How to Trade

Buy low, sell higher. Size your list to cash on hand. Prefer the bazaar for tax-free volume; use the Item Market when you need every player to see the listing. Run a short ops loop: stock → open → self-hosp → sell → stash → advertise. Scam patterns: Avoiding scams. Stashing cash: Keeping money safe.

• Commit costs - time, hospital, no mid-flight trading
• Capital ladder - what to buy at each float
• IM vs bazaar - 5% tax vs no tax + traffic
• Pricing - buy margins and sell asks
• Ops loop - stock, open, hosp, stash, ads (self-hosp checklist lives here)

Trading is a job inside the game. Sellers expect replies in a reasonable window. You will spend a lot of time in hospital with an open bazaar. You cannot run trades while flying.

• You need a bazaar (250 points at the Points Building) and a public pricelist.
• Prefer an auto-updating list (TornW3B pricelist) so you are not hand-editing every hour.
• Only list what you can afford. If a seller offers more than your float, say so.
• Pace yourself. It is retail with mug risk, not a get-rich button.

Size the pricelist to cash on hand. Exact dollar cutoffs shift; the ladder does not. Prioritize turnover over fat margins at the start.

Liquid staples early: plushies/flowers (museum path in Points and museum), Xanax, eDVD. Volatile boosters and enhancers come later. Sellers are not looking out for you.

• Item Market - 5% tax on sales. Fully searchable. On $10m sold you lose $500k to tax.
• Bazaar - no tax. Not in IM search. Buyers find you via ads, your link, or TornW3B.

Most dedicated traders prefer bazaars for the tax save. IM still wins when you need every player (including non-script users) to see the listing. Bazaar asks often sit roughly a tax-width under IM asks. When prices jump fast, stale bazaar listings can be cheaper than IM even after tax.

Buy prices are what sellers see first. Ask: would you sell to yourself at those numbers?

• Liquid staples - thin margin. Volume pays you.
• Volatile / slow movers - wider margin, or skip until you know the book.
• Big-ticket - many traders use a fixed max, not a blind % of a spiked market value.
• Max buy caps - pair % margins with a hard ceiling so event pumps do not auto-price you into a loss.

A common ballpark on everyday stock is around 2% net after you sell. That is not a law. Compare other public lists. If you slap a fat cut on a liquid staple, your trade window stays empty.

• Sell: first cheapest - just under lowest for a fast sale. Huge undercuts crash the book.
• Sell: match lowest - still quick, less drama.
• Sell: above lowest - default when the item is not tanking. Buyers often pay for convenience on big stacks.

1. Stock the bazaar at bazaar manage. You cannot add or edit listings while hospitalized.
2. Open the bazaar before you hosp. Use the bazaar message as ad space: what you buy, pricelist link.
3. Self-hosp (next section) with revives off, then accept large trades or sit on sales.
4. Stash cash after sales (ghost / bank / stocks) before you leave hospital when you can. See Keeping money safe.
5. Advertise - trade chat (≤125 chars, ~every 60s), one forum thread you edit in place, profile + bazaar message. TornW3B leaderboards and Search Deals help discovery.
6. Close the bazaar when you go offline or stop watching cash so you are not a free mug target.

• Business only through the trade window. Never item/cash sends.
• Use the two-step confirm: first accept locks the trade so you can inspect.
• Trade-cancel mugs: stay in hospital until the trade is fully accepted. Patterns: Avoiding scams.
• Helpers: Trading Companion (install guide). UI tour: Using TornW3B.

If you will have meaningful cash on hand (open bazaar, Item Market sales, accepting a large trade, or right after a payout), get into hospital first and turn revives off. While hospitalized you cannot be mugged. You can still use the trade window and receive bazaar/IM sale cash.

• Wrong blood bag (preferred for traders). Complete Intravenous Therapy in the Biology education track (Education). Fill Empty Blood Bags, then use an incompatible type for your blood type. Chart: Blood bags.
• Ipecac Syrup. Drink it. No education gate; costs an item each time.
• Russian Roulette. Play $1 games until you lose and drop into hospital.
• Small Explosive Device (SED). Open a parcel that contains an SED (self-send or a friend sends).
• Mercenary or trusted friend. Hire or ask someone to attack and hospitalize you (not leave, not mug). Confirm hosp before you pay.

1. Turn revives off.
2. Stock and open the bazaar / stage vault cash before you hosp if you still need to list or pull money.
3. Self-hosp with one of the methods above.
4. Only then accept large trades or sit on open bazaar / IM listings.
5. When cash lands, stash it before you leave hospital if you can.

1. Buy a bazaar for 250 points at the Points Building.
2. Create a short pricelist matched to your float (capital ladder above).
3. Queue Intravenous Therapy for wrong-bag self-hosp; until then use Ipecac / $1 RR / SED / a friend.
4. Install the Trading Companion if you use a userscript manager.
5. Post a ≤125-character trade-chat ad with your pricelist link; start one Trading Post forum thread you will keep editing.
6. Stock → open → self-hosp (revives off) → sell → stash → close when offline.

• W3's Guide to Trading
• LordofFire - trading notes
• Bravotitan - trading notes
• Jorgy411 - trading notes
• YNMK - capital stages (prices stale)
• LegendaryKing11 - RW guide
• TornW3B Companion forum thread