The Different Types of Merchants

Think for yourself



Be critical



Don't accept mass movements as set and stone facts



Always analyze price trends



Consistently keep up to date with developer blogs, trove Q&A streams and updates



Keep notes of anything you find valuable for short and long term market impacts



Understand what other players are thinking and why



Learn how to value new items



Remain aware of your emotions and don't let them impact your decision making

The Beginners

Uncreative



Ask around which items are worth flipping



Mimic others in attempts to replicate their success



“This is crap. I can’t make any money”



“Flipping makes no money”



“What the hell is that item?” – Unaware of updates

The average merchant

May or may not focus on Stream Q&A’s, updates, dev blogs



May or may not keep tabs on valuable information



Flip common items: barrows, pvm drops, etc



Allow their emotions to dictate their decisions



Are part of the mass movement – Unable to predict any price movements (short or long term)



Are not long term planners, and think short term

The Market Masters

Long term planners



Read every blog, update and watch every Q&A stream



Keep tabs and notes on virtually anything they may find useful



Excessively patient



Comfortable with big risks



Excellent at diversifying their investments



Comfortable with flipping the most valued items in game



Not always, but can be market manipulators

If you’ve made it this far then obviously you want to advance yourself as a more skillful merchant and provide yourself an edge over others. This is key to being one of the most successful investors in game.These are just a few things you should be continuously working on as you develop your methods on flipping. There are of course, varying levels of skillful merchants who exercise these better than others. I’ll categorize them as: beginners, average and market masters.These categories aren’t meant to target anyone specifically or place him or her into a specific group. Any player can share traits from beginners to masterminds and anything in between. This is meant to help you the reader, visualize how the market is setup and how you should view yourself to further advance your practices.First you have players who are just getting their feet wet. These players have virtually no experience flipping and are most likely to quit. This plays a bit into psychology.A beginner is more susceptible to quit if they try flipping and it doesn’t live up to their expectations, or worse, they fail all together to make a profit. This negative experience will keep them from flipping, as they couldn’t get off the ground running.Where as if a merchant was successful on their first day and exceeded their expectations, they’re more likely to stick to this form of money making - despite any potential losses in the future. In the future if they start losing money, they can relive their first day, remembering how at one point in time they were earning the type of money they had expected to make, and at the time of their loss, they believe they’ve done something wrong.A positive or negative first experience can almost always make or break a new player, but here are some of the more common traits these players hold:Furthermore, they might try and replicate a merchant they saw on YouTube by copying their flips almost precisely, having no creative sense of mind or simply want to have their profits handed to them on a silver platter.The average merchant makes up the largest slice of the pie in the investing world. The skill set in this group widely varies and few ever make it to the mastermind category.Common traits:I’ll classify this group as the herd, as they move as one and react to the emotions of each other more so than that of masterminds. This category is single handedly responsible for skyrockets in value and crashes. This doesn’t mean other players aren’t included in hypes and panics, but these are some of the first to take part of that mass movement.Unlike their mastermind counterparts, they may watch streams, read blogs and updates, but don’t give too much of a second thought about how they can plan for the future - and how those three sources can impact the economy.This category is generally also uncreative and will stick to the same few items, keeping their risks at a minimum – but, they’re more tolerant of losses. So, unlike the beginners category, this group is ready to bounce right back up after any losses they might face.The elite of all merchants out there in the game. Again though, you could be an average merchant and still share some of these qualities. These merchants however, are by far the most comfortable with risk.Losses are not foreign to them and accept them as part of the process. Excelling in every possible category is something they strive for and meticulously work on improving upon.Common Traits:Masterminds are exceptionally patient and can hold onto investments for months on end without feeling phased. They’re most likely to flip new items released into the game, taking on the biggest risks, trying to churn incredible ROIs that only happen every now and then.They could hold onto notes and information for months, anticipating the day that the developers will enact the change they once stated in the past. Once they do resurrect the idea, they’ll be prepared with their massive hoards of items, selling them off to the mass public that waits for the moderators’ confirmation to start investing in those items as well.There’s only one party who benefits from this, and that’s the early investors. If you ride the wave just like everyone else, you’re quite literally handing your money over to this category that have literally been waiting for this moment. Even worse, you risk the possibility of making little to money, or even losing money all together.Case in point; make all attempts to escape the hive mindset. Think for yourself, remain patient, keep tabs on everything and diligently work on improving your methods – remaining content allows others to soar past you.