Grand Exchange

The Grand Exchange (abbreviated as GE) is a trading system for players to buy and sell almost all tradeable items. Members have eight grand exchange slots in which they may trade items, however free players are limited to three. Traders do not need to advertise, meet each other, or even wait at the Grand Exchange for their trades to complete.

All coins and items from fully and partly finished trades are collectible at any bank, but not at bank chests (excluding Shantay Pass, Burthorpe, Combat Academy, Clan Wars and Castle Wars lobby) and deposit boxes. Additionally, players will receive a message in their chatbox when the status of a trade offer is updated. Many players find it useful to sell items on the Grand Exchange rather than to a General Store, as the profit margin is much larger for useful items.

The Grand Exchange also refers to the location of this trading system, which is an official marketplace northwest of Varrock city. It was released on 26 November 2007 and has since replaced the older marketplaces in Varrock and Falador cities. It is a popular place and usually crowded. The Grand Exchange received a graphical update on 9 August 2011 giving it a brand new image and design, along with a musician.

The Grand Exchange now also has two branches in Prifddinas, one in the Tower of Voices and the other one inside the Max Guild.

Getting there


The Grand Exchange is located northwest of Varrock, to the east of Edgeville both of which are located just to the south of the Wilderness. There are many ways to get there, including:
 * Walking from Varrock (with or without use of the Varrock Teleport spell).
 * Teleporting to the air altar using the air altar teleport then walking to it.
 * Using the tunnel northwest of the Grand Exchange (requires membership and level 21 agility).
 * Using a canoe Station (requires level 12 woodcutting) to travel to either the Champion's Guild station or Barbarian Village station or Edgeville station and walking north, east or using the tunnel mentioned above.
 * Using the mine cart northwest of the Grand Exchange (requires membership and having started the quest The Giant Dwarf).
 * Using the spirit tree northeast of the Grand Exchange (requires membership and having completed the quest Tree Gnome Village).
 * Using the fairy ring with the code (requires membership and having access to the fairy rings from the quest Fairy Tale Part II).
 * Using the spell Varrock Teleport, or a Varrock Teleport tablet after changing its destination to south of the Grand Exchange (requires membership and having completed one set of Varrock Tasks).
 * Using a charged Ring of Wealth's teleport, which teleports you to the Grand Exchange entrance (requires membership).
 * Using a charged Ring of Duelling to teleport to Mobilising Armies then using the spirit tree nearby to teleport to the North-east part of the Grand Exchange (requires membership).
 * Using the Edgeville Lodestone and going through the north-west underwall tunnel (requires membership and level 21 agility).
 * Speaking to a Grand Exchange Clerk in Prifddinas offers a free teleport.

The branches in Prifddinas are located in the Tower of Voices and in the Max Guild (Prifddinas requires membership and having completed the quest Plague's End).
 * Tower of Voices
 * Using the Prifddinas Lodestone which is in between the two booths inside the Tower of Voices.
 * Using the spirit tree in the Crwys Clan section and walking west to the Tower of Voices (requires having completed the quest Tree Gnome Village).
 * Using the fairy ring with the code in the Amlodd Clan section and walking east to the Tower of Voices (requires having access to the fairy rings from the quest Fairy Tale Part II).
 * Using the Gnome glider in the Meilyr Clan section and walking south to the Tower of Voices (requires having completed The Grand Tree quest).
 * Using a Crystal teleport seed to one of the Elven Clans and then walk to the Tower of Voices.
 * Max Guild (requires 99 in all skills to enter)
 * Either of aforementioned teleport methods and then walk to the Cadarnian south eastern section of the city.
 * The teleport on the Max, Completionist and Trimmed Completionist Cape.

Non-player characters
Apart from bankers and Grand Exchange clerks, there are non-player characters at the Grand Exchange who show the current prices of various items.

In the Grand Exchange in Varrock:


 * Farid Morrisane shows the prices of ores.
 * Relobo Blinyo shows the prices of logs.
 * Bob Barter shows the prices of herbs. He also decants potions into full and empty vials. He can decant potions even if they are noted.
 * Murky Matt shows the prices of runes. He also "decants" charged items into full and empty charges.
 * Hofuthand shows the prices of certain weapons and armours. (See picture for details.)

In the Tower of Voices in Prifddinas:
 * Rhobert Dail shows the prices of herbs. He also decants potions into full and empty vials. He can decant potions even if they are noted. He is essentially the elven version of Bob Barter.
 * The Grand Exchange clerk at the north-western booth closest to the bonfire balcony is able to teleport the player to the Grand Exchange in Varrock with a chat option.

There are no special NPC's at the Grand Exchange inside the Max Guild besides regular clerks and bankers.

Item sets
Most armour sets and the dwarf multicannon can be assembled into sets to save space. They behave like ordinary items except that they cannot be worn or used until they are disassembled. Only the Grand Exchange clerks can assemble and disassemble sets, and they will do this an unlimited number of times for free. Right-clicking a set and selecting "destroy" will not disassemble it. You can also try to right click the banker and go to the sets.

Pricing
Jagex has never published the Grand Exchange's exact pricing algorithms, although there are some reasonable guesses. By using the laws of supply and demand, the prices of items are updated depending on its recently traded prices and volume. For items with low volume such as partyhats, their prices update every few days or even once a week. Jagex can also intervene and set the prices themselves, and they reserve the right to intervene when they believe price manipulation is occurring on an inexcusable scale.

