GW2: How to make 1000 gold – The whole is not equal to the parts

If you’re new to trying to make money by crafting, you might think anything you make will be profitable. After all, you’ve spent this time gathering or buying the mats, then crafting the item, so it ought to be worth more than at least the cost of the mats, right?

Unfortunately, no.

Take the case of 8 Slot Rawhide Leather Packs. You might think these are worth making when you’re starting to level your leather crafting. They’re not.

At the time of this post, they were selling for 29 copper. You can see right away that’s not a lot of money. It gets worse. It takes 10 Stretched Rawhide Leather Squares to make one pack. One of these squares sells for 22 copper. That’s right. You’d spend more than two silver to sell something for 29 copper.

It gets better. It takes 2 Rawhide Leather Sections to make a Stretched Rawhide Leather Square. Those sections sell for 19 copper, so it costs you 38 copper to make one square, which you can only sell for 22 copper. So not worth it.

Sometimes the parts are worth more than the whole. If you want to make gold, you have to pay attention to what the parts cost.