Trading Tips

From my experiences Ive learned a thing of two while trying to make my fortune. I hope by putting them here I might save some young traders from making a few mistakes I had to learn the hard way.

Tips for running contracts

Tip:Never pull a crate off a pack animal or caravan unless you are sure you cant deliver it. Pulling crates off cause the crates to break and you wont be able to complete the contract. I learned this when I tried to upgrade from a yak to a caravan.

Tip:If you run contracts in the Province of Zoluren, be sure to read the times on contracts heading to Leth Deriel. Ive found if they dont need it too soon, you can continue to run contracts between the other outposts and might actually find yourself with two, three or more contracts all heading for Leth Deriel. It might cost you a bit more to ferry across, but you'll save trips and your trading skill will spike up from turning in multiple contracts. Not to mention, those are usually the ones worth the most in profits.

Tip:While running contracts where your caravan can lead you somewhere, you can use the time to practice an instrument, crush things, scrape skins or other tasks. The caravan will pull you along regardless of RT.

Tip:Before running contracts, take the time to forage some grass for your animals. You can easily forage, georin grass outside the NE gate of crossing, grass on the NTR just before the east turn to Arthe Dale, grass on the road to Shard next to the dusky path, grass all north from the north gate of Shard, just before you turn NE, and georin grass outside the north gate of Haven. Having three or four grass will keep your animals running a long time before you need to stop and forage more.

Tip:If you have pouches or bundles, sell them before you start running contracts. This will jump start your learning and help you get to mindlocked a lot faster. This is especially true if you are just past a wall rank.

Tip:Have at least two hours to run contracts if you hope to make a good profit and gain any amount of trading experience.

Tip:If you really want to work trading and dont mind putting aside a few sessions in a row to work contracts, try to make sure you have 400-1000 coins on you when you are ready to finish. Then when you are done for the session, return caravan and quit. When you return you can immediately rent a new caravan and pick up a contract right away and keep your trading experience as high as possible. When it takes hours to earn one rank of trading from contracts, you wont want to drop from mindlocked to perplexed while you are running to the bank to get more coins to rent a caravan.

Tips for Selling Bundles and Pouches

Tip:More is better. Dont sell a bundle or your own pouch till you have to. Rent a vault and put the bundle in there if it burdens you too much. Wait till you cant fit in before you sell it. The more its worth the more experience it gives when sold. When you fill a pouch, tie it and collect several to sell at once to really get your trading skill moving.

Tip:Always ask the appraiser to appraise pouch before selling the pouch. This allows you to tell the customer how much and if they wish to still sell it. If you are a young trader you might not be making them much of a profit and some might prefer to wait and find a higher circle trader.

Tip:If someone asks you to sell a pouch and the appraiser only offers a small amount for it, see if you can buy it from the person rather then selling it for them. This way you can add it to your own gems and make a more valuable pouch to sell, thus increasing the experience you earn. Selling two pouches worth 1 gold each gives less experience then selling 1 pouch worth 2 gold.