Why you need extra retainers

[DreadRabbit]

The ingots...I got nothin. Both available in nq form from vendors and no high level synths. Iron ingot shows up in one 1-star synth, the i55 pvp shield. Steel ingots...nothing

Here's the thing though: a lot of players will NOT look up where you can purchase mats from NPCs. If it's not available within a town vendor or their class' guild, they automatically assume you can't buy it from an NPC. I know quite a few people that will buy things from the residence districts' vendors and from beast tribe vendors and put those items immediately back on the MB at double or triple the price. And it sells. Quickly.

[Zfz]

99 HQ Steel Ingot for 470,250 = 4750 each?

What's the normal average price on your server that people sell at? From your post, this price obviously is a lot higher than the average price.

On my server HQ Steel Ingots sell for 500~700 gil. Horn Glue HQ for about 800 gil.

[SarcasmMisser]

Last stack on my server sold between 300-400 each. NQ and HQ have the same prices.

If they are selling for 4750 each on your server then yes it's trivial making money.

[Gamer3427]

Here's the thing though: a lot of players will NOT look up where you can purchase mats from NPCs. If it's not available within a town vendor or their class' guild, they automatically assume you can't buy it from an NPC. I know quite a few people that will buy things from the residence districts' vendors and from beast tribe vendors and put those items immediately back on the MB at double or triple the price. And it sells. Quickly.

This. As an example, you can buy cinnabar for a measly 3 gil at the tradecraft vendor in any of the three city-states, as well as the vendor at the Alchemist guild. On the market however, NQ cinnabar sells for about 40 gil each, and while not selling quickly, does sell. People are lazy. Especially if they have a little excess gil from leveling another DoH or DoL. Rather than trying to find out where something is sold or obtained if they don't know, they'll just buy it off the MB without a second thought......

EDIT: I should say "on the market for my server" it sells for about 40 gil each....

[Aeyis]

Here's the thing though: a lot of players will NOT look up where you can purchase mats from NPCs. If it's not available within a town vendor or their class' guild, they automatically assume you can't buy it from an NPC. I know quite a few people that will buy things from the residence districts' vendors and from beast tribe vendors and put those items immediately back on the MB at double or triple the price. And it sells. Quickly.

The items in question are HQ. You cant buy HQ items from a vendor anywhere.

[DreadRabbit]

The items in question are HQ. You cant buy HQ items from a vendor anywhere.

That's true, but Alistaire was wondering why bother when you could get the items for much cheaper as NQ. Or at least that's how I understood it.

Now if people are making HQ leveling gear for mates or their own classes, then you're right. No choice but the MB if you can't harvest/make the mats yourself/too lazy to.

[Nalien]

Here's the thing though: a lot of players will NOT look up where you can purchase mats from NPCs. If it's not available within a town vendor or their class' guild, they automatically assume you can't buy it from an NPC.

I think Dark Matter is my favorite, I used to be able to sell the stuff for something absurd like 500G a piece... Costs 80G off an NPC... Right next to the Market Board...

Even today I can still get something like a 4~6k profit off just buying a stack and reselling it, not like it sells slowly either. It's... Amazing...

I can kinda understand not bothering with the beast tribe vendors, since they're generally out of their way. Dark Matter though... 5 seconds away from any given Market Board, tops. Heck the repair NPCs probably offer better value for money...

The items in question are HQ. You cant buy HQ items from a vendor anywhere.

The items in question are also of a tier where HQ shouldn't matter. Not in those quantities anyway. The only people who would need them in such quantities are serious crafters, and then the only one I can fathom is Horn Glue for Spruce Plywood. I'm guessing those sell the most with novice crafters who don't have a solid rotation trying for their Artisan's.

@OP. Honestly, I'd take extra Retainers solely on the Venture benefit. I have two Retainers farming shards/crystals for me the majority of the time. I am never wanting for either as a result. Don't think I've ever bought any off the blatant RMT bot Retainers, and I'm someone who'll occasionally decide it'd be fun to spend the day rotating Unspoiled Nodes and churning out stacks of NQ Darksteel Nuggets/Twinthread/Gold Nuggets/etc. to make money, it's not like I don't burn through crystals or anything.

[Solaria_Luna]

I think I learned something from this thread...about markets...and HQ items.

Okay, so then what HQ materials will move?

Also, what sells better raw materials or crafted materials?

[GenJoe]

Last stack on my server sold between 300-400 each. NQ and HQ have the same prices.

If they are selling for 4750 each on your server then yes it's trivial making money.

Then Steel ingot isn't one of the items that would work for your server, although if you're willing to put up a stack of hq at 1200 and sit on it for 2-3 weeks, you might be pleasantly surprised.
As for your latter comment, yes it IS indeed trivial making money, which is the point I'm making.
It may not work for all servers, but it does work for a good amount of them, and if the items I've posted aren't profitable, look around, there will be other items that are.

Even today I can still get something like a 4~6k profit off just buying a stack and reselling it, not like it sells slowly either. It's... Amazing...

Yes, those kinds of items also work wonderfully if you're willing to sell a variety of them.

For example, you can sell olive oil from beast tribes, vitriol, cloths from sylph vendors and mythril ingots even.. If you have a few spare retainers you can stock up with those mats, and just relist once every few days that's very easy money. I'm taking similar concepts just slapping an hq stamp on it, and it seems to double/triple its price.

Okay, so then what HQ materials will move?

Also, what sells better raw materials or crafted materials?

What will move depends heavily on your own server and also depends on if there's recently been a person who just leveled up that certain craft.
For example, if there's been somebody who just leveled BSM from 1-50 few days ago, you may see a bunch of ingots at cheap prices, then you'll find no room to compete. If you're willing to wait a week or so, you can just sit on it and see.

Usually the crafted mats will sell better than raw mats.. I tend to specialize in mid-grade refined mats that need a crafter's handiwork, but is not an actual final product and it does quite well. Not too many people specialize in these markets, the profit margin is small when you look at it in a profit per craft sense.. But when you can hq a low end item in ~9 steps (20-25 seconds) as opposed to a 2 star mat at ~25 steps (70-80 seconds) your time is well paid for.. It's just hard to find a buyer, which is why diversifying and having 10 retainers helps.

[ElHeggunte]

Okay, so then what HQ materials will move?

Also, what sells better raw materials or crafted materials?

It really depends on your server. Some materials are in demand more than others. Sometimes the raw materials are actually worth more than the finished product. In order to get an accurate answer to your question you would have to examine the price history of the items you think you might be able to sell and then decide if the process of making or obtaining the items would be worth it.

Prices can also vary, sometimes wildly, based on the day of the week and even the time of day, so study the market carefully before investing a lot of time and gil into it!