The Merchant's Guide to Merchanting

Merchanting is a skill in Runescape 2 unmeasurable by experience points. It is often done behind the scenes, and has led to firm and reasonable prices in most raw materials, as well as continuous rises in Discontinued Items. There are several different types of merchants: Raw Material Merchants, Pseudo Rare Merchants, Short Term Rare Merchants and Long Term Rare Merchants. The common stereotype for a merchant is a Short-Term Rare Merchant.

Raw Material Merchants, or RMM's are very beneficial to the stable values of nearly any material in the game. Without these players, items like coal, yews, and sharks would have a much more varied value, and would therefore be much more difficult to buy and sell. RMM's tend to be players with lower amounts of gold, as it is a very profitable method of making GP no matter how much you have to spend. Common materials to merchant are Bowstrings, Herbs, Runes or Yew Logs. A good material to buy and sell is any one that has a high demand and a good amount of sellers who do not use forums. A good place to buy materials is around a bank (such as Seers) where the sellers are usually the same people that found the items, and therefore are not middlemen.

Pseudo-Rare merchants, or PRM's were a dying breed in Runescape2 until Barrows were introduced. However, with this new armor, many players are beginning to buy and sell these powerful new items. PRM's also buy and sell Dragon Armor and high-value items such as Robin-Hood Hats and Whips. As the items they are selling are quite expensive in comparison to Raw Material Merchants, it is suggested that a player has at least 3-4 Mil before entering the Pseudo-Rare Market. The real problem with these items is that they continue to drop in value as more are introduced into the economy, so a PRM is forced to sell his items very quickly after he/she purchases them. Sometimes hanging around the Barrows area and buying some fresh items off the runners is the best way to find this stuff cheap.

Short-Term Rare Merchants, or STRM's, are some of the most hated players in Runescape 2. They are often low level, and tend to be quite arrogant about their acquisitions. However, it is important to note that these players are just as hard-working as any other player on Runescape2, and that they face plenty of competition at all times when buying and selling items. Most of these merchants have enough to buy 1-2 Rares (whatever's the most expensive and affordable), and will devote their time to reselling it as soon as possible. The best items to merchant as a STRM are, of course, Party Hats. These are quite easy to sell and will often allow for profit margins as high as 3-5 Mil per Hat. However, there are also the overlooked smaller STRM's who deal Santa Hats, Masks and Non-Holiday Rares who can also rake in good cash. The real downside to being an STRM is that it is very difficult to capitalize on the natural rise of Rares when you are trying to get rid of them in (as the more you sell, the more you buy, the more profit you make). As an STRM I liked to buy my Rares in not-so-common areas like World 1, on Tipit Rares Forums. I'd even wait sometimes in the duel arena as high leveled players staked and then offered on their winnings after their duel. As an STRM, and more specifically a Party Hat seller, every little advantage you can get is crucial. It is never a bad idea to have several different forums open, and to be ready to adjust to the economy. I also found that it was better to buy items cheap and sell for normal prices, instead of high prices. The sooner you sell something the faster you can buy another. Short-Term Rare Merchanting is what I believe to be one of the most enjoyable activities on Runescape, as it takes a lot of research skills and negotiating skills. Skilled STRM's can make upwards of 5 - 10 Mil per day.

Long-Term Rare Merchanting is also known as investing. It is most suggestable for players with enough cash to buy at least a Party Hat Set, but it works even with only an Easter Egg. Basically, LTRM's will just bank these items and wait for them to rise, sometimes he/she hold onto their Rares forever. It is most effective for players who do not have the time nor the patience to buy and sell Rares on the open-market, or those who have so much money that they can average nearly 10M a day if the economy is healthy. I myself like to combine Long and Short Term Merchanting to maximize my profits. Some days I'll sell 5-10 Party Hats, and some weeks I won't get around to selling any at all. Long-Term Merchanting, if done correctly, is EXTREMELY profittable. If one was to have spent 100 Mil on Santa Hats exactly one year ago when they were 100-150K each, they would have 4 Bil today. That's an average of 10 Mil per day without even having to click once. However, if one was to have spent 100 Mil on 3 Party Hat Sets one year ago, they would only have around 660 Mil today. This basically shows that the better items to buy for long-term are actually the smaller rares, such as Santa Hats, or Masks. These items have a much higher rate of increase.

