Ultimate Merchanting guide by I-token!

I am Indian · Mar 19, 2011

I found an amazing guide on another site that is very useful and efficient. I PM'ed the guy and asked him if I can post the guide here. He allowed me so I posted this guide here. I don't take any credits of the guide. Thanks to Itoken.

CREDITS: Itoken

So before we start here, we're gonna want to get a basic idea of what we're going to be doing. So I've organized the guide section by section. In order for you to be successful at what you're trying to do (create a stable revenue source with massive profits). Make sure to not skip out on any section. Merchanting is all about awareness of the items and prices as well as fluctuations upon the grand exchange's part. You will learn how to read the G.E. more diversely. I will also introduce you to your new best friend; The Grand Exchange Database.
__________

Table of Contents.

Color code:

[*] Important.
[*] VERY Important.
[*] 100% NEEDED.

[*]Section 0: The beginners tips.
[*]Section 1: Your best friend.
[*]Section 2: Items.
[*]Section 3: Prices and fluctuations of them.
[*]Section 3 Sub. B: Buyers lingo.
[*]Section 4: Graphs.
[*]Section 5: Timing.
[*]Section 6: Profiting
[*]Section 7: Understanding the economy.
[*]Section 8: Calculating your daily profit.

So, without further waiting, let's get this guide started.

__________

Section 0: The beginners tools.

This section is relatively simple.
I will just cover the beginners tips to merchanting. If you have no idea what you're doing, read this section wisely.

Beginners are HIGHLY recommended to have the following:

30M+ Cash.

Another stable income source

Time to waste. (One merchant job may take days to weeks.)

But why you may ask?

It's simple.
When you merchant, the main objective you should look at is obviously making profit. Now logically speaking, you should make a 2x profit easily on the items you are going to merchant. So you're going to want to understand a few things.

You can not raise prices drastically with a small pile of money, as 5M

Raising a price is not going to take a day. It could take weeks.

Merchants are risk takers. If profit happens to be lost, you'll need another source of income aswell just incase you need to fall back on something.

So that's basically it for this section.
You're now on your way to become a very good merchant on RuneScape. Continue to the next section.

__________

Section 1: Your best friend

So within the merchants world, you'll realize something.
Profit is your deity. In other words, the profit is your god of Merchanting.

But you can't obtain god by yourself, you'll need help from someone. But who?
Who on Gielnor could possibly help you obtain the God?
Ah! Wait, I know someone.
His name is The Grand Exchange. He has a special database you have full access to.
This database will give you magic powers to profits you'd never believe.
And all you have to do, is look at an image.
Yes, that's right. One simple image. But I will address this image later in time. For now, KEEP THIS URL!

RuneScape - Grand Exchange

__________

Section 2: Items

So while merchanting, there's one main aspect to what you're going to be doing first.
This is the factor that will set how much profit you make, and when you make it.
So we'll be addressing in this section, items.

The item is the Merchants treasure chest. The merchant depends on this item to make him the profit he is so looking forward to.

This item above is the notorious Armadyl Godsword (along with the 3 other swords.). Over the years upon release, this item has been merchanted, flipped, obtained from drops, etc.
It is dropped by the infamous Kree A'ara

Now this NPC's drops the Hilt for the Armadyl Godsword.
Meaning if merchanting this item, there is a HUGE dependancy on this NPC. It is the main provider for the item, however is also a main reason the item may rise/fall in price.

Now, every item has it's Era's Peak. The peak of the item is the top price the item has hit. Here is a graph of the Saradomin Godsword.
Notice it peaked at nearly 87,000,000 GP. This means the items max price from this graph was 87 Million GP. Keep in mind, a lot of these peaks are from merchanting fluctuating the price. As a merchant, you will soon understand YOU control RuneScape's economy. It is a known fact that merchanters are responsible for more than 65 percent of Item Fluctuations in price.

When merchanting, watch for the Era's Peak. The era being the current state of the item's price. The peak being the top price it will reach.

Now we need to go over some things.
Pay attention to this.

Every single item will raise and drop in price in time. This makes it possible to merchant any item on RuneScape that is tradeable or sellable in the Grand Exchange. The main objective in Item's is to buy the item at it's lowest price in it's current era. The turnaround to sell the item should be again at the Era's peak. An era is decided by a drop in price. Once the item drops in price every day and one day changes to a raise in price, it's new era has begun. The point where the item keeps raising and then drops is the Era's peak. You will want to resell your item within that peak of price. If you think logically, a low buyout to a high resale leaves you with a profit of outstanding proportions.

__________

Section 3: Prices and fluctuations of them

This is a fairly simple and short section.

Price of the item depends on a factor we all know as Supply and demand.

Pay attention to this:

If the item's supply is high and demand is high, it will raise in price fast.
If the item's supply is high and demand is low, it will raise in price slowly.
If the item's supply is low and the demand is high, it will raise in price VERY fast.
If the item's supply is low and the demand is low, it usually will not fluctuate in price.

If this doesn't make sense or you disagree with me, it is fine.
You will realize in time this is how merchanting works.

__________

Section 3 Sub B: Buyer's lingo
This applies to flipping aswell.

