What is the Grand exchange?
The Grand Exchange is a large market area in Varrock, the busiest and most populous city in RuneScape. You can use the Grand Exchange to buy or sell almost anything. Using this system, you are able to buy goods from and sell goods to players anywhere in the world at any time - they don't need to meet up with you and you can pick up your cash or goods at the nearest bank. While you're waiting for a trade to complete, you don't even need to be there - you're free to work on your skills, play quests or anything else you enjoy!
You can find the Grand Exchange in the north-west of Varrock. Varrock is an easy city to find, and is one of the first places new players visit.
Getting Started
Before you can use the Grand Exchange, you will need to go through a tutorial. You can receive one by speaking to either the Grand Exchange Tutor or Brugsen Bursen, both of whom can be found in the south of the Grand Exchange.
Brugsen Bursen (pictured to the right), the founder of the Grand Exchange, can give you a longer, more interesting tutorial. He can also explain the history of the Grand Exchange.
The Grand Exchange Tutor will provide a brief, concise tutorial.
Around the edge of the Grand Exchange are a number of other people, each of whom is an expert in trading specific goods. You can speak to these people or Brugsen Bursen who can give you information about the current market price of certain items. As the prices of these items will change over time, it's a good idea to check with them regularly to figure out how much their prices fluctuate. These people are marked on the minimap in the following way:
Hofuthand - Weapons and Armour
Hofuthand the dwarf is an expert in armour and weapons. He can tell you the prices of individual items or complete sets of armour.
Bob Barter - Herbs
Bob has come all the way from Ardougne to buy and sell herbs. He can tell you the prices of many tradeable herbs, clean or grimy.
Relobo Blinyo - Logs
Hailing from Shilo Village, Relobo uses his people's extensive knowledge of trees to track the prices of common logs, which he is more than happy to share with you.
Farid Morrisane - Ores
Farid is the son of the infamous Ali Morrisane of Al Kharid. His specialty is ores, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a more knowledgeable man or boy.
Murky Matt - Runes
Even pirates are interested in trade, and Murky Matt's dealings with the mages of Lunar Isle has left him with a hefty stash of runes. He can tell you all about the state of the rune market (including essence).
In the centre of the Grand Exchange are a number of people - those in blue are the Grand Exchange clerks, and those in grey are bankers.
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The Basics of the Grand Exchange
At its core, the Grand Exchange is a very simple system, and you can buy or sell items using the following steps:
Bring items you wish to sell or money to buy items.
Speak to one of the Grand Exchange clerks to either put items up for sale or to make a bid to buy items.
The clerks will take your items or money and look for a matching bid/sale to match you up with.
You may have to wait for your bid to be accepted or for the clerks to find a buyer - then again, it could happen in moments!
You will receive a message when the trade has been completed, and you can go to the Grand Exchange or any bank to pick up your purchases or money.
Because the Grand Exchange never closes, the clerks will try to find you a buyer or seller constantly - you don't need to be logged in or on the same world as the player they match you up with. You don't even have to be at the Grand Exchange or in a bank: you can go off and work on your skills, play through a quest or anything else you enjoy doing, and just wait for the message from the Grand Exchange!
You cannot buy or sell untradeable items using the Grand Exchange and there is a small handful of tradeable items that cannot be bought or sold on the Grand Exchange.
All of the trades that the Grand Exchange manages are between players. No items are ever made or destroyed by this system - they are simply transferred from player to player. Your offer to buy or sell will, therefore, only be completed if the Grand Exchange clerks can find another player to match your trade with. You will not know who you have bought items from or sold them to, but you will always get a good deal regardless.
The way the Grand Exchange works is explained more completely in the following sections.
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Selling Items
To sell items via the Grand Exchange, you can simply talk to one of the Grand Exchange clerks or right-click on them and select 'Exchange'. This will bring up the following interface:
This display shows whether or not you have any buy or sell offers currently in the Grand Exchange. Members can have up to six combined buy and sell offers running at any one time, while free players can only have two running. In this example, the player has no offers active. To make an offer (to buy or sell), click on one of the boxes. Your interface will then change to this:
You can then click on the 'sell' icon (shown to the left) to put an item up for sale. You must have that item or stack of items (you can use bank notes to sell large quantities) in your inventory. Each type of item you wish to sell will take up one of your offer slots.
