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Professions are the best way to make money on World of Warcraft, but few people really master how to make money from them. Most people work hard to buy all the new patterns, gather tons of materials, and spend all their savings on training in their professions... only to take a net loss of money in the end. The key to making money is being selective with how you do your professions. I used to take in over a hundred gold almost every single day, mostly without even having to leave the major cities. It took a lot of money and a lot of hard work to get to that place. The key is where to start.

Mining, Skinning, and Herbalism are gathering professions. They are primarily used to pick up materials for use in the other production professions. Not everyone has the time or cares enough to gather their own materials, so they just buy them on the auction house. This is where you come in. The best way to make money is to pick two gathering professions and just pick up what you see in your travels. It's best to get either Mining OR Herbalism AND Skinning. If you get Mining and Herbalism at the same time, you can only track one on your radar. You will have to either constantly switch which you want to track, or just look for them with your naked eye (which is usually quite hard to do). Then just play the game as you normally would, picking up whatever you find on your travels. When you get back to a major city, check the auction house for the materials you have gathered, and set the buyout for just below the other auctions. If prices aren't very good for that day, bank them and sell them tomorrow. The auction house economy fluctuates like the stock market. Usually raw materials sell fast and tend to be quite profitable. Once you get the hang of it, you can make all the money you need.

I just started playing on a new server. I have played for about 2 hours total and I have made over 2g on my lv 6 shaman. I once made a new character on a friend's server to see how much I could make in a week. I made over 25g without leveling past 10. If you learn to play the auction house well, you won't ever need to worry about money, and you can buy all the items to boost your power and make you level faster. I have a lot of other secrets to making money, but this one is the most important for beginners. Be sure to keep an eye out for more tips from an old pro.

People always ask me how to make money on WoW. I always say GET A JOB! You can get by without getting a profession or ever going to the auction house, but you will have a hard time affording basic taxi fares and skills training. If you want to make lots of money and be able to afford the armor that will make you level faster, you're going to have to pick up trade items on the way and sell them to other players. I made over 100g before I hit lv 20. All you have to do is collect as you go.

I made a new character on a new server and played for about 5 hours total during my lunch breaks. I'm lv 10 and I have over 10g. I picked up skinning and mining and have been selling the leather and ore on the auction house. I have spent about 5g total on bags and equipment. This is all from just picking up materials I collect, then selling them when the prices are good.
 

It also really helps me to have a bank character. I make a low lv character and run him all the way to a major city. He then lives there and never leaves the bank/auction house area. When I get to a mailbox, I send all my trade items to my bank character and my main characters can stay in the field. Each night I spend a couple minutes logging onto the bank char, taking all the incoming mail, and selling it on the auction house. This brings in lots of money each day.