Advice for starting up a gold buying/selling business?

Hey guys!

I know many of you wouldn't give out your secrets in terms of this and I completely respect that. However, could you guys give me a few of the basic's I should know about starting up/persuing a gold buying/selling (merchanting) business? (runescape, of course).

Thanks!

 

Before you even start, consider the costs of such an endeavor. Not only do you have to consider costs that result in you spending money, you have to take into account opportunity costs.

It is extremely likely that opening a gold buying/selling business is not a profitable endeavor. But if you have some new revolutionary idea that might make your business truly special, then you might be able to make it worthwhile.

Best profits for people that don't already have well established shops are made by farming gold through whatever means and selling it to others.

 

At this point, it's not worth your time, especially if you have to post a thread like this.

 

Patience. You won't be a hit overnight, it takes time to get into the market and make a name for yourself.

 

Among the suggestions others have put forward I'd advise you be smart. Research other payment methods then just Paypal, know all the risks involved in buying and sell gold. Offer to use a middleman and do everything to make your customers feel comfortable. But most importantly, be patient.

 

I'm not here to discourage you, however being a realist, what Pockets said is accurate.

There are far too many established market giants that cover all websites and forums already. Breaking into this market at current is near impossible. The barrier to entry is extremely stipulated. Meaning, you would have to have a large large large capital to peruse this, and you would also have to pay higher and sell for less than current buyers, until you are established.

Unless you have $10,000+ you're willing to invest and consider that money lost; (until you see profits) this market is not worth delving into.

 

Pointless.

Again not to be rude, this is your first post? And your asking 'Advice to start up selling gold'...

You missed the obvious; Buy LOW sell HIGH or FARM FARM FARM.
Both will require start up funds and both are again Pointless.

Think about chargebacks / scams / MM fee's / PP fee's.

My advice if you have money to invest, Do it IRL not on some crappy game.

 

Thank you for these responses guys. I didn't realize how established this market was. I'll probably just become a big time merchant in the game and sell the gold afterwards.

 

First thing you want to do is acquaint yourself with the risks of online business. That includes paypal chargebacks, scams, hacks, etc.

 

I advice you to not go into gp market atm. Bans all over the place currently

 

Unless you're doing AFK merchanting, you still (probably) won't be turning a profit. Every minute you spend online playing RuneScape is a minute lost you could be using to make money elsewhere. Runescape, at current gold prices, is almost always below minimum wage. Sure, occasionally, someone makes a few hundred dollars in an hour and claims that RuneScape is still superior to a professional job in real life. But... You have to consider the average profit OVER INVESTED TIME. Which, as I pointed out, is almost always below minimum wage.

Unfortunately, this game just isn't that profitable any more. Times are changing.

If you're very young and a job/studying/hobby building/etc aren't feasible for you at this time in your life, then I would consider trying to make some money off RuneScape. It won't be much. But, you'll learn some basic math, economics, marketing, and persuasion skills that can be beneficial down the road.

Whatever you do, good luck! And welcome to Sythe.

 

I entered the GP market in Feb 2011 when the pricing of mils was volatile and Jagex was very lenient. I farmed my own GP using a couple bots I ran on my laptop and would flip gold at 50% profit. I quit the market once Jagex started wiping mules and bots were busted (RSbots/RSBuddy downfall).

I wouldn't recommend flipping gold unless you can take a hit like that. It's not unheard of for people to get wiped for everything (King Tijn/R2/Arcus/Punker/Busta/KMJT/etc have all been wiped for thousands of dollars). Also with someone of your status (a nobody) it would be very hard to build a customer base, and you'd most likely have to shell out fee's for an OMM when buying or selling gold which cuts into your profit margin.

If you have basic runescape knowledge botting is probably your best bet at making some side money from RS, but that also involves paying for memberships/auth codes/client fees/etc and you run the risk of getting your IP flagged and all your accounts getting banned

 

Yeah, I'd honestly have to just advise you to stay out of it. I got into it for the fun, because there isn't much profit to be had as a newer seller.

 

It's very hard to start your own client base. So don't expect to go big in a short time unless you are willing to sell for a loss to start off with. I also wouldn't recommend getting into it unless you have a large amount of start-up cash. If you are still interested after reading everyone's comments I would suggest looking at http://www.sythe.org/runescape-guide-ebook-sales/1561661-1300-vouches-kmjts-guide-safe-rwt-mass-goldfarming-guide.html for the basics and then you can put your own twist on things. Anyways good luck if you choose to pursue this path.

 

You can add me to the list of banned for thousands

Snow Patrol does a great job explaining why the market is substantially less profitable now. Combining his reasons with a few others:
-The risk of bans and wipes is much, much higher
-Margins are tighter
-The market is smaller
-Player Auctions has decreased the need for sellers on sites like Sythe
-Building a customer base is harder now as less people are joining the game and most people stick with their current supplier unless they are given a strong reason to change