How does the Guild Trader system work? What things are bought and sold?

kelthehero · March 2020

Hey gang, I'm a long-time Elder Scrolls player but this is my first deep dive into an MMORPG.

I understand how to join a guild - though figuring out which one is difficult - some of those people need to get a life and try doing business in the real world! ;-)

I've gone up to a few guild traders (of which I am obviously not a member). I "look" at their inventory and it is empty. WTW??? (What The What, trying to keep a G rating here.)

I did look for a recent explanation, description of guilds and how they operate and only found something from almost 3 years ago. So thought I'd see if anyone can provide some more recent information.

Thanks very much!
Kelthehero

VaranisArano · March 2020

Shopping at a Guild Trader: navigate to the Guild Store, where you should see a list of categories along with a search bar. Use those categories or the search bar to look for specific items. You'll need to "search" to see the items - the keybind to do that should be at the bottom of the screen.

Using a Guild Trader:
1. Join a Guild that has a trader
2. Travel to any banker and access the Guild Store for that guild
3. You'll see three options: Browse, Sell, and Listings. Browse lets you shop at that guild trader. Sell lets you list up to 30 items for sale. Listings shows the items you currently have for sale.

What's for sale:
Pretty much everything that isn't "Bind on Pickup" can be found in Guild Traders. Gear, weapons, crafting materials, consumables...if it can be traded, you can sell it.

Eifleber · March 2020

kelthehero wrote: »

I've gone up to a few guild traders (of which I am obviously not a member). I "look" at their inventory and it is empty. WTW??? (What The What, trying to keep a G rating here.)

I had the same issue. You must press "R" to execute a search.

ghastley · March 2020

It's actually the opposite of empty. A guild trader has so much stuff, you need to select a category, or enter a search term, before the UI can handle it all. Even then, it will only show a certain amount before it separates things into pages.

As for items for sale, if you look at an item in your inventory, and it's marked "Bound" (or any variant), then it can't be sold. Some things, like player-crafted equipment, become bound only when first worn (Bind on Equip), so they can be sold up to that point, but not after. Some are "Bind on Pickup" so as soon as you loot it, or claim it as a reward, it becomes bound. Unless it's marked "Character Bound" you can still bank it, or store it, and another of your own characters can use it. All the rest, equipment, ingredients, materials, potions and poisons, etc. can be sold. The cheap stuff is often sold in multiples, up to the 100 or 200 stack limit for an inventory slot.

El_Borracho · March 2020

If you are joining a guild for the sole purpose of selling items, there are many out there. Most of the successful ones require a weekly dues which is used to bid on the best locations around the game to sell stuff. Most charge between 5-10K a week. Some of the longer, well-established trading guilds can charge above 20K a week. Most encourage you to keep your sales inventory slots full as selling items also makes the guild money.

It sounds painfully obvious, but I would encourage you to look into guilds before joining them. See how long they have been around, where their guild trader is, number of members, etc. If they are 50 people and their trader is off in the wilderness, its probably a waste of time and money. You want to join a guild that commonly has traders in the major cities, or the group in Craglorn. Those get the most traffic and you will have the best chance at making sales. Also, I think 20K a week is steep, unless you are really into trading. Then it is a bargain as you will make that back routinely, especially if your trader is in a place like Mournhold or one of the other capital cities.

kelthehero · March 2020

Thanks all! I *think* I get it. I'll try to buy from a guild trader again. I am inferring from some of your statements that the guild traders could be selling *anything*: ingredients, glyphs, armor, weapons, underwear... So I'll see what I can find.

Danikat · March 2020

El_Borracho wrote: »

If they are 50 people and their trader is off in the wilderness, its probably a waste of time and money.

IMO that's only the case if they're also charging fees to join (especially if they're trying to charge the same rates as the hardcore trading guilds). I'm currently in two guilds who have traders - one in a DLC map and one wherever we can get, usually one of the (formerly) low level maps. The stuff I list always sells, on both traders. Admittedly I'm not making thousands of gold a week like some people, but since I'm not farming anything and just selling whatever excess recipes, materials and other stuff I happen to pick up I wouldn't be making that much no matter where the trader is.

