Ravenn's Gold Making Class (It's open!!!)

[RavennShadowheart]

WELCOME TO RAVENN'S GOLD MAKING CLASS
In this thread, I will help new and expert gaians alike by improving their gold earning skills and teach them a few good tips on making money on Gaia efficiently. By the way, I'm Ryan but you can just call me Ravenn here. You can check out my profile to know a little about me. But enough of that, please read the next few posts before you post anything. You might learn something new as well. Thank you.  

[RavennShadowheart]

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section A) Introduction
Section B) Table of Contents
Section C) The rules
Section D) Before you begin
Section E) Beginning of The Marketplace Game
Section F) Learning Basic Prices
Section G) Browsing for a Good Investment
Section H) The Bidding of a Prize
Section I) Setting the Price Tag
Section J) Buyers and Profit
Section K) The Beginning of an Expert Investment
Section L) Tips of all Kinds
Section M) Tips from other Gaians
 

[RavennShadowheart]

THE RULES:
Rule 1= Please respect me and the people who are trying to learn in this thread.
Rule 2= Please chat with people here only to discuss market topics. You may bump if there's no one around but please keep it to minimum.
Rule 3= Please do not stretch the page or flame anyone.
Rule 4= You may post or pm me a question about the marketplace. But preferably pm me if i'm not online
Rule 5= Try to have fun and hope you learned something of value.  

[RavennShadowheart]

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:
Before you begin the lesson, you'll need to earn gold and have at least 2000 gold. You can't make money without having money. You can easily earn money by the normal ways of fishing, posting, voting, etc.... But once you have the preferable amount of 2000 gold, you may begin the next step of learning.  

[RavennShadowheart]

BEGINNING OF THE MARKETPLACE GAME
In this thread, i will teach you the way I make money quickly. I call it the Marketplace Game. It has risks but good rewards as well. The way the Marketplace Game works is that I search for an item in the marketplace and bid on it cheaply. Then I sell it for a profit on the market. Sounds simple? Yes it is but it requires practice, luck, perseverance, patience, and a good amount of knowledge on how the prices works on the market. If you read on through this thread, you'll learn that money making isn't as hard as most people claim. A lot of people complain that it's so hard to get gold and beg for them. For a lot of people, this whining and begging can be annoying. But if people work hard enough for their dreams, they'll see that it can be done.  

[RavennShadowheart]

LEARNING BASIC PRICES
Now that you have collected your spending money you need to learn about prices. What you do is go to the marketplace and look around. Observe the common and rare items popping in and out.

Let's start with the basic common/uncommon items:

When i say common/uncommon items, I mean items that you can easily buy from shops. What you do is take a look around and click on the more popular common/uncommon item. Look at its store price and remember it.
Now that you've got that number down, type in that items name and select "Lowest buy price". Look at the common lowest buy price and also keep that it mind. Now that you have those two numbers down, you now have your basic spending limit.

Basic spending limit?

I'll explain. The store price will be your end limit. This means that you musn't bid or buy the item if the bid/buy price they have is over the limit. This means you find another target item instead. The common lowest buy price will be your profit limit. it means that you can bid/buy on an item as long as the money your spending is at least 300 to 400 gold below the normal buy price, but the more lower it is the better profits. The lower your bid is, the better chance of a profit.

Still confused? Here's an example:

An item sells for 3000 gold in the shops. You find one in the marketplace that can be bid for 1800 gold. You find that the lowest common buy price is at least 2900 gold or maybe even higher. Now that i know the limits this means that i can bid/buy the item with 1900 gold to 2500 gold.

Starting to see the idea? I hope so. Now let's move on to the rare and popular items:

These items may be plushies, tails, collars, angelic/demonic you name it!
The way it works is similar to the first but this time theres no set end limit. For your bidding limit, you have to look at the common lowest buy price on the item you're looking at. The same limit rules apply to this.

If you're still not sure, maybe this example can help.

I find a plushie that a seller set for 8500 gold bid. I look up the lowest buy price and see that it is normally bought at lowest for 14500 gold. This means that my max bid would be at 13500 gold and my minimum bid at 9500 gold. The reason for the max bid at 13500 gold is that this way, you can make sure that you'll make some profit out of this.

If you've read this part through and understand it, move to the next step. If not, try and read it again or ask me by pm.  

[RavennShadowheart]

BROWSING FOR A GOOD INVESTMENT
Now that you've learned the basics of prices, you need to learn on how to spot a good deal from a bad deal. Go to the marketplace and select "Amount of time". Now, go to the page where the items have at least 1 to 2 minutes left. Now browse around and search for an item to invest in.

