Trading
Trading is a feature added on 23 March 2006. Players can visit a village's trading hut and trade items with the trader inside.
Changes to Trading Prices
On May 24, 2006, item prices significantly changed. The trading value of goods now depends upon how common the item is in the local hut. Foreign goods might bring a premium in the trading hut, whereas locally produced items will be discounted.
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.
Trades always consist of swapping one item of the more expensive type for a bundle of items of the cheaper type. Some items (such as bananas and bottles of beer) are equal in price, as the trader will tell you, and can be traded 1-for-1 in either direction. Otherwise, the trader usually collects a small commission by shorting you one item (plus roundoff) when you trade down (trade a single item for multiple cheaper ones).
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).
Item prices
| Item Prices | |
|---|---|
| $5000 | Heavy sword |
| $1000 | Gem |
| $300 | Rifle / blowpipe |
| $250 | GPS unit |
| $200 | First aid kit / dried herbs |
| $120 | Cutlass |
| $100 | Machete |
| $100 | Gold coin |
| $80 | Blunt cutlass |
| $80 | Knife / dagger |
| $70 | Blunt machete |
| $70 | Driftwood |
| $50 | Crab |
| $50 | Sharpening stone |
| $40 | Banana / mango |
| $40 | Bottle of beer / bottle of rum |
| $40 | Tasty berries |
| $30 | Bottle of water / gourd of water |
| $20 | Poisonous berries |
| $15 | Rifle bullet |
| $10 | Poison dart |
| $5 | Poison snake |
The table to the right is only approximate; the actual price of an item will be higher if it is unusually rare at the trading hut being visited and lower if it is unusually common. Items are more expensive if you are not fluent in the trader's language. When you have no language skills, a foreign trader will almost always offer you one less item, or demand one more item, on each trade (see Talk:Trading for details). Note that:
- As of May 24, 2006, the trader's offer will vary up or down depending upon availability of the items. Locally common items trade for less than the listed value, and locally rare items trade for more.
- These prices are valid when you trade up (trade multiple items for a more expensive one), but you usually pay a commission when you trade down; 20 bullets will buy a rifle, but a rifle will only buy 19 bullets (see Talk:Trading for exact exchange rates).
- Round-off can make some trades unusually harsh. For example, you will need two GPS units to buy one rifle, even though 17 bullets buy a GPS and 20 bullets buy a rifle. It is better to trade a GPS unit for "cash" (a cheap item type like bullets or darts) and accumulate enough cash to buy a rifle than it is to trade GPS units for a rifle directly.
- Most of the important items in the trading hut can be obtained for free by searching in the village ammunition and medical huts. The trading hut is useful for off-loading unwanted inventory, or for obtaining large quantities of a specialized item. See Items for details on where to find specific items.
- Gold is the fundamental currency of the game, being the only item that players can give to other players, so its value has been fixed at $100 and other items have been valued accordingly.
- The trading hut can be used to broker trades between players, provided both players are active in the trading hut at the same time and both players have enough goods to make change with the trader.
Trader inventories
- See Trading hut stock reports for current information on the stock of various huts.
Traders do not have unlimited supplies of items; instead, they are periodically resupplied by the server. It is believed that native traders restock only native items and outsider traders restock only outsider items. However, since traders also receive items from other players, it is often possible to find both outsider and native items in a given trading hut, as well as anything else other players may have traded in.
