Guild Wars 2

Which is more profitable, selling light armor directly on the TP, or first salvaging and then selling the results?

I’d guess it should be more or less equivalent because if there was a profit to be had from salvaging first, people would do it until it’s no longer profitable.

But does anyone know for a fact?

Think of it this way. Who and how many buyers are there for this specific armor?

1.) People who will wear it – very few
2.) People who will buy it to salvage – moderate

vs the # of buyers who will buy the components
1.) People who will buy it for their own personal crafting use – many

Because of this, it’s a lot often better to salvage. Furthermore, if you do not sell the armor immediately, you may have to end up relisting, wasting your original fee.

Vol.7601:

Think of it this way. Who and how many buyers are there for this specific armor?

1.) People who will wear it – very few
2.) People who will buy it to salvage – moderate

vs the # of buyers who will buy the components
1.) People who will buy it for their own personal crafting use – many

Because of this, it’s a lot often better to salvage. Furthermore, if you do not sell the armor immediately, you may have to end up relisting, wasting your original fee.

Are you sure about

“2.) People who will buy it to salvage – moderate”?

If there’s a profit to be had from doing this which should be true (assuming it’s a lot better to salvage), wouldn’t there be more of 2.) happening?

Lord Kuru.3685:

Are you sure about

“2.) People who will buy it to salvage – moderate”?

If there’s a profit to be had from doing this which should be true (assuming it’s a lot better to salvage), wouldn’t there be more of 2.) happening?

The thing is, there are a zillion different types of salvageable items, and almost nobody is going to go through all of them on the TP to see which ones can be bought and salvaged for profit. Thus, for any single item the pool of potential buyers is very small.

On the other hand, every player can instantly find the salvaged materials on the TP when they need them, making the pool of potential buyers huge.

Also, remember to factor in stuff like type of kit used (salvage-o-matic gets better in the long run) and any perks from self-salvaging (like luck, which again in the long run will give a permanent benefit in the form of better drops).

tmakinen.1048:

Lord Kuru.3685:

Are you sure about

“2.) People who will buy it to salvage – moderate”?

If there’s a profit to be had from doing this which should be true (assuming it’s a lot better to salvage), wouldn’t there be more of 2.) happening?

The thing is, there are a zillion different types of salvageable items, and almost nobody is going to go through all of them on the TP to see which ones can be bought and salvaged for profit. Thus, for any single item the pool of potential buyers is very small.

On the other hand, every player can instantly find the salvaged materials on the TP when they need them, making the pool of potential buyers huge.

Also, remember to factor in stuff like type of kit used (salvage-o-matic gets better in the long run) and any perks from self-salvaging (like luck, which again in the long run will give a permanent benefit in the form of better drops).

^ this

It is very inconvenient to go through each and every possible item. You have blues/greens of every level and every armor type. It’s tedious and inefficient.

What most people do is sort by cheapest price. What if your armor is special, like having exotic berserker stats? It would probably be placed on the high end and no one would go after it.

Yes there are lots of items… but there are also lots of players looking to make money. You don’t think that balances out? You guys have convinced me to take a look at making money on the light blues/green market LOL!

For the average player, salvage it. It’ll sell faster + get you MF if it’s a blue or green. MF will add to your gold in the long run as well.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Yes there are lots of items… but there are also lots of players looking to make money. You don’t think that balances out? You guys have convinced me to take a look at making money on the light blues/green market LOL!

To make lots of money you also want to limit your costs.

Certain armors have higher prices because there is value to them higher than the value of materials you get out of it, such as stat type, look, runes)

As a result, up to a certain price point, buyers will not buy armors because it is inefficient to do so. They will sort by low-high and buy all the lows up to a point.

I am one of those who buys blues/greens, salvages, then uses materials for crafting. I use so many for crafting I don’t even consider potentially selling just the material, so I compare buy order price of buy blue/green item vs. buy order price of material it salvages into.
items will fall into one of 3 categories: (percent of total given)
~30% = 100% profit per item (buy for 1s, gives 2s worth of materials)
~50% = 10% profit per item (buy for 5s, gives 5s50c worth of materials)
~20% = -50% profit per item (buy for 6s, gives 3s worth of materials)

If you have a collection of blues and greens you want to sell, I recommend selling all the ones in the last group. If you are lazy, I would also sell the ones in the middle group. If you have time or want luck, I would instead salvage all the ones in the middle group. I highly recommend salvaging all the ones in the first group.
It can be hard to figure out how much each item is potentially worth, however. for example: coats give almost twice as many materials as any other armor. also, there is a huge jump in the price of light armors between levels 46-63 (these can give linen). I have no recommendation for an easy way to determine how much an item will give you when salvaged besides getting a feel for what they give. A huge generalization: coats give ~3 materials, others give ~2 materials.