Intro
*Please note: this is a very detailed and very long tutorial. If you’re a very experienced FFXI player and are only interested in a couple of quick tips on how to make gil quickly, see the Specific Strategies section (focus on Spipi hunting and overnight fishing).

First off, it is important to realize that there is no single way of making massive amounts of gil in FFXI in a very short time period. That is the nature of a nearly perfect competition economy – many identical (or nearly identical) items are all sold, and if profit is large when selling one item or another, then more and more people get involved until the market value decreases. That is why crafting is not really profitable until higher skill levels: there are simply too many people who can offer the same item, many willing to offer it for any price just to off-set costs. FFXI’s auction house economy has two strikes against it, because everyone lives and dies by the Price History. Everyone wants their item to sell, and to sell first. Naturally, people try to undercut, and those too greedy lead to a decrease in the item value. Since people always want to sell first, undercutting constantly occurs and very rarely do item prices go up. That is why it’s important to understand the basics, and the more advanced effects (or patterns), as well as a few profitable strategies. Combining these following ideas, you will be able to make large sums of gil both short-run and long-run.

The Basics

No tutorial is complete without certain basic understandings. Please feel free to skip this section if you feel confident in your knowledge in these areas.

Mules / Alternate Characters
Every major city has it’s own auction house, which are completely independent of one another. Ideally, one would want a character in Jeuno, Windurst, Bastok, and San’Doria to have access to all of the cities via mules or main character. However, 3 characters will be all you need. Your main character in one of the three starting towns, and two more in each of the other starting towns. Jeuno is unnecessary, because most items are listed at a price less than the starting cities and those items more expensive have no efficient profit because of the high tax rates (~103 gil tax for 1 item, and 500+ gil for a stack of 12). Throughout this tutorial you will understand why it’s so important to have characters in the other two starting towns. WARNING: The extra characters will cost you 2 dollars a month (about 1 dollar each). So just forego a chocolate bar or two for a day ;)

The Auction House: Undercutting While Not Undercutting
As mentioned in the Intro, people set prices based on the price history. A now confirmed fact is that a lower selling item will almost always sell first. This has been a source of uncertainty, but various tests were performed and most consistently the pattern has arrived that a given the same bid, the lower priced item will sell. So, what you as a seller wants to do, is sell your items for the lowest possible price without having people decrease the value of the item on the price history. This involves two considerations:
　

　
1. Think about what people will bid. People usually bid in the 1000s and 500s on high priced items. If the item sells for 10k, people will probably bid 9k, then 9.5k, then finally 10k.
   　
2. What price will allow for an undercut and a quicker sale? On a 10k item, anything 9.9k or lower will probably result in a relatively quicker sale.

Given these considerations, in this example 9,501 gil might be a good choice for undercutting without undercutting. They will bid 9k, then 9.5k, then 10k before getting the item. On the price history it will show up as 10,000 and you will sell first because you set yours to 9,501 gil.

Effects (Or “Patterns”)

Patterns occur when trying to make gil. Keeping these in mind can increase your profit anywhere from 10-50%.

The Hometown Depreciate (Devalue)
This is easily the best and most important pattern to consider for all newcomers and even experienced players. Items received by completing quests, NM item drops, and all area-specific items are more popular in the area in which they originate, and more items leads to more undercutting and less value. These items will almost ALWAYS be worth more in the other starting towns. This is why mules are so important! Here are some examples(since spacing is causing problems, I’ll use bold/italic for easier reading):
NM Item Drops:
NM Item Hometown Price Price Elsewhere
Spini Spipi Mist Silk Cape ~23-25k ~28k-30k
--
Juu Duzu the Whirlwind Soleas ~2.5k ~5k
(same NM) Hunter’s Longbow ~7k ~10k
--
Bomb King Bomb Ring ~6k ~10k
--
Doppleganger Dio Cruel Scythe ~4.5k ~7-8k
--

Quest Items:
Quest Reward Hometown Price Price Elsewhere
Truth, Justice, and the Onion Way Justice Badge ~1-1.5k ~3k
--
Know One’s Onion Blaze Spikes ~3k ~5k
--
To Catch a Falling Star Fish Scale Shield ~1k ~2.5k
--
Healing The Land Teleport-Holla ~2k ~6k
--
Mean Machine Warp ~5-6k ~8-9k
--

This also applies to crafted items! In hometowns where guilds are located, items that are crafted generally sell less, because there is an abundance of supply and many people are looking to get rid of the item (especially if the item is made for skill raising purposes and not for profit). The main exceptions are the materials used for crafting, which can sometimes actually sell for MORE because they are needed for this crafting. Armor, weapons, and food will sell for significantly less in the hometown of that guild. Some examples include: Bone Earring +1 (bonecrafting item) sells for 6k in Windurst, but almost 10k in SanDoria. Meat Mithkabobs (culinary item) sells for ~ 2.1k-2.3k in Windurst, but 2.5k+ elsewhere. Conclusion: If you get a NM item, quest item, or a crafting item that you’re interested in selling, you should check the prices in other cities (with the use of mules) first before selling it in the hometown for that item.

