Graveyard Keeper 2 Early Money Guide

Start with burial certificates

The opening loop pays before any selling does. Process and bury the first body, complete the grave and its marker, and you receive a burial certificate. The objective then points you to Herbert, the guard captain at the crossroads, who takes it. Later burials keep the loop going, and the village head's vendor data lists all three grades — Burial Certificate I, II and III — as accepted. Certificates cost no construction materials, which is exactly why they come first.

What Herm buys at tier one

Vendor data marks four goods in Herm's tier-one pool as buy-only: he takes them from you rather than stocking them himself.

| Sellable good | How to make it | Keep in reserve | | --- | --- | --- | | Firewood | 1 Short Log → 1 Firewood at the Chopping Spot | Fuel for furnaces and daily use | | Stick | Surplus from gathering and exploration | Early grave furniture and other recipes | | Board | 1 Log → 4 Boards at the Sawhorse | A core building material — sell only known surplus | | River fish fillet | 1 River Fish → 1 fillet at the Kitchen Table | Your own energy food |

There are no honest fixed prices to quote: each vendor carries their own money, stock and progression rules, so the trade screen is the only place an item's value is settled. Treat any "best profit per minute" number with suspicion.

Recommended sale priority

1. Burial certificates — earned through the core loop without touching construction wood.
2. Surplus firewood and sticks — easy to gather, but only after fuel and recipe needs are covered.
3. Surplus boards — one log becomes four boards, yet building demand is high; don't mistake working stock for profit.
4. River fish fillets — Herm accepts them, but when energy is the bottleneck, eating the fillet advances your save more than selling it.

Where to reinvest the first coins

• Wheat seed sits in Herm's tier-one stock. A repeatable food source ends energy stalls — see the farming guide.
• Bronze scrap is also in his tier-one stock. Saving for nails, the Wooden Anvil or the furnace chain beats early decoration every time.
• Whatever clears the current bottleneck. Check your objective and next workstation in the tech tree before buying; stock without a concrete use just turns cash back into an inventory pile.

Supporting technologies: The Concept of Wood (R 2, G 2) opens the Sawhorse, Chopping (R 8) opens Firewood, Gardening (G 5) starts the farm branch, Fishing I (G 15) opens the basic rod, and River fish dishes is a free recipe node.

What not to rush-sell

Boards and sticks beyond a true surplus, bronze scrap and nails (they gate woodworking, grave furniture and early buildings), your first seed batch, and any unique quest item — a willing buyer does not prove the quest is done with it. When in doubt, keep it.