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RuneScape Item Advertising Scams and False Claims Lying About Item Value, Rarity or Power

RuneScape has a free market for buying and selling, and Jagex doesn't set the prices of items or restrict what they can be bought or sold for. As a result, someone cannot be reported as a scammer just for offering an item for sale at a ridiculous price, as long as they do not misrepresent it. I discuss this in my topic on activities that seem like scams but aren't.

Even if it is not illegal to sell worthless items for large amount of money, that doesn't mean it is the fair or ethical thing to do. Of course, scammers don't care about fairness or ethics, so it is up to you to watch out for junk items that are sold as valuable, and avoid them.

The main lesson here is to not assume that an item is valuable just because you see many people selling it for a lot of money. I admit that as a new player, I let this happen myself—for many months I thought spinach rolls were valuable, just because of how many people I saw selling them for huge sums. I didn't buy one, but I felt pretty dumb. J Don't fall into that trap.

Here is an alphabetical list of some of the items that are often advertised for sale for big money, despite being either worthless or inexpensive. For each, I provide a brief description of where the item can be found, what it is used for, and why it is not worth much:

• Anti-Dragon Shield: Definitely a useful item, but you can get one for free from Duke Horacio on the second floor of Lumbridge castle. Buy one if you are in a pinch, but don't pay more than 1k unless truly desperate!
  
  
• Arena Book: Explains how to use the Mage Training Arena; can be bought there for 200 gold. People often sell this for millions because it can be confused (or swapped) for the valuable Mage's Book.
  
  
• Buttons and Polished Buttons: Buttons are worthless junk you find when digging in certain locations, searching crates, during Trawler Fishing and so forth. Polished buttons are used for the Animal Magnetism quest and have no other use.
  
  
• Charcoal: This can be bought from stores on Karamja, in Shilo Village and in Keldagrim. It is used only in a couple of members-only quests; despite that, it is most often found advertised for sale on free worlds, where it is useless.
  
  
• Gnome Ball: Obtained by winning the Gnome Ball minigame. Buy one if you wish, but don't pay more than a few thousand gold for it—these are not rare.
  
  
• Machete: Used in the Legends quest. You can get from Radimus Erkle's office at the Legends Guild or buy on Karamja; has no real value except for during that quest, or if you need to hack through the jungle near Shilo Village.
  
  
• Monkey Bones: Dropped when you kill monkeys. J Worthless; I have no idea how these even became scam items as they don't seem impressive or useful in any way.
  
  
• Muddy Key: Dropped by chaos dwarves. The key opens a chest in the Wilderness that gives you about 8k worth of loot. They have value, but are often sold for ridiculous sums (like 500k each.)
  
  
• Papyrus: Can be bought for a few gold in shops in Ardougne and Shilo Village. Used only for quests; basically worthless.
  
  
• Pyramid Plunder Trinkets (Ivory Comb, Pottery Scarab, Pottery Statuette, Stone Seal, Stone Scarab, Stone Statuette, Gold Seal, Gold Scarab, Gold Statuette): These are collected in the Pyramid Plunder minigame and can be sold to Simon Templeton at the Agility Pyramid for gold, or used to recharge the Pharaoh's Sceptre. None of them are rare or particularly valuable.
  
  
• Rock Hammer: This is a Slayer skill item used to kill gargoyles, and is worth only 500 gold pieces. By the time you need this, you'll know where to get it. Note that it is sometimes used in an item scam to substitute for the granite maul.
  
  
• Shade Robe (Top or Bottom): These are dropped by shades that spawn as random events when you bury bones. They provide a small Prayer bonus but are not worth a great deal; monk's robes are free if you have a Prayer level of 31 or higher, and provide better bonuses.
  
  
• Skull: These spawn in the Wilderness. Worthless junk.
  
  
• Spinach Roll: These are simple food items that heal 2 hit points. You can get them from random events, as drops from moss giants, and other places. They are essentially worthless as they heal too little to be worth bothering with.
  
  
• Wine of Zamorak (“Zammy Wine”): This is a secondary ingredient in the Herblore skill (members only) and is worth about 1k each. It is sometimes represented as a rare and sold for ridiculous prices (scammers may try to confuse it with the “half wine”, which is a valuable rare item.) Note that this item is also used in a lure.

See Figure 94 for an example of just how prevalent the selling of this junk really is.

Figure 94: Overpriced Junk “R” Us

If you are looking for scammers selling worthless crud at ridiculous prices, Varrock in World 1 is where you want to be. In just two minutes I found, standing right next to each other, two guys selling polished buttons for 400k to 600k, someone selling a muddy key, and a rare treat—something strange I’ve never even encountered before! Yes, someone here is selling two empty boxes for the bargain price of 1 million gold. Why, these are so valuable he wants you to show the money first! Oh, there was also someone else nearby selling a “spinage roll”—apparently spinach makes you strong, but destroys your ability to read English.

RuneScape Item Advertising Scams and False Claims Lying About Item Value, Rarity or Power

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