How does Vendor inventory work?

[clouddynasty]

So I've gotten the concept of 'fishing' a vendor for items by buying off junk and moving it to a new vendor. However, it is not enough to buy an item unless it clears that item off the list, or so it seems? I.e. if vendor has 4 short beers buying 1 and then closing/opening will not move around his stock, yes?

Let's say I'm looking for giant rat ears. I will sell one of my giant rat ears as a 'marker' so that after fishing through the vendor if I come across '1' giant rat ear I will know it is mine and he had no others. Or is there a better way to do this? I'm skeptical if this even works because there have been times that I have bought off all 6 of say... 'cloth caps' and later on more will appear.

Is there a trick to fishing for a specific item that you want? Meats, components, etc. ?

[JackFlash]

If it's an item the vendor normally stocks I don't think you can clear out his inventory of that item. AFIK, you can however buy limited stock items and cause a re-shuffle when you open/close.

I suppose the trick is knowing what the vendor normally stocks. I don't partake in too much of this so I could be "fishing" myself.....

[clouddynasty]

Of course. Only limited stock items can be shuffled. I was just wondering if there was a specific method of finding the item you want. I thought maybe selling 1 of the item after buying out something else but before closing/opening... but it seems completely random as to whether or not 450 wolf meats, 223 Bone Chips or whatever other desirable you may be looking for pops up.

[Ele]

Killing the vendor isn't clearing inventory?

[clouddynasty]

Killing the vendor isn't clearing inventory?

It should, but causing the vendor to lose all his stock defeats the purpose of fishing?

[Ele]

It should, but causing the vendor to lose all his stock defeats the purpose of fishing?

If you want to dive into an inventory, yeah.

But you could kill high traffic vendors every day or other day ( lavastorm/wc druid rings, etc) to sort through a more limited inventory.

[clouddynasty]

Good idea... I don't want to take that faction hit though. Damn! All the more reason to level up my evil Necromancer scum. At the very least it's a good idea for when you get priced out and can't buy stuff off it anymore.

[Jimjam]

If you are looking for bone chips, place a bone chip on the vendor before his inventory fills up (or kill him then place a bone chip).

If you are lucky, and chosen your vendor well, next time you come back it might be full of bone chips!

If you really want you can fill the vendor's 'visible' slots with cheap crap and hide your bone chip so it will be lees likely for someone else to take them


bone chips are used for the sake of example.

[iruinedyourday]

what the heck can you buy off a merchant that makes buying it off a merchant worth it?

[Swish]

what the heck can you buy off a merchant that makes buying it off a merchant worth it?

Traditionally? puppet strings (before they complete the recharge process)

[Jibartik]

lol

[Lojik]

I was able to buy backpacks full of wolf meat and froglok meat off some vendors, made factioning in grobb and oggok pretty easy. Some people vendor tradeskill stuff rather than buy,and you can find the odd nice item that someone didn't give a shit about...sometimes they're pretty cheap

[clouddynasty]

I was able to buy backpacks full of wolf meat and froglok meat off some vendors, made factioning in grobb and oggok pretty easy. Some people vendor tradeskill stuff rather than buy,and you can find the odd nice item that someone didn't give a shit about...sometimes they're pretty cheap

This.

[clouddynasty]

If you are looking for bone chips, place a bone chip on the vendor before his inventory fills up (or kill him then place a bone chip).

If you are lucky, and chosen your vendor well, next time you come back it might be full of bone chips!

If you really want you can fill the vendor's 'visible' slots with cheap crap and hide your bone chip so it will be lees likely for someone else to take them


bone chips are used for the sake of example.

This doesn't seem to work. For example, I was reselling to another merchant, who ended up having 300 Bat Furs. After a while of continuing to dump on him, those batfurs vanished. Just because something is in a visible slot does not mean it will stay there until it is bought. I don't understand the method to the madness but sometimes stuff will slink deeper into the inventory.

[DarthMartigan]

I am pretty sure that most vendors sell a certain number of unlimited goods, maybe 1 variable good (like backpacks) and then a certain number of player goods that are simply what other players have sold them. I don't think the inventory numbers of what players sell them change except by other players selling them more stuff. I cycle through inventories all the time to try and find treasures.

Here's how you do it:

Step 1. Go to a vendor and make sure it's ordered by quantity
Step 2. Buy items that sell back to the vendor for almost the same amount, making sure you buy all of them before closing the merchant box. Make sure you are charismatic for this by rolling a bard or enchanter or halfling.
Step 3. Sell back those items. You don't need to close the merchant if you buy out the whole inventory. The item goes to the bottom of the sell list.
Step 4. Repeat a whole bunch of times.
Step 5. Go to a noob zone and sell whatever item you want. Come back a week later if the server hasn't reset and cycle through all the items until you get to what you sold the vendor and see if others sold it as well.

Sometimes the end results is that I lose a couple hundred plat, which sucks, but I usually come out way on top. I've had a day where I found 15 armor gems and the invis to animal ring that I have to assume was sold on accident weeks before I found it... It just depends. Right after server resets you can find all kinds of crap.

[clouddynasty]

I just want my damn fire beetle eyes. =( I know the two vendors closest to the gates in Qeynos must have a thousand but I can't get them to reveal their stock. I end up getting priced out.

[Axlrose]

Interesting aspect about vendors is they seem to have the ability to multiply a sold item. While slowly practicing my tailoring skill, I created a Tailored Wrist Pouch. Since I had no use for the item, I found an "empty" merchant that was selling various bag, box, and backpack goods. I was the first player to sell to this merchant and instead of seeing one pouch for sale, suddenly the merchant had eleven of the same item. I right clicked to verify it was the same item, and sure enough it was.

[Buellen]

Vendor non visible items do not get reshuffled from my understanding unless vendor is killed.

I have mined a lot especially when doing tailoring. anyhow vendor unseen inventory is from my experience is set. A weird thing is when you mining a merchant you will occasionally have someone else come sell something you cleared out already and it will pop into the top slot of the empty merchant window. I have no way to explain this behavior unless the merchant keeps track of what item where in what order in the hidden inventory.

Remember also that when you merchant mine you will not see the top hidden slot you just cleared if someone else is selling to the merchant as same time as you cleared it. you will close the interface and reopen (assuming same person is still selling ) and you will see the same list of item again minus the "empty slot" you cleared.

Hope this helps

[DarthMartigan]

Interesting aspect about vendors is they seem to have the ability to multiply a sold item. While slowly practicing my tailoring skill, I created a Tailored Wrist Pouch. Since I had no use for the item, I found an "empty" merchant that was selling various bag, box, and backpack goods. I was the first player to sell to this merchant and instead of seeing one pouch for sale, suddenly the merchant had eleven of the same item. I right clicked to verify it was the same item, and sure enough it was.


I think this is true with containers only.