Rift has an economic system. It is informal. Economic agents participate in the production, exchange, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Laborers gather the resources and either sell them or they use them to makes goods and/or provide services to those who need them. Middle men purchase resources and use them to make goods and services to sell, barter, and stockpile. Auction house "brokers" use arbitrage to keep the markets high and their profits even higher.
The mentality of any good investor is buy low and sell high. In Rift this can be applied in many different ways. Buying low may mean waiting till an opportunity arises; such as a dip in market sales, weekday AH dumping after a busy weekend of grinding, or finding a workhorse (farmer) to sell you his/her items in bulk at a great discount. Farming things yourself may seem "cheaper" but time also has value. Opportunity cost can sometimes outweigh the time it takes to physically find and gather the required materials for your wares. Niche items are usually the best thing to farm as they will be the items that cut deep into your profit margins.
The key to being successful as an auctioneer is to limit the time spent turning raw materials into useable materials for crafting, stockpiling, etc. If you buy ore to smelt, then use foraged materials to make additional required items to craft an uncommon sword; a sword that you made just to runebreak/salvage for the chance of getting an item needed for a higher component of another recipe...you see where I am going? Sometimes, buying materials that someone else made through the same process has a lesser value to them as it does for you. Find that item on the AH or through barking in channels and save that processing time to make more items to sell.
What you need to do first- Make a tough toon that can heal (i.e. a warrior- paragon/champion/paladin) and get all the gathering professions (Butchering, Foraging, and Mining). Level. Sell your grey items. Don't buy anything but training. Make an alt if you get burdened by drops, otherwise get to your first major city and dump your greens, herbs, hides, lumber, ores, gems (DO NOT right-click to open the gems...wait), and any other crafting materials you pick up, into your bank. Once again don't buy anything. Quest till you are 20. Take every opportunity to level your professions as you go. Ninja nodes! Don't pass up yew logs or tin veins; you are going to need it all. Bam! Level 20. You should at least be 150 in every gathering profession or better.
Second toon- Level and learn artificing, runecrafting, and outfitting. Level up till you can get to your first major city safely. Switch over to your gatherer and send all those materials you have stockpiled to your first producer. Once all the items are sent send your remaining gold as well. Jump on your producer and start getting skill-ups. I suggest putting everything you can into outfitting until you can go no further. Be wary of the dailies that open up as you do this and make those items to be turned in later. You should have made bags. Send them to your gatherer. Level the other two professions as you see fit. Runes are nice to send to your gatherer to enhance his/her toughness and attack power. Use your best judgment. DO NOT waste anything by selling it to a vendor.
Check the market on bags. If they are going for more gold then you can make in 15 minutes of questing then sell some; one or two at a time. Runebreak/salvage everything else you can. Log you gatherer and alternate between the two using the same system. I usually spend one-two hours per toon then I craft, sell, trade, etc. to get skill ups. Pay attention to all the channels. Someone may have materials and are seeking to have something made. These guys usually tip but even if they don't make sure you get a skill-up from the deal or just pass.
Once you get bored level a third toon. Follow the same path to a major town. Pick up alchemy, armorsmithing, and weaponsmithing. Gather on your first toon till your eyes bleed and then send it all to the third toon…along with the gold. Any of these can be leveled first. If you want materials to salvage/runebreak then pick weapon or armor. Level up alchemy to sell potions, serums, dyes, etc. on the AH (if profitable) or just vendor and move on.
Find a rhythm that works for you. Mix it up with Rifting, dungeons, artifact hunting, pvp, etc. It takes a while to get a dynasty established. As this blog matures I will share many secrets on how to control the AH and make the platinum that you desire. Try to avoid mailing items back and forth as the mail system is pretty pricey. Wait till you have more plat than you know what to do with then you can send as much mail as you want.
Pro-tip /cast [Anti-wall-of-text-trolling shield of invulnerabilty]
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