Vendor mechanics?

[Aalderon Crystafire]

Is there any data on how non-'stock' vendor inventories work?

That means items in a vendors inventory that are not infinite or part of their original stock - only items sold to them by players.

Specifically, how they move around.

e.g. A merchant is killed and its inventory reset to stock. I sell a single rat whisker to it which now becomes its first non-stock item. Will this rat whisker REMAIN in visible no matter how much new trash is sold to the merchant, as long as nobody buys it?

[DarthMartigan]

Short answer to your question is yes.

If a vendor has five item slots for inventory from vendor, the items sold to the vendor show up as they are added. Once the five slots fill up, the next items are all queued up in order. If the same item is sold (like bone chips) to an item already in order, than that item will just add. For instance, if a vendor has the following in the five available sold item slots:

1. fine steel sword
2. fine steel spear
3. fine steel dagger
4. 10 bone chips
5. Fungi Tunic

If you sell the vendor 37 bone chips, the bone chips will go into 4. If you sell the vendor a bronze dagger, it will not appear, but will be queued at as the next item (number 6). Items will continue to amass.

If you are trying to cycle a vendor for an item, the best way to do it is to buy off the cheap items and items that resale about the same (most velious armor gems do this). You buy all of a certain item off the vendor, close the vendor window, reopen the window, and a new item will be queued up.

The items will always queue in the same order on vendors. Some vendors have more slots available for player sold items. It all depends on each vendor. When velious first came out, you could make mad plat just buying and selling on the otters in CS, because people kept accidently selling armor gems, and if you cycled far enough you could find a stack of 10 or so.