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Selling Magic Items
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<blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 454959" data-attributes="member: 3051"><p>It varies with the item, the city, the CHA of the seller, how much they roleplay, etc.</p><p></p><p>By the DMG guidelines, sell for half. But, that seems more appropriate to mundane items than magical ones.</p><p></p><p>The problem is, a magic item doesn't really LOSE value as it gets older; it's still just as magical. That +3 sword you bought for 18k is still a +3 sword, after all. It's still going to hit just as hard even if it's now "used", so its value hasn't decreased any.</p><p>For some item types, you might not be able to find a buyer. Who'd buy a +1 Goblinbane Keen Longspear? Same goes for a lot of Wondrous items. That'd change the resale value, since you'd have to lower your price to sell it at all. Or, if you want to sell a +5 sword in a small city, you might not find a buyer with enough cash to afford it.</p><p></p><p>But, if I was the one who made the sword, why couldn't I sell it for full value by acting as my own merchant? Or, at least, pay a merchant a small commission to sell it for me. It'd still be worth far more than 50% (which was the cost of the materials I used making it!)</p><p></p><p>You can't sell at full value to a merchant, because if you did there'd be no profit margin for the person you're selling to unless they went over market value. If you could find a buyer on your own, THEN full price would be fine.</p><p></p><p>Here's what I do IMC.</p><p></p><p>When dealing with a normal merchant (who doesn't want the item as an item, he wants it as something HE can sell), the rough guideline I use is that the "margin" is (500/CHA) percent, split to each side. That is, if you have a CHA of 10, the merchant sells for 125% and buys for 75% (margin of 50). If you have a CHA of 25, he sells for 110% and buys for 90%. Note that these are percentages of the appraised value, and you could replace the CHA with (CHA + result of opposed Bluff/Sense Motive check)</p><p>Roleplaying can tweak this a bit, but never to the point where the merchant would take a loss.</p><p></p><p>However, there's also a guild in my world, the Circle, that is primarily a magic/psionic items clearinghouse. There, you can do straight trades for magical items. Want to trade a Bag of Holding for a Sunblade? No problem, assuming you can find someone with the item you want and who's willing to equalize the trade with cash.</p><p></p><p>They also have a lot of high-level casters who make items (including a custom PrC), all of which are marked with a magical logo. Items marked this way are guaranteed not to be cursed or intelligent, and if you buy them from a Circle merchant they're sure not to be stolen (no previous owners looking for it; if it WAS stolen and resold back to the guild, they'll replace the item for the original owner). This tends to give them better resale value.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Spatzimaus, post: 454959, member: 3051"] It varies with the item, the city, the CHA of the seller, how much they roleplay, etc. By the DMG guidelines, sell for half. But, that seems more appropriate to mundane items than magical ones. The problem is, a magic item doesn't really LOSE value as it gets older; it's still just as magical. That +3 sword you bought for 18k is still a +3 sword, after all. It's still going to hit just as hard even if it's now "used", so its value hasn't decreased any. For some item types, you might not be able to find a buyer. Who'd buy a +1 Goblinbane Keen Longspear? Same goes for a lot of Wondrous items. That'd change the resale value, since you'd have to lower your price to sell it at all. Or, if you want to sell a +5 sword in a small city, you might not find a buyer with enough cash to afford it. But, if I was the one who made the sword, why couldn't I sell it for full value by acting as my own merchant? Or, at least, pay a merchant a small commission to sell it for me. It'd still be worth far more than 50% (which was the cost of the materials I used making it!) You can't sell at full value to a merchant, because if you did there'd be no profit margin for the person you're selling to unless they went over market value. If you could find a buyer on your own, THEN full price would be fine. Here's what I do IMC. When dealing with a normal merchant (who doesn't want the item as an item, he wants it as something HE can sell), the rough guideline I use is that the "margin" is (500/CHA) percent, split to each side. That is, if you have a CHA of 10, the merchant sells for 125% and buys for 75% (margin of 50). If you have a CHA of 25, he sells for 110% and buys for 90%. Note that these are percentages of the appraised value, and you could replace the CHA with (CHA + result of opposed Bluff/Sense Motive check) Roleplaying can tweak this a bit, but never to the point where the merchant would take a loss. However, there's also a guild in my world, the Circle, that is primarily a magic/psionic items clearinghouse. There, you can do straight trades for magical items. Want to trade a Bag of Holding for a Sunblade? No problem, assuming you can find someone with the item you want and who's willing to equalize the trade with cash. They also have a lot of high-level casters who make items (including a custom PrC), all of which are marked with a magical logo. Items marked this way are guaranteed not to be cursed or intelligent, and if you buy them from a Circle merchant they're sure not to be stolen (no previous owners looking for it; if it WAS stolen and resold back to the guild, they'll replace the item for the original owner). This tends to give them better resale value. [/QUOTE]
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