[Guide] The Trade Tab and Trade Jargon

[Iolanthe]

or

They told me Trade was "English Only"...

So you've clicked the Trade Tab and:

WTS SFtR LS RTF ...gc or ...mf. wm
wtt bread offering bs pm
WTS 4k LB on TO
PC stack SS pls
wtb 10k exop ...gc ot now 1 lot
wts 5000 hwp 3 lots in TO
pwp 2k for ...gc on TO now 4 lots
WTB MF WMO
stack ss approx ....
WTT stone to pwp on TO
wtb water ...gc a stack
50 baskets to swap /w



Though this be madness, yet there is method in it. Truly.

Terms and Phrases:

WTS, WTB: Want To Sell or Buy, this usually means GC only. WTT: Want To Trade, resource for resource.
GC: Gold Coins. The backbone of our economy, you will need many thousands before the game is done.
k: Kilo,1,000
Stack: 400. In the old Trade system 400 was the maximum that could be Traded in one Lot, many older players think in Stacks.
Lot: An item or group of items. When you place an Offer in the TO you may choose 1-4 Lots by moving the slider bar.
TO: Trade Office. [Guide] Trade System
/w, wm, wmo, pm: Whisper, Whisper Me, Whisper Me Offers, Private Message. Deals may be struck and prices haggled in Whisper before being placed in the TO.
PC: Price Check. Market Prices can change quickly, if you're ever unsure ask for a PC or Price Check per Stack or k, the answer will be in GC.
OBO: Or Best Offer


Goods:

MF: Map Fragments. These are used to purchase Adventures in the Merchant and may be worth more than you'd think, if you're unsure ask for a PC.
ggc: Guild Coins. These may be used in the Guild Shop in the Merchant.
PWP, HWP, EWP/Exop: PineWood Planks, HardWood Planks, Exotic Wood Planks.
BS, IS, SS, DS: Bronze Swords, Iron Swords, Steel Swords, Damascene Swords.
Bows, LB, XBows: Bows, LongBows, CrossBows.
Most things that can abbreviated often will be.


Lootspots:

LS: Lootspot. A player may do almost the whole of a multiple-player Adventure and sell the unoccupied Spot or Spots, the buyer will be invited to the Adv and must kill at least one enemy to earn a full set of Loot when the Adv is successfully completed. For more on Lootspots click here: [Guide] Lootspots and Lootspot Etiquette
RTF: Ready To Finish. Immediately after the LS buyer makes their kill so as soon as possible.
DP, SFtR, BK, ML and a number of others are all the initials of Adventures. Dark Priests, Stealing From the Rich, Black Knights, Motherly Love, etc.

Buffs:

Buff requests are arranged in Trade.

Buffs placed on your Island by a friend last 50% longer so you'll see people asking for buff swaps. Once this is agreed in Whisper the players add each other as friends, exchange lists and buff each other. Be careful to use the appropriate buff and buff the correct buildings please.

New players and Quests:

There are many Trade Quests for the newbie, "Buy 10 Stones" etc. If you place a reasonable Offer for a reasonable Cost for example; "Offer: 10 PWP Cost: 10 Stones" it should sell in the TO fairly quickly. "Offer: 10 PWP for Cost: 10 GC" on the other hand is terribly expensive and unlikely to sell while "Offer: 10 GC for Cost: 10 PWP" will be snapped up in seconds, it's terribly cheap. Since resource can be Traded for resource until you have an idea what GC are worth it's wise to hold on to them.

Etiquette and Oddments:

The Trade tab is for Trade, the Help tab is for help and general chat is kept to globals 1, 6 and above.

pls and ty: Please and thank you are appreciated here, just like anywhere else.

Polite requests and prices reflecting the current market will serve everyone much better than begging or demanding.

If your offers are selling very quickly or not at all it would be wise to reconsider your pricing, it's probably quite low or quite high.

Spamming an Offer will not make it sell faster but it will annoy people.

Spamming an Offer will not make it sell faster but it will annoy people.

Spamming an Offer will not make it sell faster but it will annoy people.

SHOUTING AN OFFER WILL NOT MAKE IT SELL MORE QUICKLY. Use caps carefully please.

Trade is Moderated and all the standard chat rules apply: In-game Rules, Code of conduct (chat-and-forum)

Whilst trading in the Trade tab you may have your choice of a global chat-channel open in the Global tab. International English is global-1, to change the chat channel type: /j global-x replacing x with the new channel number.
A full list of language channels can be found here: Official channels and languages

Global-3 is used for auctions: Auction channel (G3) Rules and for in-depth trade chat. When a trade related discussion of more than a few lines grows in the Trade tab people are often asked to move to global-3.

Trade is a big part of the game and in any trade system one may, unfortunately, encounter a scam at one time or another. What to do if you feel you have been scammed: Trade Scammers Here's hoping it doesn't come up.

[peck_ed]

Fantastic post! Very useful

[Iolanthe]

Oh good, thank you.

[lulu10093]

Oh good, thank you.

You been busy it is a good post though

[Brankovics]

Fantastic! A new language, isn't it?

[Jamdoggy]

Glad someone is fluent in tradese...
Thanks Iolanthe - excellent post

[Sto_Helit]

Further Trade Etiquette

Since the Trade tab was implemented, and especially since various quests have increased the number of people using the trade tab, it might be time to think a bit about how people interact.

1. Everyone has the same right to offer a trade on the trade tab. Some people might be new to the trade tab and just want to buy or sell for a quest without learning all of the trade jargon.

2. Commenting on other people's trades is not always that helpful - market prices change and it is up to the buyer to decide whether it is a good trade.

3. Many people are trying to use the trade tab - possibly 5 minutes between posts by the same player is a reasonable time period. (this is based on advice given by Mods in the trade tab).

4. Some people are quoting a general 'Many offers - search [username]'- which is a relatively short post.

5. Other people list most of the many offers they have - which is a relatively long post.

6. Naming and shaming people in trade or other chat is against the rules. This is the official position on the matter: Trade Scammers.

[MrBranch]

Finally capable of entering the lootspots world! Thanks a lot.

[SA-GT_S5280]

Good Thread, thnx.

[licklebunny]

great thread - tho i wish some players would revise this - my first experience on TO was a bit unpleasant... took awhile to pluck up the courage to go on again!!