Construction, Summoning and many other skills/events/minigames have been introduced over the course of the last 2 years or so to supposedly decrease the amount of currency flowing through the Runescape economy, they are frequently reffered to as 'money draining' skills. Recently however I feel like I've discovered a frequently used aspect of Runescape that is used to the very same purpose, the Grand Exchange.

 

 

 

It all started 2 days ago when I managed to get hold of an item as a reward. It was worth quiet a decent amount of money so I ran to the Grand Exchange and tried to sell it for the minimum price. I did not manage to sell it for the lowest price for nearly 3 hours (there was no affect of the 4 hour interval in this case whatsoever), which was rather astonishing. Even though the graph in the Grand Exchange database for this item has been going down for a while, I did not expect to wait so long to sell this item (that is still rather popular) for a stunning low minimum price. This however is not the point of my discussion, it's an introduction that will help you understand the following dilemma.

 

 

 

It was only 36 hours later when I got the idea of merchanting the very same item that I had bought less than 2 days ago, as I predicted the graph was about to even out and go up within about 2 more days. Experiencing how hard it was for me to get rid of the same item for the minimum price only hours ago, I assumed buying the very same item would be a piece of cake. But when I put in an offer for the minium price, it got denied. I offered somewhere in between the medium and maximum price and it still got denied. And even when I put in an offer for the max price I had to wait over 5 minutes before it got sold to me.

 

 

 

Now normally when someone is SELLING an item in the GE for let's say 22500gp and you put in an offer for 23000gp, you get the item and the 500gp difference with it. However in my case this did not happen. I'll reveal to you that I'm talking about a set of armour that I'm merchanting, in the past 2 days I have bought a total of 60 complete sets and 70 individual parts, all together totalling 130 sets. Not a single time however did I get coins back, not a single time in 240 transactions (60+ 3x 60 parts). Normally this is quiet a possible situation, but now I find it rather awkard. Keep in mind, getting no coins in return when you're buying an item means that you bought the item for the same price as the seller put it in for, the maximum price in this case.

 

 

 

48 Hours ago, people who had the very same item in their bank were extremely glad if they managed to sell it for the minimum price. And now I have to believe that 240 individual offers were placed by people in the Grand Exchange for the maximum price. Those people too, obviously had recognized how the graph of the item looked and that selling it for the minimum price within 5 minutes would be an achievement on itself. And now, supposedly, 240 times an offer was placed for a price that was insane (max price), knowing that selling for the minimum price could even take days.

 

 

 

It is much more likely that those offers were put into the grand exchange for the medium price first, and if that did not work, the person would try and sell them for less. Or someone could have tried to sell it for the maximum price and take only a few GP off, to make sure they were a little cheaper than those who were trying to sell for the max price (if there were any) by only a few gp. In case one of these highly plausible situations occured in 240 (!) offers I should have received at least A SINGLE gp from the GE, but never did this happen. Apparently 240 offers were placed by a madman who thought he could sell an item for the total max price, knowing that he could possibly not even sell it for a minimum price.

 

 

 

It is likely that people have been trying to sell for the medium price and that I immediatly received it (cause I was buying for the max price), plus the cash that indicated the difference between both our offers. Know that none of this has happened a single time in 240 hours makes me anxious, anxious for a possible fact that the GE on various occasions does NOT return the offer-difference to the buyer of the item, but just makes it dissapear. You can imagine that if this happens on a large scale we are talking about large sums of money.

 

 

 

Now you might be thinking: 'it happened to me before that when I bought an item in the GE I got some coins in return, as it should be.' And I'll happily agree with you, cause it happens to me too frequently as well, that I get money in return cause my offer was higher than the selling offer. However, when you think back some more you will probably also remember that sometimes you are putting in a random offer for an item and get no coins in return.

