Question about guild merchants

BlitzGirl41

In the absence of a server-wide "auction house"/"trading post" that makes selling and buying items more accessible, the only way to get paid for items that NPC merchants won't give any money for (ex: cultural motifs) is to sell on the guild shops (I am blanking out on what they are actually called...). So this brings the question of how a relative "newbie" to the game will go about with this. Do I have to join a guild in order to use their selling/buying services? I remember walking up to one such shop, and it was a guild I was not a part of, and all I could do was browse - the sell tab (picture of coins) was grayed-out. So if this is the case...it is incredibly inconvenient. I want to make at least some profit on items that go for 0g and are just clogging up my inventory, and not have to trade with someone (the COD system makes no sense, as no one has properly explained it to me, and therefore I don't think I made a profit).

So...can someone help me out and properly explain this system...?

Thanks!

wayfarerx

You need to be a member of a guild to sell items from its guild trader. Guilds with traders in more optimal locations tend to have sales or donation requirements, but it varies from guild to guild.

It can take some time to find a trade guild that works for you and the way you like to play. Look in the guild recruitment forum on this site or advertise in game to find guilds to try out.

BlitzGirl41

wayfarerx wrote: »

You need to be a member of a guild to sell items from its guild trader. Guilds with traders in more optimal locations tend to have sales or donation requirements, but it varies from guild to guild.

It can take some time to find a trade guild that works for you and the way you like to play. Look in the guild recruitment forum on this site or advertise in game to find guilds to try out.

Are the different guild traders located in very specific cities/towns? I wonder if a guild I did recently join has their "shop" elsewhere. Currently still in Vulkhel Guard area.

Nestor

BlitzGirl41 wrote: »

Are the different guild traders located in very specific cities/towns? I wonder if a guild I did recently join has their "shop" elsewhere. Currently still in Vulkhel Guard area.

Some guilds keep their Kiosks each week, some move around.

One thing to keep in mind, is each guild that has 50 or more members has a Store. Kiosks are something added to that by guilds bidding on locations. So, you don't have to have a kiosk with your guild to sell, you just get more sales with a kiosk.

You can look at some names on the listings in the kiosk and send a PM to a person selling things to ask about joining if you prefer a certain guild kiosk location. Also, other members of your social guild may know a good trading guild.

Personally, I would avoid the trading guilds that require a monthly fee to be part of them. There are too many trading guilds that do not charge fees for you to feel like you have to. Granted, some guilds get a trader in the prime locations each week, and they may charge a fee and your sales should support the fee. But, starting out, avoid the guilds that charge a fee until you get your merchant legs under you and know what you want from the economy.

Also, I am a big trading guild with a prime location and in 3 others that get Kiosks more often than not. I get a decent sales rate from all the guilds, so having a prime location trader is not all that necessary to sell stuff.

xilfxlegion

or you can stand in rawkla or elden root in area chat if you want to completely lose your mind

BlitzGirl41

How can I sell items without a guild kiosk? Tried to COD to someone, and wasn't sure how much gold I was supposed to put in it along with the item I was going to sell them. I need more explanations about that as well, as I hate simply destroying items I don't need/can't use that no merchants will give gold for.

Gargath

If you know the item value (have a Master Merchant for average price from your trading guilds transactions), you can spam WTS on general chat if you want to sell out of guild store. Just not spam it too often otherwise you can be ignored. If you choose this way be prepared that after you post your offer in general chat, someone can post his lower offer for the same or even post MM average for your item claiming that your offer is way too high or you're a noob because you don't know item value - then usually starts the flame .
COD should be treated with maximum care, to not loose items due to posting wrong amount of gold. I had such situation when my friend selling me an item this way sent me only item without putting money value in proper place of email. if sending this to random player it's a risk of loosing contact soon after that.

If you want to be part of greatest trading guilds, go to main trading hubs (like Rawl'kha or elden root and check guild names from their traders. Then ask on general chat that you look for this or that guild and if you are lucky someone from that guild will be in this map and will give you invite. If unlucky wait to another time and try again. I found my best guilds this way.
If you are on EU PC, I can inv you for such guilds.

BlitzGirl41

Gargath wrote: »

If you know the item value (have a Master Merchant for average price from your trading guilds transactions), you can spam WTS on general chat if you want to sell out of guild store. Just not spam it too often otherwise you can be ignored. If you choose this way be prepared that after you post your offer in general chat, someone can post his lower offer for the same or even post MM average for your item claiming that your offer is way too high or you're a noob because you don't know item value - then usually starts the flame .
COD should be treated with maximum care, to not loose items due to posting wrong amount of gold. I had such situation when my friend selling me an item this way sent me only item without putting money value in proper place of email. if sending this to random player it's a risk of loosing contact soon after that.

