Traders

To trade, speak to a trader and pick Trade. Drag what you’re buying and what you’re selling into the middle and confirm; it all goes through as a single deal, and only the balance is paid. Currency runs in copper, where 100 copper equals 1 silver and 100 silver equals 1 gold. A new game gives you 1 silver.

What they’ll take off your hands

Each trader has a buy list, and anything not on it appears as unavailable in your backpack. Some goods are bought but never sold back, like the burial certificates that Januarius accepts; the tables below list those under “Buys from you”. Seeds come in lots of 4 or more.

The trader also has to be able to pay. Each one begins with a fixed amount of money and receives a fixed income per day, so after a big sale they may be broke until tomorrow.

How prices move

An item has a base price, and each trader has a usual stock level for it. The actual price follows how much they’re holding right now:

You are	Effect
Buying	Scarcer stock means a higher price. Each unit is priced by the stock just before you take it.
Selling	You receive 75% of the price, and every unit you add to their stock drops the price of the next. You can never get more than the base price.

The formula

Unit price = base price × √(usual stock ÷ current stock), multiplied by 0.75 if you’re selling, rounded, with a minimum of 1 copper. Fixed-price goods, certificates for instance, always go for their base price.

Worked example with Beer, base price 36, which Januarius usually holds 10 of. At 10 in stock a bottle is 36; at 5 it’s 36 × √2 ≈ 51. Three bottles bought from a full shelf cost 36 + 38 + 40 = 114. Selling him one when he already has 10 gets you 36 × √(10/11) × 0.75 ≈ 26.

The midnight reset

At midnight each trader collects their daily income, and every stock level drifts back toward its usual amount. Short items get partly restocked; surplus items are sold off at full price. The change is at most a fifth of the usual amount per day and slows as the level gets close.

The upshot: goods you sell to a trader disappear from their shelves over the following days, becoming cash in their purse, and the price they’ll pay you climbs back up.

Happiness and tiers

In town, some goods also give happiness when traded; the weekly caps are covered in Happiness and Town Quality. Traders can be upgraded to a second and a third tier, changing both what they sell and what they buy. Herm is the first to upgrade, after Planted and Delivered.