If you're new like me, the Marketplace can look pretty simple at first, you need something, you search for it, find the cheapest offer and buy it.
But there is actually more information there that can help you understand what people are buying and what a normal price looks like.
When you select an item in the Trade section, don't only look at the current sell offers.
Check the graphs too, transactions is probably one of the first things worth looking at.
If an item has a lot of transactions, that tells you people are actually trading it, an item can have a great price, but if almost nobody is buying it, that price doesn't mean much if your plan is to resell or produce it.
Then check the quantity
This gives you another idea of how much of that item is moving through the market. Transactions and quantity together are much more useful than just seeing one cheap offer and assuming that's the market price.
Then there is price
Instead of looking only at today's cheapest seller, check how the price has been moving.
For example, if something normally trades around
For example, if something normally trades around $1.80 and suddenly you see somebody selling a few units an you see some people sell it at $1.50 it doesn't mean the item is now wort $1.50, It might just be one player trying to sell quickly.
The opposite can happen too.
If the cheapest offer is suddenly $2.20 but recent transactions have mostly been around 1.80, buying at 2.20 just because it's currently the cheapest offer might not be a great deal.
That's why I'm starting to look at the market in this order:
Basically transactions tell me if people are buying it, quantity tells me how much is moving, price history gives me an idea of what people have actually been paying.
Current offers tell me what I can buy or sell it for right now, another useful thing is the difference between buy and sell orders.
If you place a buy order high enough to match an existing sell order, the trade happens immediately. Otherwise your order stays on the market waiting for someone willing to sell at your price.
So sometimes you don't necessarily have to accept the current selling price, you can place an order at the price you're comfortable paying and wait.
I'm still learning, so I'm definitely not trying to predict the market yet, for now I'm doing something much simpler, i'm watching what actually sells before spending my money.
When you're starting with limited cash, avoiding one bad purchase can be worth more than finding one amazing deal.
I'll keep sharing small things like this as I learn the game.
If these posts save you some money, donations to help this new account grow are always appreciated. ❤️