Specific Strategies:

While the patterns and concepts, as well as the basics, should allow you to formulate strategies of your own, here are some examples and specific strategies to get you going:

The Scroll Quests Strategy
All the hometowns have a variety of spell scrolls have a variety of scrolls available after completing quests. These, however, require fame. For an explanation of fame, see: http://www.multiplayerstrategies.com/ms/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=7172 . That thread also talks about very easy ways to gain fame through repeatable quests. For now, I will simply list the spells to be had in the various towns:

Blaze Spikes – Requires no fame, but must do Justice Badge quest first. See http://www.multiplayerstrategies.com/ms/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=7428 for details. Worth anywhere from 3k to 5k gil.
Aspir – Requires high Windurst fame and must do the Teacher’s Pet quest (in same room in Aurastery of Windurst Waters). See http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/quests.html?realm=Windurst&fquest=185 for tips and details, but note the quest item is purchasable at the auction house. Worth ~ 25-30k.
Teleport-Mea – Relatively high Windurst fame, and a way of navigating the Eldieme Necropolis is required (usually 40 and up area). http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/quests.html?realm=Windurst&fquest=203 for details.
Warp – Requires some Bastok fame. Item has been devalued, but still worth ~8k. See http://www.multiplayerstrategies.com/ms/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=7705 .
Drain – Requires high San’Dorian fame and either rank 2 in San’Doria or at the very least to be on Mission 5 in Bastok or Windurst, or have completed it and be rank 3 in either of these two nations (MUST have access to the Chaeaux). See http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/quests.html?realm=San%20d'Oria&fquest=82 for tips.
Teleport-Holla – Relative high SanD fame, and a way of navigating the Gusgen mines (lvl 30+ can make it, or use sneak/invis for lower). http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/quests.html?realm=San%20d'Oria&fquest=84

* (since most these quests require fame, they are a sometimes difficult to exploit with recreated mules)
** (there are other teleport spells in Bastok and San’Doria, which can be found at the allakhazam quest listing if you want, but will be left out for the sake of length).

Spiny Spipi Hunting
Spiny Spipi is a crawler-type NM level 9-10 that spawns in East Sarutabaruta. I have found this NM to be the most consistently profitable to hunt because profits come not only from Spipi, but other monsters in the area. This is the best, quick, low-level NM hunting tip that is consistent and reliable, you will want to patrol the indicated area:


EDIT: Well, until I get the image to work for me and actually display, I'll just describe the zone you should patrol. You'll want to go all the way until the mountain range by j-8 BEFORE the zanpipi river. Hug the mountains and patrol in a U shape, going from one side of the mountain range to the other - which will be close to the river. Crawlers that spawn along here can result in a Spipi spawn.

With my thief having only the treasure hunter I skill, the mist silk cape drops at a rate of about 1 in 2. This cape sells for about 23-25k in Jeuno and Windurst, but about 28k-30k in San’Doria and Bastok (although it sells less frequently in these towns). According to many other people I’ve spoken with, the average drop rate for non-thief characters is closer to 1 in 3. Now the key to this strategy is that Spipi only provides a portion of money earned. As you patrol for Spipi, you want to be killing:

-Crawlers: Killing these not only make Spiny Spipi spawn faster, but drop crawler calculus and silk threads. Crawler Calculus can be traded in to Illu Bohja at H-6 in Windurst Woods (near the Dhalmel farm) 3 at a time for 600 gil, more importantly adding to your Windurst fame. The silks are the real gold mine, selling for about 1k each or anywhere from 12k-14k for a stack of 12. Unfortunately, silks are a rare drop by crawlers.

-Giant Bees: Bees have great drop rates making them very profitable, and are everywhere in the patrolled area. They drop Beehive Chips (3k for a stack of 12), Pots of Honey (2.3k for a stack of 12), and Insect Wings (only about 600 for a stack of 12).

-Goblin Thugs: Drop small amounts of gil and Wild Onions (4k for a stack of 12).

-Spiny Spipi: Of course you want to be killing Spipi. Even if Spipi doesn’t drop the cape, you can get up to 2 silk threads dropping at a time, worth 1k each, so it’s never a total waste. Remember that the cape is a rare item, so your character can never carry more than one on is person at a time… so don’t get greedy and try to get two capes in a row before going to town!

It is recommended you use thief for treasure finder, whether it’s a lvl 15+ thief as a main job or a lvl 30+ character with a lvl 15+ thief as sub. This increases drops from all types of creatures.

Spipi Spanws on average about once every real hour, may be once every hour and a half. If Spipi has a drop rate of about 1 in 2 with treasure finder, then it’ll talk at most 3 real life hours to get a cape. In this time you can have approximately:
-3 Stacks of Beehive Chips 9k
-1 Stack of Silks 12k
-1 Mist Silk Cape 28k
-1 Stack of Wild Onions 4k
--
Total: ~53k
The best part about it is that its relaxing relative to camping rare-drop highly-camped NMs, and you feel good about it knowing that even if Spipi doesn’t drop, you’re still profiting from the other critters.

