Drop trading

Drop trading is the term given to the trading method by which one player drops an item to give to another player, and, after waiting for the item to become visible, the receiving player picks it up.

Modern drop trading
Drop trading in the modern day is often a scam by which a player tries to trade using unofficial channels. Most often this is a ploy to receive your end of the bargain without paying for their own. To learn about, and help prevent, this form of item scamming, read Cheats and scams: The drop trade scam.

Historical drop trading
Drop trading has been used historically as a way of breaking Rule 8, which dictates that no items may be transferred between players of the same owner. Often, the user would move the characters of both accounts to the same square in the game. They would then drop an item from one account and quickly log in as the other account. When the item appeared, the receiving character would then be able to pick it up. This use of drop trading was used when having two clients opened at the same time was not possible.

Drop trading was used even more before banks that could hold items were introduced to the game. Many players would have "mule" characters which would serve as an item bank, and transfers would be done through drop trading.