Trading

Trading is a new feature added on the 23rd March.

In the outsider outposts, you'll find the trading huts of Tom, Dick, and Harry. (As their names imply, there's nothing special about their inventory -- everyone else is looting the exact same stuff for free from goodie huts about four blocks away from you.) In the native villages, you'll find the trading huts of "Tamdals" Tik, Tack, and Toe. (And perhaps if you make a line connecting all three, you'll win!) The traders appear to stay in business by ripping off travelers who can't speak their language. "Hockackickack Hokbak? Sure, I'll buy that gourd in exchange for my rifles."

How to Trade

Trading involves using two pulldown menus to select a type of item from your inventory and a type of item from the trader's inventory. After submitting your choices, the trader will propose a trade.

The trade always consists of swapping 1 of the more expensive item for a bundle of the cheaper item. Some items are in the same price category (such as a banana and a bottle of beer), and can be traded 1-for-1 in either direction (the trader will tell you that the items are about equal). Otherwise, the trader usually collects a small commission by shorting you one item (plus roundoff) when giving you a bundle of cheaper items.

Once the trader makes the offer, you can either accept the proposed trade (costs 1 AP) or reject the proposed trade (costs 0 AP). Provided that both parties have the required amount of items, and provided that you have enough empty space in your inventory to temporarily carry both groups of items, the items will be successfully exchanged. After the trade, you have an opportunity to make the same trade again (costs 1 AP).

Items available in the Trading Huts

The traders do not have an unlimited supply of items. In fact, their inventory is dependent on periodic replenishing of supplies. It is believed that native traders restock only native items and outsider traders restock only outsider items. However, traders also receive items from other players. Therefore it is often possible to find both outsider and native items in a trading hut, as well as finding other goodies and detritus brought by other explorers.

To see what's currently in stock at the trading huts, please go to the Trading Hut Stock Reports!

Additional comments can be found on Talk:Trading.

Trading Hut Prices

Trader Harry is located at [-70.367,+26.313] in York. Spot-checking Harry's prices over several weeks has caused us to deduce that Harry's trade prices are completely stable (April 12 - May 7, 2006); these prices are listed in the table below.

So far, a dozen price-checks have been conducted at Durham and Derby, and these have revealed an identical pricing structure to York. Price-checks by natives in native villages have revealed identical prices as well. It can be assumed that the New York Stock Exchange prices apply to all trading huts, provided that you are fluent in the trader's language. If you cannot speak the language, there is an additional markup. (When you have no language skills, the foreign trader will almost always offer you one less item, or demand one more item, on each trade.)

See Talk:Trading for more details.

New York Stock Exchange
Heavy Sword	$5000
Gem	$1000
Rifle / Blowpipe	$300
GPS Unit	$250
FAK / Dried Herbs	$200
Cutlass	$120
Machete	$100
Gold Coin	$100
Blunt Cutlass	$80
Knife / Dagger	$80
Blunt Machete	$70
Driftwood	$70
Sharpening Stone	$50
Crab	$50
Banana / Mango	$40
Bottle of Beer / Bottle of Rum	$40
Tasty Berries	$40
Bottle of Water / Gourd of Water	$30
Poisonous Berries	$20
Rifle Bullet	$15
Poison Dart	$10
Poison Snake	$5

Stock Exchange Notes:

• These prices reflect trading up: offering multiple lower-priced items in order to buy a higher-priced one. For example, 67 bullets buys a gem, 20 bullets buys a rifle. When trading down, you pay a commission, so you will receive 1 less of the cheaper bundle. For example, a gem buys 65 bullets, and a rifle buys 19 bullets. See Talk:Trading for the exact exchange rates.
• Be careful of round-off. For example, you'll need two GPS Units to buy one Rifle, even though 17 Bullets gets a GPS and 20 Bullets gets a Rifle. You're better off selling 1 GPS Unit into "cash" (bullets or berries), then accumulating enough cash to buy a Rifle, rather than cross-trading GPS->Rifle.
• In my experience, you're better off looting the nearby Armoury, and getting your Rifle for free, rather than wasting AP on the stock exchange.
• These items appear to reflect trades from players in addition to a magically refreshed stock. It is unknown how often the stock replenishes.
• Outsider and native items are paired in value. Rifles and blowpipes always have the same value. All the huts use the same values (although prices are higher for cross-language trades, for example).
• The trading post functions more like a general store than a dynamic stock market -- item values don't change. There are no premiums on scarce items or discounts on abundant items.
• If you can't speak the trader's language, the trader charges an additional markup on every trade.

--Tycho44 19:16, 27 April 2006 (BST); Updated 08:56, 1 May 2006 (BST); Updated 10:19, 1 May 2006 (BST); Updated 08:17, 4 May 2006 (BST); Updated 21:18, 15 May 2006 (BST).