Guide: Making Credits

[Brugan_Lonestar]

A lot of people get too wrapped up worring about what their lvl 50 items will sell for or if they will even sell at all. Remember that all the money to be made isn't in end-game crafting, it's selliing to the fairly steady stream of people leveling chars.

 

Cybertech is a great one to target this demographic because people get a few oranges through commendations and just keep upgrading them as they go. Armormech and Armstech make money as well by crafting oranges and continually making other sub-50 items because in order to level up you HAVE to improve your gear one way or another, and a lot of players select comms instead of armor/weaps becausse they're saving for that planets orange items.

 

It's something I've found in pretty much every game, a player is going to go through a LOT more equipment leveling 1-50 than they will go through AT lvl 50.

[Acushla]

You Sir have put together some decent quality guides. I should however like to point out specific to the credit making issue one minor oft over-looked issue.

 

Watch what you are spending! it is tempting to use the taxi system in this game, after all who likes running from place to place past the same mobs dozens of times, but it is a money sink that will nickel and dime you into bankruptcy. There are doubtless many more.

[Goshee]

I didn't notice Tax'is costing that much to be honest. Or at least not enough to actually leave a dent in my wallet. The starting areas don't charge you much.. the bounty hunter starting area costs around 10 credits to each area.

 

It obviously increases later on in the game but I can't imagine it gets to the point of becoming a money sink. Unless people are needlessly going back and forth just for the sake of the ride lol.

[Mungo]

I'm eager to hear your comments on this guys.. I found it quite hard to word a lot of it so feel free to leave feedback! I will be updating this thread in the near future.

 

Another way to rip I mean make money is to find an item in high demand and buy them all up, then put one up at a really high price and then the rest at a price just below that. That way you manipulate the market in your favour and people will buy your lower priced items thinking they are getting a bargin.

 

Kind of difficult to do in this game but its possible. Far easier to do it in another popular sci-fi mmo.

 

Example

Red crystals being sold on the Republic side. Buy all the level 15 ones and then put one up at 10k credits. Then put the rest up at 4k credits, because you have the market share of red crystals people will have to buy them at your new price. Anyone else puts up more red crystals at a lower price buy them and either add them to the market at the new price or sit on them for a while.

 

You will need to know your server market and what sells though to do this and be prepared to loose credits if it crashes.

[Owsley]

Not all GTNs are connected. There are actually three: Imperial, Republic, and Non-Aligned. Nar-Shaddaa has a non-aligned GTN and is separate from the other two. It allows inter-faction trading. You can also create a mule character of the opposing faction and use the non-align GTN as a drop zone to move the items from one faction to the other. For example, your artifice is making ls/ds restricted crystals. Use you mule to move them to the GTN that has the greatest demand. Edited January 17, 2012 by Owsley

[Faydra]

I'm currently leveling up a banking/gathering alt. He's got Slicing/UWT/Treasure Hunting (debating dropping this for diplo purely for LS/DS points since I'm leveling him via PvP). I've been doing mostly the metals missions and selling everything I get on the GTN and making a tidy profit (he's currently level 15).

 

My main is Scavenging/Cyber/Slicing. All her money is coming from Slicing - primarily from selling the purple crafting missions she gets from slicing missions (rich level 5). That, more than the lockboxes, is the real money maker. She's still in her 30s.

 

What is nice is that aside from sending your companions to craft while you're doing other stuff (questing, PvP, whatever) is that crafting profs are not leveled tied. You can have max level crafting at level 10.

Edited January 17, 2012 by Faydra

[TwinShogun]

Nice thread. I've been doing some of these. I'm not gonna say which but it is good fun nonetheless

[Cokeroft]

I didn't see this in any replies or your main post, but I noticed that you mention if someone undercuts you, it's easier to just cancel and repost. I am assuming you come from a WoW gold making background, so I would agree with you in WoW it's better to do that, because often times the deposit required is minimal. However, in this game I've noticed the deposit is HUGE for almost all items.

 

I don't have exact % of the total prices, but I often times just let my ship parts stay up indefinitely because it's not worth losing those 1k creds from cancelling, so instead I will just put up another auction of the same exact item, undercutting the guy.

 

This often times leads to a war, which you will win if you have more items than the other person. Try it out, and see if you agree

[Nastar]

1. Send companions on underworld trading

2. Sell mandelorian iron / nanosilk / gifts.

3. Repeat

4.????

