Guild Wars 2

So I’ve recently come to learn a bit more about the TP and how I can use it to make money. Starting off at the shallow end of the pool I’ve been doing some flipping on mats since they can be moved fast and have little risk involved with them. However making several extra silver for an hour’s work sitting next to the TP doesn’t seem to be worth it. So I’ve tried dipping my toes into other markets such as food/weapons/etc. where the margins are bigger but the process is slower. I end up getting anxious/worried when an item will go 24 hours without being ordered/sold and in the mean time I’ve been undercut but several other people.

So as a newbie I’m looking for some sort of advice/standard on how long some of these other markets might take from ordering to selling. Would it not be unheard of for some things to take a week? Or should I be able to resell something like a single weapon in a couple days? And I’m looking at short-term flipping here, not any sort of long term investment that involve sitting on items for a few months. I’ll work on that at a later date. Nor am I asking others to reveal any particular markets they find profitable. But for now any reasonable time frame that could be shared with me would be appreciated as I try to learn more.

While there isn’t an exact 1:1 ratio as far as gold:days to sell, generally items that are over 8g take a day, anything over 100 could take a few days.

What I suggest is watching different trading post website and watch the supply and demand for the items. I tend to find that higher priced items sell faster on the weekends.

“Starting off at the shallow end of the pool I’ve been doing some flipping on mats since they can be moved fast and have little risk involved with them. However making several extra silver for an hour’s work sitting next to the TP doesn’t seem to be worth it”

I’m not a flipper (more of a speculator), but you have to consider that the profit you get from trading high-velocity commodities is largely based on volume.

If you are only getting a few silver pre hour on this particular item, consider making bulk purchases.

Of course, you mention that you are a newbie at this, so your capital may not be large to begin with, but don’t be discouraged – it takes money to make money.

well i guess as long as you guys are having fun…

Don’t purely flip, you’re extracting profit from sacrificing time value, but this value is incredibly small due to the velocity of the market.

Instead focus on extracting impatience and uncertainty.

I tripled my money in a day by using buy orders for non-infinite Quaggan tonics. Doing so required basically zero amassed capital, I could have doubled 20s just as easily as doubling 20g. All it really required was storage space relative to the amount invested, you should have plenty of alts available for storage if all you’ve been doing is pure flipping.

Anyone could know they’d rise as they would have had their supply cut forever in a few days, the spike happened early due to speculation.

Getting the same return from mat flipping would take several hours, much anti-fun, and a fair amount of risk. Find markets where supply is abundant and will be eliminated,

Edit: As a PS, don’t underestimate the risk involved in pure flipping. Materials have, on many many occasions, tanked suddenly and gradually. Either one can wipe out dozens of successful flips, if not more. Since you’re spending so much mental energy on flipping, such drops can be devastating- far more than pure speculators whose diversification strategy will offset any one particular loss.

I lost about half the money put in to mithril recently. I’m able to hold the investment hoping for an upside due to diversification and liquidity in other markets, but to someone who is just involved in mithril, and is flipping it (and is as such relying on it for liquidity) this could have been a deathblow.

Call me unimaginative if you will, but I can’t for the life of me understand flipping Mithril. The profit margin seems too low. What am I missing?

Diversification is the key word. Putting too much faith into a few high risk investments can sink you overnite. Another thing to remember is this: Don’t spend more money than you’re willing to lose. Keep some liquid so you still have something in the event of a crash in prices.

Most items have an ebb and flow of prices that repeat over the course of a week, as the player base swells on the weekend and contracts during the week.

If an item hasn’t sold after a week I’d be inclined to pull and re-list it; any longer than that and you’re waiting for some sort of structural shift in the market to move the price back up, and who knows how long that would be.

DarcShriek.5829:

Call me unimaginative if you will, but I can’t for the life of me understand flipping Mithril. The profit margin seems too low. What am I missing?

There is so much Mithril out there..

DarcShriek.5829:

Call me unimaginative if you will, but I can’t for the life of me understand flipping Mithril. The profit margin seems too low. What am I missing?

Why do you think people are flipping mithril?

I don’t think anyone in their mind would flip mithril, but mithril is good to hold on to in large amounts (using alt account with TP storage) for when precursor crafting comes out.

Opportunity cost is a factor of course, as there are other commodities worth more speculating in.

There isn’t a flipping margin for mithril. At 35c you would need a 7c margin between high bid/low sell to even be profitable.

I assume they believe people are flipping mithril since the price rose over the last week and we “all know” that price rises on an item is “evidence” of flippers doing their nefarious work.

Yes, that was sarcasm.