 

 

 

Now think of this as an example, we are talking about an item worth 50,000GP med price and 55,000GP max price. You decide to put an offer in just a little over the medium price, 52,399GP. At some point the exchange is completed and you get the item, but no GP. Do you truly believe someone has been trying to sell an item for 55,000GP - 54,999GP - 54,998GP - 54,997GP ...... 52,400GP and finally 52,399GP. Because that is what the only possible situation could be in which you get no items in return. If the person would sell for the minimum price you should get 2,399GP in return, even if he/she would be trying to sell it somewhere between your offer and the minimum price, you should get at least ONE GP in return. This and the above story have happened multiple times to me, and I know you too have encountered this situation at least once if you regurlarly use the Grand Exchange, most likely multiple times.

 

 

 

It is time for Jagex to give more clearence about what happens to the money that indicates the difference between buying and selling prices, apparently it does work properly quiet often, but as least as many times it happens that it seems that the money has just dissapeared. Why does it not say anything about this in the Knowledge Base on Runescape's website, why have we never had anyone complaining about this? Because it's a relatively easy and sneaky way to get rid of some money in random transactions, and people will most likely not complain about it.

I guess it's just with your item, all the items I have bought had an amount of money left for me to get back.

In GE, if the seller and buyer have set different prices, the price of the older offer will be used.

The first offer in loses precedence for the difference of offers.

 

 

 

In your example whoever sold you that item for 52,399 sold it for that price instant(if yours was the lowest offer sitting in ge) and they received the difference from their offer to yours.

 

 

 

As soon as you place an item or an offer for an item in the ge and it isn't sold/bought instantly, there is no chance of gp back.

I experienced something similiar, with combat bracelets.

 

 

 

I put in an offer for 5 combat braces on max, none sold.

 

 

 

About an hour later 1 had sold.

 

 

 

While I was wearing it I had people offering to buy it + junk for 70k. This was an obvious indication that it was hard to buy.

 

 

 

An hour later the rest came through but I no longer needed combat bracelets so I sold them all. For minimum. None sold.

 

 

 

They sold about 2 days later. For minimum.

I experienced something similiar, with combat bracelets.

 

 

 

I put in an offer for 5 combat braces on max, none sold.

 

 

 

About an hour later 1 had sold.

 

 

 

While I was wearing it I had people offering to buy it + junk for 70k. This was an obvious indication that it was hard to buy.

 

 

 

An hour later the rest came through but I no longer needed combat bracelets so I sold them all. For minimum. None sold.

 

 

 

They sold about 2 days later. For minimum.

 

 

 

Sounds like they crashed- and the people offering you 70k were behind the ge demand/supply. It happens everyday and it's opportunity for merchanting.

If you put your items into the Grand Exchange when there's none of that item in the Grand Exchange it means when someone sellls theirs they get the max price that you paid.

 

 

 

Same works the other way, if they put their item in the Grand Exchange when no one was buying, when someone does buy, they get their money back if they offered more than the required price.

 

 

 

Simple, really.

 

 

 

It happens if you buy an item and have to wait for the 4 hours before you can sell. If you put it in the Grand Exchange at that price, that's the only price it will sell for. If someone offers more for the item (If it was a pair of say, Dragon claws and you put in at med, 4 hours later, if it sells it sells for only med.) than the item's up for, they get money back.

You do not get any GP back ever if you put the offer and have to wait for the items to come thru.

would be smart if jagex did that.

would be smart if jagex did that.

 

no chance of that happening then

I experienced something similiar, with combat bracelets.

 

 

 

I put in an offer for 5 combat braces on max, none sold.

 

 

 

About an hour later 1 had sold.

 

 

 

While I was wearing it I had people offering to buy it + junk for 70k. This was an obvious indication that it was hard to buy.

 

 

 

An hour later the rest came through but I no longer needed combat bracelets so I sold them all. For minimum. None sold.

 

 

 

They sold about 2 days later. For minimum.

 

 

 

Sounds like they crashed- and the people offering you 70k were behind the ge demand/supply. It happens everyday and it's opportunity for merchanting.

