In this series, I'll be exploring Guild Wars 2's Trading Post and how to make money off it. This first entry describes the basic principals of earning money from the Trading Post while future entries will diarize my pursuit of 1,000g, when starting out with just 50. 

Overview

Earning money from Guild Wars 2’s Trading Post is surprisingly easy but many players seemingly choose to avoid it because they see it as a challenging, time consuming and confusing way of earning gold. Although it isn’t initially a particularly fast process (income does speed up as you begin to grow your listed items) the eventual income potential is enormous.

Income is earned in two ways from the Trading Post:

  • Speculation
  • Flipping

Speculation

Speculation involves predicting market trends, buying items at a lower cost and then when the market price of those items increases, you list them for a quick profit. This method requires some luck and some guess work. For example, when Heart Of Thorns was announced the Tier 6 price of materials went up, all due to new Legendary Weapons being announced. As another example, I once noticed there was very little Simple Dressing on the Trading Post. Don’t ask me why, but I decided to make some and couldn’t make it fast enough to meet the demand. During a few hours I made over 1,000 gold.

Flipping

Flipping is where you place a Buy Order for a particular item, knowing that you can then sell it on for more. There’s thousands of items that you can do this for and it all hinges on the fact that those fulfilling your Buy Orders want to quickly sell the items they find. Whether it’s trash weapons or food, there’s a margin to be made on most items. The key is identifying which items will provide a profit after the Trading Post takes its cut.

Trading Post Tools

There are certain tools that you can use online that make the whole Trading Post “game” infinitely easier. One specific tool is Gold Wars 2. It provides real time updates on the Trading Post, allows you to filter based on a variety of factors and unlike the in game Trading Post, it’s fast and generally facilitates quick searching, buying and listing. I really couldn’t live without something like Gold Wars 2 because it makes Flipping, which is your main income, immeasurably easier. It takes a little practice to use, but in no time you’ll be getting the best out of it.

So What Do I Do?

In principal and depending on how much money you have, it’s all about placing as much Buy Orders as humanly possible. It’s guaranteed that you will be outbid on many of these Buy Orders, so the idea is to place enough to guarantee you’ll successful obtain some of the items you want. Typically, I place Buy Orders for hundreds of items at any one time, all of which I know will give me a profit of 30% or higher. I might only get 75 back out of 200 after 24 hours, but that’s 75 items that will give me a profit when I sell them on. Ideally I tend to stick to weapons, armor and consumables simply because I know that’s what most players want at end game. As long as they give me a profit, I’ll place Buy Orders.

How Long Should I Wait?

I tend to login early and place all my Buy Orders (around 8am), I then wait until at least 10pm that night. If not, the next morning I’ll cancel any Buy Orders that aren’t fulfilled and then establish what it is I’ve managed to buy.

What Should I List My Purchased Items For?

You should always undercut other player listings and you should only do it by 1 copper. Doing this guarantees that your item will be sold above someone else, unless you are also undercut. Don’t worry if you are - your item will eventually sell.

What If My Items Aren’t Selling?

You have to be patient. Your items will sell, but it’ll take some time depending on what it is you’re selling. The key is to not take the item down - just leave it up on the Trading Post. It might take a day or more for some items to sell, but they eventually will. The worst case scenario is that should you ever need to liquidate, you can cancel all your Trading Post stock knowing what you bought was for a cheap price, that you can sell on for only a small loss.

Have You An Example Of Your Trades?

Yes! Our first diary entry is now live! You can view it below.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Guild Wars 2 Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

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