(Tip: Try not to take in letters or items that your gut feels that it won't sell)

Try to discover the easier and popular items. An example would be the G-BOT. G-BOTs may be hard to find but they are generally a good place to start because they almost always sell. If you find that the G-BOt bid is less than 5000 and at least 4000 gold, then you've found a deal. Remember that any profit is good profit no matter how small but bigger profits make my day. blaugh


 

[RavennShadowheart]

THE BIDDING OF A PRIZE
Now that you've selected your prize, it's time to try and get it.
My tip to you is to bid on the item on the last second when the time left is at least 30 sec. If not, keep refreshing and keep in note the current bidding price and your bid limit. When the time is ready, type in an amount you want to bid with and hope for luck. Make sure that when you set your bid, the remainging time left should be at least 10 to 6 seconds. Also, keep in mind that your bid should be a calculated bid. This means that you should keep in mind that there may be others that might bid higher that you. Therefore, your bid should be a little higher than the amount you originally thought of bidding with. With this in mind, you have a better chance of winning the item.  

[RavennShadowheart]

SETTING THE PRICE TAG
If you were lucky enough to get the item, read on through to continue. If not, try again and continue your seach for an item. This section may be one of the easiest steps. Once you have gotten the item, you may now sell it in your store. To set the price, you must keep in mind the lowest buy price limits and the amount of gold you originally bid with it. Ok, select your item to sell. Then set the starting bid at least 200 to 300 gold higher than the amount you bid with it. Then, your buy price must be at least 500 gold lower than the lowest buy price. This will make sure that someone will buy your item quickly. Once you have done this, all you have to do is wait. If nobody buys the item, continue to adjust the buy price by lowering it just a little bit but not too much. Keep in mind that not all items may not sell at first but sell for later. Otherwise, keep on trying and hoping for luck.
 

[RavennShadowheart]

BUYERS AND PROFIT
Now that you know the basics of the Marketplace Game, you have to know a little about the buyers. Always keep in mind that people will be always on a lookout for good deals so that they pay less for their items. With this in mind, you can set your prices accordingly and enable you to get more profit. In my experience, a day could wield me a minimum profit of 1500 gold to 5000 gold. This way, is much faster than the normal money making ways. But it comes with practice and luck. So don't be discouraged if you lost money instead, cause it will need you to do some more hard work.  

[RavennShadowheart]

THE BEGINNING OF AN EXPERT INVESTMENT
There's really not much to say for now but if you keep on practicing this, you'll be an expert in getting your gold efficiently. Also, I won't say that you have to do it but for me, I like to donate to friends and strangers when I make a lot of profit. The reason for this is that I had a good start when a friend donated to me. By donating to others, I give others a chance to get a good start. You don't have to but it would be nice to help others as well. Anyway,s that's all for now but if you have questions, just pm me.  

[RavennShadowheart]

TIPS OF ALL KINDS

- avoid buying risk items such as letters, gift boxes and items you're unfamiliar with unless you really want it.
- keep a sharp eye for extremely low bid prices and forgotten bid items for a chance of greater profit. Also, keep an eye out for definite profit items like G-BOTS, rare/uncommon items
- if your item doesn't sell for awhile, check the exchange forums and see if anyone will buy it. Try the wanted and game exchange sections there.
- sell tickets for at least 2 gold each for buy price and set ticket bid price at 5 gold per ticket.
-play towns or any gaian game while browsing for profits. Keep yourself entertained or else you'll get bored and give up too easily.
- try to keep losses at minimum and even if its just a 100 gold profit, that's still fine. it's a lot better than losing a lot of money.
- not all days give you a chance for good deals, but there a days when you can get really lucky. when the market is slow, do somthing else.
-try to get items by bidding rather than buying. buy only if it really is a good deal.
- when you finally reach the amount of gold you need to buy your wish item or whatever you wanted, keep on building up gold until you have at least a surplus of 2000 gold. That way, when you buy the item you want, you won't be broke to continue the Marketplace Game.

 

[RavennShadowheart]

TIPS FROM OTHER GAIANS

razin phyre's tip: "if you're on 2-5 am there's only about 8,000-15,000 members online meaning if something is ending you have better chances of getting it lower priced with less risk of being bought out at the last second.

most other times of the day gaia has member numbers of about 25,000-45,000+ online"

Auron T's tip: "Here is a simple formula for profit if you have enough gold and are on long enough.

1. Buy out all the people selling below a price point.

2. List their now your items at the price point.

3. Continue to buy out the people who undersell you.

b. Note item must be popular enough that you can sell at similar speeds to buying out undersellers. "

xxkymmXx's tip: "I don't know if this will help anyone or not, but what I do is I randomly search the mp for anything cheap,and when I find something, I already have another IE window open in the mp, and i'll search for the lowest buy price in a different window so I don't lose my spot "

Uncle Jeff's tip: “Another bargain opportunity:
Where game items are sold in bunches, the buy-it-now price sorter doesn't bring bargains to the front page. It sorts by total price, not price per unit. That means that 99% of the plebes out there never see the screaming bargains on big bundles.

Try paging though some of those markets. You'll see cases where the average price is maybe 10 but somebody is selling 1000 for 4 each (4000) on one of the back pages. You can make a profit by buying the bundle, breaking it into smaller pieces and feeding them back through the market at the average price.

