Strategies For Making Credits On The GTN
Obviously selling things on the GTN can make you credits. There is still an art to actually making decent credits though. I say art because if it was a science, you could do it every time. Don’t be afraid to make credits by taking some chances with the strategies here. It’s just a game, and it’s just fake money. Losing money can be a valuable teacher. This guide for making credits on the GTN will be your friend, lending a helping hand!
I’ve added some other credit making resources at the bottom of this post.
An important consideration will be ‘What is a good price to sell’? Good prices will vary from person to person. I may be happy making 5000 credits, but you may want to make 7000 credits. There is no wrong answer as long as you’re happy with the return on your efforts. Don’t forget to take into account the GTN listing fees when determining selling prices.
You may want a calculator and something to write things down.
Know Prices
You have got to know prices on your server. This allows you to know what a ‘good’ price is for buying low. You should watch prices over a week to see the range they fall in. Try not to get locked into a certain price. Using a range will help you estimate your profit margin more accurately. Lots of things can change prices. Prices can change based on what Cartel Market items and packs are released, new content, and so on. As a tip, reskins of items generally devalue the whole line of items. Start with watching the prices on a few items, then you can expand.
Basic Selling
As you’re out questing, you of course get valuable item drops. Sell the Rare and Artifact quality items on the GTN. If they don’t sell after two or three tries, vendor them. When you attempt to sell an item, the GTN will suggest a starting price. This will always be above the vendor price, but generally below the market price. You still can make a profit when selling below the vendor price. Make sure you check the vendor price before setting it below the suggested price.
While you’re out, keep your companions running missions for resources. Gather any resources you come across. Any resources you gather yourself while questing is pure profit. Certain resources are a big seller with crafters.
If you have a lot of the same thing to sell, don’t sell it all at once. For example, let’s say you have 5 stacks of Desh. Put up two stacks, and save the other three. Why? If someone undercuts you, then you can put up two more stacks undercutting them.
Buy Low and Sell High
Buying low and selling high is called arbitrage. Just like the real world stock market, you want to buy items from the GTN at rock bottom prices, and then sell them at a profit. Sometimes people put items on the GTN at low prices because they don’t know better, sometimes it’s just because they want quick credits. I won’t really get into the right/wrong argument, as this is a video game and not real life. What I do to balance things out is sell it well below the average cost. For example, say I find an item for 5000 credits. If it normally sells for 100000 credits, I would sell it for 75000 credits. I make 70000 credits, I give someone 5000 credits, and I save someone 25000 credits. Win-win-win.
Buy low, sell high may sound simple, but there is some work involved.
Keep Checking The GTN
People sell items on the GTN at all hours of the day and night. Always have a few categories in mind, and check them constantly. I have checked the GTN, took a warzone queue, and then checked it immediately when I got out. This has yielded several nice buys, including a Section X account unlock for 4500 credits. Two good places to watch are Pets and Cartel Market Titles
Invest Your Credits
Like true, good investing, it can take time for your purchase to gain value. Buying certain items, then holding them several months in reserve, can really yield some benefits. I bought one of the barge speeders for 350000 credits. I sold it several months down the line for 800000 credits. Patience is key. If you do this regularly enough, after a few months you should always have one of these big ticket items to pull out of your reserve. Don’t be discouraged if these items don’t sell at first. Be patient for the right buyer, it will pay big dividends. I have around 1,000,000 credits ‘invested’ in reserve items at any given time. One tip for this is to look for the gold Cartel Market symbol. This means the item is rare. This does not always mean it will sell. It goes back to watching prices.
This is also a great way for free accounts to store extra credits. Buy items you think will sell big in the future, and when you need a kick to your bank account, it’s sitting in your bank.
Cartel Market Packs
New offerings from Cartel Packs or Cartel Market Items can be very lucrative, and sell very quickly.
- Buying Cartel Packs is more risky, with a higher reward. You are not guaranteed any of the hot ticket items. You can get multiple items sometimes, which will multiply your earnings.
- Buying items off the Cartel Market is less risky, with a lower reward. You can see ahead of time what sells well (Armor, Unlocks, Boosts, etc), and what it sells for. This way you can determine whether or not it is worth the Cartel Coins you will have to pay in advance. The downside is you generally spend more Cartel Coins on items than on Cartel Packs.
Possibility For Profit Is Endless
You can get out of this what you put into it. You can do this sporadically, or you can do it daily. I personally only do it every few days, and I still have millions of credits unspent. It all depends on what your goals are. There is an achievement for having 10,000,000 credits on a single character. Also worth noting, these strategies work whether you are a subscriber or a free account player. I have made 1,000,000 credits by level 44, with 5 days and 3 hours of game time. These strategies do work.
Want other ways to make credits?
If you have tips of your own, or questions, leave them in the comments below.
great advice thanks! tho u mentioned f2p…i am preffered access, i can only have 350000 credits, how could i make a million? would they sit there or what? thanks!
Preferred is like F2P+. I’m Preferred right now too. Anything over 350k goes into your Escrow. Escrow is like a trust fund you only have access to when you subscribe. It’s still there, you just can’t get to it as Preferred. One thing I’ve done lately is to leave my GTN sales in the mailbox. Unless I need the money, or it’s going to roll off after 30 days, just leave it in your mail. I’ve got about 1 million just sitting in my mailbox right now!
If you are pref, what you do is list items on the GTN and then leave the sale proceeds in your mailbox. This will allow you to go far above the 350k cap, you just withdraw from mail when you are sufficiently below. Mail is stored for 30 days, so you use them from oldest to newest
Yep! That’s what I do.
Still confused. I find stockmarketinf incredibly interesting. Some more advice on getting started as I am only level 16?
I’d focus on two things: #1 Get to Max level. Just enjoy the ride. Getting max level will significantly boost your income, giving you the necessary capital for investing. Gotta have money to make money.
#2 Watch the market. As you are going through the GTN looking for stuff you want, look at the prices. Make mental or physical notes. You’ll also see when stuff sells, letting you know it was a ‘good’ price. This is how you do your research. Once you hit max level, you’ll know what to invest in!