I’m not what you would call a professional gold maker in the World of Warcraft.  I don’t study the ebb and flow of the game’s Auction House, keep track of posters, or know the Auctioneers by their given names (except for my girl Naxxremis who is obviously way into me).  However, I do like to make gold.  It helps fund professions, and at higher levels it helps to cover things like gems, equipment enhancement, food/flasks, and repair bills.  Nothing too frivolous mind you.  Just the essentials.

But people seem to have this impression that you need to be 85 to really start making gold.  That’s not true.  I’ve made a thousand gold on a level five bank alt, and I didn’t have to manhandle Auctioneer to do it.  I have a SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) that I use whenever I venture out to a new server and have no resources (aka Sugar Daddy) to draw from.

The first thing I do when I go to a new server is establish my Bank alt.  He is the first one to set foot to earth, unleashed upon Azeroth with only the clothes on his back and maybe a weapon in hand.  These will most likely not last long.

My goal at the start is to amass one silver piece.  The Banker completes a few quests and loots everything he kills.   If I’m feeling impatient, once I’m close to the goal I’ll sell all the clothes and weapons he has.  He will not need them much longer anyway. Depending on the class I choose as my Banker (as in, if he does not have a pet that can take a beating on his behalf), I may decide to hide his naked shame and level up to 3 or so.  By that point, I should have the silver piece.

The Banker leaves the newbie starter zone and head to the first village down the road.  These villages will either have individual profession trainers or a single person with the title <Profession Trainer>.  From him the Banker will learn Mining and Herbalism (you can do this at level 1).  I will then buy a pick for mining.  This will burn up the silver piece.  Money well spent.

The Banker returns to the world and gather at least one stack of ore or herbs.  This is his “starting capital”.  Since he will need to be Level 5 for the next phase of financial empowerment, and xp can be gained by gathering, I will keep him out there until he reaches Level 5 or has no more room in his bag.

Burdened with ore and herbs, the Banker heads to the nearest AH and put up as many stacks as he can afford.  This is usually only the ore, as the herbs will be needed soon.  Depending on your server, you should be able to make at least a couple of gold per stack.  I’ve done this on both high and low pop servers and this has been my experience.  Yours may vary.

Log off, Banker alt.  Your job is done for now.

The goal is around 25gp, depending on how many stacks of herbs you have and how much they cost to buy.  Once the Banker has the gold, he drops one of his gathering professions and picks up Inscription (this is the part where the Banker needs to be Level 5).  If herbs are expensive on your server, you may want to farm your own herbs rather than buying them off the AH.  Your call.  Pick up four stacks of Peacebloom, etc.

You need to level inscription to 75 so you can get Minor Research.  You can do this via:
1) 1-19:  Ivory Ink
2)  19-35: Scroll of Stamina
3)  35-53: Moonglow Ink
4)  53-75: Enchanting Vellum

The reason I want Minor Research is that few people bother going very far with it.  Folks tend to blitz right by it to powerlevel their way up to 525 and there’s plenty of good glyphs that can only be obtained through minor research.  That’s where I’ll make my starter money.

Once the Banker gets to Research status, he researches and posts his glyph (check the market value or post it at 50gp) and all of his by-products of leveling.  Rinse and repeat the daily research, posting the glyph and making more stock as needed.  As the Banker learns more glyphs, he’ll post more and sell more.  If there’s a bad stretch without sales, the Banker can go back out and grab a few stacks of ore/herbs to sell and rebuild the starting capital.

Is this the best money maker?  At level five, it’s hard to go wrong with it.  Unless the Banker needs to mill new ink, it takes all of five minutes to research the new glyph, scribe it, check the mailbox, and post everything.  Of course, the Banker will reach a point where he’s learned all the glyphs he can get for his level.  By that point he’s probably earned a bag of gold anyway.

There you have it.  Level Five alt, the Banker guy, generating a starter income in a few minutes a day.  My latest Banker, that I made just for fun on a new server, is already sitting at almost 1500gp without any help, and without leaving the city.

Score one for the newbie!