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The Merchant's Guide

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Becoming a Merchant
III. Doing Your Job
IV. Tips
V. Questions and Answers
VI. The End... or is it?

I. Introduction
The merchant, or trader, is a person who buys goods from 1 town and transports the goods to another for profit. The merchant does this by means of a very long walk with a very slow camel or semi-slow horse. It is time consuming but the profit is well worth it. It almost sounds like the perfect job right? Buy and sell and always make more profit (unlike the real world), but its not that easy. There are a few dangers along the way, but we'll get to those later. First you're going to have to learn how to become a merchant!

II. Becoming a Merchant
Assuming you're not already in another job guild, this process is simple. Go to one of the Merchant Associate NPCs in any town.


Join the Guild (Yes mine says Leave because I'm already in it...)


Create an Alias (Again, I've already got one so mine says Modify)


Buy the merchant bag


Make sure you get the right one for your sex


*Note: Pure int characters, you may want to get the Strength giving Flag, for a little more survivability, you never know when it may come in handy. This is your chance to get more hp without having to waste a stat point.

Now that you've got that out of the way, you'll need a horse or camel. Head on over to a Stable-Keeper NPC.

Buy a transport (get a few), the highest level one you can that you meet the requirement for, my character is level 32 so I used the level 30 Thoroughbred Horse.

*Note: Difference between camels and horses - If I remember correctly, horses move reasonably faster, but camels can carry more items without making the number of stars in a trade go up (If you don't know what stars are, just keep on going with the guide). Horses also have less HP than camels, so you can either have a semi-slow horse for speed... or a slow camel as a for trying to tank it out. It's really just personal preference... I prefer horses for the speed, but then again that's only because I don't need to tank. My bard's lvl 35 and can kill everything on the way from Constantinople to Sanmarkand and thieves can't attack me (1 star trades for the win).

Now that you've got a transport, you're ready to set off on your adventure! Well... almost. You've got to buy your goods! So head on over to a Specialty Trader NPC.


You're going to buy these goods and put them in your horse. Now here's where your first big decision appears.


You see how below the stars are green and there are 2 of them? This is a 2 star trade, because you've bought a lot of items to bring to the next town (What you thought you could buy a million dollars worth of stuff and use the safety of a 1 star to transport them to make tons of money? Sorry, silkroad isn't that simple).


If you're going by yourself without the help of hunters, then I definitely suggest doing a 1 star trade. If you go over to 2 stars, just sell some of the items back. If you're under level 40, and doing a 1 star trade, player thieves cannot attack you, giving you a pretty good amount of safety while being a trader. After level 40 however, you are just another one for the picking, so I suggest you either hire a hunter or feel free to bump it up to a 2 star or more trade since you'll be attackable anyhow.

Now that you've got the goods, you're ready for a long trip across the silkroadian plains.

III. Doing Your Job
Your job is simple, take your horse or camel, and transport it to the next town and sell it to their Specialty Trader NPC. It's a simple process but there are dangers.

The first and most obvious danger are monsters. They've been attacking you the entire time you've played the game, why would they stop now? If you're a bard, Noise works wonders, to keep them off of your back. Fight only what you have to to get them out of your way.

AVOID GIANTS AND CHAMPIONS (Unless of course you can own them instantly)


Your second danger are also obvious, THIEVES. This includes players and NPCs.



The last danger is a not so obvious one, Stalkers. If there's someone following you and you have no idea why and do not know them, be careful. They may be following you and in a party with thieves to help them find you. Also, stay far far far far far far far (farx100000) away from party monsters, giants, champions, ANYTHING. If the person following you has bad intentions, they will gather the monsters around you and then jet out of there so the monsters go after you. This is bad and thieves will wait for you to die so they can steal your goods!

Anyone once you get to the next town, repeat the process of buying items, only this time sell your items, the new system will actually show how much profit you're getting for each set of items you sell.

IV. Tips
These are just random tips, not necessities so don't flame or say I'm wrong, these are purely my opinion.

1. Do not join a random party and tell them you're doing a trade run, some may be thieves or know thieves and just use the map to help their friends locate your position.

