Ask Grave Anything (RS Gold)

[Grave]

Hey everyone!

I get a lot of questions every day about Runescape Gold — how to sell securely, what I ask customers, profit margins, coding checkout forms, payment methods, who to buy from — and I thought I would make a thread where I can share my knowledge of the RS Gold market with everyone.

So, ask away and don't be shy.

 

[Apith]

Where do you see RSGP going now, and in the future.

With rares crashing, doesn't it mean the value for GP goes up? Because let's say a yellow used to be $600 ($.6/M) over a month ago. Now a yellow is pretty much $370-400 with today's RSGP rates.

I've observed sellers have upped their selling rates as well. What is your view on it? I'm sure as a gold seller, you would notice the supply of gold sold to you is less, if GP was indeed going up.

 

[Grave]

Where do you see RSGP going now, and in the future.

RSGP in general, I only see it going downhill. Of course, there will be some minor surges with updates such as the bot nuke, but it's become apparent that Jagex has changed. When I started playing in late 2003, RSGP was close to $30-40 per million.

By the time the RWT updates were introduced, GP prices were already heavily damaged. The updates caused the prices to go up a little, but they went downhill again. After they removed the bounty hunter, I left the market, and when I came back the prices were terrible. Then free trade came back, and everyone made a lot of money thanks to high profit margins. The margins got lower and lower with flippers, and right now it sits at about 50 cents per million bulk purchases and 60-70 cents resell value.

So where exactly do I see it going without any major updates by Jagex? It should be fairly stable over the summer with some increases in demand, but after the summer it will drop.

Anyway, that's just what I think will happen.

With rares crashing, doesn't it mean the value for GP goes up? Because let's say a yellow used to be $600 ($.6/M) over a month ago. Now a yellow is pretty much $370-400 with today's RSGP rates.

My theory on that goes something like this: ignoring all other factors, GP prices generally go up as rares drop. This doesn't necessarily mean that GP prices are going up. It just means that relative to the value of rares, gold prices are becoming proportionately higher. Why? Most of the time, very rich people merchant or hold their gold in rares, as they do in stocks in real life. So if you think of rares as stocks, when there's a higher demand in money (GP demand goes up) people sell off these "stocks" to get gold.

I've observed sellers have upped their selling rates as well. What is your view on it? I'm sure as a gold seller, you would notice the supply of gold sold to you is less, if GP was indeed going up.

Gold shortage. I'm forced to buy at a higher rate, so I had to increase my rates. Basically, when there's a shortage in the general gold supply, you have to buy at a higher rate to compete with other sellers, and have to raise your prices so you don't burn out as quickly as you do, thus maximizing profits. Good news though (depending on how you take it): it appears that there's a new wave of stock coming in, so prices should drop and stabilize back to where they were soon. However, the demand isn't dropping, so there is a possibility that there will just be higher retail prices and lower restocking prices, leaving a higher profit margin for sellers.

 

[v4vendetta]

Hi, if I were to hire workers to farm gold for me do you know any moneymaking guide best for gold farming? How much do they usually get per day from gold farming per account? (example chinese people) I'm assuming you have workers too. Also in power leveling, how much do I pay them per day (USD)?

 

[Grave]

Hi, if I were to hire workers to farm gold for me do you know any moneymaking guide best for gold farming? How much do they usually get per day from gold farming per account? (example chinese people) I'm assuming you have workers too. Also in power leveling, how much do I pay them per day (USD)?

I'm not as familiar with that as selling gold, but here's my general rule on paying workers: pay per completed task. Obviously, it's not profitable enough to pay hourly unless they do an insane amount of work and spent their entire time on that task. For example, if someone is playing on five characters at once, that can be considered a full time job and it should be an hourly wage. Otherwise, if they can do other stuff, it should be per task, such as X amount per million farmed.

Anyway, back to farming: it's only profitable with bots. Don't bother hiring people to gold farm. There are a lot of good scripts our there, and you can run 10-20 bots on a $500~ or less computer. On average, one account can make about 3-10 million gold per day.

For powerleveling, you should pay them generally $1 per hour, if you want to go by hours, for it to be profitable. As I said, someone can do multiple accounts at once and easily earn minimum wage, but one account should not take full focus.

Anyway, good luck. By the wage, the average salary of a worker at a gold farming or powerleveling company is $1000~ a month from what I've seen.

 

[Apith]

Hey, first I appreciate the long and informative post.

