How do you make money?

NerfYou

I like the crafting system in the game so far, but I can't seem to grasp how to make money off it. How do you know what to make and put up for sale? Do certain traits sell better than others, or is it mainly custom orders?

Phranq

There are enough crafters out there that crafted items really don't sell... if you are trying to make gold I think you'd really be better off harvesting and selling materials

Aicilef

You can't make real money out of the current trade system. To make money, you need customers and they did EVERYTHING they could to cut any form of economic interaction between people: the COD fees are insane, the guild store fees are insane, you can only put up 30 items, you can only reach a couple of 1000 people at once...

The only way to actually sell stuff is through /zone. But that is very time-consuming: you got to find a buyer that just happens to be in the same zone that needs that item at that time and has money, then you got to agree on a price, you got to go to a shrine. It's extremely time-consuming.

You will make money faster by just grinding mobs and selling everything to vendors than you will make by trading.

NerfYou

This was my main concern for the crafting system thought beta. It reminded me of DAoC; having to ask around to find someone to make you stuff. Between not having any way of selling your wares, and the availability of gear through adventuring, the only reason I can see for me to level woodworking is so I can make myself a new bow whenever I want to.

knightblaster

robacorbinb14a_ESO wrote: »

This was my main concern for the crafting system thought beta. It reminded me of DAoC; having to ask around to find someone to make you stuff. Between not having any way of selling your wares, and the availability of gear through adventuring, the only reason I can see for me to level woodworking is so I can make myself a new bow whenever I want to.

That's the intention, I think. It isn't meant to be a money maker per se. I do think that at the very highest levels the people who have all of the traits open and so on will be able to make money selling gear with just the right traits and enchants that players will want at that level -- because I think that while almost everyone is leveling crafting now, I don't think that many people will take the time and effort unlock a huge variety of traits, so the competition at that level will be less. But during leveling it isn't intended to be a money-maker for the most part.

Calaban

I don't make money unfortunately.

I'm level 15 and only have about 5k gold. Every 2 levels I make a whole new set of armor and enchant every piece. Some of the enchants I make myself, but most of them I purchase from the enchanting vendor, and they are quite expensive.

In WoW I was a pro at making money. I was like Bill Gates rich.

I haven't figured it out in ESO yet.

Regardless I like ESO a million times more than WoW.

Morvoldo

agreed i'm trying my damn hardest for saving for a horse (wish i bought CED pack now) i'm level 23 and all i managed to save is 20k, cause with repairs and trying to craft (for myself as no one ever wants to buy)its not going well, i cant even sell mats as i really don't know what price to put up , and when i do i'm spamming /zone for ages and its very annoying.and with everything so expensive anyways makes it even harder i mean 10 slots for 2k then doubles as u go up another 10 is stupid and first mount being 17k is outrageous for those who didn't get the imp horse for 1g.
(which most players forget seen as they bought the CED,sorry but i didn't have the money to spend at that time)

is a shame cause in beta i didn't get to see how the guild stores ran, think that would of changed my mind completely about the whole game tho the questing is awesome, just that lets it down badly

Jadeviper1974

LOL, so far I don't!

per.t.pettersenb16_ESO

how to make money? Just make a provisoner and put points in it so you can make 4x of each craft. Then pickup absolutly everything when you do quests (autoloot) and just sell to the merchant. The income will raise study with no work selling. Just need to upgrade inventory and bank so you have room for craft materials. And if you skip the other crafting, you make a lot of money selling those blue/greens to store.

Rev Rielle

The real question you need to ask yourself is, why do I need coin in the first place? You'll find that outside of repairing your equipment there is no other absolute need for it.

That being said, if you want to make coin; selling raw materials has always been superior in these games to trying to sell crafted items for profit.

Brennan

mr_s_fisherb16_ESO2 wrote: »

agreed i'm trying my damn hardest for saving for a horse (wish i bought CED pack now) i'm level 23 and all i managed to save is 20k, cause with repairs and trying to craft (for myself as no one ever wants to buy)its not going well, i cant even sell mats as i really don't know what price to put up , and when i do i'm spamming /zone for ages and its very annoying.and with everything so expensive anyways makes it even harder i mean 10 slots for 2k then doubles as u go up another 10 is stupid and first mount being 17k is outrageous for those who didn't get the imp horse for 1g.
(which most players forget seen as they bought the CED,sorry but i didn't have the money to spend at that time)

is a shame cause in beta i didn't get to see how the guild stores ran, think that would of changed my mind completely about the whole game tho the questing is awesome, just that lets it down badly

I seem to recall that ZOS is selling an upgrade from the Standard to the Imperial Edition. Might be something you'll want to investigate.

alienbongs

I got my horse at around level 30. Raising the ~43K wasn't easy, but it just made getting my light horse that much more rewarding. Selling raw materials is one of the fastest ways to get gold, but blue/purple items were probably the bulk of my funds. You just have to be really proactive in selling them.

