How the Grand Exchange Fulfills Offers

[Elf Spice]

Pardon me if this sounds like another crackpot theory, but I as well as many others always assumed that there existed a queue system for offers on the GE at a given price point.

 

Say an item was being bought out at max. The assumption was that the first person to put an offer in for max would get any items that trickled in first until he reached his buy limit, then the second person would get his offer filled, and so on. Same deal for sell offers.

 

Well, I may have recently found evidence that contradicts the above and seems to suggest that the GE fulfills offers randomly. To test this I hopped on my main and another account to buy 500 grimy avantoes at the same price: 10 gp above med. Here's what happened:

 

I first put in the offer on my main. The avantoe trickled in slowly, so I had the best bid.

 

 

I then put the same offer on my alt

 

 

Surprisingly, the offer on my alt started filling before I had completed my offer on my main, as I checked my main immediately afterwards to see it was still incomplete.

 

 

So what this leads me to believe is that the GE finds all the players with the same best bid, then for every new sell offer a random number is generated. Then the bidder with said corresponding number gets every item in that offer. Same goes for an item dump - Random number for every person selling at the best ask.

 

Doesn't this mean that sniping is essentially an exercise in futility? If there's no priority or queue, then your odds of sniping, say a phat, are the same as someone who made an offer months ago.

[Knitewulf]

I don't know about that, I'm sure there is some sort of "seniority" with elder offers. Say a month in difference or somethin of the sort.

[pulli23]

I think there is a priority: However it is still random..

 

Just if you put in 10 minutes earlier say you have a 0.6 chance to get, while someone else has 0.4 chance to get the item.

[JustAGamer]

It is possible that the Ge does the "lottery-system" per offers...however.

 

I also find it perfectly feasible that it dumps each person's sell offer into a corresponding buying offer, and then chronologically continues down the line.

 

If this were the case, sniping would still be feasible, and it's still possible that your second offer completes before your first. Did you ever see your second offer update twice in a row?

 

It's all hypothetical at this point really, as there's insufficient proof either way.

[SirIzenhime]

I think of it like Lootshare...

 

In this case, getting your offer in first, is like missing a drop (having high LSP)

You have the best chance of your offer getting done first, but that doesn't mean others can't get theirs in either

[Ejaz01]

When im flip merchanting i sometimes put in double offers for high bulk items like uncut dragonstones, which have a limit of 5k. i put in 2 offers and they both buy uncut dragonstones relatively at the same speed. My theory is that the more offers you have on 1 item the faster it will buy, providing you've got the best bid price.

 

Edit: when i say faster, i mean the faster you'll hit the limit on your item.

 

I dont always do this though, only if i have a spare g.e slot open, and most of the time i don't.

[Elf Spice]

It is possible that the Ge does the "lottery-system" per offers...however.

 

I also find it perfectly feasible that it dumps each person's sell offer into a corresponding buying offer, and then chronologically continues down the line.

 

If this were the case, sniping would still be feasible, and it's still possible that your second offer completes before your first. Did you ever see your second offer update twice in a row?

 

It's all hypothetical at this point really, as there's insufficient proof either way.

 

It's not quite as simple as sell offers matching with corresponding buying offers. If you put in an offer for a bought out item for med, your offer would fulfill at max. It wouldn't go to the corresponding buy offer at med. The newer offer gets the better end of the deal. Either that or I am misinterpreting what you're saying.

 

And my alt offer definitely finished after my main's offer.

 

When im flip merchanting i sometimes put in double offers for high bulk items like uncut dragonstones, which have a limit of 5k. i put in 2 offers and they both buy uncut dragonstones relatively at the same speed. My theory is that the more offers you have on 1 item the faster it will buy, providing you've got the best bid price.

 

Edit: when i say faster, i mean the faster you'll hit the limit on your item.

 

I dont always do this though, only if i have a spare g.e slot open, and most of the time i don't.

 

Don't Dstones have a limit of 100? I think if you wanted to test out if multiple offers buy faster than single offers, you would have 1 offer for 50 dstones and 2 offers for 25, all at the same price.