RSGP in general, I only see it going downhill. Of course, there will be some minor surges with updates such as the bot nuke, but it's become apparent that Jagex has changed. When I started playing in late 2003, RSGP was close to $30-40 per million.

Well, back then there were a lot less RSGP in the game. Now, although there is a ton more coming in (Alching mainly), RSGP should go lower. But there are things balancing inflation, which is Coinshare. What it basically is, is when a team gets a drop (I think it's 10M+) it gets put into the Grand Exchange and sells for the highest buying offer. In return, the team gets pure coins, but 5% disappears. So let's say a corp team got a divine sigil right now, it sells for 400M, 20M of it disappears and the rest goes to the team.

So it's still basically combating inflation. With more bots around, there were more things you can alch. More things you can alch means there are more supply than demand, which means minimal loss when alching. Minimal loss on alching drives a player to alch and get their magic level higher while it's cheap. Which means more gold gets pumped into the game.

So where exactly do I see it going without any major updates by Jagex? It should be fairly stable over the summer with some increases in demand, but after the summer it will drop.

Could I just add, in case you forgot or didn't know, that there are major updates coming into Runescape. One would be that Bounty Hunter. What it basically is doing is it's increasing the price of pk supplies. Whips have already doubled in price.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe GP is slightly higher than normal, because people have invested their money into said items. Including godswords, with the combat rework, Runescape could change completely. Bandos Godsword is already above the 5M mark (From 2.7M). AGS is already below the 15M mark (From 25M). So people are buying out these godswords, hoping to make a profit in what I'd call a long term investment. And until they dump, I see less gold being sold to major gold sellers.

Now rares have taken a huge dive. People have dumped and invested in other items, everything expensive is dropping. Torva, Virtus, Divine are all dropping because of the combat rework. So I only see people losing money. People have lost anywhere from 10%-35% of their bank if they cashed out their items. I think they'd be looking to make it back, having hopes of course, before they sell majority of their gold, which they would invest, to someone here.

it appears that there's a new wave of stock coming in, so prices should drop and stabilize back to where they were soon.

Now there are 2 kinds of players on Runescape. One that got stuck with bad investment, and others that dumped in time. My guess is the new wave are from people that's dumped already.

Bot nuke #2 is coming out soon, which means GP would go back up again. Not by much, but all it does is cause players to hoard commonly botted items in hopes of making profit. With their GP tied up, they are unable to sell temporarily.

I'm a little tired. I just typed as I thought, I may have contradicted myself somewhere.

 

[Alma Mater]

Chargebacks

Have you ever been charged back before and if so, how much was it for? Whats the best way to prevent people from charging back? Whats best payment method to use? (I know WU is good already)

**I am thinking of opening up a little rsgp shop since i have spare time in the summer, so I just thought Id ask a few questions concerning chargebacks and stuff**

 

[Grave]

Chargebacks

Have you ever been charged back before and if so, how much was it for? Whats the best way to prevent people from charging back? Whats best payment method to use? (I know WU is good already)

**I am thinking of opening up a little rsgp shop since i have spare time in the summer, so I just thought Id ask a few questions concerning chargebacks and stuff**

Everything can be charged back: some companies just hold you more responsible than others. Yes, even Western Union can be charged back under certain circumstances, but Western Union won't come after you if you pick up the money. The worst that will usually happen is they blacklist you for being a risky part in their system. They also ban you for possible money laundering if you transfer too much money too fast.

Yes, I've been charged back before. My biggest series was for about $6,000, and then $3,000. Probably another $10,000 in there somewhere in smaller chunks. The safest methods you can accept are: Mailed Cash, Western Union, Moneygram, Moneypak, Wire Transfers.

Don't get wire transfers confused with instant transfers or bank transfers. A lot of people will send you instant payments, and these can easily be taken back.

For you, I think flipping would be best. Buy off random people at a lower price, and sell to larger gold sites, or try to find some buyers who are willing to pay a little more through safe methods.

 

[DmonicAngel]

what do you mean for you, i would recommend flipping? buying and selling for higher what other options are there?

 

[rickjames928]

and do you think the combat rework will effect gold prices? positively or negatively.

 

[Rexagon]

Did you happen to read my PM yet?

 

[Grave]

what do you mean for you, i would recommend flipping? buying and selling for higher what other options are there?

