Hello people of the GW2 Community,
There seems to be a bit of confusion about the sales tax on items traded through the Trading Post (TP). You see anywhere from 5-15% depending on the post you read. You still see people trading goods for 1c over vending price and others conplaining that there making no money and ruining the market. well I will do the math to prove or dis prove this. Also will give you a handy formula to figure out for yourself if you will truely make money.
first lets tackle the formula, as its what we will test the 1c over vender sales profit.
the guild wars tax is infact 15%, a 5% upfront cost that you see when posting, and a 10% tax on money you make after the sale for a total of 15%. a very important note is that the 5% upfront tax is none returnable if you cancle the sale. so if you do cancle and repost your items the tax would effectivly be 20% after that. the game will also round the taxes to the nearist copper and will always charge you at least 1c for the total sale. so buying and selling in bulk will aways yeild more profit.
So with this knowlage we can figure out how much we will make like this.
(Sale Price) * (Tax %) = (Tax Cost)
(Sales Price) – (Cost to Buy) – (Tax Cost) = (Sales Profit)
Exaple being for Iron Ore, its 5c on the TP to buy and sells for 6c. i normaly do the cost of stacks for items bought in bulk but it works for solo items too. i’m doing bulk 250 stack profit here. i’m also setting 1 to be 1s not 1c.
(15 (which is the stack cost of iron)) * (.15) = (2.25)
(15) – (12.5) – (2.25) = (.25)
so with this we know u make .25 or 25c off of every stack of iron you sell. note that sometimes you might make a little more, this is because if the game sees you buying Iron at 5c and someone sells a bunch at 4c your the first to get it and u get it at 4c.
I Know its alot to read but it will help you get a solid understanding of the TP.
Now from what i understand selling items 1c over vender price will acualy get you a profit if its cost isnt much. for a item u sell at 2c and its vender cost is 1c you get 4.25s if you collect a full stack yourself and sell it on the TP. You would only get 2.5s if you vender it. So yes you still make a profit. Even if you buy the item for 1c you still make 1.75s per stack bought and sold. which is acualy realy good.
that being said that was the lowest you can get, that profit breaks down at higher numbers. the exact number at which you stop making money from selling items for 1c over vender price is 7c asuming you would get 6c from the vender. this is also if your buying and selling stacks of 250 only.
The above was when you sell stacks 1c above vender price. but anytime you sell just 1 item, lets say a weapon at 1c over vender price you are acualy losing money on each transaction no matter how little the item costs. this is because of the base 1c the game charges you for the sales tax, and again after when its sold. so u make nothing as a pose to the 1c you would have made from selling the 1 item to the vender.
now in regards to you taking a loss to sell a item ruining the market, i would say no.
selling that cheap you wont make as much as if you sell to a vender yes. but u can sell to the TP from anywhere in the world which allows you to make more room to get more items. this gets you more profit assuming your getting the items as drops in the long run. which is good. most of those items didnt cost you anything so you still make a profit no matter what, and although its less in the now. you get more later buy having that slot open for a new item.
To All those buying and selling items on the TP to make money, yea its anoying, no it wont break the game. so I’d say to go ahead and do it. I know that I do.
Sorry for the amount i wrote, i hope this clears up any confusion you might have had. any other questions, concerns or problems with what i wrote i would be more then happy to adress it.
and most importantly, HAVE FUN! its just a game.
(edited by Boogna.5019)