Buying and Selling
Buying and Selling is one of the most important activities done in Maplestory. Mesos are the currency used in MapleStory and without it you will not get anywhere. This guide will help you with the many problems of Buying and Selling.
Selling - Free Market
The first way to make some mesos is by using the Free Market also known as the FM. When you have something of value (example: ores, rare equipments, quest items) which you don't need, save these in your inventory and sell these in the Free Market. Note that channel one can give a lot of lag. This process of selling in the FM can be quite stressful, though. There are many scammers, "noobs", and other users who can take advantage of you, so be careful. When you have something you want to sell, make sure you follow these steps.
How to Sell
- Price Check. Check the average price of your item. You can ask a friend, use MapleStory Help Sites (such as MapleTip or Basilmarket - a site used just for buying/selling MapleStory items), or just use the NPC x1.5 Method. This method requires you to go into any store, double click on the NPC (Non-Player Character) Shop-owner who's there, and check to see how much they will buy your item for. Now, just multiply their price by 1.5. This works for some items, but not all though, so be careful. Since the shop usually buys the items for 1/2 the price it is bought, you would basically be selling the item for 75% of its total value. Some items such as snowboards and other event items may only sell at one meso at the shops so use your common sense and check at a site. Usually, if sold at shops for one meso, it is an event item.
- Find a FM. Now you know the price of your item, let's sell it! You must now find a Free Market portal. These are located in: Henesys, Perion, El Nath, Aqua Road, Ludibrium, Omega Sector, Showa Town and Orbis. When you get to the town, enter into the large blue-oval portal, find a good spot to advertise and sell.
Note that there is only one FM in a channel. This basically means that the Henesys, Perion El Nath (etc) Free Market portals lead to one place. Tip: Make sure to use either Channel 1 or 2 when selling in the free market. Most people have established the first two channels as the unofficial location of the "Main" Free Market. Other channels are typically used for private trades arranged ahead of time.
- Create a Catchy Message. When selling something, you'll need to make your item's advertisement stand out from the rest of the crowds', or at least be noticeable. There are several ways to do this:
- Use @. After you've created your selling message, insert in as many "@" signs as you can fit in your message. This will raise up your speech bubble, so it can be seen above the smaller speech bubbles. Or, when there's a load of people doing this, don't use the @ sign, or use less @ signs so yours stands out among the smaller speech bubbles. However, many people may get annoyed if you keep on typing it in every moment.
- Ducking and Jumping. If many people have taller messages, try ducking under their speech bubbles (using the down arrow) to show yours. Or if there are not too many people broadcasting tall bubbles, try to jump above messages.
- Advertising Spots. If you are lucky, you can find a space where no one is advertising. Take this spot so people will be able to see your speech bubble clearly. These occurrences are rare on channel one.
- Retyping. The most important tip - do not advertise just once. When you do not get a trade request right away, retype the message, or, when you are able to type, press the UP arrow to get to your last message - presumably your advertisement. Keeping doing it until you get a request. If no one buys for a while, the problem could be that you set the price too high. Try lowering the price a bit.
Note: If you type the same thing too many times, or give too many messages, a popup appears telling you that your messaging system has been disabled for a few seconds. Try to wait to the last second possible before your speech bubble disappears and you have to type again or make your messages slightly different, add a full stop (a period) or take away an '@'.
This is not all you need to successfully sell an item on the FM though - you need to know some FM lingo.
Free-Market Vocabulary
People who frequently use the FM, or trade with people a lot, know the FM slang (FM talk). However, as a beginner, you may not be able to figure it all out (though they are mostly abbreviations). So, here are some of the more important FM terms.
- Message Beginners
- S> means 'selling'. Look for this when buying items, or to compare prices. (EX: S> snowpieces for 2k ea)
- B> means 'buying'. Look for this when selling items, or to compare buying offers. (EX: B> snowpieces for 3k ea)
- T> means 'trading'. Not as often as the others, but you will see it from time-to-time. (EX: T> snail shells for spores) Note: The first item is usually what they have and the second what they want to trade it for.
- Meso Terms
- k or K, kilo, meaning thousand. (EX: 40k for 40,000 mesos.)
- mil or m, an abbreviation for 'million'. (EX: 40M or 40mil for 40,000,000.) Note that some people may scam you from this abbreviation since 'm' could also mean mesos.
- The Decimal (#.###). Generally used with millions, and less often used with thousands. You need to understand basic math conversions for this one. (EX: 4.5k for 4 and 1/2 K = 4,500 mesos; 4.55mil for 4,550,000 mesos.
- Abbreviations
Often people use short forms for items, such as Octo Legs (Octopus legs) or G. Mush Caps (Green Mushroom Caps).