It looks like you're looking to have guaranteed profits and no risk. With retail, you need to offer methods that are used by others and convenient, and that opens your security to possible chargebacks. If you want to open your own GP shop, you should be willing to go into the negatives until you learn what's best for you. It's also great if you get more familiar with the payment methods you use and familiar with protecting yourself. Feel free to ask me further questions about this, but I'll leave it off at that.

and do you think the combat rework will effect gold prices? positively or negatively.

Positively, in general, as a direct result.

 

Hows the coder going on RSU?

Also with paypal, how do you prevent disputes/chargebacks? Do you simply not trade with unverified/business accounts?

Do you take screenshots of you giving them the cash incase they chargeback?

What payment method do you have them use? Regular one for items so that paypal does not become unhappy about them missing out on the tax?

The clients cover the cost of the tax?

Can you link WU to a bank or something so if they send me a payment I do not have to go to the nearest place that has WU?

 

[Rafii]

To know who to trade with just find someone who is REALLY TRUSTED by others.

 

[Wub to craft]

How do you trade safely with PAYPAL? Can't they charge back, etc easily?

 

[metaldragon]

what is the best merchanting method actually?

 

[FloydZeppelin]

I haven't really touched RS in years, but I'm going to be buying a lot of gold soon, I was just wondering what's the best way to go about staying under the rwt radar? What do you recommend I do? I have a decent amount of capital so purchasing things like VPN are essential for me if it means saving my account from getting rolled back.

 

[Grave]

I haven't really touched RS in years, but I'm going to be buying a lot of gold soon, I was just wondering what's the best way to go about staying under the rwt radar? What do you recommend I do? I have a decent amount of capital so purchasing things like VPN are essential for me if it means saving my account from getting rolled back.

I've actually never been rolled. I would go ahead and read a post someone made about it (in this section I think, it should be a sticky) but from what I've seen, Jagex doesn't get close to you unless:

• You're just trading huge amounts
• Your IP is from China

And that was before February 2012. It appears they've basically lost all focus on rolling back accounts. I wouldn't use a VPN, because that actually makes it riskier, in terms of them looking at a log of your IPs. I would just make sure your source is safe. That means no hacked accounts, bug abuse, etc.

Hows the coder going on RSU?

Our new project was cancelled until further notice.

Also with paypal, how do you prevent disputes/chargebacks? Do you simply not trade with unverified/business accounts?

By making sure the person you are trading is legitimate. People from verified business accounts can still make a dispute and win in even more easily than unverified members. Basically, the goal is to prevent the chargeback before it happens, so you're the number one enemy. Why do I say that? Make a list of rules for yourself that you follow by strictly, and don't let your guard down. For example, a few things you could do is phone the customer, ask for their ID, and ask them to send you an e-mail with their character name from their PayPal e-mail.

Do you take screenshots of you giving them the cash incase they chargeback?

I take videos.

What payment method do you have them use? Regular one for items so that paypal does not become unhappy about them missing out on the tax?

I don't use PayPal. Not because of the chargebacks, but because I have issues with the company itself. Always accept payments as "services" and stay away from gifts and such.

The clients cover the cost of the tax?

If by tax you mean PayPal fees, the seller traditionally covers those. Just work it into your price.

Can you link WU to a bank or something so if they send me a payment I do not have to go to the nearest place that has WU?

Yes. You need to get a Western Union Prepaid card. http://wuprepaid.com

How do you trade safely with PAYPAL? Can't they charge back, etc easily?

I think I pretty much answered this above. It's very easy to charge payments back. Even if the person pays with their balance, they can still file for an unauthorized claim. I am planning on releasing a payment gateway soon for users to where they can trade using PayPal more safely. Basically, the goal is to make sure the person is paying using their own account and also making sure they can't fake being hacked. A lot of people can switch their IPs and pretend they are hacked, so it's essential you know where their IP is from when they send the payment. This can be done by using a custom webform.

what is the best merchanting method actually?

For maximum profits in 2012, it's best to invest in a botting computer and run it on 10-20 accounts. Otherwise, if you have a lot of gold to invest, your best friend is the Grand Exchange. This gets complicated because of many factors and items going up and down every day, so I won't get into that.

 

[Khal-Drogo]

How safe are giftcard trades?

Amazon/Itunes/Moneypak

 

[thatnis]

What's the best bot for making money atm and how many could I run on my PC? My PC has:

8gb RAM
Intel Core i7 @ 3.40 (8 CPUs)