Updated October 11, 2026
Quick answer: Flipping makes gil from price gaps alone, no crafting needed. Buy cheap from NPC vendors and resell on the board, buy board items below what NPCs pay and sell them back, or buy on a cheaper world in your data center and sell on yours. Always base it on real sale prices, not stale listings.
Flipping means buying something cheap and selling it for more. No crafting, no gathering. In Final Fantasy XIV there are three kinds, and the hard part of each is the same: spotting the spread before it closes.
NPC → Market. The vendor price never changes, so the only thing that moves is the board price. Details
Market → NPC. A listing drops below what a vendor pays. Short windows, no market risk. Details
Cross-server. Buy where it's cheap on your data center, sell at home. Details
Some items are sold by in-game vendors for a fixed gil price, yet resell on the market board for far more. Buy from the NPC, list on the board, keep the difference.
Vendor prices never change, so the only variable is the current board price. When it's high enough, it's close to free gil. The catch is finding which of thousands of vendor items are worth flipping today.
Try the NPC → Market: not on board mode too. It lists vendor items nobody is selling on your world right now, so you'd be the only listing.
Which vendor goods work and why: vendor flipping guide.
The mirror image. Now and then an item's market price drops below what an NPC will pay you for it. Buy the cheap listings, sell them straight to the vendor, and keep a guaranteed spread with zero market risk.
These windows don't last, which is why you want them surfaced automatically.
You aren't waiting on a market buyer here, so sorting by plain Profit is fine. Check how many cheap listings there are before you make the trip.
Within a data center you can travel to other worlds and buy from their market boards. Prices vary between worlds, so an item that's expensive at home may be cheap one world over.
Buy it there, bring it back, and sell into the higher price.
The higher profit floor makes each world visit worth the trip. Units/day is counted on your world, where you'll sell. Blind spots mode shows items with nothing listed at home but listed elsewhere.
Two numbers, same as every other method:
MarginThe spread after tax. A big headline number means little if tax eats it.
Units/dayHow fast it sells. A flip you can't offload sits in your retainer while your gil is tied up.
High-demand items with a modest spread often beat a huge spread on a dead item. That's why the flip tools default to the Best sort, which multiplies the two.
Steady flips that sell every day. Start here.
Minions and housing items. Slow, but one sale pays well. Ties up gil.
Cheap vendor goods that sell all day. Thin margin, high turnover.
These match the filter presets in the main gil guide. For why the middle band pays best, see the market board sweet spot.
Put this into practice with live market-board prices for your world:
NPC ↔ market flipsBoth directions, ranked by live profit.Open → Cross-server arbitrageEvery world on your data center, side by side.Open → Vendor & item databaseBrowse a merchant's whole stock with current market values.Open →Find flips on your world → All gil-making methods →
More guides: vendor flipping · undercutting & pricing · the market board sweet spot · market board basics
XIV Profitability is a free, fan-made tool. Not affiliated with Square Enix. Prices via Universalis. FINAL FANTASY XIV © SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.