This ESO Gold Farming Guide explains the fastest, most reliable ways to make gold in The Elder Scrolls Online, from beginner-friendly methods to advanced strategies capable of generating over 2 million gold per hour through trading and optimization.
Written by Edenprime, long-time The Elder Scrolls Online veteran and economy specialist who co-led a 5-guild trading alliance for 8~ years, with deep, first-hand expertise in Guild Trader markets, bidding systems and gold farming since ESO’s trading system launched.
Table of Contents:
- Intro: How to Make Gold
- Gold Making Methods Summary
- Pre-Requisites & Passive Income
- Top 3 Farming Methods
- Daily Crafting Writs (Easiest)
- Market Flipping & Sniping (Most Profitable)
- Active Farming & Grind (Fastest)
- High-Profit Items to Sell
- Bonus & Niche Method
- Currency Conversion: (Tel Var/AP)
- Anniversary Event Farming
- Super Niche Methods
- Beginner’s Money Making Guide
- Common Gold Mistakes to Avoid
- FAQ
Introduction: How to Make Gold in ESO
Gold 
is the most important currency in The Elder Scrolls Online. It is essential for purchasing gear, motifs, consumables, housing items, and crafting materials. While casual play generates small amounts of gold, meaningful wealth is built through player trading via Guild Traders.
Important Disclaimer: Gold-per-hour values vary significantly depending on platform (PC/Console), server (NA/EU), trader access, market conditions, addons, starting capital, and player efficiency. The figures in this guide represent optimized or experienced play, not guaranteed results.
- EU Server Trading Prices – ESO Market Tamriel Trade Center Tool
- NA Server Trading Prices – ESO Market Tamriel Trade Center Tool
Summary of All ESO Gold Farming Methods
Arkadius Trade Tools shows your guilds sales (this is sorted by highest individual sales)
This comprehensive summary table breaks down every viable ESO gold farming method, allowing you to compare efficiency, time investment, and potential gold-per-hour.
Whether you prefer solo gold farming with low-risk Daily Writs, the high returns of playing the Guild Trader market (flipping), or the consistent income from active Material Grinding, you will find the perfect strategy to your ESO Wealth!
| Method | Time Investment | Gold/hour (Optimized) |
Effort | Risk |
 Daily Hirelings |
0 minutes per day | Varies (Material Values) | Low | None |
 Daily Crafting Writs |
~2 mins per character (25-35 mins/day for 20 alts) | 100k+ (Raw gold + material drops) | Low | None |
 Flipping & Sniping |
Variable (30 mins to several hours) | 500k -2mil | High | High |
 Material Harvesting |
60+ mins | 100k-300k | Medium | Low |
 Perfect Roe Fishing |
Variable (Depends on RNG) | Varies | Low | Low |
 Motifs, Plans & Gear |
60+ mins | 150k-800k | Medium | Medium |
 Dungeon HMs (Motifs/Carries) |
Variable | 300k-600k | High | High |
 Tel Var (Hakeijo/Containers) |
Variable (30 mins to several hours) | 150k-400k | High | High |
 Alliance Points (Gear/Style) |
Variable (30 mins to several hours) | 150k-400k | High | High |
 Archival Fortunes |
Variable (30 mins to several hours) | 150k-400k | High | High |
 Anniversary Jubilee Farming |
Same as daily writs | 200k+ (Temporary) | Low | None |
 Antiquities (Scrying) |
Variable | Varies (Low to Medium) | Low | Low |
 Stealing / Fencing |
Variable (Daily Limit) | Varies (Low to Medium) | Medium | Medium |
Important Note: The gold/hour and time investment amounts below are not guaranteed. The table represents optimized scenarios meaning your gold-per-hour will vary based on your characters skills, your platform, game loading times (logging between alts to do writs) and your platforms market conditions.
Foundations: Essential Pre-Requisites & Passive Income
Before pursuing high gold-per-hour methods, you must establish a strong foundation of passive gold, Trading Guilds, must have addons and farming speed optimization.
- Daily Hirelings
- Trading Guilds
- Max-Level Crafting & Extraction Passives
- Must-Have Add-ons for ESO Gold Farming
- Farming Speed Optimization
1. Daily Hirelings (Passive Gold)
Daily Hirelings mail you crafting materials every day you log in.
Hirelings passives from Blacksmithing, 
Clothing, Woodworking, 
Provisioning, and 
Enchanting send crafting materials to your mailbox every 12-24 hours. The more points you put in, the higher quality materials you can receive. This is true set-and-forget ESO gold farming.
2. Trading Guilds (Mandatory)
Valinor Traders Guild in Mournhold Deshaan, which is one of the best zones for trading.
Selling items to other players is the primary source of large gold income in ESO. Without a trading guild, your gold potential will be severely limited.
3. Max-Level Crafting & Extraction Passives
Maxed crafting skills (Level 50) and extraction passives like 
Unraveling increase the quality of the improvement material that can drop when you refine raw materials. Crafting proficiency directly scales your ESO gold farming efficiency when focusing on writs or material gathering.
Extraction passives give higher quality materials from refining based on invested Skill Points:
- Skill point = Blue Upgrade Material
- Skill points = Purple Upgrade Material
- Skill points = Gold Upgrade Material
4. Must-Have Add-ons for ESO Gold Farming (PC)
ESO-Hub addon shows prices for items on the tooltip and in your inventory
5. Farming Speed Optimization
Efficient farming requires minimizing travel time.
- Prioritize Major Expedition, Swift jewelry, and movement passives.
- Use a dedicated ESO Speed Farming Build for harvesting and grinding.
