Guide 04 of 20
Buying and Selling
Trading in Merchant Miles is about margin, timing and information. A low purchase price only matters if somebody will buy the goods before travel, permits and spoilage consume the profit.
Buying goods
Goods may come from public stock, producers, wholesalers or auctions. Each source has different levels of certainty, freshness and price. See Sources of Goods.
When you place a purchase order, the displayed unit price is fixed for that order. Removing stock can affect the town's supply and change the next quoted price, but it cannot change the price halfway through the order you already confirmed.
Before buying, check:
- Unit price and total cost
- Available quantity
- Freshness
- Barrel space
- Political limits or bans
- Your remaining coins after permits and travel
Selling to customers
You set a pricing stance for each barrel rather than typing an arbitrary number. The stance is calculated from the current town's fair market price.
- Low asks less and is easier to sell.
- Fair follows the town's current valuation.
- High asks more but makes customers more reluctant.
Price sensitivity matters. Even demanded goods are not guaranteed to sell, and an aggressive price can reduce quantities, invite negotiation or cause the customer to walk away.
The agreed price is final for that order
The price shown on a customer's shopping list is the leading price for that sale. When you accept, the total is the listed quantity multiplied by that agreed unit price. A later market-price movement does not rewrite an existing order.
Counteroffers above your posted price are rejected automatically because they do not represent a meaningful bargain.
How trading changes the town
Buying removes goods from the local supply. Selling adds goods back. Large trades therefore push prices more strongly than small ones:
- Buying heavily can make later purchases more expensive.
- Selling into a shortage can lower the price as the need is resolved.
- Oversupplying a town can make additional stock difficult to sell.
The effect can occur during the same market day.
Know your real margin
Use the Purchases/Sales section of the Merchant Notebook to see what you paid. The Goods pages record the last fair price observed in visited towns, but that figure may be outdated. After the market, use the Market Report to judge the complete result.
The safest rule is simple: never spend every coin merely because the stock looks cheap.