[Unb34t4bl3]

That just means your second account was getting a greater number of herbs per sale.

[BiJay]

Say an item was being bought out at max. The assumption was that the first person to put an offer in for max would get any items that trickled in first until he reached his buy limit, then the second person would get his offer filled, and so on. Same deal for sell offers.

It's not like that! Say, there's nobody selling a specific item atm. Mr A puts in an offer of 100 of those items at max. Then Mr B does it only for 1 item. And finally Mr C wants 10 of those after that. Then comes Mr Z who wants to sell 10 pieces of that item. Mr A gets all of those as he was first. Mr Z says "Oh, this was great. Let us do it again!" He puts in 10 again. Mr B gets 1 of it and the other 9 gets Mr C. Why is that? It's simple. When your offer gets updated you will be put at the end of the queue. The next item sold will get Mr A.

[Tenebri]

if what your saying happens

 

then i can put a offer for 20000000000000 fire runes at max (or any other items) and untill all of them are done everyone else will have to wait

 

 

didnt even know people thought it was a "que system" i loled

[MstrMonopoly]

if what your saying happens

 

then i can put a offer for 20000000000000 fire runes at max (or any other items) and untill all of them are done everyone else will have to wait

 

 

didnt even know people thought it was a "que system" i loled

 

GE buying limits bro.

[No_99_Melee]

The way I look at it offers are completed by stock of an item (at different price levels) and time it was bought. For example:

 

Billy is buying whips for 3.1m and put his offer in at 1 PM

Jill is buying whips for 3.1m and put her offer in at 1:30 PM

Andy is buying whips for 3m and his offer is also 1PM

 

Billy is going to get his whips the soonest because he is buying it for the highest price and he bought it sooner than Jill. The Grand Exchange doesn't give it to him because it see's he has a higher price however. The reason he would get it quicker is because there are more people are willing to sell it for 3.1m than 3m and therefore there is a larger stock of whips for people who are willing to pay 3.1m than there are for people who are willing to pay 3m (Also more people wanting to buy it for 3m). Then it comes down to whether or not the GE gives it to Billy or Jill and this is where chance comes into play. The longer Billy keeps his offer in the GE the higher chance he has of buying the whip over people who are willing to pay the same price. Although this is only a chance and Jill may get lucky enough to buy a whip before Billy, but this is highly unlikely. I assume Jagex put this in so people aren't waiting in line for items as there are thousands of runescape players each day and that line would be long as hell.

 

Pure speculation of course.

[Elf Spice]

Say an item was being bought out at max. The assumption was that the first person to put an offer in for max would get any items that trickled in first until he reached his buy limit, then the second person would get his offer filled, and so on. Same deal for sell offers.

It's not like that! Say, there's nobody selling a specific item atm. Mr A puts in an offer of 100 of those items at max. Then Mr B does it only for 1 item. And finally Mr C wants 10 of those after that. Then comes Mr Z who wants to sell 10 pieces of that item. Mr A gets all of those as he was first. Mr Z says "Oh, this was great. Let us do it again!" He puts in 10 again. Mr B gets 1 of it and the other 9 gets Mr C. Why is that? It's simple. When your offer gets updated you will be put at the end of the queue. The next item sold will get Mr A.

 

Hmm...I like your explanation. It makes sense in the context of my test. I wasn't paying attention to the "One or more of your offers have been updated" messages though, although it should be simple enough to test.

[jettrider]

That just means your second account was getting a greater number of herbs per sale.

 

This, sales are split between equal offers starting with oldest -> newest. That's why people use more than 1 GE slot for the same item (to get more trades per "round" through equal offers).

[green9090]

If you're buying multiple items, you only get priority on your first- then it goes to someone else.

 

Say I get an offer in for 2 divine spirit shields right after the update, and someone else gets one 1 second after me. I get the first divine sold, and he gets the second. The second one of my offer is shifted to the bottom of the queue as soon as my first buys, so you can't snipe two of something, just one.

 

That's why when buying stuff like herbs you can still get them.

