BAZAAR TACTICS

Making a Living in Everquest!

Here are some tips, suggestions and ideas on making Platinum in Everquest... and particularly in the Bazaar.

However, if you are interested in farming for platinum (loot drops and then sell those drops to vendors)… I have two recommendations. One is the Acrylia Caverns. The ore and runes drop freely, stack and sell for reasonable profits. Even better is Siren’s Grotto. Stackable gems (most of which sell for over 35 to over 100 Platinum) drop like candy here, especially off the Sirens.

On a side note, when I use the term “merchant” and “vendor,” I use them interchangeably. What I mean by either term is an NPC that sells and buys items to and from players.

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WHAT JUNK SHOULD I LOOT?

·         As long as you have bag space, never let anything rot! At the very least, use it for tribute or sell it to a merchant!

·         If space runs short, more often than not, looting stackable items over non-stackable items is the best idea. Often, 20-plus of the same item can out-price any other single item.

·         However, this is not always true, so.....

·         Try to recall what sells for the most and if you have to leave stuff to rot, dump the least valuable stuff.

·         "No Trade" items NEVER sell to a Merchant and will generally NOT tribute (with little exception, such as certain armor and weapons).

·         This also often true for "QUEST" items.

·         Use the Veteran AA summoned Merchant to your advantage (sell without having to go anywhere).

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HOW CAN I WIN MORE ROLLS?

·         If you are allowed to roll on a tradable item, then roll! Even if you don't need it you can sell it or tribute it later!

·         However, I wouldn’t roll against someone who actually needs the item.

·         It appears that your rolls are improved if you are normally not the first or the last to roll. Try to get your timing down.

·         It also appears that looking straight down and then sitting (meditating... have your book open) can also help you roll better.

·         Or sit on your horse (or any other mount).

·         Lastly, it appears that the higher your charisma and to some extent, your agility and dexterity, the better you might roll.

·         These suggestions on rolling do not always pan out, but from my experience, they do seem to help more often than not.

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IS VENDOR DIVING (aka Merchant Mining) WORTH WHILE?

·         My answer... absolutely!

·         Vendor Diving is a term meaning you run about in key merchant zones checking each merchant for items that you might buy and resell for a profit... or perhaps, use yourself (re: tradeskills).

·         Vendor Diving works because merchants resell what players sell to them.

·         Vendors do have a limited inventory, so after a while, some items will "scroll" off their list until they sell enough items for them to scroll back onto their list.

·         The key zones to vendor dive in are the Plane of Knowledge, Plane of Tranquility, the Guild Lobby, Abysmal Sea, Arcstone, the Guild Hall (oddly enough), Corathus Creep, Undershore, Crescent Reach, the near-zone-in-merchants in each theme of Seeds of Destruction and any Wayfarer Magus (whatever zone they may be in).

·         When Vendor Diving, take as much as you are willing to spend, so you don't have to run back to the bank and come back only to find the item(s) you wanted all ready gone.

·         When there is a zone/server reset/crash, the Vendor's also reset. I have found that even after a reset, they sometimes offer some desirable items… if you are fast enough to be the first one to them.

·         Key items to look for are high end tradeskill items, high value tribute items, high demand "need" items and so forth.

·         Hopefully you get the idea. You will have to experiment and keep your own list of what will resell (above your cost).

·         Just keep in mind, even a small profit is a good thing, especially if the item sells every time you toss it on your Bazaar mule.

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HOW CAN I TELL WHAT TO SELL TO A MERCHANT AND WHAT TO SELL IN BAZAAR?

·         Generally speaking, if they appear to be a common drop (they drop every few kills), such items are normally best sold to a Merchant or tributed. After all, anyone can farm common drops or easily find them on merchants (as they have all ready sold to said vendors by other players).

·         Generally speaking, if they don't drop that often, you should try selling them in Bazaar before selling them to a Merchant or trying to tribute them.

·         Obviously, items that are tradeskill items, or quest items, are sometimes in demand.