Since they're both primarily social guilds with less expensive traders they don't charge fees for being a member, so the only cost is the tax taken from the sale itself, and since I'm selling stuff for way above what an NPC merchant would pay I'm still making far more gold than I would otherwise, for basically nothing more than selling stuff through a slightly more complicated menu.

fred4 · March 2020

In terms of fees and selling stuff, platforms tend to differ quite a lot. I have been in a 500-member (the limit) trade / social guild on PC EU which maintains a trader in Shimmerene most weeks with no dues and no sales targets. On PC NA, on the other hand, I don't think such a guild exists. It's the smaller platform by trade volume, but sales targets and dues are through the roof, compared to EU.

There are a couple of reasons for joining a large trading guild who maintain a trader in a good location. Speed of sales and better statistics for the Master Merchant and Arkadius Trade Tools addons are two. A guild hall with all crafting stations, transmute station and mundus stones is another.

Many guilds require you to meet a weekly sales target or to pay dues as an alternative. I would not join one that flat out requires dues. I'd join one that requires a sales target I can currently meet and gradually work myself up in the game. The things that always sell and generate a lot of gold are primarily gold materials. Sources of those include doing your daily crafting writs or PvPing in Imperial City.

My personal criteria for a trading guild include:

* Membership close to limit (500)
* Trader in a city, not in the middle of nowhere and not in an Outlaw Refuge
* History of maintaining the trader
* Guild hall with all amenities
* No dues, but reasonable weekly trade requirements are OK (varies by platform)

Nestor · March 2020

One thing to keep in mind, Guild Traders are either a way to shed excess inventory and get some gold in return or an entre into the sub game of Playing the Economy. So, figure what you want to do before you go too far.

If you are just shedding inventory, dont worry about getting the best trading spot, just find a guild that gets a trader on a regular basis. A large number or other wise social guilds do just this. If you sell for more than vendor prices, your ahead of the game.

If your looking to play the economy, then that can be a full time game in and of itself. Then you have to kow tow to all the guild requirements. Dues, sales targets, slot limits etc. Which can mean you spend all of your time farming things to sell.

Me, i do the Social Guild route. I have made millions from using Social Guild Traders. I did the Premier Trade Guild thing a for a while. Keeping up with the requirements made the game a chore. I made more money than the social guilds, but not enough to justify the hassle.

fred4 · March 2020

If you are on your first character, questing , you don't have much need for a trading guild, because the content is so easy. On the other hand I levelled a character on another platform with the sole purpose of getting to endgame. I sorely missed having a trading guild in the first few days. The first 100K of gold you make are extremely valuable in that situation. I suppose I could have asked someone for a favor, but I didn't. I got a pricey gold motif drop during an event, got a trading guild, sold it and bought my first set of Julianos training gear.

kelthehero · March 2020

fred4 wrote: »

If you are on your first character, questing , you don't have much need for a trading guild, because the content is so easy. On the other hand I levelled a character on another platform with the sole purpose of getting to endgame. I sorely missed having a trading guild in the first few days. The first 100K of gold you make are extremely valuable in that situation. I suppose I could have asked someone for a favor, but I didn't. I got a pricey gold motif drop during an event, got a trading guild, sold it and bought my first set of Julianos training gear.

And there, Sir fred4, is the problem in a nutshell. I only understood about 1/3 of what you talked about. There are SO MANY things hitting me beyond just playing the game. It is daunting.

That said, thank you (all) for your input. I have successfully purchased from a guild merchant and feel very proud of myself in doing so! ;-D

kelthehero · March 2020

Eifleber wrote: »

kelthehero wrote: »

I've gone up to a few guild traders (of which I am obviously not a member). I "look" at their inventory and it is empty. WTW??? (What The What, trying to keep a G rating here.)

I had the same issue. You must press "R" to execute a search.

BTW - Eifleber FOR THE WIN! Hitting the magic "R" made inventory appear. Couldn't see an obvious direction to do so. THANKS Eifleber!