Increase Rates Since Last Year

2004 Easter Eggs - 100k each

2005 Easter Eggs - 1.5M each .. Peak of 2.5M in June

Easter Egg increase rate - 1500% today, 2500% at peak

2004 Pumpkins - 200k each

2005 Pumpkins - 2.5M each ... Peak of 4M in June

Pumpkin increase rate - 1250% today, 2000% at peak

2004 Disc of Returnings - 250k each

2005 Disc of Returnings - 4M each ... Peak of 5M in June

Disc of Returning increase rate - 1600% today, 2000% at peak

2004 Half Wines - 1 Mil

2005 Half Wines - 30 Mil ... Peak of 70M in June

Half Wine increase rate - 3000% today, 7000% at peak

2004 Santa Hats - 100k

2005 Santa Hats - 4 Mil ... Peak of 4 Mil

Santa Hat increase rate - 4000% today, 4000% at peak

2004 Green Masks - 200k

2005 Green Masks - 4 Mil ... Peak of 4.5 Mil in June

Green Mask increase rate - 2000% today, 2250% at peak

2004 Blue Masks - 350k

2005 Blue Masks - 5 Mil ... Peak of 6 Mil in June

Blue Mask increase rate - 1420% today, 1710% at peak

2004 Red Masks - 350k

2005 Red Masks - 6.5 Mil ... Peak of 8 Mil in June

Red Mask increase rate - 1850%, 2290% at peak

2004 Purple Party Hat - 3 Mil

2005 Purple Party Hat - 24 Mil ... Peak of 27 Mil in June

Purple Party Hat increase rate - 800%, 900% at peak

2004 Yellow Party Hat - 3.5 Mil

2005 Yellow Party Hat - 26.5 Mil ... Peak of 31 Mil in June

Yellow Party Hat increase rate - 760% ... 885% at peak

2004 Red Party Hat - 4 Mil

2005 Red Party Hat - 35 Mil .. Peak of 45 Mil in June

Red Party Hat increase rate - 875% ... 1125% at peak

2004 Green Party Hat - 5 Mil

2005 Green Party Hat - 29 Mil ... Peak of 34 Mil in June

Green Party Hat increase rate - 580% ... 680% at peak

2004 White Party Hat - 6.5 Mil

2005 White Party Hat - 45 Mil ... Peak of 55 Mil in June

White Party Hat increase rate - 692% ... 846% at peak

2004 Blue Party Hat - 8 Mil

2005 Blue Party Hat - 62 Mil ... Peak of 80 Mil in June

Blue Party Hat increase rate - 775% ... 1000% at peak

2004 Christmas Cracker - 15 Mil

2005 Christmas Cracker - 60 Mil ... Peak of 100 Mil in June

Christmas Cracker increase rate - 400% ... 666% at peak

**All prices are based on my personal observed values of Tuesday August 29th, 2005. All prices are subject to change and should not be depended upon when buying or selling items. They are simply rough estimates.**

Basically from this you can see that Half Wines were the best investments from last year. However, due to their extreme rareness at the time and the difficulties in selling them, I believe the best investment from 2004 was the Santa Hat. These are very easy to sell items and they rose a whopping 4000% from last year.

Nice guide. Even I can understand it, and I'm hopeless at merchanting.

Nice bit of information you have gathered here, I am a Long-Term Rare Merchanting i dont really like spending hours apon hours in fally shouting out what i am selling/buying, with Long-Term Rare Merchanting i can train up skills and still get money from the Rares i have in my bank :wink:

Nice guide, I remember when rares where cheap as hell...*sigh*.....

Oh and I made a good investment. 8) I bought most of my 19 santa hats when they were 500k each. :wink: Now they are like 4m each... 8)

Well Put :)

Amazing how you still have all this info on the prices as of last year.

very interesting, will be even more interesting to see the statistics at this time next year, i wonder if next year will be such a prosperous year for rares. :wink:

i don't think rare prices can rise to much more before they become "redicuously high"....

Well Put :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing how you still have all this info on the prices as of last year.

Not really when you consider most of them are wrong, Santa hat has never been 100k on rs2, lowest its been was maybe 150k.

green masks were 250-300k

reds were 350-400k

blues were 400-500k

lol seems like mr r2pleasant needs to offload some santas to noobs before they go down again

where in 2004 are you talking, green party hat has been more expensive than white until rs2

pretty nice guide tho i think, don't do merchanting

Nice guide r2.

I consider my self a non-merchant though.

lol seems like mr r2pleasant needs to offload some santas to noobs before they go down again

unfortunatly he's quiet right, and santa's are going to keep raising. :)

i used to hold alot of respect for r2 he then lost it, however it seems he may be turning a new leaf. your posts are as intresting as ever. keep up the good work.

Nice guide!

Nice guide I guess.

I dislike the way aa person, as you say, with no xp, can make 5-10mil out of other players hard work :? However, granted rares are a good money sink without them I think raw materials would cost a lot more.

Also, I think what drives up the price of rares is more and more merchants taking up the trade. Which I guess would be the cynical purpose of this guide. Many people buying santa's for instance, are doing so in the hopes of making money on them - if those ppl didn't exist, prices would never be so high.