Two more marketplace tactics: 1) Price your item to appear on the "front" page (top 20) 2) If you have a lot of tix or other game items to unload, put a small number in one bunch so it appears on the front page. Put a big bunch in a high priced sale that will be buried. When somebody grabs the small bunch, they'll visit your store as part of the protocol. When they see your big bunch, they may buy that too. If not, then replace the small bunch so you always have something on the front page to bring buyers of that commodity into your store."


Razin Frostdrake's tip:
"something i've just learned i bought the first fausto bottle and moon the bottle was in stage 3 or 4 the moon was in stage 2 . . . i learned quickly that if you buy just as the creature starts appearing that each evolution causes the price to sky rocket . . . the moon is 280k 2 generations ago i got it for 60k . . . the bottle is 130k i got it 3 gnerations back at 40-50k . . . that's a huge increase in price and they aren't done evolving . . .

also i wrote out a long explanation about the evolving items for my friend to explain it with this she finally got it . . . so i figured evolving items are going to be a big seller so might as well as break down what exactly they are . . .

"ok let's see if i can explain it . . .

they release the first item then when it evolves they release a new generation the same item but an evolution behind all the rest of the generations released

examples

so the first would be fausto's bottle

but the ones after it are labeled with a generation

fausto's bottle second generation, fausto's bottle third generation, fausto's bottle fourth generation, fausto's bottle fifth generation, fausto's bottle sixth generation, fausto's bottle seventh generation,

so
faustos' bottle is on stage 7 now

fausto's bottle second generation is on stage 6 now

fausto's bottle third generation is on stage 5

fausto's bottle fourth generation is on stage 4

fausto's bottle fifth generation is on stage 3

fausto's bottle sixth generation is on stage 2

fausto's bottle seventh generation is at the first stage

so when an 8th generation is released all those stage numbers will move up and the 8th generation will be on the first stage . . . so the closer your item is to the original, the more evolutions it's been through, which means it's closer to finishing, which then unlocks all the stages . . .

the original has no add on of which generation it is to the name, the other generations however say which generation they are . . .

in the end to make money off them buy the original item . . . it won't have the word generation in the name . . . the more expensive the item is in cash shop it seems to be the more expensive it will get when it finishes evolving . . ."
also if you have the oppurtunity to get an evolving item make sure it costs about $5 or more . . . the ones that go for less seem to be worth less even at the end of evolving . . . so right now the best buys would be . . . biancamella, drome egg, and hermes moon . . . although i've no clue how the drome egg or biancamella will do . . . the moon however is at 290k right now and it only just showed the bunny with wings for ears . . . so it's still evolving . . . fausto bottle is a good keeper if you have it . . . but it's too close to finishing to buy into as an investment . . . "

kuro kittie's tip:

If you have the time, or the money, you can buy things from the Gaia Cash Shop and sell them. Sure, you lose money in real life, but $5 here and there is nothing. Say for instance...the Bag of Win 2. It's selling for 99c. Go to the Gaia Store and buy 500c, which is equivelant to $5. You can get 5 of them. If you want, you can risk it, open it up for yourself, and sell the item if it is of no value to you. Or. Sell one now, wait a few weeks until the BoW2 is out of the shop and the price will sky rocket. Gaians love gambling. This is the best way. It's just a matter of decision. Will you open, will you sell, will you wait?

Will you open?
If you open it, you risk the chance of losing a big profit. Right now, the BoW2 is selling for close to 20k. But if you read the announcement, it said that every item can be sold for at least 5k. Either way, you make money.

Will you sell?
If you look at the marketplace, you will see the bids already out. This next tip, though some people are money hungry, will help your item be first and sell faster. Take a look at the bids. If it is 20k, sell it for 19,900g. If it's 18.5k, sell it for 18.4k. And so on and so forth.

Will you wait?
If you wait, keep in mind that there is a chance that the price may either sky rocket, or plummet. There is always a risk to waiting. Most of the time, if it is a limited time item from the Cash shop, it will rise. It just requires patience. Don't do it the day the item leaves the cash shop, but wait the next day to sell it off. You should see a significant rise in prices. But always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, check the marketplace before you sell something. Check the lowest price and work around it.

Other tips about the Cash Shop
-Typically, Evolving Items sell very high. But at the same expense, they cost more in the shop. In any case, they typically don't sell less than 15k.
-The higher the gaia Cash expense, the more gold you will have for the item. But don't go spending all your money on it either. Spend wisely.
-Monthly Collectibles: You can typically buy these sealed envelopes a few days, maybe even a week, before the item releases. They tend to sell for about 13k, and cost a mere 250c. Keep in mind that this is the time that they sell the cheapest in the marketplace. Once they open, it's fair game. Depends on the item.

 

[chichichobits]

I think this is very useful I've been here for atleast a year and didn't know the basics of the market. I just sold my items 10g less than the store and never made a profit.  

[RavennShadowheart]

Thanks for the comment. Btw, i added a few more tips along.