If you want to be part of greatest trading guilds, go to main trading hubs (like Rawl'kha or elden root and check guild names from their traders. Then ask on general chat that you look for this or that guild and if you are lucky someone from that guild will be in this map and will give you invite. If unlucky wait to another time and try again. I found my best guilds this way.
If you are on EU PC, I can inv you for such guilds.

Eesh, this all sounds way too complicated. I do have no way of knowing how much an item goes for that a normal merchant gives nothing for. Way too many hoops to jump through, just to get a little gold... This is why I prefer WoW and GW2 in terms of selling items. Why does it need to be complicated at all? I'd only really be in a guild in case I ever need to sell something, but I am not hard-core player.

wayfarerx

BlitzGirl41 wrote: »

Gargath wrote: »

If you know the item value (have a Master Merchant for average price from your trading guilds transactions), you can spam WTS on general chat if you want to sell out of guild store. Just not spam it too often otherwise you can be ignored. If you choose this way be prepared that after you post your offer in general chat, someone can post his lower offer for the same or even post MM average for your item claiming that your offer is way too high or you're a noob because you don't know item value - then usually starts the flame .
COD should be treated with maximum care, to not loose items due to posting wrong amount of gold. I had such situation when my friend selling me an item this way sent me only item without putting money value in proper place of email. if sending this to random player it's a risk of loosing contact soon after that.

If you want to be part of greatest trading guilds, go to main trading hubs (like Rawl'kha or elden root and check guild names from their traders. Then ask on general chat that you look for this or that guild and if you are lucky someone from that guild will be in this map and will give you invite. If unlucky wait to another time and try again. I found my best guilds this way.
If you are on EU PC, I can inv you for such guilds.

Eesh, this all sounds way too complicated. I do have no way of knowing how much an item goes for that a normal merchant gives nothing for. Way too many hoops to jump through, just to get a little gold... This is why I prefer WoW and GW2 in terms of selling items. Why does it need to be complicated at all? I'd only really be in a guild in case I ever need to sell something, but I am not hard-core player.

It's really not all that bad. If you just want an outlet to sell a few things you don't need a trader in Rawl'kha, you can get sales from even out of the way traders.

@Gargath mentioned the Master Merchant addon, it will automatically index the sales from any guilds you are in to give you an idea what items go for packaged nicely in the item tool tip as well as set sane default prices when you go to sell something.

The reason we have this somewhat complex system of guilds and traders is to prevent rich players from completely dominating the market with a global auction house. I think it works pretty well in that regard.

Nestor

BlitzGirl41 wrote: »

Eesh, this all sounds way too complicated. I do have no way of knowing how much an item goes for that a normal merchant gives nothing for. Way too many hoops to jump through, just to get a little gold... This is why I prefer WoW and GW2 in terms of selling items. Why does it need to be complicated at all? I'd only really be in a guild in case I ever need to sell something, but I am not hard-core player.

Before I used any addons for the marketplace, I would just shop some kiosks and see what things were listed for in a few of them, and then price accordingly. Note, pay attention to the number of days it is listed, a higher price that sits there for weeks is not what you want, unless it is a rare item.

As for COD, it can be tricky as it is easy to send gold with the item rather than ask for a gold to be sent back they get it. There is always a COD fee on any COD transaction, and the amount goes up as the price goes up. Negotiate with the buyer ahead of time if they are going to cover the COD fee or not. Then it is a simple matter to add some gold to the requested amount to cover the fee. I have to put a couple of different amounts in to get it right, but it is a percentage of the sale price.

BlitzGirl41

wayfarerx wrote: »

BlitzGirl41 wrote: »

Gargath wrote: »

If you know the item value (have a Master Merchant for average price from your trading guilds transactions), you can spam WTS on general chat if you want to sell out of guild store. Just not spam it too often otherwise you can be ignored. If you choose this way be prepared that after you post your offer in general chat, someone can post his lower offer for the same or even post MM average for your item claiming that your offer is way too high or you're a noob because you don't know item value - then usually starts the flame .
COD should be treated with maximum care, to not loose items due to posting wrong amount of gold. I had such situation when my friend selling me an item this way sent me only item without putting money value in proper place of email. if sending this to random player it's a risk of loosing contact soon after that.

If you want to be part of greatest trading guilds, go to main trading hubs (like Rawl'kha or elden root and check guild names from their traders. Then ask on general chat that you look for this or that guild and if you are lucky someone from that guild will be in this map and will give you invite. If unlucky wait to another time and try again. I found my best guilds this way.
If you are on EU PC, I can inv you for such guilds.

