While I was testing the Beta version of FFXI, I never used once the wondrous buildings scattered throughout the land called, “Auction Houses.” I had enough equipment to survive, but wondered why so many other players had better equipment than I, with less fundings. If you’ve never heard of or never used an Auction house, this is where you listen in closely.
There are two Auction Houses in each capital city of Vana’diel. In them, players are able to put any items up for sale for a duration of time. Interested players that visit one of the Auction Houses in the city are able to buy this item.
It’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it. Some important guidelines to know are…
1. When you sell, the prompt asks you how much you want to sell the item for. You do not pay any fraction of the price you enter in.
2. However, a small auction charge must be taken from your pocketbook to post an item. Better items will cost more to put up for auction. Certain auction houses charge exorbitant rates – Jeuno, for instance.
3. The item will stay on auction for nine weeks Vana’diel time. This equates to roughly 63 hours (under 3 days.)
4. Gil from successfuly sold items will appear in your Mog House Delivery Box, as will returned items. Items that you manually take off auction will be placed into your inventory.
5. You will receive, in cash, the amount that you sold the item for – NOT what the bidder paid.
The basics are simple, as you can see. There are some methods to take advantage of the AH to ensure your money and items are best dealt with.
1. Items will sell for different prices at different locations. A suit of armor bought in a shop in San d’Oria, for instance, will sell for more cash in Windurst than in San d’Oria itself.
2. Prices also differ depending on supply and demand. If an event gives a Papillon firework to each player every hour, expect the price of these to decrease. Buy during these times and sell when the prices are at their peaks.
3. The Jeuno auction house charges high posting prices that may surpass smaller items. Don’t bother selling 200g items in Jeuno when the posting fee may be 4 or 500.
Now, most inexperienced players are always quick to ask – how can I make money fast? You may have a newbie ask you for gil as you run by, or you may have made the mistake of doing so earlier in your career.
Are you ready for the answer?
There’s no fast way to make gil. As in real life, by following the rules it’s difficult to get ahead without effort. Cash is hard to come by. There are several methods that work best, as you’ll find.
* Camping Notorious Monsters (NM’s): These rare spawns are hard to find, but normally drop priceless equipment. Selling their items can net quite a large gain in gil.
– Pros: Enormously huge gil reward. Can be lucky and earn this in five minutes, or it may take five days.
– Cons: Waiting around for hours and hours with no action is practically required. Competition is often tough. Illegal bots may take advantage of NM spawns.
* Farming: Many players go to dungeons or battlefields where there is a plentiful amount of monsters that drop stackable, sellable items. Crystals, silk threads, beehive chips, and more are all popular as farmable items.
– Pros: No competition. You deserve what you earn. Stable cash flow.
– Cons: Time-consuming and repetitive. Difficult to farm crystals without a low-level character, difficult to defeat monsters with a low-level character.
* Auction Hopping: Some players tend to swapping items back and forth between shops and different nations’ AHs.
– Pros: Can be exciting for some, taking advantage of people. Decent cash flow.
– Cons: Time-consuming as well. Requires another Content ID to be the most effective. Income is not stable and the Auction House takes time to work with.
As you can see, these three ideas all have their downsides. It is quite difficult to find a good source of income! Figure out a way that works best with your playing style. Of course, the best idea is to find out a secret that works for you – perhaps it’s doing E.F. Missions and BCNM’s, etc.
Of course, in higher-level parties, it’s imperative that all characters have sufficient equipment. The time you spend making money will truly make you a more potent force on the battlefield and a more valuable asset in a party.
