What Exactly is OSRS GE?
GE (The Grand Exchange) is at the core of RuneScape’s economy. It helps drive player trade, keeps the flow of gameplay running smoothly and modern day RuneScape wouldn’t be the same without it. In fact, the RuneScape Grand Exchange is currently in both RuneScape 3 and Old School RuneScape (OSRS), but there was a time where it wasn’t in the game at all.
Player trading was vastly different: trades between players were the only way to buy and sell. Banks were often filled with players offering their items, and the price of items was very loosely based upon a player-ran economy. The Grand Exchange certainly streamlines and automates the whole process. In this article, we take a look at when the Grand Exchange was first introduced, how it works, and how players can make the absolute most out of it.
Table of Contents
What’s RuneScape GE (Grand Exchange)?
There are lots to learn about the Grand Exchange. Before we get into the mechanics and algorithms, let’s first take a look at how the origins of the Grand Exchange operate.
Grand Exchange Introduction
The Grand Exchange was introduced to RuneScape way back in 2007. On November 26, 2007, the trading system was added to RuneScape initially as a method to combat real world trading.
Jagex has since upgraded the Grand Exchange, and it’s now the center of a fast-flowing player controlled economy. It doesn’t give players quite the same amount of control over their prices as the old trading system did, but it still gives players some control over what prices they set.
The prices are reflective of the current supply and demand of items in Gielinor. Prices often fluctuate massively in response to different updates or gameplay changes. Prices also fluctuate slightly over time naturally.
Where’s the Grand Exchange?
The Grand Exchange is located in Varrock, at the northwest side of the city. Players can also access the Grand Exchange from three other locations:
- The Tower of Voices (Prifddinas)
- The Max Guild (Prifddinas)
- The Merchant District (Menaphos)
How Does the Grand Exchange Work?
The Grand Exchange is fairly simple to use. Players can right click a Grand Exchange NPC and click “exchange” to open the GE user interface. From there, players can search for items or sell items from their inventory. A lot is going on behind the scenes to keep the Grand Exchange running smoothly. We’ve listed more detailed information about the GE below.
The Tools Grand Exchange Users Must Use
Everybody has access to the same tools at the same time as using the Grand Exchange, although members do have more flexibility when it comes to buying and selling items. Essentially, everybody in RuneScape 3 and OSRS has a limited number of “Grand Exchange slots.” Each of these slots can hold a buy or sell request. Usually, items buy and sell quite quickly, so the limited number of slots doesn’t hinder gameplay massively.
However, if you’re looking to buy less frequently used items, or you’re trying to list more expensive items at a price slightly cheaper than the suggested market place, waiting for your item to buy or sell can take longer. For this reason, the eight slots Members get over the three slots F2P players get can often be worthwhile.
Understanding Minimum and Maximum Prices
In both versions of RuneScape, items on the Grand Exchange have a constant fluctuation in price. You can imagine it like the stock market. Prices move up and down as supply and demand for items changes.
Since prices can change so frequently, there’s never a direct way for the Grand Exchange to set a single price. Instead, the Grand Exchange offers a middle-of-the-line guide price. When looking for an item, you can choose the guideline price, then add more or take away from that item price in 5% increments. Usually, if an item isn’t moving, you can add 5-10 percent if you’re buying or take away 5-10 percent if you’re selling to get the transaction completed sooner.
Grand Exchange Buy and Sell Limits
To stop players from manipulating the market, there are some buy and sell limits on the Grand Exchange. In most cases, you won’t have any issues with these limits. The limits vary depending on the type of item being bought and sold. The limits are refreshed every four hours. The limits are usually lower for more valuable items. Armor, for example, has a limit of roughly 100-500 depending on the type of armor. Rarer armor, like Dragon, has a limit of 10. Consumable items, such as logs of any type, have a limit of 25,000.
RuneScape 3 and OSRS Differences
There aren’t many differences between the Grand Exchange. Expectedly, the prices for the same items are often different between both versions of the game. This is because both games have their separate economy and separate supply and demand for items.
On OSRS, some items cannot be purchased by F2P players until their account is either 24 hours old or after they have received 7 quest points. This restriction doesn’t apply to RuneScape 3. The additional Grand Exchange slots for members apply to both OSRS and Runescape 3.
Using the Grand Exchange to Make Money
Even as Jagex tries to stop price manipulation, there are methods available to play the market and make some profit. In RuneScape, this is known as “merching,” and it often involves buying items for a lower price and then selling them for a higher price. There is a considerable amount of risk involved, and it takes some additional knowledge about how the Grand Exchange works when it comes to finding the current going price for different items.
There are two major ways to use “merching” to make a profit:
- Buy items at a lower price, wait for them to be purchased, and then immediately sell them at a higher price. The process can be repeated.
- Buy items in anticipation for a price change. Just before an update or a bonus XP weekend. Players will stock up on valuable items and then sell them when their demand increases.
Both of these methods can work well to help a player make a considerable amount of profit. The amount of profit a player can make is often dependant on how much they can invest. The ins and outs of “merching” will take some time to explain, so we’ll leave that for another article.
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Summary
So, that wraps up our overview of the Grand Exchange in RuneScape 3 and Old School RuneScape. If you’re a new player, you should hopefully have a good understanding of how the system works.