·         If an item is somehow in demand or useful, it is better to try and sell it in Bazaar and test the market for it.

·         Research, research, research! Look the item up on the internet and see what it is for, if anything.

o        If they are used in a quest that results in a decent item, they might be in demand (unless a task step actually requires looting the item).

o        If they are used in tradeskills, especially in recipes that are for a skill level of 200 to 250 or higher, they are likely in demand.

o        If they are spells that are not Merchant sold, they are potentially in demand.

o        If the item is merchant sold, anywhere, they are likely not in demand at all… unless they are costly items, only sold by hard-to-access merchants (such as an item that is only sold in one zone, particularly a zone where some races are KoS), only sold by a single merchant (somewhere) and/or you are selling them cheaper than the merchant does (this is true of many gems).

·         Use the in-game notebook (/notes) or keep notes on paper! Take notes on...

    • What items sold for a good prices to Merchants.
    • What items are in-demand for tradeskills.
    • What items are in-demand quest items.
    • What items are not level restricted or "proc" at low levels (this category can prove to be pretty profitable).
    • What items tend to sell well in Bazaar, despite the selling price (even large amounts of "cheap" items can make you money in the long run).
    • WARNING: The Notes feature can be erased with an expansion installation... so save it outside of the EQ Directory before uploading an expansion, or all those notes will be lost!

·         Drop in the Bazaar and...

    • Look to see if other Sellers are trying to sell the item.
    • Look and see if buyers are looking to buy the item.
    • This will give you a general idea of if an item is in demand or not.
    • If a number of people are trying to sell it, it might be a marketable item.
    • If people are looking to buy it, it is all most certainly a marketable item.
    • If no one is looking to buy it or sell it, either it is not very marketable, or it is somewhat rare or pricey. More than likely, it isn't very marketable.

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HOW DO I KNOW WHAT PRICE TO LIST ITEMS FOR IN BAZAAR?

·         Keep in mind that what players are asking in Bazaar is a LISTING price, not the MARKET price.

·         Money gouging reigns in Bazaar. Just because the only person selling an Iron Ration is asking 1 Million Plat for it, does not make an Iron Ration worth 1 Million Plat!

·         Also keep in mind that despite Sony rules, players do buy Plat on line. They will then put a trader up and list an item, like an Iron Ration, for the Plat-seller to buy. So, if they buy 50K Plat on line, they will list the Iron Ration at 50K and the Plat seller will sign on and buy the Iron Ration.

·         First off, get your charisma (stat) up (buffs, items...) and then go to a Merchant and see what they will offer you for an item. I do not mean what they will sell you the item for, but what they will BUY the item for.

·         NEVER try to sell an item in Bazaar for less than a Merchant will pay you for it! You are trying to make money, not loose money!

·         Take a look at what Buyers are offering for the item. If anyone is seeking to buy the item, this is a good idea of the minimum price to ask for your item. (If you like what Buyers offer, save time and just go sell it to them!).

·         Now take a look at what Sellers are asking for the same item. They are a generally a reasonable gauge on the maximum price you should ask for your item.

·         Thus, you establish a minimum (Buyer offer) and maximum (Seller prices) to develop an idea of the real possible value of the item you wish to sell... and then you can price it accordingly.

·         Now make a decision… do you want to have limited sells for a good profit? If so, set your price in the high range and hope to sell it.... eventually.

·         Or do you want to move product faster and profit by way of regular sells? If so, try to undercut all other sellers, even if by at just 1 gold! Players are looking for the best prices and you will be amazed at how they will seek you out to save 1 Gold per item.

·         Once you set up your trader and list an item, your trader will always and forever recall the price you set for that item.

·         Generally speaking, the market value of that item will rarely ever go up, but it will often go down.

·         If your item isn't selling, check the buyer/seller prices of others again and then re-price it! Go down on the price!

·         My habit is to list "new" items at a high value (just a guess on my part, if there nothing to gauge it by)!

