So one thing about making money in this game that I didn’t grok until, well…really really late in the game (like playing Hearts of Stone late) is that merchants matter. The merchant in that crappy run-down village isn’t going to give you a good price on anything. In Novigrad, though, you can usually find someone to pay you very handsomely. Sell your goodies there!
In particular, sell to the rich merchants that have shops in Novgrad, not the ones with stalls.
Especially in particular…
my favorite merchants
[spoiler]Hattori is the best, hands-down, for most everything. He’s the master sword smith who wants to make dumplings until you do a quest to set him back in business. Sell to him any time he has replenished his coin. There’s another smith near one of the waterside merchant stall areas. He pays decently until you set Hattori up. He’s a good backup when you’ve run Hattori out of money, too.
The book seller in Hierarch Square pays well too. The merchant of rarities in the Gildorf district, near the Gregory Bridge, is also a great source of coin. Those four Novigrad merchants are the ones to use![/spoiler]
As far as what to sell, you’ll find those merchants pay well for named swords you’re not using or have outgrown. They also pay very handily for emerald dust (which is a 50/50 chance drop from dead wraiths) and amethyst dust. (Careful though, there’s armor and weaps that need both these things later on, so keep some around!)
You can also kind of farm wraiths. There’s a cave by the Dragonslayer Grotto where they respawn every few days.
There’s also one other exploit that seems to have been built into the game, but it’s so cheat-y that I did it three times for cash and felt guilty.
To be clear: this is late game/end game/act III stuff. You should be able to scrounge enough coin until then just playing the game and getting quest and contract rewards. But then at the end when you’re building multiple sets of armor, this is how you need to start managing your finances.