5. Profit

 

 

I currently have 1.4 mill credits, and i only do this 3-4 times a day

[Bovinity]

On my server, biochem is the least represented crafting skill out there. There are hardly any materials for it on the GTN and the ones that appear are bought instantly. Boom, there we have it, a possible source of income. However, bionalysis supports only one crew skill which isn't all that popular (depends on your server). Meaning there is a low demand and generally a low supply. You could try and buy these materials before the Biochemists purchase them then put them back on the market for a higher price but it would be incredibly risky and probably wouldn't work in your favour. You might want to try it out though, for those who don't try never succeed.

 

Pretty sure you're looking at that entirely backwards. There's no biochem mats up because the demand is high because everyone and their brother is Biochem most likely. Just take a peek around these boards and you can get the gist of that. =D

[Eryndel]

Nice start to the guide. If you're willing to compile it, I think it would be great to have specific examples of what sells and what doesn't. For instance, the mods mentioned above are usually hot sellers as are enhancements from artifice and blue medpacks/stims from bio chem. Although I'd challenge your statement about Biochem being under represented. If it's anything like my server, people are switching to it at endgame (because of the reasons stated all over this forum) and have the credits to buy up inventory from the GTN. My server has hardly any bio materials in the GTN, and they get swooped up in a heartbeat when they are placed.

 

In general, though, I'd caution against the gathering and selling method of cash generation. The game is still to early to have the vast amount of free money at endgame that cause folks to want to spend off the GTN versus getting it themselves. This is heightened by the fact that any person can pick up the required support skills meaning you are only selling to either the people who don't want the required gathering skill, or who needs just a few items to level out of their bracket. Right now, the market for either is slim (but not nonexistent).

 

I'll also give you a little tidbit I haven't seen posted in this thread. There are quite a few people in this game who don't realize that Nar Shaddaa is a neutral GTN and not linked to the faction GTN. Mission skills often times drop unusable schematics for your faction. I've made quite a bit of money so far buying up orange schematics that are Imperial only (for instance, a synthweaving schematic for Sith Inq) on the Republic GTN for usually between 200-300 credits, and sell it on the Neutral for 1500-2000 (or more for higher level oranges).

 

But really, this boils down to any way of making money, you need to know your market, and you need to be a little lucky with the timing.

[Goshee]

I already put up some information regarding nar shadaa at the bottom of the GTN section. I will go through it and see if anything needs changing.

 

Regarding Biochem, I have to agree with you.. It seems a lot of people are taking this skill as its one of the most useful out there. I will update the guide to explain why as well.

 

Thanks for all the info guys!

[Goshee]

Added a special thanks section for helpful peeps ^^

[Acushla]

Well Goshee, I was using the taxi's as an example

 

The Point being, if you are interested in maximizing your earning potential you want to be wary of the money sinks in the game. Another one that will zap you is the skill mentors. The Price to remap your skills is low if you do it very seldom, but ___ it can increase geometrically if you find yourself remapping between raiding say and PvP skill sets.

 

Simply Put, Watch expenses as well as your income.

[starrjammer]

This is a really well put together thread. Thank you for that.

 

I forsee charting prices and materials via an Excel sheet in my future.

 

One question/thought I have is, are there better days and times to put up your items for sale?

 

I would initially think that putting them up on the weekend during peek play times would be best as there would be more buyers. But by the same token, there could also be more sellers as well. Demand and supply may both be high.

 

But during the week when populations are lower, the supply may be at its lowest which would allow you to price your items for a fair but nice premium. Thoughts?

 

Also given the issue going back and forth about losing your deposit, would a shorter run time on your sale be better? That way you can get back in and adjust your prices to potential undercutting without having to worry about losing any of your deposit.

 

Thanks again. Eager to hear people's thoughts.

[Alzyrian]

Good guide. I wanted to add something that I found made a difference for me. Every single green or higher drop i got in game i would put on the GTN first and if it didn't sell, I would then vendor it. Like you said, you get back your original deposit if the item does not sell. These items are basically free to you and if you pick decent prices for them on the GTN, you will get 3 to 4 times what the vendor gives you.

[xerolegacy]

"When you successfully sell an item, you receive the credits through the mail. The GTN will keep the original deposit."

 

I don't believe this is true. Yes, the GTN keeps a commision, but not the whole deposit. When I get money in the mail, it's larger than what the item sold for because I'm getting some of my deposit back.

