Merching vs flipping: two ways to trade the GE
Flipping earns the spread over hours; merching bets on a price rise over days. How they differ in risk, tax and what you need to know.
Offerbook · Published · 3 min read
Flipping and merching both buy low and sell high, but they make money in different ways. Flipping earns the spread between buyers and sellers right now, over minutes or hours. Merching bets that an item's price will rise over days or weeks. They need different habits, and mixing them up is a common way to lose gp.
Side by side
- Where the profit comes from. Flipping: the gap between the instant-buy and instant-sell price. Merching: the price going up.
- How long you hold. Flipping: until your sell offer fills, often within hours. Merching: days to weeks.
- What you need to know. Flipping: live prices, tax, volume and buy limits. Merching: what is coming to the game and how players will react.
- How it goes wrong. Flipping: the margin closes before you sell, usually a small loss. Merching: the price never rises, and the loss can be large.
The tax hits them differently
Both pay 2% on the sale. For a flip that is a large share of a small margin, so the tax decides which flips work at all. For a merch it is a small share of a larger move, but it still means the price has to rise by more than 2% before you are even.
What is moving today
Big daily moves are where merchers look. The list below is the largest 24-hour changes with real volume behind them.
| Item | Mid price | 24h | Traded 24h |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanfew serum(3) | 74,841 gp | +3.7% | 1,611 |
| Amulet of strength | 1,023 gp | +1.4% | 102,859 |
| Farseer helm | 72,454 gp | +1.0% | 503 |
| Uncooked dragonfruit pie | 1,665 gp | -0.7% | 21,620 |
| Mind altar teleport (tablet) | 3,073 gp | -0.4% | 16,709 |
| Amethyst bolt tips | 113 gp | -0.3% | 483,805 |
Which one to do
Flipping is the steadier of the two, and it is what Offerbook is built for: every number is a live, after-tax margin. If you merch, do it with gp you will not need for a while, and do not hold a flip that went wrong in the hope it becomes a merch. For live flips see Today's flips; for price moves see Pulse and the market indices.
Offerbook is gp only and has nothing to do with real-world trading. Prices move, so nothing here is a promise of profit. Every trade is one you make yourself in game.