Advertising in /zone is the best way. It may take a day or two of listing it through chat once and hour, but once you find a valid buyer, you'll make a decent amount. I think too many people deconstruct/sell to vendor in this regard.

ALSO, don't worry about repairing your gear each and every time you go to town. You will find PLENTY of armor that you can just swap out when something is under 50%. The amount of money you save doing this adds up a ton.

SexyVette07

Selling gear is not viable at higher levels. Theres blues everywhere in the 30+ zones. Sell the materials to someone leveling their crafting. Thats about it.

andrantos

++ to the provisioning tip.

Outside of acquiring the mats, provisioning is a breeze to level. I've already maxed it out at level 20-22.

1 - Food provides a substantial benefit and seems to be more impactful than it is in other games (so there is potential for it to be a consistent money maker in the end game).

2 - There are two traits that allow you to make more items per craft. Without them, you make one serving per craft. With each of the traits maxed (1 for drinks and one for food), you make 4x per craft. You can turn around and sell these to an npc for a reasonable bit of extra change. If you manage to sell to players, well, it can be an even better boost... just not many players are buying food in lower levels.

I typically do a run to the cooking fire every other day or so... this results with about 1k every run.

KiroElmarok

I'd have to say making legendary weps (gold) is your best option.

(Takes 10 legendary Craft mats to have 100% chance of success if you have the passives)

Alephen

KiroElmarok wrote: »

I'd have to say making legendary weps (gold) is your best option.

(Takes 10 legendary Craft mats to have 100% chance of success if you have the passives)

i expect you would make ALOT more coin selling the upgrade mats then you would selling a gold item.

SadisticSavior

robacorbinb14a_ESO wrote: »

I like the crafting system in the game so far, but I can't seem to grasp how to make money off it. How do you know what to make and put up for sale? Do certain traits sell better than others, or is it mainly custom orders?

Mine materials. Craft. Sell to vendor.

I made about 2000gp on Sunday just doing this on this side while adventuring. It is possible.

liquid_wolf

Selling drops, and gathering materials tends to be a big money-maker.

I seem to get about 6K a day now that i'm 40 without actually trying to harvest/gather.

I'm doing quests, so those are adding to my daily... but I usually have 300 items to sell by the time I'm done with a night.

Even if all 300 items sold for 10 gold, that would still be 3K just from picking up stuff from bodies.

Locke_ESO

mr_s_fisherb16_ESO2 wrote: »

agreed i'm trying my damn hardest for saving for a horse (wish i bought CED pack now) i'm level 23 and all i managed to save is 20k, cause with repairs and trying to craft (for myself as no one ever wants to buy)its not going well

If it's any consolation I didn't get a horse till level 46 and I never really found it to much of a problem tbh. It's pretty satisfying when you finally do get one not to be on the same white one as everyone else also.

andrantos

Another tip that has served me well...

Any normal quality gear, sell it to an npc if you won't research it. White gear doesn't give much exp from deconstruction so it may be worth your while yo vendor it.

This has helped boost my income past few days.

yodased

The real question that noone has asked is, why do you need money? Other than your horse and repair bills, money doesn't really have any real uses.

Crafting will get you your leveling gear, dungeons will get you to VR1 and VR dungeons will get you to Adventure Zones. Buying things really isn't necessary in this game.

SadisticSavior

yodased wrote: »

The real question that noone has asked is, why do you need money? Other than your horse and repair bills, money doesn't really have any real uses.

Well, to buy gear you can't craft yourself. And the vast majority of players will not be able to craft everything...even the ones that can will not be able to for a very very long time (years).

It's not "necessary" in the sense that having a car in real life is not "necessary"...but most people still want one. Because it makes life easier and more convenient.

yodased

The point of the matter is, you don't have to buy any gear in the game. You can get from 1-VR10 without buying 1 single piece of gear. From drops and crafting (even if you only craft 1 type) you will get way more than you could ever use.