You will then be presented with a new interface, which lets you choose an item from your inventory to sell. If you select a stack of items, it will automatically put the whole stack into the interface. If you chose to sell one thousand cut diamonds, for instance, your interface would look like this:
You can choose to increase or decrease the quantity you wish to sell by using the buttons underneath the 'Quantity' box, or the + and - buttons to either side. The button marked '...' allows you to type in the exact number you wish to sell.
You can see that the price of the item is automatically set as the current market price (this value may change over time as the item sells for more or less, as detailed below). You can choose to raise or lower this by using the + and - buttons to either side of the price, clicking on the arrow buttons to set it to the minimum or maximum (usually 5% either side of the market value), or by clicking the '...' button to set the exact price manually.
Reduce quantity/price by one coin Increase quantity/price by one coin Set price to minimum Set price to market value Set price to maximum Set price manually
When you are happy with the price and quantity, you can click 'Confirm Offer' and wait for the results. If you change your mind, you can click the arrow in the bottom-left to go back to the exchange summary.
When your items sell, they may sell in chunks. In the above example, it is possible that the Grand Exchange will sell 200 diamonds to one player, 50 to another and so on. In this way, it might take some time to sell larger quantities. On the plus side, when your items sell you will always get at least the price you ask for - the downside of this is that if you set the price too high they may not sell at all.
When the Grand Exchange sells some of your items, you will be sent a message. You can go to the Grand Exchange or any bank (right-click a banker and select 'Collect' to access your Grand Exchange collection box) to check up on this and collect your cash. You can see how far along your offers are by checking the progress bar beneath each offer. Click here to read more about banks and your collection box.
You can then go to the Grand Exchange or any bank to collect your money.
You can keep track of your items for sale by chatting to the Grand Exchange clerks or right-clicking them and selecting 'Exchange'. This will bring up your exchange summary, where you can click on an offer to see its progress.
You can click on the coins in the bottom-right to collect them.
You can abort an offer at any time by chatting to a Grand Exchange clerk or right-clicking on them and selecting 'Exchange'. If you then click on the offer you wish to cancel, you can click on the red button at the bottom-right of the interface. If you have already sold some items in that offer, you will be able to collect your cash.
There are some cases in which an offer will not complete; you can click here to find out why this might be.
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Buying Items
Buying items at the Grand Exchange is a very simple process that allows you to purchase items quickly and without hassle. To start buying, either talk to a Grand Exchange clerk or right-click on them and select 'Exchange'.
When you are presented with a set of boxes, you can click on one to bring up the buy/sell icons. You can then click on the 'buy' icon (shown to the left) to put up an offer to buy a number of items for a set price.
You will then be shown the following interface:
In this window, you will see a flashing box with a magnifying glass. Clicking this will bring up an interface in your chat box. This interface lets you type in the name of an item to make an offer on.
To begin searching for items, simply begin typing the name. As you type, a list of items will appear for you to choose from:
If you wanted to buy cut diamonds, as in the example above, you can then click on the name of the item to select it. This will then close the interface and put that item into the offer interface in the main game window. As with selling items, you can then adjust the price you wish to pay (up to 5% either side of the market value in most cases) and the number you wish to buy. You must have enough money in your inventory to make the offer, which will be taken from your inventory when you click 'Confirm Offer'.
Reduce quantity/price by one coin Increase quantity/price by one coin Set price to minimum Set price to market value Set price to maximum Set price manually
The Grand Exchange will always try to find you a good price, and it may cost you less than you have offered. You may end up buying from a number of players at different prices, but they will never cost more than you have offered per item.
Just as when you sell items, you can keep track of your offer by chatting to the Grand Exchange clerks or right-clicking on them and choosing 'Exchange'. This will bring up your current offers.