 

 

 

Nah, they never. They were the same price 2 days later.

 

 

 

I had this problem last time I needed a combat bracelet.

 

 

 

2 months ago.

would be smart if jagex did that.

 

no chance of that happening then

 

 

 

It's quiet possible that they would use that way, though it would be incredibly sneaky. They have used countless techniques in 2 years time to drain money from the game, even though they never officialy confirmed this it was clear what their purpose was.

Seems plausable but I doubt Jagex is really going to tell us if they do it. Imagine the RSOF flooded with "OMG I BOUGHT SO MUCH AND U TOOK MY MONEYY GIVE BACK PLZ OR GIMI RARE"

 

 

 

But then again if it's true and they keep their mouth shut they could have a gigantic money sink that will remain and people will be oblivious without any hard information. =D>

Never has happened to me. And I use the GE a lot. I don't merchant, but I am constantly buying and selling items I get from slayer, clues, general training (ores/logs, etc), whatever.

Basically, yes, they do.

Yes, but coin share puts Gp back into the game.

As long as they don't take out High Level Alchemy, the number of GP in the game will only continue to rise. As soon as they nerf alching, then things will get out of hand.

 

Anyhow, this may just be signs of the GE lagging. Or its subject to FIFO - First In, First Out. Since there are so many different items with so many different players buying and selling at so many different prices, it could make it a CS nightmare to match everything up. I'm still amazed that the GE still works.

If there's an excess of an item, buyers get the GP difference.

 

If there's a demand of an item, sellers get the GP difference.

 

 

 

Basically, if it isn't an instant sale/purchase you will never get the GP. Simple, really. And effective.

Yes, but coin share puts Gp back into the game.

 

Please explain to me how. People get a share worth the minimum. The hilt goes in at med price, and if there's a lot of demand, it might even get sold for max.

 

That's another drain as I see it.

If there's an excess of an item, buyers get the GP difference.

 

If there's a demand of an item, sellers get the GP difference.

 

 

 

Basically, if it isn't an instant sale/purchase you will never get the GP. Simple, really. And effective.

 

Yeah, thats it. Big wall of text as starting post but easy and short answer.

 

 

 

PS: "/thread" :D

If there's an excess of an item, buyers get the GP difference.

 

If there's a demand of an item, sellers get the GP difference.

 

 

 

Basically, if it isn't an instant sale/purchase you will never get the GP. Simple, really. And effective.

 

Yeah, thats it. Big wall of text as starting post but easy and short answer.

 

 

 

PS: "/thread" :D

 

 

 

Exactly what I answered the day the thread came up, it should have died then.

If there's an excess of an item, buyers get the GP difference.

 

If there's a demand of an item, sellers get the GP difference.

 

 

 

Basically, if it isn't an instant sale/purchase you will never get the GP. Simple, really. And effective.

 

Yeah, thats it. Big wall of text as starting post but easy and short answer.

 

 

 

PS: "/thread" :D

 

Huh? I thought you always get whatever is being offered for your items if there are more buyers than sellers, and that buyers will be able to buy the item for the price that it's sold for if there are less buyers than sellers.

i think you fail at merchanting since you're buying at MAX w/out a clan rofl

i think you fail at merchanting since you're buying at MAX w/out a clan rofl

 

 

 

I don't think I fail at merchanting, turning 50m into 165m in only 3 months solo merchanting is quiet decent. Also, this was an exceptional case, normally I'm buying items either way for lowest or around med price. In this case I was talking about elite sets, I managed to get 135 full sets, I had to buy for max cause else I wouldn't get them. Either way, I made 30k a set in just 2 days, I think it was worth it.

 

 

 

OT: Feel free to lock this post as my question has already been answered several times.

 

 

 

Thanks!

there is a lot about the ge that is covered in shadows, but 4 hours is nothing.

 

 

 

i usually flip some items with a little bit of profit, and usually it takes 24 hours before everything gets bougth/sold