2. Try to stay off main paths, the more people you meet, the more chance you have of a thief finding out where you are.

3. Get a hunter, or a friend to come along to buff you or res you if anything goes wrong.

4. If you can't get a full time hunter or friend, get one to look out at specific points that you MUST cross. (See below)

The circled areas are ones you must cross (Not all of them, but you'll have to cross atleast 2 to get to the city. This means a thief KNOWS you'll be crossing that place and can wait out there. So try to get a hunter or friend to look at the location you're planning on taking.

5. Carry a lot of pet potions and extra transports.

If your transport dies your items will be displayed like this, you must use another transport and pick them up. Be careful because this is what the thieves are after.

6. If you're alone and think you won't be seeing anyone around and your transport has low hp, let it die. It will die, you can kill the NPC thieves, then you just summon another one, no reason to waste 10 pet potions when you can just use 1 horse.

7. I know you love your attacking pets, but you may not want to take them on these trips. If a level 80 thief comes around and you're just level 40 doing a 1 star trade, you can say goodbye to Mr. Bear.

8. I don't know why people don't do this, but I've seen countless horses die. WATCH YOUR HORSES HP. It's not hard, glance up at the top right corner every now and then.

9. If you're a low level trader (We'll say around level 25) and you're going from Constantinople to Samarkand, you're obviously going to have a small problem crossing the Koroku field right in front of Samarkand. If you can't get a friend to help you, then do the smart thing, ride your horse and pot it out til you get to town.


10. This one's a funny one, but try to make friends with people you know are thieves. Thieves commonly run in groups, and if 1 person in that group is your friend, they will tell the thieves to back off of you. So be nice and stop going "EWWW THIEVES YOU ALL SUCK", because karma's a bitch. Your very enemy may become the one that saves you in your time of need. This goes for hunters too, befriend them. If you have a hunter friend that wants to level up his job he or she will often ask if you're doing a trade run and need help or if you want to do a trade run. This will help you make a lot more money safely.

11. Ask friends and guild mates if they've seen any thieves running around before taking off.

12. Have a good weapon/armor. It will help when you need to kick some thief ass!

(Yes I know, its not THAT great, but I love my harp)

13. I suggest you use a horse, its faster so there's less time for thieves to catch you. Plus if a thief is using a camel he will have no chance to catch you.

14. Turn off the exchange command because thieves will sometimes spam you in order to get your focus off and then you will make mistakes and if you accidentally hit yes you will also be immobile and cannot attack until you exit it.

15. Use high levels... Yes, they think you're annoying... so lets show them just how annoying we can be! Trail in front of high levels at a reasonable distance so that your thieves (or atleast most of them) will attack them. Don't worry they'll be fine, 1 damage from your thief is nothing. This allows you to travel safely without much trouble. Trailing behind is NOT suggested because their thieves will most likely attack you, however they will take care of the monsters in your path... so its really just up to you, but I think monsters are easier to deal with than lvl 80 thieves xbowing on you.

V. Questions and Answers
1. Why merchant, and not hunter or thief?
-Well one of the main reasons is, its for money. You will make plenty being a merchant. Another reason is, if you're under level 40, this is the safest way to get cash from jobbing. If you do 1 star trades, then thieves can't attack you, thus you are practically safe (aside from herding) and what not towards you.

VI. The End... or is it?
Well, I made this guide because there aren't very many good ones. Also most of them are very old and do not have up-to-date information on the new system. I'm probably missing a lot of stuff but I'll update it if anything else pops in my head... feel free to ask questions and I'll add them to the Q & A Section. I'll probably update this rather soon, seeing as I didn't add any colors and such XP.

I did write this guide, and I did it on a whim. I'm not going to give out my email or anything, so just leave posts with the questions or things to add. I play on the Saturn (NEW) server and my character name is VcentG (go figure!) Feel free to message me or something.