U/o = Buy under med price, sell above med price. (The item is raising fairly quickly)
U/u = Buy under and sell under med price. (The item is dropping)
M/o = Buy med and sell over med (The item is raising slowly and is fair demand)
M/u = Buy med and sell under (Meaning the item is raising in price SUBSTANTIALLY)
O/o = Buy over and sell over med (The item is raising slowly but in low demand)

__________

Section 4: Graphs

Okay, this is perhaps the most important part of merchanting you will EVER use.
The graphs.
Remember that one special image I was referring to? Yes, this is it.

So let's look at types of graphs.

Stay away from these graphs

Why? The current price is dropping and it should raise, but there is no correlation. So the price may not raise by much. Look for a good correlation while scanning graphs.

Why? This item is VERY expensive, and when price raises, it's not by much. So you would be minimizing your profits by using an item as this.

Why? This item is constantly dropping. You would lose massive profits going into this item.

The type of graph you DO want to use:

Why? This item is CONSTANTLY raising. Buy as many as possible, and resell the item once it reaches it's Era's Peak. This will maximize profits.

Why? This is the best graph to look at. Notice how it's peaks and drops are at the same point in the graph most of the time. That means the item is very stable, and it is a GREAT item to merchant in large quantities. Always note that these graphs are what you should praise. This graph will pretty much give you a chance to calculate your profit and know when you will buy and sell.

__________

Section 5: Timing

As said before, the correlations in graphs should tell you a good time to buy and sell.
However, if your item is not correlating at the time being, check back on your graph every day.
When the item seems to drop in price on one day, sell your stock using the buyers lingo above. If you need help asking me what you should do for an item, just reply to this thread.
Works the same way when going to buy your stock. Just follow what I've told you.

__________

Section 6: Profiting

Profits are what you've been looking for.
Now, here's how I look at it.
A good merchant run for me takes 2 weeks. Meaning in 2 weeks, you can double whatever you've invested. If you've only done 30M, you'll have 60M in 2 weeks. Then the next week, the 60m will double at a faster rate depending on the item. That will turn to 120, 240, etc. Since I usually invest 1B Cash stack into my merchants, I make 500M+ A week without any effort needed.

So what you're going to be looking for:

look for an item that will raise in time for a good week+. As I said earlier, read the graphs

Once your item has reached it's max potential resell it. You will officially be successful at your first real merchanting run if done correctly. You should notice a huge amount of profit.

Also, exactly 4 hours after you resell your last item, go back and look at the graph again. Notice the item's price. It has dropped substantially.

And guess what? You cause it. You caused an items price to change. You have controlled RuneScape's economy.

That's success in my eyes!

__________

Section 7: Understanding the economy

RuneScape's economy is centered around the G.E. now.
Every item will rise and fall in price as needed. The economy itself is handled by us; the players. Without us, the economy would be nothing.

Understand you are taking a risk. Not every time will things go your way.
There are other people merchanting aswell, and maybe they will dump the same item before you without knowing it. This will make the item drop in price by a huge amount. That's why you must carefully watch the graph. If you do, you will be fine in your merchanting skills.

__________

Section 8: Calculating your daily profit

Take these steps to calculate your daily profit (EST. Based on current spike up in graph):

Search the item you want on RS's GE Database. DO NOT CLICK ON THE ITEM. Example page: RuneScape - Grand Exchange

Look on the right side of the page. It will say "Change in GP Today". And a number next to it.

Add that number to the current item's market value.

Multiply your new number by the quantity of the item you are purchasing.

Subtract your original investment (What you spent to buy all the items) from your new number.

That is what your next day profit will become assuming the item goes up every day.
Click to expand...

kasi.zerl · Mar 19, 2011

i must say whoever you got that guide from was very smart.i must try this thanks for the info

I am Indian · Mar 19, 2011

He is smart.

The Candy Man · Mar 20, 2011

Unfortunately i didnt learn anything. But this will be a big help to people who are new to merching. Thanks for the post.

lolfail · Mar 20, 2011

i learned a lot from this thanks alot!

I am Indian · Mar 21, 2011

i'll tell Itoken about this and he'll love to know that people learnt a lot from his guide.

Corrente · Mar 21, 2011

Nice guide, especially for free! Learned a bit. Thanks for posting it here.

I am Indian · Mar 21, 2011

Np

.Liverpool. · Mar 22, 2011

ncie guide

metalxxx333 · Mar 27, 2011

nice guide, thanks

MeltingPixels · Mar 28, 2011

Thank's for this! I'ma give it a try.

I am Indian · Mar 30, 2011

BUMP! Use it for your good? :O

Log in or Sign up

Ultimate Merchanting guide by I-token!

I am Indian Forum Addict

kasi.zerl Active Member

I am Indian Forum Addict

The Candy Man Member

lolfail Guru

I am Indian Forum Addict

Corrente Newcomer

I am Indian Forum Addict

.Liverpool. Guru

metalxxx333 Active Member

MeltingPixels Forum Addict

I am Indian Forum Addict

Log in or Sign up

Ultimate Merchanting guide by I-token!

Thread Tools

I am Indian Forum Addict

kasi.zerl Active Member

I am Indian Forum Addict

The Candy Man Member

lolfail Guru

I am Indian Forum Addict

Corrente Newcomer

I am Indian Forum Addict

.Liverpool. Guru

metalxxx333 Active Member

MeltingPixels Forum Addict

I am Indian Forum Addict