[amitoz]

I don't know about that, I'm sure there is some sort of "seniority" with elder offers. Say a month in difference or somethin of the sort.

Proof?

 

The OP has proof, but you do not.

[green9090]

I don't know about that, I'm sure there is some sort of "seniority" with elder offers. Say a month in difference or somethin of the sort.

Proof?

 

The OP has proof, but you do not.

Well, we do know for a fact that sniping (getting an early offer in right after the update) bought out items is effective. There are even bots that do it for you. That much can't be denied.

[wioneo]

When im flip merchanting i sometimes put in double offers for high bulk items like uncut dragonstones, which have a limit of 5k. i put in 2 offers and they both buy uncut dragonstones relatively at the same speed. My theory is that the more offers you have on 1 item the faster it will buy, providing you've got the best bid price.

 

Edit: when i say faster, i mean the faster you'll hit the limit on your item.

 

I dont always do this though, only if i have a spare g.e slot open, and most of the time i don't.

 

This is right. Earlier offers just have a higher chance of being filled. ALWAYS use extra slots if you can, because from what I have seen, the GE treats each offer as if it was from a different person(until you hit ther 4 hour limit), so the more boxes you have, the more likely you are to get whatever you want.

 

EDIT: Multiples in one box have significantly lower chances compared to the same numebr of total offers in separate boxes from what I've seen.

[xSxqPowerx]

Definitely helps to have 6 different offers, each for 1 item instead of 1 offer for 6 items.

[The_Gabe]

Amitoz, please don't try to bring the burdon of proof on other threads. This one is not like yours; the OP is not stating anything, mearly asking the members of this board and asking for his hypotheses to be debated so it can be perfected. This thread does not lack the burden of proof, because you can supply it.

[amitoz]

Amitoz, please don't try to bring the burdon of proof on other threads. This one is not like yours; the OP is not stating anything, mearly asking the members of this board and asking for his hypotheses to be debated so it can be perfected. This thread does not lack the burden of proof, because you can supply it.

It's still an unproven hypothesis.

[mister_moocky]

I have always believed that while there is a queue system it's not followed strictly, and there is some randomness in the distributing of items, especially those bought in large quantities.

[Dexek]

Doesn't this still mean it could go by order, but the GE only gives 1 item per time, going through a cycle? Could also mean the GE only completes one trade per time: Player A sells 10 herbs, Buyer A gets it (though he has an offer for 100), Player B sells 100 herbs, but Buyer B gets this offer since he's next (he also has an offer for 100 herbs).

 

Trade was completed based on offer input order; just doesn't mean a single trade can satisfy an offer input.

[@Dan3HitU]

I posted a theory a while back about white list and black listed players, also a list in-between.

 

Basically white-listed got items instant, black-listed had to wait a very long time.

[Hammertime]

I doubt there would be a system in place to further punish rule breakers by stalling their ge offers.

 

As for the more commonly traded items I would agree that there is more random distribution because filling the earliest offer's whole order, and doing so down the line, would create a pretty large backlog of orders I'd imagine. I think everyone agrees that earlier offers are fulfilled first most of the time but that simply doesn't work well with massively traded items so jagex allow one sale (say 100 herbs) to send your order to the end of the que for offers at that value (allowing more people at that price get their product faster), and as Sxq stated having multiple offers for 1 of an item would negate this rule as there is no reason to send a fulfilled order to the end of the line thus allowing your other 5 offers to be completed based on who was first without having them reset as they would if it was a single offer for multiples of the same item.

 

In the OP's example he is using an item that needs to use the que system to evenly distribute all the items fairly to all players, but I'd be willing to bet that in the cases of sniping one item the earliest offer will be fulfilled first. Of course the only way to test this is to make sure both offers would be filled in a given time (hard to do with anything worth sniping, I'm afraid) and see which completes first based on the time you place the offer.

 

Alternatively, put in a buy offer for 1 of the same herb (make sure you would find a price that wont buy immediately so you would have time to set the second offer on another account) and then see which buys first and go by that.