The Auction House
The auction house is probably going to be your main source of buying items. Many of the games shops and merchants are scattered throughout the world of Vana'diel and finding an item you want that way can be a pain. The solution is to turn to the Auction House where you will most likely find exactly what you desire for perhaps a little more. Be warned though that you could really get stung with this but on the other hand you can make a killing. The Auction House is a double edged sword and this guide will help you stay on the edge you want to be on. Remember that there is always an Auction House at the city's main section and in the Port section. Auction House's only exists at the four main cities of San d'Oria, Bastok, Windhurst and Jeuno. The main Jeuno Auction House is always very packed and will cause your frame rate to beg for mercy.

Buying
When you first approach the Auction House it will be daunting. Go to the counter and "talk" to it to bring up hella loads of menus which are all going to be in Japanese. The translations and locations of things will be dealt with later in the guide but lets focus on buying an item for now. The first mistake is to think that the Auction House actually functions like a real auction house where you leave a bid and come back for it later to see if you have won. Find the item you are looking for or just like the look of and click it, bringing up a list of three options. These options, from top to bottom, are to see the last ten transactions, to place a "bid, or just to go back. The last ten transactions will come in very handy when bidding for you things as it will ensure you aren't paying over the odds when you don't need to be. Generally people will put the price as what ever the recent transactions were therefore setting a trend and an economy starts. Here we will take a level 18 One Handed staff for example. At the majority of the Auction House's this staff will go for anywhere between 800gil and 950gil which is a good buy. The only other place to really buy this from a person is from the NPC in Selbina who will charge you around 1,500gil for it. If you are buying the staff it is obviously best to shave off around a third of the price making it a very good buy. That is just an example of a good buy and you will likely make many throughout your experience in Vana'diel.

The other things you should be aware of when buying is how much the item in question is going to be doing extra for you. A common Mage level 7 Cape will cost about 350gil to but when you reach level 18 you can upgrade it to the next Cape up from it for between 400gil - 500gil. Once you have done that you can then sell back the old cape and you have paid practically nothing more for one extra to your defence stat. Things will not always be this easy to upgrade as some upgrades will have a skyrocketed price for little more than what your last one did. It's at this time you have to question if it's worth it or whether to hold out in the hope of finding a shop that sells it for a lot less. Always remember that there are a great many things in the Auction House that simply do not warrant the high price for what they will give you. Buying will always be down to your own personal circumstances but mainly down to the amount of Gil you can play with. If a Mage is your fourth or fifth job and you hit level 18 in Valkurm Dunes then a run to Selbina to pay that extra for the cane most likely won't matter to you. Don't regret buying things later.

Selling
If you are clever, this is where you can really make a killing as there are many, lazy, stupid or narcissistically minded people out there that can easily be mugged. To sell things go to the Auction House window and talk to it. Now choose the second option and find what you want to sell and set the price. If you decide you don't actually want to sell it or just made a mistake in setting the price then re-talk to the Auction House window and choose the third option. Clicking your item will bring up and option and if you want to take it off of auction choose the top option then confirm it with the left selection. If in this screen the item is yellow it means it has sold and the money is waiting at you Mog House, if it is red it means you have already collected the money from your Mog House for the item. To get the money from your Mog House talk to the Moogle and choose the second option. You will receive the money how you would receive and trade and is generally very straight forward. Remember that you can only have a maximum of seven items on auction at any one time, the limit for items is 2-3 days and you can only change your items up for auction at the Auction House you placed them at. Items that pass the expiry date are sent back to the Mog House and appear red.

One of the best ways to make money early on in the game from the Auction House is to sell packs of Red Crystals and to be cagey. A Red Crystal pack can be sold for 1,000gil flat and thy aren't too hard to come by at the start of the game. A quick tip for selling is to always set your prices lower than the average price to ensure you make a quick sale. I always set my Red Crystals at 910gil and they have always sold for 1,000gil each time as you will find a person who needs a pack of twelve Red Crystals isn't bothered about 90gil. I have actually sold a pack of Red Crystals in under two minutes using this tactic so look around and use your head.

Another great way of making money is to bring in items from far away places that are not the most accessible for early players. The biggest killing I made was buying a Bard song from a NPC in Selbina at 268gil. Upon returning to San d'Oria I discovered that it sells at Auction House for 1,700gil - 1,800gil and it did sell after a day making me quite a small killing. You must be careful when doing this though as if you flood the market the price will go down. I have discovered this now too so I am leaving this in. Another example of this is the Fungus Hat found from the NM Truffle in La Theine which used to go for around 200,000gil+ but because it was hunted and flooded at Auction House's it now sells for 15,000gil in Jeuno AH.

Menu Order
This is the order in which you access the menus in the Auction House. Please bear in mind that this isn't a direct translation, more of a common sense kind of thing. Feel free to correct it or give better or exact names.

1) Weapons
- Grapples
- Daggers
- 1hd Sword
- 2hd Sword
- 1hd Axe
- 2hd Axe
- Sickle
- Spear
- 1hd Staff
- 2hd Staff
- Range Weapons
- Bard Instruments
- "Ammo"

2) Armour
- Sheilds
- Head Wear
- Knecklaces
- Body Armour
- Gloves and Mittens
- Waist
- Leg Armour
- Footwear
- Capes
- Earrings
- Rings

3) Magic
- White/Red Magic
- Black Magic
- Bard Songs

4) Potions

5) Furniture

6) Trade Skill items
- Blacksmith (?)
- ?
- ?
- Tannery (?)
- ?
- Carpentry
- Alchemy (?) 7) Misc.
- Food
- Quest Items (?)