The useful question about shop is income per hour, and almost nobody states it.

Short answer

Do the setup once properly, then repeat the short loop. That ordering is where the difference sits.

  • Group up where the multiplier is meaningful.
  • Ignore anything that requires an external site or seller.
  • Read the whole sequence once before doing the first step.

Path of Exile assumes you will read a spreadsheet eventually, and most of its depth is genuinely there. The cap on a given activity matters more than its headline number. Setup cost only matters relative to how long you intend to keep playing.

Methods that were nerfed

There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. Idle income sounds appealing and is almost always the worst rate available. Payout figures quoted without a time attached are marketing rather than information. If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about.

Event weeks distort every comparison, and normal weeks are what you should plan around. Group multipliers change the ranking of methods completely, which is why lists disagree. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over.

Setup cost and payback time

A method that was patched still shows up in search results for years afterwards. Everything below is framed around the current state of Path of Exile rather than a launch-week impression. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters.

  • Check the patch date on any figures you are comparing.
  • Calculate per hour, including setup and travel.
  • Check the version you are actually running before assuming anything is broken.
  • Finish the setup before starting the loop.
  • Do the daily and weekly resets first — they are the best rate available.
  • Keep a save or backup from before you start — it costs nothing and occasionally saves an evening.

Solo versus group

If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. Path of Exile is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look. None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of.

There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows.

What it earns per hour

What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice.

Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work.

The loop worth repeating

Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on.

Where people go wrong

  • Ignoring the platform-specific note and then wondering why the steps do not line up.
  • Changing five things at once and then not knowing which one helped.
  • Skipping the prerequisite because it looked optional in someone else's summary.
  • Trusting a video thumbnail that promises a result the video never actually shows.

PoE FAQ

What if none of this works for me?

Then something in your setup differs from the assumption — version, region or platform. Check those three before anything else.

Is this still accurate after the latest Path of Exile update?

The method is; individual numbers may not be. If a value on your screen differs, trust the screen and keep the sequence.

Was this method nerfed?

Several popular ones were. Check the date on whatever you are reading before committing an evening to it.

Does this work the same on console and PC?

The logic is identical. Menu paths and button prompts differ, and any real difference is flagged above.

Bookmark it if you like, but honestly, once you have done it once you will not need to come back.