·         After a day or three, I will slowly bring the price down and down and down.

·         I normally bring it down 1K each time (for items over 10K), 500 to 100 Plat at a time (for items under 10K), then intervals of 25 (under 1K), then 10 Plat (under 100 Plat) and then intervals of 5 Plat (under 50 Plat).

·         I will do this until I reach a point that I am probably better off selling it to a merchant.

·         This process keeps me from having bags full of junk that just isn't selling.

·         Following this method also keeps the item for sale over a reasonable period, allowing you to gauge the market and perhaps sell the item before settling on merchant value.

·         If an item doesn't sell by then, it will surely give you some confidence that it is best sold to a merchant (or tributed).

·         I keep track of what a Merchant will give me for an item by "coding" it into my price using the Copper, Silver and Gold slots.

·         This way, I don't have to check Merchant prices constantly.

·         Example, if a Merchant will give me 1 Platinum (or less) for an item, I will include 1 Copper in the price (re: I will list it at 10 Platinum and 1 Copper).

·         The 1 Copper represents the 1 Platinum (or less) merchant value.

·         If a Merchant will give me 127 Plat for an item, I would then code this in my price with the Gold (1), Silver (2) and Copper (7). Thus, I might list it at 200 Platinum, 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 7 Copper. Make sense?

·         In short, the gold, silver and copper in my prices are just codes for how much a Merchant will pay me for the item.

·         In the rare instances where an item will sell to a merchant for over 1K, I code it in as 9 Gold, 9 Silver, 9 Copper. This tells me I need to check my /notes (or a vendor) to find the actual value (yes, put the value in your /notes so you can know the actual merchant value and not undersell it).

·         This way I will never accidentally drop my price below "Merchant Value" and undersell it (loose money).

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CAN I MAKE MONEY WITH TRADESKILL ITEMS AND HOW?

·         Well, yes and no. Mostly no!

·         No, in the sense that getting your skill to a high level, where you can craft items that are marketable, is a costly venture.

·         This is also because "skill-up" items are normally made in mass quantities and the market will often be flooded with them.

·         It is also because the costs of getting your skill up in the long run will likely outweigh any profit you make from a few high end items.

·         However, yes, in the manner that you can make items and sell them for more than they might cost you to make.

·         So, you need to figure out what seems to sell, try to craft those items and then put them up for sell.

·         Generally speaking they will not sell unless you are the lowest price, as you will not likely be the only person trying to sell such items.

·         Don't expect huge profits, but you might expect small and regular profits that add up, depending on the item.

·         The best selling items are probably made with Baking and Brewing (stat foods and drinks).

·         Other items that might sell are high-end crafted armor, high-end cultural armor, high-end weapons and high end crafted augmentations (Tailoring, Blacksmithing, Fletching and Jewelry Making).

·         Crafted ingredients might also sell well, like Celestial Essence, various Tempers and similar.

·         The reality is, however, is that the tradeskill components (ingredients) often sell better than the final item itself! This is because more people are in need of the ingredient-items for skill-ups than the actual final crafted item.

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SELLING

·         You should create a "mule" character whose specific job is to sit in the Bazaar, in Trader-Mode, trying to sell your stuff.

·         You pass items to your mule by way of the shared bank (max 20-slots at a time).

·         Try to fill all 80-slots of your mule! Why waste slots?

·         Try to always leave your mule up in Bazaar when you are not actively playing.

·         The longer you are in Trader mode, the more people have a chance to see what you are offering and the better chance you have of selling stuff.

·         Variety is good, but having 80-slots of the same item is not necessarily a bad idea.

·         If the item sells well, and you have enough of it to fill 80-bag slots, you can make a lot of sales!

·         Organize. When filling your bags, keep the "known" sellers in the middle slots (lower left and upper right bags) and the "pricey" items in the deeper slots (lower right side bags).