I can see maybe purchasing legendary VR10 gear, but at that point you shouldn't be asking how to make money.

SadisticSavior

Like I said, gold makes it easier, which is why people still want gold.

yodased

k convenience it is.

Fahrice

I'm sorry, but you guys are wrong about not being able to make money from crafting.

I'm a max level woodworker, and I leveled by actually being a crafter: creating items and deconstructing items created by crafting partners, NOT by grinding mobs and deconstructing drops. I'm only a level 24 templar. Because of this, the trip to max level yielded me plenty of materials with which to create high quality items.

I have made well over 100,000 gold by simply advertising occasionally in zone chat about what I can make and linking a few examples of blue, purple, and gold items. People respond and I take their custom order. And no, it is NOT all high level items. Also, to be clear, I've actually not yet closed a deal on a legendary - the majority of my sales are epic quality.

In addition to the occasional (read: not spam) advertising, I also keep an eye on zone chat and any time I see someone "WTB" something I can make, I take the time to engage them and offer my service to them. It just takes a little effort, kindness, and professionalism, and you can obtain customers that will be happy with the transaction and return to you when they are ready for upgrades.

You just have to be willing to WORK your trade. All this nonsense about no AH, limited potential market, not enough demand.... is just that: nonsense. I have never once listed an item on the guild store or created an item and then tried to sell it. I find the customer before making the item.

All of that being said, some people I know make a pretty good amount of coin selling me rough wood and metal ore. So as others have mentioned, selling resources is one way to make money. But don't say you can't make money as a crafter.

LastLaugh

Fahrice, do you mind me asking how much you charge? Do they supply the mats and pay you a fee for the service or buy the whole thing, your mats?

Fahrice

I've worked out a system that keeps my pricing structure very simple. For items up to the first tier of veteran ranks (VR1-VR3), I base the price of an item ONLY the number of resins it takes for me to upgrade to that particular quality. I know what the market value of the resins is, and I roll my profit into the resins. The cost of the underlying materials (sanded wood, racial material, and trait material) is negligible.

For example, if we say Pitch (green) is worth 100 gold and Turpen (blue) is worth 300 gold, then here's what I do. Being a max level woodworker, I can do upgrades to green using only 2 Pitch and 3 Turpen. What I do is charge for my cost +2 resins - so 4 Pitch and 5 Turpen.

Therefore, I will charge 4 x 100, or 400 for a green. From green to blue is 5 x 300, or 1500. Because the upgrade to green is also included in a blue item, the total price comes to 1900. I go ahead and round up to 2000.

I continue this process on up through purple and gold qualities. I'd rather not get into specific numbers on those because I consider it my little "trade secret".

One of the benefits of this system is that I can allow the customer to do "trade ins" with resins. If someone has already purchased some resin, I will allow them to pay using them via the same exact formula. If someone gives me 4 Pitch and 5 Turpen, I will make them any blue item they want for free up to VR3.

At the end of the day, this pricing system is good for the customer because it is dynamic and changes as the economy changes. The price of my items will always be related directly to the cost of the items used to make it. My profit is always simply 2 extra resins (or their value) for each level of quality, and that also scales with the economy.

For higher level items and for set bonuses, I do add additional costs, but they are reasonable and fair to the customer.

My goal is to provide the customer with a fair deal and great service in the hopes that they will return to me for future business. So far it's working out great.

Hopefully this helps!

Chalybos

Sounds like we got a genuine tradesman here. ^^

Fahrice

Oh I'm definitely a crafting nerd and love working my trade. I love the business aspect of MMOs! Fahrice means "craftsman" in Latin, which is why I chose it. Oh yeah, the nerdiness runs deep!

ahstin2001nub18_ESO

my experience in MMOs say materials will always be the only cash crop if you base your income on players. i tend to hoard so i dont always sell to players. i made a few regrets in my point spending and found that having a mule hold my banked items let me still acquire both vendor items and some crafting items. instead of deconstructing i just vendor drop everything i feel like i dont want. be careful with food crafting items, dont vendor those since your best bet would be to sell them to players. if you dont want to sell teh food crafting ingredients make something with it then vendor what you dont want.

edit: wanted to add that fahrice has a solid crafter system. i believe his claims for the amount he has earned. his system is based on long term earning versus mine which is quick short term earnings. i probably hit around 20k gold in a few hours of farming but like i said i keep the raw tradeskill items for my self. i think i open about 20-25 slots to accommodate for both vendor items and tradeskill items.