Because of an update on 1 February 2011, there are no longer trade restrictions, however there are guide prices and buttons to increase or decrease your offer on the item by 5%, as well as set a custom offer.

Trade restrictions
All trade restrictions are intended to reduce price manipulation, real-world trading, and/or unfair interactions between players with different levels. On the issue of price manipulation, Jagex said, "We are keen to keep a player-driven economy, so the prices are worked out using the supply and demand rules above. We will only intervene as a last resort, and only if we think price manipulation is going on, although the system has lots of safeguards to prevent that." Trade restrictions are those safeguards. On 1 February all price (but not necessarily trade) restrictions were removed. Trial members had a trade restriction on the grand exchange of 50 of certain items. This prevented new accounts from being made simply to use the 6 Grand Exchange slots available to members, for merchanting/flipping.

Buying rates
Buying rate is restricted to a certain quantity every 4 hours. Some items have a connected limit, meaning that you can only buy a certain amount of either item, or a mix of the two up to a particular point:
 * Metal armour (bronze through rune) share a limit of 100 between the pieces that make up the armour sets, although bronze through adamant platebodies have a separate limit of 500
 * Dragon armour shares a limit of 10 between all set pieces
 * Dragonhide armour of the same colour, including sets (although the sets have a limit of 100)
 * Treasure Trails armour that makes up a set shares a limit of 2
 * Barrows armour shares a limit between repaired pieces, broken pieces, and the item sets of the same brother's armour
 * All parts of godswords (swords, hilts, blades, shards)
 * Saradomin Swords and Zamorakian Spears
 * Both types of chinchompas
 * Enchanted and unenchanted gem-tipped bolts
 * All doses of the same kind of potion (with the exception of prayer renewal)
 * Any type of Godwars items (Bandos, Armadyl, Subjugation) has a trade limit of one every four hours. (Not Including Godswords)

Tradeable items that cannot be traded using the Grand Exchange
Some items cannot be traded using the Grand Exchange, but they can still be traded using the traditional player-to-player trade. The list includes:

Minigames
 * Bailing buckets - Fishing Trawler
 * Bandages - Castle Wars
 * Cocktail guide - Gnome Restaurant
 * Gianne's cook book - Gnome Restaurant
 * Gnomeballs
 * Iron sickles - Kingdom of miscellania
 * Ogleroots - Vinesweeper
 * Stealing Creation items

Event items
 * Exotic Foods
 * Gift of Giving (inactive) - Christmas 2012
 * Presents - Squeal of Fortune
 * Valentine hearts - Squeal of Fortune
 * Starlight ore - Squeal of Fortune
 * Cinco de Mayo - Squeal of Fortune
 * Lamp parts - Squeal of Fortune
 * Crown of Seasons parts - Squeal of Fortune
 * Wolf blood - Squeal of Fortune
 * Golden chinchompa feed - Squeal of Fortune
 * Golem outfits - Treasure Hunter
 * Ethereal outfits - Treasure Hunter
 * Shark outfits - Treasure Hunter

Other
 * Afros from Party Pete
 * Amulet of glory (1 - 3)
 * Ancient artefacts from Revenants
 * Bagged plant 2 and bagged plant 3 from Garden Centre
 * Black mask (1 - 9)
 * Bottle of wine from Fortunato's Fine Wine in Draynor.
 * Broodoo shield (1 - 9)
 * Burnt foods from Cooking
 * Castle wars brace (2)
 * Cavalier and mask
 * Coins
 * Cursed energy
 * Cursed magic logs from the Spirit Realm
 * Diango's Toy Store
 * Double eyepatches
 * Dungeoneering items
 * Faruq's Tools for Games
 * Flasks (1 - 5)
 * Games necklace (2 - 7)
 * Heroes' Quest quest item
 * Item sets
 * Lapis Lazuli Brooches
 * Magical eggs
 * Pharaoh's sceptre (1 - 2)
 * Ring of duelling (2 - 7)
 * Ring of wealth (1 - 3)
 * Rotten Tomatoes
 * Shield of Arrav quest items
 * Ship's biscuits
 * Skills necklace (1 - 3)
 * Tankard
 * Tuska mask parts
 * Uncut lapis lazuli
 * Unfinished wooden brooches
 * Weeds - Farming

Scamming
There continues to be much activity around the Grand Exchange as a main area for some players to operate scams, manipulate other players into giving away items or money and the age-old luring of players to areas they can be killed and their items taken.

Trivia

 * On 2 July 2011 a huge rock appeared at the Grand Exchange. It had no use and it could not be examined or interacted with in any way. It was a teaser for the Clan Citadel update, and was removed when Citadels were added to the game.
 * If players attempt to set up a cannon in the Grand Exchange, Brugsen Bursen will tell players "My area is for peaceful trading. Play with your toy somewhere else!"
 * It is possible to buy your own item from the Grand Exchange, even after reaching the buy limit.
 * There are no items which start with the letter Q or X in the Grand Exchange.
 * If you look closely, on the counter of the Grand Exchange buildings, there appears to be a Training sword on the counter.
 * Summoning familiars are hidden in the Grand Exchange.
 * Before the Grand Exchange was added, most of the area was a giant forest behind the cobblestone fence now reduced west of the Grand Exchange. The Outlaw Camp was located a bit west of where Lucien's house used to be, and Lucien's house was located near the wall of Varrock Palace. Doorways previously unlocked here until becoming a wilderness song upon the release of RuneScape 3.