Return Profit

[sir0die]

I just want to point out, that at this point, starting a tradeskill with the sole intention of making plat, is 100% wrong thinking. It should be, "i want to be a GM (fill in tradeskill of choice), and if i make a profit great.

so, if you are wanting to make plat, the best way is to NOT start a new tradeskill and just continue utilizing your already deveoped skills to make stuff that sell. You stated you're GM in baking and brewing already. Stick to those. The plat is there, you just need to be patient and keep a trader in the bazaar. Maybe mix it up some, don't do MTPs or HMP, do holy cakes, or work on PoP recipies, heck, maybe cater to the lower levels, fish rolls are always good and affordable in quantity to almost anyone over lvl 10.


Baking and brewing are the profitable ones because you're selling consumable items, your customers will be back when they are hungry or thirsty. tailoring/smithing, you sell an item and probably won't see that person again for a long time (unless they have their own guild of twinks).

[Angelsyn]

I just want to point out, that at this point, starting a tradeskill with the sole intention of making plat, is 100% wrong thinking. It should be, "i want to be a GM (fill in tradeskill of choice), and if i make a profit, great.

Got that right.

P.S. You want to make cash with Smithing? Get to 250 and then get a bunch of level 55+ friends to take on CT (and Seb jail for Iksar Blood). The CT Chain, Weapons, Shield & Plate (good luck on getting the scales) are very, very nice.

Spinechill Silk Bracers, Gloves & Robe look pretty nice too.

[sir0die]

P.S. You want to make cash with Smithing? Get to 250 and then get a bunch of level 55+ friends to take on CT (and Seb jail for Iksar Blood). The CT Chain, Weapons, Shield & Plate (good luck on getting the scales) are very, very nice.

Spinechill Silk Bracers, Gloves & Robe look pretty nice too.

you'll be spending about 200k to get your skill up to 250 just so you can spend 10k and about 4-6 hours farming just to make a 60k sheild. sounds like a loss to me, not a profit.



however, if you get your skill to 250 BEFORE LoY is released, there is always a chance that you can get in on any new recipies that are released and possibly make a profit provided you are one of the first ones to make the new stuff (if it's anything decent).

[Sylphan]

I keep hearing about 60k Tae Ew Shields and 40k Ceramic Skulls of Decay and other huge profits. That is FAR from reality in my world.

Skulls were 6k to 8k even before the nerf, and shields are under 20k... and even that's only because I've been the sole supplier for awhile, while people auctioned Tae Ew Bloods for 7k or more (but others sold the blood for much less than that). They're going to be 12k by next week.

How do you folks possibly get such prices? I get people who say 'wow, those are some great leggings! I'll give you 25k for them. Where do they drop?' Then I explain that they're made with a tradeskill. 'Oh, well how about 12k?' Exactly the same stats, but they just assume that all tradeskill items are worth half as much. Even for direct comparisons... people will actually pay more for barbed leggings than for night terror leggings even though the stats are lower. You'd think that even if the tradeskill drove prices down, it would drive down the price of inferior dropped items with it... but no!

[Zopharr]

Smithing - if you are patient

There is still money to be made in smithing - I've made about 250k-300k in the last 2 weeks alone. About half was from the Tae Ew shortly after the blood drop rates were increased (sold some tunics at 40k before the price dropped), a third from a visible set of Mischevious plate, and the rest from various odds and ends - some night terror chain (12k-15k a piece), some ogre and dwarf cultural here and there. [It was also an unusually good 2 weeks - I'll generally move about 50k a week on average.]

Trick is, it takes time. First, lot's of time to skill up to 240-odd (600 hours or so now); and then lots of time to keep a steady stock of supplies on hand to fill orders. Just spent two hours this morning doing nothing but buying supplies, making dwarven tempers, celestial tempers, folded velium sheets, and a new set of chain leggings for my mule. I figure I spend about 20-30% of my time smithing - I'd *easily* be 65 if I didn't smith. Weeks when I don't have a lot of time to play, it often all goes to keeping my smithing supplies stocked up.

I gotta agree with Sirodie: figure out what you *like* doing, and do it. Eventually money will come. Sony will create a new batch of recipes, there will be a mad rush to take advantage of them, and *if* you are already GM skill when it hits, you are in a good position to make a killing (like when the POTC quest came out).

In the meantime, though, expect to put in a LOT of time - first to get the skill required, then to keep supplies if you really want to make money at it. If you are doing it *just* to make money, GO FARM STUFF. You'll get exp, and while you won't be quite as rich perhaps you'll make enough to be decently equipped and you won't be frustrated by hours upon hours of farming greens in Hollowshade or the like.

[Nizzr]

Ok let me add some notes and maybe correct the way I said a few things.

First and foremost, I am not looking to get 500k really quick or anything of that nature. I would be more than happy with the ability to always have 10k in bank. Right now I have to farm my way up to 1k if I see somethin I like for that price. So the idea is not to get "rich" but "comfortably wealthy".

Second, I'm not necassarily looking to go into these skills to make a ton of plat. I said this wrong. My long-term goal is to join the 1750 club (GM all skills), but as mentioned above I have very limited funds and as a U.S. Marshal it's hard for me to join any big raids or long-period sessions of any type that yeild loot since if I get a call I'm gone. And that happens often. I'm more or less trying to find a first skill that will fun the rest of my skills.