 

Very nice guide.

[Tizek]

just read the entire guides that you have posted i must say its a insight. iver only been playing a week and struggling to find my way around.

sometimes confusing but i like whats been said super guide bud

[racknut]

Questing is one I highly recommend, not only for the cash but the story is just awesome too. It is safe and reliable but once you have completed them all you will have to start doing daily's.

 

 

Totally agree. Redoing the Heroic quests since they reset every day is a great way to make credits and commendations. Once you reach a high enough level above the level of the mission, you no longer get experience, but they keep giving out credits and commendations for the 20-30 minutes of time it takes to complete the mission. Not a bad way to make money, IMHO.

 

BTW, great guide. Thanks!

Edited February 2, 2012 by racknut
Additional comments.

[Resolute]

/subscribe

[Fonitrus]

"When you successfully sell an item, you receive the credits through the mail. The GTN will keep the original deposit."

 

I don't believe this is true. Yes, the GTN keeps a commision, but not the whole deposit. When I get money in the mail, it's larger than what the item sold for because I'm getting some of my deposit back.

 

Very nice guide.

 

^This is true.

 

The final result = deposit back + (selling price - commision)

 

in fact every GTN items posted except cancelled sales return your deposit back in full.

The comission is based of the sold price only.

 

getting your deposit back is awesome since it encourages people to load the market and the 50 cap prevents junk saturation so i really enjoy this design compared to the WoW for example where people with deep pockets can monopolise a section of market for a short time and annoy a whole bunch of people while making $hitloads of money in the process.

 

In addition to OP:

One thing you should consider is INFLATION. Inflation is based on the money making capabilities of end game characters and their overall activity. Sure some crafting skills are good and can sell alot of their items HOWEVER bored level 50s power leveling their professions or switching professions for FOTM for PvP or Raiding means they are not likely to go mine/gather themselves.

 

Mats gathered youseld are not free. They are worth what the market is prepare to accept them for.

Level 50 grinding mats in low level zones cuts deep in his credit/hour capability compared to him doing his grinding in high end zones and buying the mats.

 

This ability to grind high amounts of credits is what pushes mats inflation up.

you will see most low level mats are overpriced and high level mats are more in line of what you will call a stable economy simply because you cant rip off endgame power levelers by selling them the mats they can get themselves WHILE making money in the same area.

 

So often the formula for success is Gathering->Sell Mats till end level then power level your Crafting and THEN and ONLY THEN consider establishing a segment of the market as your own and working from there.

 

Its like a race really. imagine a truck and a race car. they will both get to 110km/h limit on the highway. the truck will take longer.

the power leveler will fly through the low credit/hour zones and reach endlevel fast where his credit/hour is at max or close to max level.

since he did not botehr with crafting and just gathering he has some cash, no downtime and is now ready to slowly buy up his craftying skills and help the economy by supplying credits to others doing the same.

[Lord_Xar]

Great guide, thanks a bunch!

[Thaabit_Arnub]

Wow. Its only a matter of time b4 we c in-game corporations made up of players working together to get segments of the economy.

[Knockerz]

You can some times find belts or wrist at reduce prices on ah and resell them for a lot more money or rare items like orange light armor pants. You can resell them on ah for hundreds of gold cause they don't require social points to wear and they look kinda nice. I bought a pair couple days ago for 7k and I know I can sell them for at least 100k, but probably between 100k-300k or more. I don't have lvl 50 and on my highest level char, a level 40, I currently have like 800k and I'm sitting on a pair of orange belts I can sell for at least 200k. Just not sure yet if I should sell it or give it to my sage. Edited March 9, 2012 by Knockerz

[Sogrin]

NOTE:

 

Each time you place an item on the GTN to be sold, you have to place a deposit. The size of this deposit will depend on how long the GTN holds the item (e.g. 1 or 2 days) and how much you are asking for it to sell (the higher the selling price the higher the deposit).

 

• When you successfully sell an item, you receive the credits through the mail. The GTN will keep the original deposit.
  
• When you fail to sell an item after its designated time allotment, you will be refunded your deposit in the post.
   
  
• IF YOU CANCEL A SALE PREMATURELY THE GTN WILL KEEP YOUR DEPOSIT
  

 

 

from my experience, not entirely correct. I have noticed that when an item sells, the GTN will return the original deposit, however will take a percentage of the sale as it's 'charge' for processing the sale on your behalf.

 

good write up though