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The RuneScape World 2 Trading Survival Guide - Surviving the Fally Marketplace "Experience" The RuneScape World 2 Trading Survival Guide - Overview Trading Location Map

Trading may not be considered an official RuneScape skill, like Magic or Fishing, but it is undoubtedly something that requires skill. That’s especially true in World 2, because of the various challenges posed by a market with hundreds of people milling about. It does take a certain knack and a bit of time and experience to learn what works and what doesn’t, so be patient and keep at it. Hopefully the tips in this topic will help you along the way.

Just as you will find yourself trying to deal with the onslaught of messages from hundreds of buyers and sellers, so will everyone else. The presence of so many people in close proximity makes communication in World 2 Falador rather different than it is in most other places. One of the major reasons for this is that just like you, nearly everyone else will also have their public chat set to “Hide” so they aren’t overwhelmed with chat text. This means that you have to change how you talk to prospective trading partners.

Here are a few communication tips that will help you greatly in conducting trades:

• Keep Offers Short and Clear: With so many messages on the screen, other players have only a split second to assess yours before it disappears or is covered by someone else’s. Be clear about what you are buying and selling.
  
  
• Use Standard Abbreviations: To save time and effort, learn and use the standard abbreviations appropriate to the items you are selling, and avoid ones that others won’t understand. For example, in the area where the Guthans set is traded, “full g” and “full guth” will be more readily understand than, for example, “full gu” or “full gthn”.
  
  
• Put Your Name in Offers: Since everyone has their public chat on “Hide”, and there are a dozen or more people standing in the same spot, when someone sees an offer they can’t tell who made it. You can rectify this by putting your name in the text line when posting an offer. For example, instead of “buying cannon”, I would say “buying cannon -qeltar"; now anyone who is selling a cannon knows to trade me. You can see in Figure 46 and Figure 49 some typical examples of how people do this (I’ve blurred out their names for privacy.) If your name is very long, just include enough of it so people can find you.
  
  
• Be Specific: You will have much better luck getting a trade done with a minimum of hassle if you are specific about what you want and what you’re willing to pay. The less specific you are, the more time you’ll waste with people trying to trade you things you don’t want or making lowball or silly offers.
  
  For example, consider the following sequence of purchase offers: “buying arrows”; “buying rune arrows”; “buying 1k rune arrows”; or “buying 1k rune arrows all at once, 400k”. The last offer makes it clear what you’re trying to buy and under what conditions, so most of those who don’t want to sell with those terms won’t bother you.
  
  
• Don’t Ask Others to Play “Guessing Games”: If there’s one thing that drives me absolutely nuts, it’s people who are buying or selling an item and won’t say what price they want; instead, they say “offer”. They are trying to suggest that they don’t know what price they want, but in reality they are just on a “fishing expedition” to try to get a better price. (If anyone insists that they really don’t have a price in mind, just try to offer to buy below or sell above that price, and see how fast they decline the trade!)
  
  Don’t tell people “offer” when they ask for a price, just give them one. If someone else says “offer” to you, then ask for a price, and if they won’t give one, move on.
  
  
• Treat Others With Respect: Don’t be one of the rude, obnoxious traders that I constantly see at World 2 Fally. I mean the type who will cancel a trade and then say “it’s worth more than that noob”, or who ask me to make an offer, and after I make a reasonable one, say “lol”. With me at least, you get only one chance—treat me like crap and I’m done with you, there are lots of other folks to trade with.

Finally, I urge you to resist the temptation to use an autotyper in World 2. Yes, hundreds of people do it, and yes, Jagex doesn’t seem to care, but it is still against the rules. Some folks claim that it’s “impossible” to buy and sell without an autotyper, but that’s simply not the case. I’ve bought and sold over a billion in gold worth of items in World 2 Falador without ever using an autotyper. Making clear, reasonable offers is a lot more effective than just spamming with the same message over and over (which people tend to start tuning out anyway.)

The World 2 Falador marketplace is a great place to purchase items because it is a buyer’s market for most of the articles exchanged there. What does this mean? Well, obviously there must be a buyer for every seller in order for a trade to take place, but a buyer’s market means that there are usually more people trying to sell an item than attempting to purchase it (see Figure 51). When this is the case, buyers generally have more leverage, or power, than sellers.