When the Grand Exchange finds some of the items for you, you will be sent a message exactly as you would if you had sold an item. You can go to the Grand Exchange or any bank (right-click a banker and select 'Collect' to access your Grand Exchange collection box) to check up on this and collect your new property. You can see how far along your offers are by checking the progress bar beneath each offer. Click here to read more about banks and your collection box.
You can abort an offer at any time by chatting to a Grand Exchange clerk or right-clicking on them and selecting 'Exchange'. If you then click on the offer you wish to cancel, you can click on the red button at the bottom-right of the interface. If you have already bought some items in that offer, you will be able to collect them.
There are some cases in which an offer will not complete; you can click here to find out why this might be.
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Item Sets
Some items, typically armour, can be converted into a single item 'set' to make it easier to purchase or sell them as a whole, rather than having to wait for someone buying or selling each separate part. There is no charge for converting armour into sets. This also has the advantage that you can then sell the whole set and only use one of your trading 'slots'. To convert armour into a set, talk to a Grand Exchange clerk.
Beware! Right-clicking a set and choosing 'Destroy' will not convert it back into its parts. You must talk to a Grand Exchange clerk to change a set into useable armour.
Not all armour can be combined into sets, and you must have all of the items required in your inventory, so you should check the following list before trying to exchange your armour into a set:
Normal metal armour sets (bronze, iron, steel, black, mithril, adamant, rune):
Platebody, full helm, kite shield, platelegs/plateskirt (the set is marked with (l) or (s) to indicate which).
Dragon armour sets:
Chainbody, medium helm, platelegs/plateskirt (the set is marked with (l) or (s) to indicate which).
Barrows armour sets* (Ahrim, Dharok, Guthan, Karil, Torag, Verac):
Body, legs, head, weapon.
Third Age melee armour set:
Platebody, full helm, kiteshield, platelegs.
Trimmed and gold-trimmed armour sets (black, adamant, rune):
Platebody, full helm, kite shield, platelegs/plateskirt (the set is marked with (l) or (s) to indicate which).
Gilded armour sets:
Platebody, full helm, kite shield, platelegs/plateskirt (the set is marked with (l) or (s) to indicate which).
God armour sets (Guthix, Saradomin, Zamorak):
Platebody, full helm, kite shield, platelegs/plateskirt (the set is marked with (l) or (s) to indicate which).
Dagannoth armour sets (rockshell, spined, skeletal):
Helm, platebody/body/top, legs/chaps/bottoms.
Dragonhide armour sets (green, blue, red, black):
Body, chaps, vambraces.
Blessed dragonhide armour sets (Guthix, Saradomin, Zamorak):
Body, coif, chaps, bracers.
Third Age ranger armour set:
Coif, body, chaps, vambraces.
Trimmed and gold-trimmed dragonhide armour sets (green, blue):
Body, chaps.
Mystic robes sets:
Hat, top, bottoms, gloves, boots.
Infinity robe sets:
Hat, top, bottoms, gloves, boots.
Splitbark armour sets:
Helm, body, boots, gauntlets, legs.
Third Age mage sets:
Body, legs, amulet, hat.
Enchanted robe sets:
Hat, robetop, bottoms.
Trimmed and gold-trimmed wizard sets:
Hat, robetop, bottoms.
* Barrows armour sets can only be made from undamaged armour.
You can exchange the correct items into a set by chatting to or right-clicking on a Grand Exchange clerk and selecting 'Sets'.
You can convert a set back into its parts (so you can use it!) in the same way.
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Your Trade History
Successful merchants and traders will know that the key to making profit is to know the market. You can keep track of prices by checking back with the experts around the Grand Exchange and Brugsen Bursen, and you can also keep track of your last few completed trades at the Grand Exchange. You can do this by chatting with one of the Grand Exchange clerks or right-clicking on them and selecting 'History'.
This shows your last five trades: the type of offer (bought or sold), the item, the quantity, and the price (what you paid or won). Trades will only show up in this interface if you have collected your items and/or cash - this will include trades you have aborted.
A player with a good knowledge of the current prices of items and how their trade history has worked out will be able to make the greatest profits at the Grand Exchange.