PC's trading in items

[painandgreed]

Yes, but you are selling them to a GEM MERCHANT. His livlehood is selling GEMS. He can't buy gems at their full value & then turn around and sell them at that same price. The merchant's got to eat.

Well, according to the RAW, they are both bought and sold at the same value but the gem merchant is assumed to be buying them cheap enough and selling high enough to make a profit that is not worth dealing with in normal game play. I don't buy it personally and typically let people sell such things at half price. Another explanation is that gems and precious stones are a set commodity like precious metals and are traded like money. Nobody deals in just gems but rather they are used as standard money between jewelers who make jewelry out of them, gem merchants who cut them to make them more valuable, and adventurers and nobles who need money in a lighter form than gold. The economy simply isn't strong enough to speculate on gems themselves if there isn't some sort of value added service associated with them.

 

[ARandomGod]

Gems are trade goods and should technically sell for their listed price (PH, pg 112, under Selling Loot). However, without appraise ranks, a character really
wouldn't know what that price is, and the gem merchants need not be too reliable.

I vote this way. Gems are trade goods, sold at full price. Just like you can trade in silver for gold, and gold for plat, you can trade in silver/gold/plat for gems. In fact, in a barter society like 3.X is supposedly set in, this was a very common occurance.

Well, it's not just gems or jewelry either. Fallen opponents have crossbows, longbows, different armor types, etc...

I'm also trying to encourage people to stop using charisma as a dump stat without realizing that there are consequences.

Now, for OTHER things, like weapons/armor, artwork, etc, either a flat 50% or something to do with diplomancy (or maybe bluff, for special occasions). But gems? Gems are just another form of cash.

Now, of cousre, if it's a gem studded goblet that's "worth" 1500 and has 500 in gems and 100 in metals, they can certainly melt it down for the full 600, or they can trade it in at 1/2 of it's worked value and get 750.

We'd save that pearl for an Identify component I think

Ha! That's the first thing I thought too!

 

[JoeGKushner]

I vote this way. Gems are trade goods, sold at full price. Just like you can trade in silver for gold, and gold for plat, you can trade in silver/gold/plat for gems. In fact, in a barter society like 3.X is supposedly set in, this was a very common occurance.

As a side note, I don't let the players trade silver/gold/platinum between those currencies without some charge either. I see it as taking the time from the merchant. If you want to travel light and buy gems and jewelry to do so, chances are you better use 'em as gifts. If you want to change gold to platinum, I usually use a 10% flat fee.

Yeah, I'm micro-managing too much. On the other hand, I tend to give up a bit of treasure too so don't feel that I'm robing the players.

 

[Diremede]

I would say that the best thing to do in these situations is to see what the characters plan to do with the things that they have. If they simply plan on walking into ye old blacksmith and getting market value for weapons and armor they have scavanged, then they are thinking wrong, I stick to 50%. This pretty much goes for any items that the PC's have unless its rare or highly desired.

If my players actually try to take these items to market and either barter with a merchant for a different item or try to sell them outright on the market I let them use their social skills to determine the end result. Of course if their social skills suck then, they are probably better off taking the 50% and cut their losses.

In either case it really depends on how you run your game. If you like to roleplay out these little scenerios than I would encourage my players to sell the items in the market and try to haggle as best they can. If your gaming group doesn't like to role play these scenerios or you as the DM don't want to waste your time on them and like to stick to the other more interesting role playing aspects such as the main plot, then perhaps a happy median can be reached such as 65% or something of that nature.

I tend to keep my players rather poor so they tend to see the value in most items they come across and they try to maximize on their loot at every opportunity.

 

[EdL]

We'd save that pearl for an Identify component I think

Absolutely! My first thought when reading the original post was: "Are these characters insane, or just really dumb?" At worst, you trade it in for an Identify to be cast, plus whatever the caster charges in addition to the price of the pearl. (In other words, not the best gem to use for this questiion. )

As for the actual question, half price if they just sell it to the first person they deal with. If they do some actual roleplaying (specifying that they are looking for the best place to sell it), they'll get more. +/- appraise, diplomacy, etc.

 

[Chaldfont]

I'd rather spend more time adventuring and less time shopping, so this is what I do as a DM.

* Gems, jewelry, art, etc are sold at face value. I think this is RAW.
* Magic items and other mundane goods are sold at 50% market price.
* Magic items from the DMG can be purchased at market price (with each market having a gp limit)
* Magic items can be improved (+1 dagger -> +2 dagger) at market price.
* Sometimes magic items can be traded for other magic items worth equal value.

Appraisal: If someone in the party has full ranks in Appraise skill, they get full value. If they do not, they might get hosed by the merchant (but most often they do not).

Expensive material components/raw materials for creating magic items: Players don't have to explicitly buy these. When they need them, they have them--just mark off the gold. We just assume the PC bought this stuff between adventures. I, as DM, retain the right to deny a PC a component if it makes sense.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

* Gems, jewelry, art, etc are sold at face value. I think this is RAW.

Sorry,

I just can't do this other than in 1-shots.

For Example:

PC 1 finds a 1,000 GP Ruby. He goes to town and sells it to a Gem Merchant for the Face Value (1,000 GP).

Several Week Pass.

PC 2 goes into town looking for a 1,000 GP Gem. Goes to above Gem Merchant. Mercahnt sells him the Ruby for 1,000 GP. Merchant makes 0 gold. I can't do that. It makes no sense. According to the RAW these merchants NEVER make a profit. That just doesn't happen. Merchants have to have a mark-up. That's a simple rule. I keep haggling to a minimum, but the PC's never get full market value for their items.

Take something valued at 1,000 dollars & take it to a pawn shop. See how much you get. Frequently that's what PC's are trying to do: liquidate assets. It's hard to get full value.

I'm aware of this & plan accordingly when I give out treasure.

 

[Aeric]

I do list price for gems and art objects, 50% list price for gear and magic items. There are far more exciting things to do in D&D than haggle over the price of a goblet!

 

[Mystery Man]

I do list price for gems and art objects, 50% list price for gear and magic items. There are far more exciting things to do in D&D than haggle over the price of a goblet!

Damn skippy! But that axiomatic dwarven waraxe of shocking burst isn't going to go cheap.

 

[The_Universe]

The way I see it, PCs are not gem consumers, they are gem suppliers. As such, the value of the gem listed in the DMG is what a Gem merchant would pay to take it off their hands. Of course, if they wanted to buy a gem from that same gem merchant, they could expect to pay more than its listed value - a diplomacy check to bargain may make that markup higher or lower, depending on the level of success/failure.

I see it that way for a couple of reasons - Primarily, because that's how the core rules says it should be handled. Secondarily, I do it that way because while I have had PCs attempt to change gems to money innumerable times, I have had characters attempt to buy a gem a grand total of once, ever.