·         Keep the experimental offerings in the upper slots (upper left side bags). You may soon want to get rid of the cheap and experimental items by selling them to a merchant and this makes them easier to find and purge.

·         It also helps in setting prices, as you know which specific bags have "new" items in them, so you can more quickly see what a Merchant will offer you for these items (you will simply look in the first bag, as opposed to searching through them all).

·         Leave an AFK message up.

·         That way if you get any tells, you can respond with an advertisement!

·         Example, you can tell the other player, "Sorry I am AFK, but if you are interested in specific Slot 11 Augmentations, drop me an EQ-Mail!"

·         This is accomplished by a Hot key you set up, or by typing:  /afk Sorry I am AFK --if you are interested in specific Slot 1 Augmentations, drop me an EQ-Mail!

·         Whatever you type after the /afk command will become your AFK message.

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. BUY AND RE-SELL! CORNER THE MARKET! DEFEND AGAINST UNSCRUPULOUS COMPETITION!

·         Sell it to a Merchant! You can make a lot of small coin profit by buying items from other players and then selling those same items to an NPC Merchant. You will be surprised at how many Sellers often list items at a price that is less than what a Merchant will pay for that same item! Example, a Merchant might give you 10 Platinum for a "Junky Trinket." There is a Player selling twenty of them for 5 Platinum each. You can go buy those items for 100 Plat and then sell them to the Merchant for 200 Platinum! You just made 100 Platinum!

·         Refine for profit! Players often sell GoD Raw Materials cheaper than the refined material. Example, Shimmering Nihilite is made from Raw Shimmering Nihilite. This item is used in high level Jewelry making combines, so it is a somewhat in-demand item. The combine makes 1-to-3 of them at a time (if you are able to refine GoD Raw Material). Players may be selling the Raw Pale Nihilite for 20 Platinum each, while the Pale Nihilite is listing at 25 Platinum each. If you buy 10 of the Raw Pale Nihilite (20 Plat x 10 = 200 Plat), refine them (with average success of making two per combine), you will then potentially have 20 Pale Nihilite that will could potentially sell for 25 Plat each (25 x 20 - 500 Plat). If so, you have just potentially made 300 Platinum! This is not to say, however, that Nihilite is a big seller! It isn’t!

·         Buy and re-sell! If you see any items that, from your experience, are generally underpriced... go buy them from that player, mark them up a little and then re-sell them for a profit!

·         Corner the Market! If you have the Platinum, you can corner the market! It's a risky venture, but it can work. If there is an item you know to be in demand, you can buy-out the other players who are selling that same item and you then become the sole seller of that item. You can now mark those items up! If people want this item, they will have to pay your price. BE WARNED however, this works only so long as you are the only person offering said item! The catch here is that the item needs to be in demand, as well as an item that is somewhat hard to come by. After all, unless you sit there and constantly buy out new Sellers, you can and will get undercut by someone else!

·         Defend yourself from unscrupulous competition! Some players use a tactic that is considered wrong by other players, but it can and does work (and thus, the reason they do it). What they do is go up to you while you are in trader mode, because they want to eliminate you as competition (you may be offering similar items at better prices). They will stand in your line of sight. They might then cast up a pet if they have one. Then they might simply cast and recast spells for a minute or two, in front of you. They might buff you and turn you (and others nearby) into a wolf or some other illusion. They might also click open your trader window and then close it, over and over. They may even send you voice tells and regular tells. What all this does is play on the "lag factor" from being on-line for a long period of time, as a trader. They want you to go link dead. By standing in your line of sight, adding a pet to that view, casting for the spell effects, the sounds and opening/closing your trader window, they can sometimes push you over the "lag edge" and force you go link dead. If you ever wondered why players cast up pets, casts spells and such in Bazaar, now you know why! The way to defend against this is to walk up to a corner or wall, face the corner/wall, look straight down, sit down and then go into trader mode. This way, they cannot get into your line of sight and it is far less likely they can drive you to link death!

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This Page Last updated June 27, 2010