HELP THREAD - New Traders

Sep 12, 2013
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I shamelessly copied this from @nulio's old thread. So, if anything is off, you know who to blame! :LOL:

The Rules
Always start by reading the rules. I know the thread is big but it's important to know these rules to avoid starting your trading with the wrong foot. Before you post in the Single Player Trading Forums read the rules. If after reading them you still have questions, feel free to use this thread. You can also PM the Mods before attempting to trade if you prefer doing it privately or want to get answers from who will always have the final word.

Trade Tags
This is already explained in the SPTF rules. Did we mention, you should probably read the rules before posting? But, I will include a brief summary because trade tags are the #1 thing that new traders struggle with. Trade tags should be posted clearly every time you post an item, and on any ISO/FT thread. They should also include a link to your trader profile.

Trade tags allow us to see easily where an item came from. The basic format is:
[Version + Pool + Mods + Trade Status]
Code:
Version = 1.07 1.12a 1.14d etc
Pool = HC or SC
Mods = FAM (forum approved mods) or Vanilla (no mods)
Status = FTS (full trade status) or P (probation for new traders)

Here are a few examples:
[1.13c SC vanilla P] is a 1.13c item, softcore without any FAM interaction from a member in probation status
[1.12a SC FAM] is an item in 1.12a softcore with one or more of RWM, RRM, CRM
[1.07 SC vanilla] is an item currently in 1.07 softcore without any FAM interaction

The purpose of all this information is to ensure that items being traded remain within the same parameters. You cannot use a 1.14 item in older versions. You cannot transfer items HC <-> SC. You CAN trade items with members from different Status, but please refer to the following concerning "taint".

Trading with users that use different Forum Approved Mods and Practices
If you read the rules carefully you noticed the Forum Approved Mods and other practices.
Before trading you should understand what all this means. Especially what means to be "tainted".
It might be a bit confusing but I'll try my best to explain with some examples.

If a vanilla player (in this example I mean someone that just uses a mulling program such as ATMA or GoMule) trades with someone that uses the approved RuneWordMod (again as an example), they stop being vanilla and they become FAM. Even if you never used this mod your characters and stashes get tainted.

In another example, if you are against ATMA Bugging you can avoid to trade with users that do it or were tainted by it. I deem this impossible these days although. Other examples are users that move items from HC to SC (the other way around is forbidden, don't forget), play older versions and move items forward (items backward is also forbidden), etc.

But after you use items that you got from an user that did something (that is approved but you personally don't want to do) we consider that you are tainted by it, so it's the same thing as doing it.
Imagine you are using a Death Fathom traded from someone that found it using any of his/her chars (Sorceresses using Spirit, Barbarians using ATMA Bugged Grief, etc) and then find something and/or get XP. This is all traced back to the characters that used RWM, ATMA Bugged items, etc.

Item Valuation
You should always check the Price Check Guide. It's in the process of being updated - the value of the top end items skyrocketed in the last years and the economy changes a lot depending on the active traders and which versions they play - but it's still great to get an idea of what has no, low, medium or high value.

If you have questions about the value of items you have for trade or items you are looking for, post them in the PCG. These days because of the low number of traders and the accumulation of wealth of some of them it's not always easy to value items, but in some cases some valuations will be done so it's always good to try!

There is probably more things that can be useful being here, feel free to post or PM suggestions.
 
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I decided to make a post addressing a trend in the trading forums. Private trading.

Losing the trading feedback forum plugin, having several trading posts being ate by the squid and having less and less new traders made private trading more popular than ever.

By itself it's not a bad or evil thing and it's indisputably more practical. And even if it was never recommended, it has been done for years. But these days less and less users use trade threads and, even worse, less and less users report their private trades.

Personally and after thinking about it I believe it's not good for anybody. I'll try to list why.

Reporting trades
There are several reasons why we should report our trades.
- It helps creating an economy. Without it it's impossible to see how items are being valuated and what is trending or not. With it, it might be possible to get a better idea of how items should be valuated and what actually is available for trading.
- It helps catching possible cheaters. How can we know if someone has traded, and giving examples, 2000 gems to several different users, or the same item several times?
- It makes the forums actually look alive, instead of the pale existence it has now. Having the forums look alive might make it appealing for new users.

Using trade threads
Again I see several reasons for why we should try to use the trade threads more frequently.
- It gives the chance for more people to make offers.
- It might help knowing what actually is up for trade and what is being ISOed.
- Since we need to post read-outs BEFORE trading it can help catching cheaters BEFORE trading (and before losing items in the process).
- It will make it easier for new users to join.

I'm not advocating that we just stop doing private trades altogether. When the users know and trust each other for years and have items that both want to trade, it's the fastest and simplest way to negotiate and finish a trade.

But:
- We should always report our trades.
- We should try to make our trading forums more transparent and fair.
- We should make it appealing for new traders, being them new forum members or old ones.

Personally in addition to reporting every trade - which I already do - I'll start doing and advising the following:
- Even if conducting a private trade post publicly the final offer - this can allow others to make a better offer or just give advice.
- Even if conducting a private trade both sides should post read-outs publicly before trading.
- In trades involving gems post at least the number of each type of gems traded and an example of each.
- Increase the ratio of trades using the forums compared to private trading.
 
Warning: stupid question incoming 😅

How are trades actually carried out? Would it require party play? Ie, meeting up in-game? Presumably it does in some fashion, which means it's not possible for me, due to playing on PS5 without PS+. Not that I'm interested in trades, at least now, but just wanted to ask how it's actually done in practice.
 
@Pangaearocks PC players can trade by e-mailling GoMule stashes. Unfortunately that rules out anyone trading on console as you can't use GoMule. As they removed TCP/IP too, there is no workaround.

Rule 4.19
 
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