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 partially 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, splitting the central booth into 4 separate booths, and adding a musician. The Grand Exchange received a second graphical update on 2 October 2017, which kept the style of the previous update, but integrated the four booths back into one central booth.
The Grand Exchange has four branches, situated in north-western Varrock, the Tower of Voices in Prifddinas, the Max Guild in Prifddinas and the Merchant district in Menaphos.
Getting there[]
Methods for free-to-play players[]
- Teleport to Varrock (either via the Varrock Teleport spell or the Lodestone Network) and walk the rest of the way.
- Teleport to the Air Altar using an air altar teleport, then walk north-east.
- Use a canoe to travel to the Barbarian Village station, then walk north-east.
- Teleport using the Skull sceptre to outside the Stronghold of Security, then cross the bridge to the east and walk north-east.
Methods for members[]
- Use a ring of wealth, ring of fortune, luck of the dwarves, or a Hazelmere's signet ring, to teleport directly to the Grand Exchange.
- Teleport to Edgeville via a method of choice (such as fairy ring code DKR), then use the tunnel shortcut (requiring level 21 Agility) to crawl under the Grand Exchange's north-western wall.
- Use the mine cart system (requiring partial completion of The Giant Dwarf) to travel from Keldagrim to the trapdoor in the north-west corner of the Grand Exchange.
- Use the spirit tree system (requiring completion of Tree Gnome Village quest) to travel from any spirit tree to the one in the north-east corner of the Grand Exchange.
- Talk to the Grand Exchange clerks in the Tower of Voices and Max Guild in Prifddinas, who offer free teleports to the Grand Exchange in Varrock.
History[]
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 clerks at both the north-western and south-eastern booths are 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. Players 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 price restrictions, however there are guide prices and an upper limit on how many of an item players can buy at once.
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."[1] 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.
- ^ Jagex. Controls - The Grand Exchange. RuneScape Game Guide.*
Buying rates[]
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Buying rate is restricted to a certain quantity every 4 hours. Some items have a connected limit, meaning that players 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[1][2]
- Gift of Giving (inactive)[2] - Christmas 2012
- Presents [2] - Squeal of Fortune
- Valentine hearts [2] - Squeal of Fortune
- Starlight ore [2] - Squeal of Fortune
- Cinco de Mayo [3][4] - Squeal of Fortune
- Lamp parts [2] - Squeal of Fortune
- Crown of Seasons parts [2][5] - Squeal of Fortune
- Wolf blood [2] - Squeal of Fortune
- Golden chinchompa feed [4] - Squeal of Fortune
- Golem outfits - Treasure Hunter
- Ethereal outfits - Treasure Hunter
- Shark outfits - Treasure Hunter
Other
- Amulet of glory[6] (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[7]
- Double eyepatches
- Dungeoneering items
- Faruq's Tools for Games[8][9]
- Flasks (1 - 5)
- Games necklace (2 - 7)
- Heroes' Quest quest item[10]
- Item sets[11]
- 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[12]
- 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 for the seller to buy their 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.
- There appears to be a training sword on the counter of the Grand Exchange buildings.
- Summoning familiars are hidden in the Grand Exchange.
- Examining any of the Grand Exchange pipes gives the message: "There seems to be a balled-up piece of purple paper stuck in there." It's a reference to the Ancient pages.
- 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.
- In late February 2017, there was an ingame poll that asked players if the Varrock Grand Exchange should have one booth. The results were: One single booth - 49%; Leave as is 31%; I don't mind 19% (total number of votes 99,497)
- The Grand Exchange underwent a rework at 2 October 2017, merging the small booths from the corners, into a large, central booth.
- Guides at the original Grand Exchange now reside in the four corners.
- Since there are an uneven number of guides and an even number of corners, the Runes guide resides on the east side of the Grand Exchange, with a tree to the west, to keep symmetry.