The fastest way to make money
Crowns come in fastest from selling the right things to the right merchants. Loot everything as you travel, then sort your stash into three piles: gear and weapons to sell, crafting materials to keep, and junk to dump. The single biggest jump in income is learning which vendor pays the most for each type of item, and not selling crafting components you'll want later.
If you just want crowns immediately and don't mind cheating, open the console and use addmoney — see the cheat shortcut at the bottom of this guide.
Sell to the right merchant
Every merchant only carries a limited pool of crowns and pays the best price for goods in their specialty. Spread big sales across several vendors, and meditate a few days to refresh a merchant's gold if you've cleaned them out.
| Sell this | Best buyer |
|---|---|
| Swords & melee weapons | Blacksmiths |
| Armor & gauntlets | Armorers |
| Potions, oils, alchemy ingredients | Herbalists & alchemists |
| Gems, rings, valuables | Merchants in Novigrad |
| Monster trophies | Any merchant — pure profit, they're light |
| Food & drink | Innkeepers |
Dismantle before you sell
Many items are worth more as parts than as a whole. Take weapons and armor to a blacksmith or armorer and dismantle them into leather, metal and thread, then sell the components — or, better, keep the rarer ones for crafting. This is especially true for items containing valuable materials like dimeritium or hardened leather.
High-value, low-effort income
- Witcher contracts — The best crowns-per-hour in the game. Each contract pays a large lump sum (and you can often haggle for more), plus the monster trophy and loot.
- Clear question marks in Velen & Skellige — Bandit camps, monster nests and Skellige's underwater smuggler's caches are stuffed with sellable loot and the occasional treasure.
- Sell trophies — Monster trophies sell for a lot, weigh nothing, and you only need one equipped at a time.
- Craft and flip glyphs/runestones — Buying base materials, crafting higher-tier runestones, and reselling can net a margin once you have the diagrams.
Spend smart
Money problems usually fix themselves once you stop overspending. Don't buy crafting diagrams you can find for free, repair gear at the cheapest smith rather than the fanciest, and hold onto crafting materials — buying them back later costs far more than they sell for. Gwent cards are the one luxury worth the crowns if you enjoy the minigame.
Just give me crowns (console cheat)
On PC with the debug console enabled, addmoney(val) drops crowns straight into your purse — for example addmoney(5000) adds 5,000 crowns. It's the instant version of everything above. Cheating doesn't disable achievements, but keep a separate save before experimenting.
Frequently asked questions
- What's the fastest way to make money in Witcher 3?
- Complete Witcher contracts for big lump-sum payouts, loot everything as you explore, and sell each item type to the merchant that specializes in it (weapons to blacksmiths, armor to armorers, alchemy goods to herbalists). Dismantle valuable gear into components before selling.
- Why can't I sell everything to one merchant?
- Each merchant has a limited pool of crowns and pays the best price only for goods in their specialty. Spread large sales across several vendors and meditate a few days to refresh a merchant's gold.
- Is there a money cheat in Witcher 3?
- Yes. On PC with the debug console enabled, use addmoney(val) — e.g. addmoney(5000) — to add crowns instantly. Cheating still leaves achievements intact.
- Should I sell crafting materials?
- Generally no. Crafting components sell for little but cost a lot to buy back, and you'll need them for armor upgrades, runestones and potions. Sell finished weapons, armor and trophies instead.