Merch Info

What is Merchanting?

Merchanting in RuneScape is an effective way of either gaining or losing significant amounts of wealth through buying or selling items to other players in an effort to make a fortune.  In simplest terms, it is a "buy low, sell high" way of earning gold in the game.  However, when the Grand Exchange was implemented on November 26, 2007, and unbalanced trade was removed just over a month later to combat RWT (real-world trading), the art of merchanting and the strategies used in it changed drastically.  Now, here is not the place to debate whether these changes were good or bad, but one aspect of them is certain, the Grand Exchange led to a sustained enlightening of RuneScape players when it came to the economy.  Traders were no longer in the dark about item prices, and they were in control.  Solo merchanting became harder to do, and as a result widespread merchanting clans became popular in the mainstream. 

What is a Merchanting Clan?

Merchanting Clans have been around RuneScape for years, though boomed recently when high-powered and high-valued players realized they could make immense amounts of gold by manipulating the Grand Exchange if enough man power was used in the process.  Merchanting Clans generally operate through three different stages: The Pick, The Buy Out, and The Dump.  These stages are explained in further detail below...

1. The Pick -- Although not the most exciting part of a clan's cycle, it is definitely crucial.  This beginning starts immediately after the last dump was either a success or a fail, and usually several days go by while the top members of the clan deliberate on what item would be the best to merchant next.  When the item is decided, it is usually displayed as the name of the clan chat in which the merchanting clan operates, along with a set goal or target, a monitary value much higher than the current Grand Exchange rate for said item.  As soon as the item is picked and the price is set, the next phase of the cycle begins.

2. The Buy Out -- Once the clan members know what item they are supposed to be targeting, the buy out initiates.  At this point all members of the clan are expected to buy as much of the item as they can in the Grand Exchange at maximum price.  This way when the Grand Exchange updates, the median price of the item will rise steeply, and if the merchanting clan continues to buy at maximum price, the price will continue to rise even further.  All of this happens in an effort to hit the dump price set in stone by the clan leaders.  Depending on the item, the buy out can lead to a lot of hype and confusion amid oblivious players, causing them to buy or sell items for extreme prices in situations where they otherwise wouldn't.  Because of this reason, many players demand merchanting clans be penalized in some way by Jagex for ruining the fun of the game.

3. The Dump -- The last, and most important, stage of the merchanting cycle is the dump.  This occurs (or is supposed to, at least) when the median price of the item being merchanted in the Grand Exchange reaches the target dump price of the clan who is merchanting the item.  When this happens, the members of the clan are told to sell their entire stock of the item in whatever way possible, as long as they get rid of it.  The method relies on the hope that the unsuspecting players in RuneScape, fueled by the sudden increase in price of a random item, have begun desperately buying up that item as well, hoping it will continue to rise in price and that they too will make a modest profit.  If this is done correctly, everyone in the clan gets rid of their entire stock of the merchanted item and makes a decent amount of profit just in time for the item to crash on the Grand Exchange.

Criticisms of Merchanting Clans

Of course, the cycle of a merchanting clan rarely goes as picture perfect as described in the above paragraphs, and more often than not the ones who benefit from the clan's existence are simply the creators and leaders of the clan, leaving the lower-ranked members out in the rain when selling time comes to fend for themselves.  Even good and honest clans can lead members to disaster, as cold feet and low-risk takers can second guess their investment and sell their stock of items before the dump value is obtained.  Many believe that some of the more popular clans simply exploit new and ignorant members into furthering their own gold-eyed agendas.  No matter what the accusations are, though, the most common complaint is simply that the majority of players just don't like it when people manipulate the economy, successfully or not.

Great, now that you know the basics, try heading over to our list for a compilation of merchanting clans and the items they're currently merchanting.