- Recommended Farming Build: ESO Farming Build Speedy G
Top 3 Ways to Farm Gold in ESO
While The Elder Scrolls Online offers many ways to earn money, these three methods are widely considered the absolute best for earning the fastest gold per hour:
1. Daily Crafting Writs (The Easiest Way to Make Gold ESO)
The Easiest Way to Make Gold Solo in ESO: Run your Daily Crafting Writs on multiple characters in optimized hubs like Vivec City to farm Gold Materials, Surveys and Master Writs.
Daily Crafting Writs (or Crafting Dailies) are the most reliable and easiest method to generate money, providing a consistent low-effort daily income. This is your foundation for ESO Gold Farming.
Gold upgrade materials
2. Playing the Market: Flipping & Sniping (2 Million Gold Per Hour)
The greatest potential for earning millions of gold quickly lies in utilizing the player economy. Flipping involves purchasing undervalued items from Guild Traders and reselling them at their normal, higher market price. This is the only way to consistently hit 2 Million Gold Per Hour.
How to search for flippable items fast on PC and Console
Important Guild Store Mechanics & Taxes
Understanding how the trading system works is essential for maximizing profit and is the single biggest difference between a casual seller and a master flipper in The Elder Scrolls Online.
3. Active Farming / Grind (High Gold Per Hour)
Follow optimized Material Harvesting routes to rapidly acquire and refine raw materials for maximum gold mats yield in ESO.
For active ESO players, focused grinding and harvesting are some of the Fastest Gold Per Hour methods, generating consistent 100k-500k gold per hour.
Material Harvesting: Consistent Gold
Harvesting materials is the fastest and most accessible way to make gold solo. This involves following routes to repeatedly harvest crafting resource nodes. Use the ESO Farming Build Speedy G for max running speed!
Fishing for Perfect Roe to generate Gold in ESO
A low-intensity solo gold-making option in ESO is fishing for Perfect Roe to generate Gold.
Strategy
- Start Fishing (and watch a series or something on another screen/device)
- Filet all the fish at a cooking station to acquire
Perfect Roe. - Perfect Roe sells for a high price, giving you a steady return for minimal effort.
Farming Gear and Motifs
Overland Sets
What to Sell for Maximum Profit in ESO
To help you maximize your returns, we have made you this quick list of steady high profit items to sell, making your ESO Gold Farming efforts highly efficient.
High-Value Item Categories
Consumables
Crown tradingBonus & Niche Methods for farming Gold in ESO
Once you have mastered the foundational gold-making techniques in The Elder Scrolls Online, these bonus methods provide unique, high-value opportunities by converting difficult-to-acquire currencies (like Alliance Points) directly into tradable gold. These are ideal for veterans looking to push their income to the extreme.
Currency Conversion Gold Grind: Tel Var, Alliance Points, Archival Fortunes and locked currencies
These are one of the fastest gold per hour methods for players who do not enjoy picking flowers or completing crafting dailies. This process converts non-tradable currencies into high-value, sellable goods.
Merchant locations & wares:
The ESO Anniversary Jubilee Event Farming: Why the Jubilee is Key for Gold
Don’t Miss the Event! The ESO Anniversary Jubilee is the biggest temporary gold spike to maximize your daily writs during this period for rare Motifs and Gold Mats.
The ESO Anniversary Jubilee Event is one of the single best ESO gold farming opportunities of the entire year. This major holiday event provides a substantial temporary boost to your wealth generation, enhancing the profitability of almost every other activity.
Super Niche Methods to Make Gold That Are Worth Mentioning
Beginner’s Money Making Guide for ESO
Beginner Gold Making: Focus on low-investment methods like Harvesting Materials and using the Antiquities system to quickly build your starting capital.
The key to ESO Gold Farming as a new player is to focus on accessible, low-investment methods that offer reliable, small returns to build your starting capital.
Harvesting & Selling Materials
Common ESO Gold Farming Mistakes to Avoid
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ
Daily Crafting Writs are essential and represent the most reliable baseline for ESO gold farming, with predictable returns independent of market conditions.
Yes. All primary gold-making methods in ESO, including Daily Crafting Writs, Harvesting, and Antiquities, can be completed solo
The fastest gold-per-hour method is market flipping, where you buy underpriced items from guild traders and relist them for profit after taxes.
Understanding the current or upcoming “meta” (the most effective way to play) is one of the most financially rewarding investments in ESO Gold Farming.
- Anticipate Demand: The meta changes with new patches. By reading PTS (Public Test Server) patch notes, you can anticipate which sets or materials will become high-demand before the patch goes live.
- Sell Reliable & Fast: Items that favour the current meta (like a newly buffed set) will sell reliably and quickly at high prices due to immense player demand.
The recommended and most effective way to sell items is by posting them on a Guild Trader.
- Join a Trading Guild: You must be a member of a player-run guild that has secured a Guild Trader NPC location.
- Find the Best Location: Join a guild with a trader in a high-traffic location for the best sales velocity. Prime spots include Vivec City (often considered the best), Belkarth, Mournhold, and Rawl’kha.
- Post Your Items: Interact with the Guild Trader NPC to post items for sale.
The overall best way to make gold in ESO is farming and selling valuable Overland Sets (armor/weapons that drop from enemies in the open world). Other highly profitable and reliable methods for consistent ESO Gold Farming include:
- Daily Crafting Writs (The Easiest Way to Make Gold ESO)
- Playing the Market: Flipping & Sniping
- Active Farming / Grind (Fastest Gold Per Hour)
- Anniversary event farming
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