As Soul Marrow says, its the way it's peddled as fact and is far reaching and 'normal', which can then influence others and can colour their opinions if they don't know any different..

People who aren't involved see the smoke people like the OP produce and automatically think the world is on fire.

Anywhere there are human beings you'll find imperfection... there will be the odd rotten apple like anywhere in society.... but nonsense like the generalization posted in the OP needs stamping on... and stamping on hard so that people don't get the wrong impression of guilds and guild leaders

SGT_Wolfe101st

redspecter23 wrote: »

DRAGON_KILLER_HUNTER wrote: »

Thanks, thats the kind of answer i am looking for. not the guildmaster liars all saying the standard phrase - "yeah we make zero profit but spend millions of our own gold and our time into bids and managing the guild" ...for sure you do

So you don't care about the truth, only what you already believe to be true. Got it.

Exactly, I will only reply to posts that are inline with my narrative, that all GM's are corrupt and skimming. Irrespective of your knowledge or of a counter argument. Even if you are a GM, I will presume you are lying to continue the activity of skimming and lying.

vamp_emily

People who are skeptical about what guilds leaders do then I suggest trying to open your own guild and do not give up until you hired a trader for a few weeks. I'm sure most people would give up after that.

There are a few reasons why I started a trading guild and none of those reasons were to steal players gold, it was the total opposite. I wanted to help players. I'm very honest with all guild members and most of them know exactly how much I bid on a trader.

In the beginning I spent all my gold, just to hire a trader. I'm not talking about 5k that most guild traders ask you to donate. It was more like 450k gold. The first week we hired a trader, I had a lot of good items to sell, and I made around 400k that week and that gold was put back into the guild for the trader for the next week. In this example alone I spent 800k gold on trying to start a guild.

I know there are some bad people in this world but every time this topic comes up I have to roll my eyes at the players that think guild leaders make a lot of gold. However, some of the bigger guilds I can't comment on and have no clue how much they make in donations. I know If for some reason my guild made a lot then that money would go back towards a trader.

Tan9oSuccka

I think distinction should be made from the big trade guild cabals versus the independent guilds. I think there’s a difference.

I know the smaller to mid size guilds that actively have traders run a negative balance sheet for sure. I try to donate as much as I can.

Cpt_Teemo

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

OP is triggered he/she can't meet minimum sales requirements in their trade guild so they've moved onto accusing their guild leader of fraud. Classic.

Guild leaders make no moeny from trading guilds. Most guilds make less money per week than the price of the bid.

Actually the GM has access to the whole guild bank and gold inside it so they have nothing to stop them from cleaning it out then disbanding the guild

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO

Ashtaris

Forget it, the OP doesn’t care about the truth, all he cares about is support for his misinformation. Although I’m not one of the guild leaders, the ones I know put a lot of time, effort, and their own gold/items into supporting raffles and other guild functions. One of my guild leaders worked on several mods for the game to help the community. So they are not in it just for the gold, despite what you might think. I’ve never asked how much gold they have, as it’s none of my business. But I do know that I’ve made some extra coin because of their efforts, and thank them for that opprotunity. Too bad you haven’t.

jazsper77

The Question/Topic should probably read can you make major $$$$$ running a Guild.
As a very large reply a gave late last nite (lol)
You can.

1. If your goal from the outset is that then you can do everything I listed and make major gold.

2. This is a SMALL percentage of the Guild GMs and officers but it HAPPENS. Which is why I always reply to these threads, mainly because players run here and say you can’t.

3. If the top people in your Guild are dishonest then yes they can make $$$& off you. Do a large amount do it no, but it does happen.

4. If someone wants to Necro a thread from 2 years ago. The largest free TRADING GUILD on the PS4 NA just upped and disbanded.
Most members came to these boards like Wtf I woke up and my inbox was full of my listings.
One officer even replied there had been 14 million in the guild bank that nite.

So yes CAN a GM or Officer make $$$$ Yes, do MOST do these things NO.

radiostar

At least there's no AH. Z left it in the hands of the players.

driosketch

Let's walk this through logically, for those who are reading this, who have never run a guild and are on the fence.

Let's say you start a trade guild. You have about 100 active players, and they each donate 10-20k gold each week. You bid 1 million for a trader in a decent town, and because you're also scum, you skim the extra from each week into your personal bank. This continues in perpetuity week after week, making you a ton of gold, right?

Wrong.

See eventually another guild comes along and bids a million + and takes your kiosk. That's okay, you think. You got your million back from the failed bid. Now you decide, find a new place or fight for your spot. This time you fight. You combine two weeks and bid 2 million. In fact you bid 2,001,003 just to avoid a round number. You win.

Now what? You don't know if that other guild was a one time thing or if they are going to fight you for the spot back. You don't even know how much they bid, just that it's probably between 1-2 million, and you now know 1 million is no longer a guaranteed winning bid for this spot. Additionally, because you didn't have a trader last week, donations are down this week, say to only 750k. You need to bid over 1 million, you now you drop 350k of your previous "profits" into this week's bid. And so it goes, with donation fluctuating and fending off other guilds leading to having to put in a chunk of your own money each week.

Let's say you've had enough. You grow the guild till you have a trader in a major city on a regular basis. Then one day you just pocket the entire week's donations and disband the guild. Congrats, you made a huge one time payoff.

So now what?

You probably would have made more money just selling things in your trader. Are you going to run your scam again? It took you months to get to where you where last time. And your old guild will not trust you again. Are there people who pull scummy stuff like this, possibly. It doesn't lead to stable guilds though. Most of those regular big guild you recognize week after week are likely runnning legit businesses, or at the very least spending a ton of gold when they need to.

Streega

Y'all wasting pixels here writing poems about tough life of a guild leader, but OP is possibly looking for a way to scam ppl and make millions: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/405043/is-it-against-the-tos-to-shut-down-a-trade-guild-and-take-all-the-gold-of-the-guild-bank
Maybe I'm a tin hat owner here, but it looks shady.

kargen27

Vahrokh wrote: »

Having been a guild leader myself in another MMO, I cannot fathom why someone would invest hundreds of hours into something that provides him no benefits at all.

Unless someone is really here just for the sake of roleplaying, if you own a trading guild you should be a sort-of-broker, that is someone who makes profits. Else it's a nonsense.

Why would you assume if a guild leader isn't skimming gold they are getting no benefits? They benefit from a good location just like the other members benefit. Gold aside I've been lucky enough to belong to trade guilds that have a good community with several players that are fun to be around.

griffkhalifa

What was the point of this thread by the OP? Dude "asked" a question then ignored everyone until he got the one answer he was looking for.

Aeph

Each week I supplement our earnings for the trader bid with around 100k. All competitions so far, the prizes have came from my personal gold and items (motifs, mats, gear etc) from my bank. Guild House, Crafting Stations, Target Dummies, Furniture - all paid for with personal gold (which comes from excessive public dungeon running and mat farming for hours on end).

I’ve sunk so much money into my guild (several millions) - it doesn’t bother me though because it’s a virtual currency in an online game and to be frank, it literally does not matter. In return for what I spend on my guild, I get to bring people together, help new players and make friends with cool people I wouldn’t have spoken to otherwise. That’s what matters, and that’s why I do it, even though I’m technically at a loss from a currency perspective.