The above text were about the Free Market language. Try this scenario to check if you do. This person is Selling some Mossy Snail Shells for 2,000 mesos each. (Mossy Snails, level 42, can be found in Ellin Forest in the Ludus Lake map.) This would be: S> Mossy Snail Shells -- 2k each@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Simply stick to the basic outline: Message Beginner + Item Name + Name/Price Divider (optional. This is like the "--" used above. Just separates the price from the item.) + @ (optional.) and you will probably have success in selling in the FM.
Selling - Random Area
You can sell in the FM. However, few differences may be found when trying to sell to other people in other locations. This is almost the same idea though. First, calculate your price. Then, type up your message. Instead of going to the FM, try a popular area, such as the Henesys Hunting Grounds I, in Kerning City next to Lakelis, or anywhere else you can find a large group of people.
Your item would sell best where it is in demand. If there is a popular quest what asks for Squishy Liquids located in Henesys, you can try to stand near the quest NPC and sell there. This is only if the quest is Extremely Popular
Use some similar techniques. Try jumping to get peoples attention (you do not need to as much since there will be less people here). You can cover more ground area with Nimble Feet (a Beginner's Basics skill), Speed Pills, Haste (a 2nd Job skill for Assassins and Bandits) or by just not stopping. Be sure to make your message understandable. No one wants to buy from someone who says "sell b. s. shl 4.54K meso."
But if you don't enjoy walking around and talking all day, you can try the still-advertisement technique.
Still-Advertising
This just refers to advertising the goods you're selling or buying without moving. There are three ways to do this, as shown below.
The free version
You don't have to spend any time or effort for this one, but you do have to be at your computer for as long as you want to advertise. Here, just stand in a popular area and advertise until you sell all of your valuables. Basically, this is just like selling while walking, without the walking.
Game anyone?
Try using a Match Card Game, or game of Omok (2-player games made at the Game Zone in Henesys' Park, but you will need 15 monster cards from a variety of monsters such as blue snails and pigs). You do not have to be at your computer the entire time, but you will most likely obtain some unwanted visitors. Also, you cannot have a definite price if you want to leave the computer. You need to collect other player's offers, and find the highest price when you come back. Find that user, go to them, and trade. This technique does require some effort; you have to make the game first. Once that is done, simple steps are necessary. Open up your Item Inventory, and move to the ETC tab. Double click on your game. A window comes up, fill it like so:
Name: Place your selling message here. Keep it short, but still understandable. If you can, put in that you're not playing your game, just selling items. Password: Leave this unchecked. You want people to be able to get in, and tell you your offer.
Now, press OK and sit back and relax. Your message is permanently displayed, until you want to leave "advertising mode" (click EXIT to quit the "game").
You cannot set up a match card game in the FM.
Attention Cash Shop Buyers!
If you buy items from the Cash Shop using NX Cash, you can buy a "store". Note that this costs REAL LIFE MONEY. However, you could sell rare items in the Trade shop located on the bottom of the Maplestory application for Nexon Cash. With this technique, buy a store, and head off to the FM. Enter in one of the Numbered rooms to the left (preferably numbers 1-5 on channel one). The next step would be to find an open spot that you can use. Double click on your store in your CASH tab in your inventory, and fill out the popup that appears. If you have a shop where you do not need to stay there to sell (merchant), you may not be able to negotiate prices well, but will be able to check back on the chat logs they talk to in them. All you need to do is to register the items in the shop and set the prices. It is recommended to check other shops first before setting a price so you may be sure you are setting a reasonable price. Note that there are two versions of the merchant: a 1 day version, and a 7 day version.
Conclusion
Now you know the main techniques involved in selling items in MapleStory. When you're higher leveled, you can try charging beginners for training (make a party, offer to train them for a price), or with those FM Stores, you can try "selling your advertising spot" if you have one in a high-concentrated channel.
Some Final Tips
- Save up money! Try only keeping a certain amount of money in your inventory, and storing the rest with storage NPC. (Non-Player Characters that charge you for the safe-keeping of your items and mesos. These NPCs are found in every town, and share storage between each town, and throughout the server/world. So, if you have one character in Henesys and another on the same world --Scania, Bera, Broa, Windia, etc.-- you can easily transfer items.) This helps to lower that urge to spend more money then needed.
- Buy sparingly, sell often. Buy only when you need to, and sell whenever you have something of value. Equipment (at higher levels), quest items and ore (such as steel or mithril or bronze) are often sold and have stable prices you can keep track of.
- Become an expert. Buy low, and sell high. Treat the FM as a stock market. "Haggle" ("argue" on a price, lowering and raising it to suit the needs of both the buyer and seller) in order to buy items for less, and sell them for more.