A trade looks profitable when you subtract the buy price from the sell price. It stays profitable only after every fee and trip is counted. Outpost's calculators ask for each cost separately so none slips through.
The four numbers every trade needs
- What you pay per item, and whether you buy instantly or through a buy order.
- What you sell for per item, and whether you sell instantly or list a sell order.
- How many you buy and sell.
- What it costs to move them, if the buy and sell cities differ.
Enter those in Market flipping and it does the rest.
Fees and tax
- A buy order costs a 2.5% setup fee on top of the price.
- A sell order costs a 2.5% setup fee when you list it.
- Every sale pays sales tax: 4% with Premium, 8% without.
Selling instantly to a buy order skips the sell setup fee but still pays tax. The game keeps setup fees if you cancel an order, so a relisted item pays again.
Transport
If you buy in one city and sell in another, the trip is part of the cost. Count the silver you spend on the mount and repairs, and set aside an allowance for what you might lose on the road. The Transport calculator splits a load into trips by weight and adds a risk amount you choose. Haul between cities explains how to pick that number.
Margin and return on investment
Outpost shows both, and they divide by different things:
- Margin is profit divided by what you sold for.
- Return on investment is profit divided by what you spent.
Say you buy for 100, sell for 160 and pay 10 in fees. Profit is 50, the margin is 50 / 160 = 31%, and the return is 50 / 100 = 50%. Return helps you decide where to put limited silver. Margin tells you how much of each sale you keep.