Overnight tip: Fishing

Now I know what you’re thinking: to be truly efficient and make gil FAST, you need to always be at work… even while sleeping. Well, I have tested many different ways and so far the answer is FISHING.

The key to making gil while sleeping is by macroing, and until memory addresses are cracked for FFXI fishing is the safest most consistent way of making gil. I have personally confirmed that SE relies on the FFXI community to track down macro users. They do not search server logs or anything like that – a large part of the community dislikes macro users and reports them. So, to avoid being caught and suspended, you just have to avoid being seen. This applies to all unattended macros, but fishing most of all.

When fishing, you’ll be wanting one thing above all: moat carp. Moat carp sell consistently for 4k for a stack of 12, and can be caught with any fishing skill level. Moat carp can be caught at any fresh water location (lakes and ponds, including ones in-town). The best combination to date for me has been Insect Ball (~300 gil for 12 at AH or ~400gil for 12 at fishing guild store in Windurst) and a Mithran Rod (~5.5k at AH). On average, you can pull in about 3-4 stacks of 12 overnight, along with some rusty items such as the subligar which sells for about 800 gil each. It might be a worthwhile investment to buy the four pieces of fishing gear (gloves, body, leggings, boots) to improve your catching rate. I personally revised and tweaked previous fishing macros to best suit the needs of a fisher. Here it is (made with AC Tool available at http://www.cameroncole.com/actool.html ):
　

// This line is necessary to select the proper window
SetActiveWindow FFXiApp
 
Constants //constants... makes macro easier for ppl using different binds
  OpenMainMenu = o
  MenuDown = m
  SelectWindow = f
  Fish = 1
  Number = 17
  Fishcount = 0
  Fishbundle = 0 //fishbundle * fishcount = the number of times you fish before sorting inv
  Confirm = y
  Cancel = n
  rod = Mithran Fish. Rod
  bait = Insect Ball
End
 
Set Number = 17 //time after which you reel in
 
Procedure Fishing //procedure for fishing
  Keys /fish {RETURN}
  Delay $Number sec //reel in after the constant 'number' seconds
  Keydown {return} 250 //this is the point where you actually reel in after the delay
  Delay 30 sec //wait 30 seconds between fishing
  Compute $Fishcount = $Fishcount + 1 //add 1 to fishcount for auto-sort purposes
End
 
Procedure InvSort //auto-sorting inventory procedure
  Keys ^i 
	Delay 500
	Keydown $SelectWindow 250
	Delay 250
	Keydown $Confirm 250
	Delay 250
	Keydown $MenuDown 250
	Delay 250
	Keydown $Confirm 250
	Delay 500
	Keydown $Cancel 250
	Delay 250
	Keydown $Cancel 250
	Delay 250
End
 
Procedure StartFish //procedure called on every time you're about to fish
  If $Fishcount = 5 //first check if you've fished 5 times already
    //so, every 5 fishing attempts you want to:
    Keys /equip range "$rod" {RETURN} //equip rod (in case it breaks)
    //delay 1000
    Keys /equip ammo "$bait" {RETURN} //equip bait (in case you run out)
    delay 1000
    Compute $fishbundle = $fishbundle + 1 //add to 'bundles of 5' counter
    Set Fishcount = 0 //reset fishing counter
    If $fishbundle = 3 //if you've fished a total of 3 * 5 = 15 times, then sort inventory
    	Call InvSort
    	Set fishbundle = 0
    End    
  Else
    Call Fishing //just fish
  End
End
  
Delay 2 min //in-game delay, don't start fishing for 2 minutes when you enter the game
 
While 1=1 //never-ending loop that calls the startfish procedure, starts fishing!
  Call StartFish 
End

This macro is NOW available for your copy & pasting needs at the FFXI Macro Forum: http://www.multiplayerstrategies.com/ms/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=9814

What this macro does without modification:
-Uses the /fish command for you
-Reels in the line after 17 seconds
-Waits 30 seconds before using the /fish command again
-Replaces rod (in case it breaks) and bait (so you don’t run out) after every 5 /fish attempts. In order for this to be effective you should have multiple rods and baits in your inventory, or just 1 really reliable rod.
-Auto-sorts inventory after every 15 /fish attempts
-Assumes bait is: Insect Ball and fishing rod is: Mithran Fish. Rod
* This macro never ends, but that poses no problem since you can /pol to temporarily log out or /logout and none of the commands will prevent you from logging out (as would physical movement).

That's all for now guys! I hope the tutorial helps. Spipi/crawler/bee/thug hunting during the day and fishing at night, all the while keeping in mind patterns such as the Hometown devalue of items, and you'll be racking in gil in no time!