my junk is your treasure i guess

[TraderJoe1998]

[oops , this was supposed to be a dumpster diving reply. sorry, i suck ]

I have done dumpster diving in the past, but i really don't have time for it. I figure i can get at least 2kp per hour hunting normally and getting exp. When i do trade skills, i need to at least match that or im wasting my time. I skill up on items i can sell, and if the profit is not high enough i sell to the vendors.

At the smithing sites, you will find lots of LDoN armor for sale because the profit is too low and competition to high to waste my time selling in the Bazaar. And, sometimes, i just delete items. When i was making the Opal Encrusted Stiens, i just deleted them, the walk to a vendor was not worth the few coins i get for them.

I make misty picnics to skill up, but they are not big profit items. I give them to guild members, and try to unload them in the bazaar. But i dont like to make less than 200p profit from any one slot in a bazaar trader satchel.

I remember when i played a young paly three years ago, mastered fletching to 200, and sold arrows for 20p per stack. I would run around to all the zones until i sold all the arrows. When i think back on it, i realize it was a waste of time.

My advice is, if you are working hard to make 50p, or 100p, then give it up. Concentrate on leveling. Get a character to the 50s or 60s first, then think about ways to make plat. Think of ways to make thousands of plat, not hundreds of plat.

However, i will note that it is possible for a low level to make 100k plat in the bazaar starting from a few stacks of spider silks. But, to do that you have to study the bazaar every day, checking prices all day, making lists, knowing what is underpriced. Buying low, selling high. But, then you are playing the bazaar, not your character. And, i really hate the buy low sell high mentality because it raises the prices for everything and screws all the buyers out of good deals which they desearve after a hard day of fighting.

So, unless you are making 2k per hour, get your a$$ out of the dumpster. Go kill some mobs, and level up.

[Ziela]

Why do people comb garage sales and such for items? It's fun finding treasures, if I didn't enjoy it I wouldn't do it. The way I look at it is this- it takes me about 15 minutes to do the "rounds" on patch day, i.e. pok, pot, and the ldon merchants, which I do a couple times a day on patch days and the day after. If you've been doing it for awhile you can scan a merchant literally in a couple seconds. Not once have I come away empty handed. I generally only buy things that will generate at least 3x profit and I can sell quickly. Besides dumping the items on your trader and periodically checking prices, that is the only time invested. If it's not worth the time to you to sell ldon armor that's fine with me, I'll happily buy those vambraces for 60 plat and turn around the next day and sell for 250.
Another main reason people vendor dive is to find stuff for their own tradeskill use. I would have made tons more by now if I wasn't using 75% of what I buy. I've gotten many many stacks of silks, pop baking components, velium etc. It really does add up...for example I started stocking up tainted planar essence for pottery awhile before I needed it, and managed to hoard over 15 stacks which certainly came in handy. I also buy black sapphires to make electrum earrings. They cost me 190 or so and sell nicely for 450 for a little investment of plat and a couple seconds of clicking.
You definitely have a point, you will make more money exping. BUT you have to have a chunk of time to find a group, do an adventure etc. I can check vendors while eating breakfast, switch back to my trader and go afk for the day while she makes me money

[Auricula]

So, unless you are making 2k per hour, get ... out of the dumpster. Go kill some mobs, and level up.

I guess it depends on how you view 'making 2k per hour'.

One of my favorite vendor finds was level 50something spell that I needed and was putting off spending 5k to buy in bazaar. Found it on an NPC vendor for under 20pp.

I primarily buy things that I know I will need in the future. For example, I have 4 stacks of Arctic Wyvern Hides in the bank for when I skill up tailoring. They sell in the bazaar for 75pp each; I paid 13pp for them on NPC vendors. So either pay 60+pp more per hide, or spend hours killing green cons to farm them in the future.

All the Iron Oxide and Permafrost Crystals I accumulated over time from 'dumpster-diving' sure come in handy now that I am making and selling the Golden Idol of Tunare. The Iron Oxide is a few gold on NPCs vendors; lowish price to buy in bazaar is 80pp.

The list goes on and on.

So am I 'making 2k per hour' in hard cold immediate cash? Nope, rarely do I buy things that I am going to turn around and stick on my bazaar trader. Do I feel that in the long run I come out 2k ahead per hour spent shopping NPC merchants? You betcha!

[Sanna]

2kp/hour? where are you hunting? ^_^

-- Sanna

[Balkin]

I wondered that.

I figured it's probably someplace that most players won't ever see...

[Maevenniia]

Found an FBSS on an NPC merchant yesterday for ~590pp...I don't have any melee twinks, so I turned around and sold it in the bazaar for 1500pp.

[Footsore]

quote:
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So, unless you are making 2k per hour, get ... out of the dumpster. Go kill some mobs, and level up.
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I make over 20K each patch - occasionally much more - spending about an hour an evening at the keyboard. Zone resets also yield pretty good profit, depending on the zone.

I'm one of them "casual" players. During weekdays, I spend an hour or less at the keyboard after work and before supper. Not enough time to xp, but plenty of time to mine merchants. Merchant mining is a great way for me to get some fun out of the game even when I don't have time to go xp.

At 53, 2K per hour killing mobs ain't possible, let alone 5k+ per hour. And besides, I find merchant mining as much fun as xping.

[Silound]

Hello swarming stalkers. 1 aa and around 2500 per hour if the drops are kind, 1k per hour if not. Not too bad, and I can spare an hour to 3 hours each day to do this, so why am I not rich yet?

[Moraganth]

So, unless you are making 2k per hour, get your a$$ out of the dumpster. Go kill some mobs, and level up.

Actually, i'll stick to doing what i like doing. At 65 there's not a lot of room left to level up.. and as far as dumpster diving.. when i've made 50k in 10 seconds from buying a few things off a single vendor (for less than 10pp).. i'll take it.

[Nhin Impious]

My advice is, if you are working hard to make 50p, or 100p, then give it up. Concentrate on leveling. Get a character to the 50s or 60s first, then think about ways to make plat.

And if your ability and time to play limits you to leveling slowly, you shouldn't worry about enjoying yourself now?

Nhinx's birthday is 2/24/02. That's right, she's approaching 2 years old. She's level 55, and if I'm very, VERY lucky might be 56 by the end of this month. I don't regret the month I took off of leveling to GM baking; yeah, it was a hard grind for me, a couple points a night, but when I was done-- I had accomplished something that *I* wanted to accomplish. She's a GM baker, and to me that's as important as having her epic, or being level 65, neither of which is going to happen anytime in the next few months. She'll be a GM brewer and hopefully a GM fletcher and potter by the time she is 2, though.

It's easy to talk about making 2Kpp per hour-- until you start looking at those of us who can spend an hour looking for a group, or getting transportation to somewhere we can solo and make a few plat with our experience. Sure, it'd be easier to make a "better soloing class" or quit my job so I could play during a more populated time of the day, but I don't consider either of those viable options.

Honestly, I don't think the tradeskill community is the best place to find a great consensus on "level up and make money, that's what it's all about." Sure, there are folks that do that; and there are those of us who prefer the other rewards of the game, too.

Nhinx "Incoming!" Aphsion
mad puller, death kiting Templar, and baker with attitude

[Kronepsis]

There's a really simple train of thought as to why mining is good.

Money is irrelevant if what you want never shows up. If the chance of something showing up on a vendor is about the same as someone selling it for XYEKRLWK plat, I'll take my chances with the vendor, thanks.