How Runescape Grand Exchange Works

The Grand Exchange in Runescape is set to become the most prominent marketplace in the game. Many players have listed large quantities of items at minimum price and forced the market price of most items downwards. This should not cause players to panic sell and further exacerbate the downward price spiral.

A basic overview how the grand exchange works can be summarized below:

1. Runescape members have 6 grand exchange trading slots while f2p players have 2 exchange slots available to list items to buy or sell.

2. Any items listed to sell on the grand exchange will be able to be bought by players on ANY runescape world - either member server or f2p server. Obviously, players on f2p worlds will only be able to buy f2p items.

3. All bids will remain active even when a player has logged offline. This means players can make money when they are asleep, provided their items make it to the front of the queue.

4. Once a batch of items reaches the front of the queue, they will continue to sell in bits and pieces until the entire listed amount is sold - or until the player aborts the bid.

5. The item prices are revised each day and will either increase or decrease depending on the average price of each item sold. Prices will never fall below what a general store will pay for them and will increase if players are willing to buy higher than the listed market price at the time.

The process:

1. A seller chooses the lowest price they are willing to sell for, a buyer chooses the highest price they are willing to spend.

2. If there are no buyers for the price the seller wants, it is placed into a queue until there is a buyer willing to meet the sellers price.

3. If there are no sellers when a buyer submits their bid, that is also placed into a queue until there is a seller willing to match the buyers price.

4. Items in the runescape grand exchange will therefore sell immediately on some occasions but not for several hours (or days) on other occasions. It really does depend on the supply and demand for each specific runescape item.

5. Each time a player alters their bid on the grand exchange, either by removing it to price it higher or to price it lower, their new bid will be put at the back of the queue. If an item is slow to sell in general, this could mean a very long wait before being able to sell it. The best strategy is to place your initial bid and either wait for a seller to match it or if you are selling an item, wait for a buyer to match the price you listed at.

6. If the runescape market price of items change by +5% or -5%, then a player should look at altering their list price in order to be considered a valid bid (IF their bid price was outside the market range).

7. The buyer price will determine who gets items first, while the sellers will be queued in the order they listed their items. For example, if Player A listed items for sale at minimum price, Player B at maximum price and Player C at market price. Then player D bid on those items at maximum price, the items would be bought from Player A as they had placed their items on the market first. In this case, Player D would receive the item they wanted PLUS change as the actual price paid was lower than the price requested.

Similarly, if Player D had opted to buy at the lowest price, they would still buy the item from Player A as it was the first listed on the exchange. However, no change would be due in this scenario.

The market price of the items sold in the first example (Player D bidding maximum price), could result in prices for that item increasing, while in the second example (Player D bidding minimum price), would result in the market price being lowered when it updated.

Overall, it is the average buying price bid by a player that will impact on the daily updating price as players may not be able to sell items even when they are listed at minimum price if there is no demand for that item. It is basic economics behind the runescape pricing system, the law of supply and demand.

There are several mechanisms built into the runescape grand exchange system to prevent price manipulation and therefore in the long run, runescape prices should find their natural price.