ANyway, merchanting is the way to go if you want to make money that other people have earned :D

EDIT: few other points. The has been such a dramatic increase in rare prices due to thier collapse in value at the start of rs2, when people had better things to do than stand around fally all day.

Also, there is the fact that theere is simply a hell of a lot more money about these days.

Nice guide I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I dislike the way aa person, as you say, with no xp, can make 5-10mil out of other players hard work Confused However, granted rares are a good money sink without them I think raw materials would cost a lot more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I think what drives up the price of rares is more and more merchants taking up the trade. Which I guess would be the cynical purpose of this guide. Many people buying santa's for instance, are doing so in the hopes of making money on them - if those ppl didn't exist, prices would never be so high.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANyway, merchanting is the way to go if you want to make money that other people have earned Very Happy

I think one of the main problems people have with merchants is because we seem to treat Runescape money the same as real-life money. It seems like only greed could make someone want more than one Party Hat, as they could already buy just about anything in the game. However, I myself treat Runescape money almost like experience. And people that make 5-10 Mil a day without working (I assume you're talking about LTRM's) are only those with a very large bank account. These players most likely worked very hard to earn their base value and now are just investing their money. It's like saying Bill Gates is lazy because he makes a billion dollars every 6 months or so just from his investments.

As far as Short-Term Rare Merchants go, it's important to realize that most Party Hat deals are between merchants. 90% of the time that I buy or sell a Party Hat, it is with another STRM; so it's really not an effort to capitalize on his misinformation. I find non-merchants much more difficult to make profit from, as they are usually extremely cautious with their sales, as they are very aware that people could rip them off. It's very easy to critique what someone else is doing and call it "easy" or "cheap", which many people do to these merchants. The market has lost many players tons of money, especially within the last few months, and there is definitely a risk these days when dealing with Rares. We are past the point where Rares rise 95% of the year and are down the other 5%. Since January 2005, prices have been dropping from January to February, and also from mid June to early August. That's almost 50% of the year.

lol seems like mr r2pleasant needs to offload some santas to noobs before they go down again

The prices I posted are all real, so go ahead and accuse me of "manipulating". The post is obviously too complex for your miniscule brain.

Good Job R2.

Basic and simple terms.

but still one of the most compact and handy guides I've read.

You could expand on it a bit though.

I do believe that there might be more trading classes than that.

I might be contradicted by many for this,

BUT.

"Scammer" is a trading class.

It involves transfer of currency and/or items that hold currency in a market.

and in some cases. Scamming can take *MUCH MORE* talent than Merchanting. It takes a longer time to master, since the obvious risks of breaking the Rules can take effect if you mess up.

and manipulators are a class MORE TALENTED than "ANY" merchant.

I'm not talking price mnipulators, If you can manipulate a Seller by moving certain places, saying certain words, and wearing different outfits, it will grant you power over them. I've cored "HUGE" deals off of using tactics to mess with people. Anyways, I'm out lol.

Nice to see you again.

:wink:

lol seems like mr r2pleasant needs to offload some santas to noobs before they go down again

I have even more to add to this after today. Santa Hats rose 500k today to 4.5M. So please do not accuse me of making this up, as the item I pointed out just made money. Sometimes you should just listen.

 

lol seems like mr r2pleasant needs to offload some santas to noobs before they go down again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The prices I posted are all real, so go ahead and accuse me of "manipulating". The post is obviously too complex for your miniscule brain.

Lmao ;)

Yet again you have made a good post about rareÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s, I like reading your post. It gives a good incite to the merchanterÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬ÅskillÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

actually, i *NEVER* remember santas, eggs, and pumpkins being that low in rs2... and iirc, red mask was always worth more than blue

i bought 2 santas in may 2004 for 370k, and that was considered a good deal (santas being 165k), even in rsc i remember buying for 120-150k

but yeah, i kepy my santas for a month or so, then unloaded for 450k to a friend of mine, he pm'd me today saying he just sold them for 9 mil :x

its a good guide, overall

 

lol seems like mr r2pleasant needs to offload some santas to noobs before they go down again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

unfortunatly he's quiet right, and santa's are going to keep raising. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i used to hold alot of respect for r2 he then lost it, however it seems he may be turning a new leaf. your posts are as intresting as ever. keep up the good work.

that's how i feel...i remember when i was at my merchanting peak in 2004 and had 500M+ in rares..and he was my bud..and i helped him out of forums on RS site

i lost my respect for him throughout 2005...but it's slowly..very slowly coming back

heya, good guide

anyways as of December 6, 2005, on my main i sold 18 santas

obtained when santas were 100k :wink: cost me about 1.8M but today i rejoyce as i sold all 18 of them for a whopping 6M=108M

yes i am now very happy today i bought dragon chain, dragon axe and that white phat that i always wanted :wink:

Pease do not bump 2-3 month old posts in the future :)

Lol who bumped this?