Baking and Brewing is great. I can set up a vendor with a ton of HMP's, MTP's, and Coldain Velium Tempers and make a great deal of money. But not enough to help me afford tailoring for instance.

Hope this helps clarrify a little...

[Zopharr]

Baking and Brewing is great. I can set up a vendor with a ton of HMP's, MTP's, and Coldain Velium Tempers and make a great deal of money. But not enough to help me afford tailoring for instance.

The problem is that virtually nothing will "help you afford tailoring" (or smithing for that matter). It's a matter of farming, farming, farming (barring truly obscene quantities of plat).

If you are truly dedicated to go 1750, I'd recommend looking at baking or brewing first - relatively *quick* and cheap to GM.

Then, while you are working on the AA points/farming to get your other trade skills up, you can have your bazaar mule bringing in some plat. Not oodles, but you will have a couple kpp to rub together. I.e., you'll start seeing some profit return immediately while working on the more profitable (but more difficult to GM) tradeskills.

I'd argue working on smithing before tailoring, but I'm biased.<grin>

I'd say save JC for last - not too hard to hit 250 (or even costly), but most profitable PoP JC is being done by chanters with the JC mastery, from what I've seen - the margins if you buy the Pop drops are too slim otherwise.

[Nizzr]

...ignore this post please...

[Zopharr]

OK, back to the original post

Sorry, hard to keep track in these long threads.

Well, after baking, brewing and fletching, you have four left: pottery, jewelcraft, smithing, and tailoring. As a non-chanter, I'd recommend "no" to JC. I believe that someone has already commented that pottery is not the route to quick riches: the drops for the PoP items are insanely rare, and seldom come onto the market for potters to buy up. And besides, people have 12 armor slots, while most casters tend to carry less than the max amount of focus items. Not the same potential for multiple sales to the same character.

That leaves smithing and tailoring. Both give you potential to get 10k+ plat in the bank in the 160-180 range of skill. Both offer good long-term potential, though tailoring may offer more for an erudate.

For the high-end smithing, you can get Tae Ew Blood from CT and stuff for the Tier I PoP smithing is pretty easy to find in bazaar.

Meanwhile, most of the worthwhile high-end tailored gear now requires PoP, and materials are far less common in bazaar. Normally I'd say go with smithing, but since you have no cultural smithing, tailoring may be the way to go.

Either way, you are stuck farming for materials to skill up for either of them. Short of winning a CoF in your next three dragon raids, I don't see many other options.

[gagaliya]

.

Hmm isnt there some tradeskill item that you can make from all vendor bought ingredients that gets you a couple plat profit for every combine, once sold back to the vendor? Anyone know?

[Yalum]

Whenever such a recipe is discovered now, it gets exploited by the macroers who make plat to sell on ebay, and nerfed within a few patches. Since the fletching fiasco dumped millions of pp into the economies, they've gotten very good about catching that sort of thing quickly (and, consequently, 200+ fletching is now very hard on the wallet).

[Gregular]

Which one?

Most all of the previous posts contained good information. I think (opinion) that it's not going to be a case of looking at what is there now and basing your choice on those facts, but by anticipating what is to come.

It has been my experience that the newest (and generally highest) recipes are far and away the most profitable. Eventually all prices will stabilize so that the selling price of the finished product will be just at or below the total cost of all components if purchased in the bazaar. It takes a while to get there, but once stabilized the only profit will go to those ppl that are actively farming their own components (or their guild farms for them).

Given that, the really profitable items are usually made by those people that are positioned to take advantage of them when the recipes go live or are discovered.

There is still a small but steady market for mid level armor (acrylia leathers/plate, etc.) on my server, but not enough demand or profit to finance skill ups in those skills. Consumables (eats, drinks, PotC items, etc.) also offer a steady demand, and also are no longer profitable enough to finance skill ups.

Whichever skill you pick to start with, be aware that it will be very expensive in both time and plat. Learn to LOVE farming greens!

Also, you will have to have a good means of disposing of your finished product. You will NEED 24/7 connectivity so that you can have a Trader up in the Bazaar during non-play times. This is almost absolutely essential. Not quite as essential, but a big help, is a second account for mules, transfers, etc. Or a passel of good friends at your disposal.

Goos luck in your endeavors.

[Draggar]

If you're looking for a stead income, follow the rules of supply and demand.

On Kane Bayle, basic TS'ing supplies are always a good sell, leather padding, spiderling silks, silk threads, silk swatches, etc...

Sure, farming it all is a HUGE pain in the rear, and making it all will give you carpal tunnel, but its easy cash, sell it at the average price and most of it should go overnight.

[Kytelae]

I have limited cash and so end up farming most of my tradeskill items. There are a few things I can make and sell for a small profit (acrylia items mostly, slow but steady sales). But mostly I sell paddings, planar oak, celestial essence and some foraged things for cash to help fund my tailoring hobby

[Gnastassja]

I am always a day late and a dollar short when it comes to getting in on the fast track to coppers.

Too scatterbrained to concentrate on just one skill at a time so I make from what I gather, as I go, and spend what I make on odd sells now and then to keep on going.

I am the poorest wizard in the land!