The main reason why this situation arises is a simple matter of balancing supply and demand, the key principle that governs all markets. A greater quantity of most items is brought into the game every day than the quantity that is wanted, either because of new players buying, or existing players using up or losing what they already own. Thus, there will usually be more sellers than buyers, especially for non-consumable items like armor and weapons. (This is also why the prices of most items go down over time, but that’s a subject for another article!)

Since there are usually so many sellers, a buyer that has even a little patience can usually get a good deal. Go to the appropriate area where the item you want is being sold—refer to the overview map and detail map for assistance—and look for players trying to sell what you want. Double-check prices on the RuneScape forums if you aren’t sure; for popular items, it won’t take long to find a seller for a reasonable price.

In general, the more time you are willing to wait, the better the chances are of finding a “motivated seller” who will give you a good deal. Just remember that time is money: spending 30 minutes standing around trying to shave 20k off the price of a piece of armor means you are valuing your time at 40k per hour, and I am sure you can do better than that some other way!

There will be cases where you’re trying to buy an item that is less common, or you may wish to buy for a specific price. In that case, you should occasionally write out your offer, including your name, and say what you’re buying and for how much. If you don’t include your name then sellers can’t find you (as mentioned above), and unless you give a price, you’ll have sellers trying to get you to overpay.

Of course, it’s not a buyer’s market for all goods. Items that are in high demand, especially new ones, can be hard to buy unless you are willing to pay a high price. For example, in the first two weeks that the godsword came out, it was nearly impossible to find a Saradomin godsword for sale in World 2 for any price. In these cases, your options are to use a high purchase offer to entice someone who wasn’t trying to sell the item to sell it anyway, to be patient and wait for a seller to show up, or to try the forums instead.

Generally, the World 2 market can be an excellent place for those who need expensive consumables and are willing to take the time to buy them in small quantities. For example, you can get most herb seeds for a fraction of what they cost on the RuneScape forums, but you will end up buying them from many people just a few at a time.

In contrast, World 2 Fally is not such a good place for trying to buy less common items, such as unusual treasure trail armor or weapons, or oddball items that few people use. You are usually better off with the forums in those cases.

As I mentioned just above, World 2 Falador is mostly a buyer’s market. As a seller, you’ll usually be at a disadvantage, competing with other sellers for a limited number of buyers. Selling in World 2 can be done successfully, but it often requires creativity and flexibility. You need to be smart and find ways to differentiate yourself from the others around you who are also trying to sell the same goods.

One of the simplest and most important ways of standing out from the crowd is simply to sell for a slightly lower price. I never cease to be amazed at sellers who will decide on a “magic number” in their heads that they feel they absolutely must get, and then they will absolutely refuse to budge. People will convince themselves that, for example, a particular weapon is worth 1.4 million, and then will stand around for an hour with five other sellers who are also selling for that same price, when they could likely have sold the item very quickly by offering it for 1.35 mil. As I said in my tips to buyers, isn’t your time worth a bit more than that?

Another common pitfall for sellers is getting hung up on trying to get back what they paid for an item. Prices change, and they usually go down. If you’re trying to sell an abyssal whip, and the current going price is 1.2 million, nobody cares that you paid 1.4 million for it. Either sell for the going price, or plan on keeping it forever.

Sellers can have more power to influence prices on items that are uncommon than they can on ones in which the market is very liquid. When there aren’t many buyers or sellers around, prices tend to fluctuate up and down in cycles. Sometimes, by waiting for a while or trying to sell again later at another time, you can get a better price.

Just as buyers should be specific and state their desired prices when making offers to purchase, sellers should do the same. If you just say “selling herb seeds”, few people are going to bother trading you, since they’ll assume they are less desirable ones. Similarly, if you just say “selling ranarrs” without a price, you can bet that nearly everyone who trades you will give you a lowball offer.

Remember that overall, selling on World 2 is mostly about convenience. It’s a way to find lots of buyers in one place and sell to them expediently, not to get the best selling prices for your items.

The RuneScape World 2 Trading Survival Guide - Surviving the Fally Marketplace "Experience" The RuneScape World 2 Trading Survival Guide - Overview Trading Location Map