Buying a White Partyhat - How should I go about it?

[Rien]

Alright, here's some background information:

 

Pre-GE, I owned an Easter Egg and a Mask Set. However, I sold these along with most of my more-valuable items once "old-school" Pking was removed and the Grand Exchange was implemented (with trade restrictions following soon after). The Rares Market had been fairly stagnant for quite some time before this, and so I was afraid when I saw the unheaval Runescape was going through - the market was unstable, the community volatile, and everything (in general) was seemingly going to hell in a handbasket. I decided to invest in the one thing left which had any sort of stability - skill experience. It was an incredibly naive and hasty decision in retrospect, but I was a bit younger at the time and all the turmoil had an unsettling effect on me. Anyway, I sold most of my valuable items off for a pittance in order to fund my skilling activities (particularly Farming, Magic, and Crafting, if I remember correctly). Since then, I've mostly kept myself ignorant of the Rares Market out of regret (I was almost sick recently when I saw how much Easter Eggs have risen in price, considering I had bought my previous one for ~1 million coins).

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Now, a long-time goal of mine has been to purchase a White Partyhat, as it's my personal favourite of the Rares and would serve ultimately as something of a memento of my Runescape "career". However, I've always procrastinated and put off trying to buy one in favour of accomplishing some other goal, and so my opportunities to pursue it have dwindled over the years; with rares only becoming more valuable and scarce over time, I feel that I must act soon if I am to obtain one at all.

 

As the situation currently stands, I'll have to put forth a considerable amount of effort to even hope to purchase a White Partyhat in the near future. Through neglect and poor decisions similiar to the one mentioned above, my net-worth has shrunk to approximately 200-250 million coins, by my estimate. I'd have to liquidate a fair portion of my bank to scrape together this sum, but I'm willing to do so, if need be. However, I realize that this would only put a dent in the 400 million price-tag of the White Partyhat, as currently listed by the GE. It's also likely, I'm sure, that the street price far exceeds this, although I've no idea at the moment. Consequently, I'll be attempting to make as much money as possible in the coming weeks/months. 'Perhaps I'll try my hand at a bit of Monster Hunting and Merchanting.

 

 

To my questions:

 

1. What is the current status of the White Partyhat (i.e. street price, availablility, etc...)?

 

2. Is it necessary for me to buy into "Junk" or other Rares in order to purchase one? If so, which?

 

3. Where should I go to have the greatest probability of finding someone willing to sell (GE, RSOF, other Forums, etc...)?

 

 

These are the main questions I have, and I'll be indebted to anyone who can lend me some sound advice. However, I'm also open to other information pertaining to the Rares Market/Junk Trading in general. Is there perhaps some place I can go to keep abreast of the changes? I've noticed that the Tip.It Marketplace isn't exactly "bustling", and I know the RSOF to often be a home to manipulators and their ilk. :unsure:

 

'Thanks in advance. :)

[ghjkl]

Find someone on the RSOF, but you might need to buy other smaller rares with junk in order to make your offer better to buy it.

[ilovecuttingyews]

1. What is the current status of the White Partyhat (i.e. street price, availablility, etc...)?

Completely bought out. It is the second most valuable party hat. Right now on the RSOF there is a thread and the current top offer is 2 disks and 1 eater for the hat. So far as I know, a disk is 1.5-1.75 eggs worth. So you're looking at paying 4-4.5 'eggs' worth for one. With a street price hovering arround 300m per egg, you're looking at 1.2-1.3B 'street price' for a white.

 

2. Is it necessary for me to buy into "Junk" or other Rares in order to purchase one? If so, which?

Being so valuable, no one will have enough junk to boost their side of the deal to over 1B. So while you may have to handle some junk in working up to getting your phat, I don't think you'll get much in the final trade. That being said, people VERY rarely accept cash for anything higher then eggs anymore. So you will need to enter the rares market for sure.

 

3. Where should I go to have the greatest probability of finding someone willing to sell (GE, RSOF, other Forums, etc...)?

You could try sniping one off the GE, but it takes great patience and luck. Someone on tif sniped one a month or two ago and from what I remember, he got his offer in under 15 seconds aafter the price updated. So while it's a good way to save yourself a lot og GP and hastle getting rares, it's not a reliable way to get one. The RSOF or W2 would be the only places I would suspect to find someone selling a white. Simply too rare to be anywhere else.

 

If you are looking for market updates and insight into the rares market, you could try the 3rd Age / Phat / Rares discussion. It gets a little cluttered with other market discussions, but there's a lot of good discussion in there.

[Bladewing]

1. You cannot buy this hat on the Grand Exchange. You would have to get an offer in literally seconds after the price updates. You will have to trade on the street to get one. A white is actually about 6 easters I believe, which you'll be looking at about 1.7b if you were to buy with cash. That being said, you will be hard pressed to find someone with 1.4b junk to do this trade. You will have to purchase easter eggs, disks, pumpkins, or other phats (not recommended) and then trade them for the hat itself. Be prepared to spend about 1.7b as I stated on the partyhat, you'll end up with the hat and about 1.4b of junk, which you should be able to sell as it crashes for 500-700m. Your bank will take a hit of at least 800-1000m.

 

2. You will have to buy up other smaller rares to trade for a white. As said, edibles are the way to go. Easters, Disks, Pumpkins are all options.

 

3. RSOF while sitting in W2 southwest of the GE.

[Rien]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. The news is a bit disheartening, but I suppose it's to be expected after delaying all these years. :mellow:

 

I'll have to aquaint myself with the Rares Market and the workings of Junk Trading after all, heh. 'Off I go. :lol:

 

 

*EDIT* Which rare(s) should I look into buying first? Basically, which are still somewhat attainable but can still serve as adequate bargaining chips for a White Partyhat? What about junk?

Edited March 11, 2010 by Rien_Adelric

[Cptbaker08]

Well it seems that most edibles are good bargaining chips. As well as most dicont. items such as Santa hats, Discs of returning, h'ween masks, and lower priced party hats. I don't like to dable in the rares market so idk much about it.

 

But i would refer to bladewing's post again.

[Bladewing]

Santas/H'weens are only good for bargaining during times of buyouts, and no one would sell their white hat for these lower rares. You could get purples or easters, but nothing higher.

[ilovecuttingyews]

Yeah, like Bladewing said, not many people are willing to trade white phats for santas / masks in times of a buyout. But you can find some people willing to part with purples or eggs. So what you could do with the GP you have now, is invest in lower rares (santas and h'weens) and hope for a buyout. Then when the buyout hits, trade the lower rares up for an egg or Purple. Of course, there is always a risk that the lower rares will crash.

 

Getting a partyhat usually takes certain steps

rising items (bought out items) -> lower 'high prices rares' (egg / purple) -> medium priced rares (pump / disk / yellow / green) -> higher rares (red / white) -> godly rares (blue / wine / cracker)

 

It is possible to jump over some steps here and there, but it's hard and not often done.

 

I'm not sure about how good it is, but I've heard that getting pirate hooks from Brimhaven Arena is a good way to make 'potential' money. Hooks range arround the 80M mark and from what I hear, take 15-20 hours to get. So this is a good way to start if you like agility but don't care about the massive exp you're missing out on.

 

Or you can try to snipe any of these items off the GE and hope to gether enough to build up a sizable collection. Either way, good luck.

[Rien]

Thank you all very much; this is exactly what I needed to know. :)

 

The situation doesn't look much better, but I'll try to take it one step at a time and hopefully work up to a White Partyhat. Maybe I'll get lucky along the way, heh. :o

 

Thanks again!