The first days of a wipe are the leanest. Everyone starts with the same small stash, traders are at their lowest levels, and the flea market stays locked until you reach the level it needs. Here is where the early money comes from, and how to keep it coming once the first rush is over.
A wipe resets everyone's progress at the same time. That sounds fair, and it is, but it also means the whole player base is chasing the same few items in the same week. Knowing where roubles come from before you need them is the difference between buying the gear you want and running the same cheap kit for a week.
Your money problem at the start has three parts. You have little cash, you have few buyers, and you have little room to hold loot while you wait for a good price. Each part makes the others worse.
Traders start at their first loyalty level, so they buy and sell less, and the best offers are locked behind levels you have not reached. The flea market, where players sell to each other, is closed until your character reaches the level the game sets for it. Check the flea market tab in the game to see the current requirement, since it has changed between patches.
On top of that, early quests ask for specific items, and hideout upgrades ask for even more. Everything you loot competes for the same small stash. The players who do well early are the ones who turn loot into roubles quickly and keep their stash clear.
Scav runs
A scav run costs nothing but time. You go in with a random kit, and anything you bring out is yours. Start one every time the cooldown ends, even between your own raids, and sell what you bring back.
Because there is no gear at risk, scav runs are the best rouble per risk you will get in the first days. Even a short run where you grab a few loose items and extract is profit. Treat the scav timer like a free paycheck that resets on a clock: if it is ready and you are not in a raid, use it.
Play your scav cleanly. Shooting other AI scavs while playing as a scav lowers your reputation with Fence, and poor Fence reputation can make scav life harder, including a longer wait between runs. You can see your standing with Fence on the traders screen.
Bring back what sells, not just what is heavy. Small, valuable items such as electronics, medical supplies and keys often pay more per inventory slot than a big gun that eats half your backpack.
Sell to the right trader
Before the flea opens, traders are your only buyers, and they do not all pay the same. Check which trader offers the most for each item before you sell. Fence takes almost anything, but he usually pays the least.
Each trader tends to pay better for certain kinds of items. Medical gear, weapons and parts, armor, and barter goods may each have a trader who values them more than the others. The sell screen shows each trader's offer for an item when you drag it in, so it only takes a moment to compare.
Selling to traders also raises your standing with them, which helps you reach their next loyalty level. That opens better stock and better quests. So trader sales early on are not just money; they push your progress forward too.
Fast flea flips
Once the flea opens, early prices swing a lot because supply is low. Items people need for early quests and hideout upgrades sell fast and for good money.
A flip means buying something under its usual price and selling it again for more. Early in a wipe, the cleanest flips are often the simplest: a trader sells an item cheaply, and players on the flea pay more for it because they cannot buy it from that trader yet. Watch for items your trader levels let you buy that other players still need.
Pay attention to the listing fee. The flea charges a fee to post an offer, and that fee goes up when you price an item well above its usual value. A flip that looks good can turn into a loss once the fee is paid, so check the fee in the offer window before you confirm.
Also mind the found in raid rule. Found in raid means you picked the item up during a raid and extracted with it, and the game marks it with a small check icon. Many items can only be listed on the flea if they carry that mark, and items you buy from traders or the flea do not have it. Check the item before you plan a flip around it.
Cheap crafts
Some early hideout crafts take cheap inputs and turn out things people buy. They will not make you rich, but the game keeps running them while you play your raids, so they earn without taking your attention.
Early on, your hideout modules are at low levels and the craft list is short. Look for crafts that use items you already loot often, or that you can buy cheaply from a trader, and that produce something players need. Your fuel and your time are limited, so pick one or two good crafts and keep them going instead of starting everything once.
The stash problem
The starting stash is small, and it fills faster than you can sell. Every raid brings back more than you have time to list, and a full stash means leaving loot behind. Sell often, so space never limits what you carry out.
A useful habit is to sort your stash into three groups after every raid. Keep what you need for quests and hideout upgrades. Sell what is worth listing on the flea. Dump the rest to traders right away. The third group is the one people put off, and it is the one that quietly eats your space.
Containers help a lot once you can afford them. Cases that hold many small items in fewer slots give you room to keep loot until it can sell. Early on they are expensive, so treat the first one as an investment, not a luxury.
A worked example
Here is an example with made-up round numbers, just to show the math. Say you come back from a scav run with a handful of items. A trader offers 20,000 roubles for one of them, and on the flea players are listing the same item for 35,000.
If the listing fee for that price is 3,000, selling on the flea nets you about 32,000, which beats the trader by 12,000. But if your offer sits for hours while your stash is full, you might leave a better item behind on your next raid. When space is tight, the faster trader sale can be the better choice, even at a lower price.
Now say a trader sells a different item for 10,000, and players pay 18,000 for it on the flea because they cannot buy it from that trader yet. After a fee of, say, 1,500, you clear about 6,500 per item. Do that a few times between raids and it adds up, as long as the price holds.
Common mistakes
Hoarding everything is the classic one. Early in a wipe, holding items for a better price later rarely beats having the money now, because the money lets you buy gear, upgrade the hideout and run more raids.
Ignoring the scav timer is another. Every hour the timer sits ready is a free run you did not take. The third is selling everything to Fence because it is quick. Fence is fine for junk, but for anything of value, a few seconds checking other traders is worth it.
Finally, do not chase a flip that depends on a price you saw yesterday. Early wipe prices move fast in both directions. Check the current offers before you buy anything you plan to resell.
Early wipe versus later in the wipe
In the first week, the best money comes from volume and speed: scav runs, quick trader sales and the obvious flea flips. Supply is low, so almost anything useful sells.
Later, as more players reach high levels and fill the flea, prices settle and the easy flips fade. Money shifts toward higher value raids, steady hideout crafts and selling in bulk. The habits you build early, selling often and keeping your stash clear, still matter just as much.
Quick checklist
Start a scav run every time the timer is ready. Compare trader offers before you sell anything. After every raid, sort loot into keep, list and dump. Check the flea fee before you confirm an offer. Run at least one cheap craft at all times. Keep enough stash space free that a good raid never forces you to leave loot behind.
Quick questions
Should I sell to Fence? For junk you just need gone, yes. For anything with real value, check the other traders first, since Fence usually pays the least.
When does the flea open? When your character reaches the level the game sets. Check the flea market tab in game, because the requirement has changed between patches.
Is it better to list on the flea or sell to a trader? Compare the flea price minus the listing fee with the best trader offer. If the difference is small or your stash is full, the trader is usually the better call.
Do I need to sell every day? You do not have to, but selling in small batches often keeps your stash usable. Once you have more loot than time, a tool like Tarkbot's sell mode can list items from your stash for you between raids, when you step away from the keyboard instead of queuing for another raid.