Eesh, this all sounds way too complicated. I do have no way of knowing how much an item goes for that a normal merchant gives nothing for. Way too many hoops to jump through, just to get a little gold... This is why I prefer WoW and GW2 in terms of selling items. Why does it need to be complicated at all? I'd only really be in a guild in case I ever need to sell something, but I am not hard-core player.

It's really not all that bad. If you just want an outlet to sell a few things you don't need a trader in Rawl'kha, you can get sales from even out of the way traders.

@Gargath mentioned the Master Merchant addon, it will automatically index the sales from any guilds you are in to give you an idea what items go for packaged nicely in the item tool tip as well as set sane default prices when you go to sell something.

The reason we have this somewhat complex system of guilds and traders is to prevent rich players from completely dominating the market with a global auction house. I think it works pretty well in that regard.

One thing I will say is that I am not comfortable putting addons to any of my video games regardless of system (PC and console), so it's kind of sad when many people in the game were telling me to use it.

All the different NPC merchants I went to would give me no gold for the Khajit cultural motif. That's the situation I want to avoid, but without going through complicated hoops to get something for an item I don't need that nonetheless should be worth something.

PhxOldGamer68

Not all Guilds will have a Guild Trader since hiring a Guild Trader is acquired through a bidding process every week. There are BIG trading guilds that pay millions of gold for the same Guild Trader location every week. Its members are high level crafters or high level players with lots of excess stuff to sell.

If you're in a guild that does not have a Guild Trader, but has enough members to open a Guild Store, then the Guild Store can be accessed through the Bank. Guild members can browse, sell and buy.

The guilds I belong to do not have any Guild Traders, but I have sold and bought through our Guild Store at the Bank.

Gargath

BlitzGirl41 wrote: »

One thing I will say is that I am not comfortable putting addons to any of my video games regardless of system (PC and console), so it's kind of sad when many people in the game were telling me to use it.

All the different NPC merchants I went to would give me no gold for the Khajit cultural motif. That's the situation I want to avoid, but without going through complicated hoops to get something for an item I don't need that nonetheless should be worth something.

First, most popular addons in ESO (and MM is one of these) works nice without major problems. They can be easily downloaded just by few clicks and managed by external software - I recommend Minion. From time to time you just open Minion to check if any updates are needed to continue smooth working of the addons, just click update and it's done, usually after greater game patches.
Addons make this game working in much more convenient way. Not only with MM for trading, Research Assistant for researching traits on gears, Undiscovered for showing on map where to go and what to discover just to save some of your precious time, and many many more. Like an addon which shows on map all skyshards locations, so you can have more skill points faster way.

Second, NPC merchants are useful only if you want to sell trash items, like unused single trait or basic motifs stones or cheap looted gears of white/green quality or gears without traits you don't want to deconstruct, because you have a full sack, you saw a merchant in the wild and want to quickly get rid of useless stuff to prepare space for more. A Khajit cultural motif is something that other players could use, so why not offering them instead of giving to merchant. Some items are worthless and sell with zero gold, some are more valued, like soulgems - if you check the value of grand soulgem on it's tool tip you can compare with prices in guild stores - they are similar (~30g/pc).

Third, this what guild you will choose will reflect on your further sales. Guilds without trader won't give you much gold, since players in such guilds aren't frequent buyers/sellers, they play usually for fun, quest, dungs, or pvp (accoring to my impression), but not for trading. Next, guilds with traders in the wild, gives also very little profit since sales are rare and trader in random location you find while questing only isn't generating much profit. Next, guilds with traders in main cities generate nice profit since many players visit those areas very often for crafting stations or bank etc, and check their stores. Profit here can however depend from certain areas, like those available only for DLC players, guilds having traders in Orsinium, which is out of access for non-subscribers/without DLC - profit is significantly less than from traders located in areas available for everyone. Last, guilds with traders in main trading hubs, like already mentioned Rawl'kha or Elden Root, if you go there in peak time you will see the difference - they generate greatest profit and what is even more important - their items sells the fastest. Because imho short time it takes to sell an item is the most precious benefit of a good trader.
If you log in game and find you didn't sell much because of poor located trader, maybe you sold 2 or 3 items, you say ok and you start to play. After few hours you have plenty of new items to sell, but you don't have only these 2-3 slots in store, since your previous items didn't sell yet. In best guilds instead of these none to 2-3 slots free you will have 10-15 or more free slots each day you log in, and for me it's the main difference between traders .