Quote Originally Posted by Mikhaila View Post
I never see slabs for sale (Which is why i'm working surveying and mining. Just tossed up a stack of slabs today to see how it goes.) I have limited slots so I only put up 2 sets of winter gear per day, and it's almost always sold out.
Ok, where is your shop and what times do you restock, so I can start camping it? Metal slabs are indeed hard to find - I tend to snap up all lower levels as I see them. I have seen people sell masterwork metal slabs before, and those actually seem like they stay in the shop for a few days before someone buys them. Not sure if that means they are too high-level, too expensive or people don't mind running their own Ilmari surveys.

Anyway, I'm still curious about the time/profit ratio involved: How long does it take you to farm up items to restock your shop, or are you just putting up things you'd normally vendor? When you say you sold 100K - what part of that is profit over the vendor price? Just wondering... I'm definitely willing to believe that running a shop is quite profitable these days.

Quote Originally Posted by IndigoBlue View Post
As a newbie who has few tradeskill mats but tons of tradeskill mat NEEDS, I've been very frustrated. It takes a looooong time to view every single vendor in the Marketplace, to find NOBODY is selling what I need (copper ore, anyone? or butter muslim (1 vendor had that).

What should newbies in my position do? Post every little need they have on the Player Work Order board? And never mind the 2 item limit.
Well, in practical terms I'd recommend: Do mining surveys and you should get copper ore as a speed bonus. Level up your textile creation until you can make butter muslin, it's worth it. You can also try asking in the Trade or Help channels - if you explain you are a new player, I think quite a few people would be willing to help you out. I don't think either of them are worth posting a work order for unless you are looking for 10-20 each or more.

I realize that answer is not at all what you are looking for and is counter to the game's recommendation of "focus on only one trade skill at a time". As things are though, nobody seems to like doing mining surveys, and both metal slabs and ore seem to be in continually short supply. Butter muslin is a bit of a different story - there are plenty of players that can make it but since it uses cotton and the muslin itself is not going to have a huge profit margin, most higher-level players will not bother putting it up. Personally, I will occasionally put up butter for sale but not butter muslin since if I'm going to go through the hassle of making muslin, I'd rather use it to level my own cheesemaking by whatever minimal degree. I don't really know what a good solution to this would look like.