Very nice guide,

especially for the new players around here

very nice guild
thanks alot for it is vry usefull for alot players

Lol thanks. I'm thinking of adding more stuff like explaining Job EXP and such, and more things to watch out for, but too tired right now.

Very good, complete and organized guide, cant think of anything right now to improve it.

Good job dude!

very good guide
help alot of ppl like me, who are about to go to lvl 20

it would be great if u put stuff like this:
what is the benefit of being a merchant's?
....answer...etc.

Nice guide. I also think if you could include the profits of a 1 star trade, like how much you would get in return, and the monster levels from town to town. it would help some beginners and it would certainly help me, ( I just started playing SRO again a week ago, its been a year and im rusty so i dont really know the updates. Lol ) thanks and goodjob.

These are something I would love to see. I would also love to see the job exp as you said. Excellent job, thanks a lot.

Suggestion.. Add in the differences of doing a trade run in euro side as compared to chinese side... and explain the bargain notice (I didnt know what it meant before )

Great guide!

but there is one thing i would like to add . Horses have low hp, but their speed is higher. Camels have more space (like u said), but they also have much more hp than a horse. i think horses travel 4m while a camel travels 3m.
so

horses - Travel 4m, can carry less goods, have less hp.
camel - travel 3m, can carry more goods, have more hp.

anyway nice guide

this helps me im a theif... i read both theif and trader guides for this rich info XD

Ah yeah, I'll add that =P

A couple of things I have learned.

If you get a Thief stalker make sure there are no party mobs, champs or giants near you, they like to train them on you to overwhelm you.

Turn off the trade (exchange) function - One thief spammed me with trades and I couldn't fight the mobs attacking me and I died.

If you want to tag along with a caravan you can hang out at the docks and wait for them. Even if they don't want to party you can always just follow them along as a big caravan wipes everything out, just watch out for the respawn.

Oh, if you are having trouble turning into a merchant it could be because you didn't give yourself and alias.

this was a very nice guide... also very thought through...

Alright I'll add that stuff as well =P. Although I don't know how to turn off the exchange thing, but I'll just mention it XD.

Also added why to become a merchant.

One thing I learned is never do trades before lvl 30 unless you have a good hunter....I learned it the hard way

+1

I also learned theives drop weapon exilir xD

hm noise protects your horse too from normal mobs, not sure you said this

so a lv 20 bard can go from jang to dw with no problems no 30+ mobs on way

also a trick for rogue/wizard is you can go invisible then get on horse and it will be invisible too, this way you can ride past the mobs you know you cant fight or to avoid non cheating theives

for the basic 1 star from dw to jangan, ive consistantly earned about 80k minus pots and expendables (for myself and the horse). this is without the bargain deals. 1 star is less than 160 items, so you can go up to 159 i believe.


if the moster question was serious, here you go:
from jangan to dw or reverse are the 1-4's that are south of jangan, lvl 10 yeoah's(preemtive) and decayed yeoahs, lvl 13-18 tigers(preemtive except the young ones), and the occasional lvl 16 bandit (preemtive) or two. on the dw side theres lvl 19-20 chakjis (20s preemtive), lvl 21 ghost bugs, lvl 22 devil bugs(preemtive), lvl 23 hyungno soldiers(preemtive), lvl hyungno ghosts, lvl 27 earth ghosts(preemtive), and lvl 27 meek gunpowder. All are covered by noise thank god. but fyi, noise doesnt help with champions so you still have to avoid them, it does help with party mobs though.

nice guide hehe even found something i didnt know:D

I have a question if you was to do a 1* trade from Donwhang to Jangan would you get the same amount if you was to also do a 1* trade from constan. to Sarmakand?

no because of the fortress tax..

Thieves will easily have you die. In jangan giant tigers are abundant. They can herd champs and giants to you like nothin. And on the euro side, punishers will make short work of you because there is ALWAYS a giant or 2 out there.

I always get my chars to atleast lvl 30 first. Just in case XP.

Of course if you don't run into any noob thieves, then yeah at level 20 you can do it no prob.

Anyway, I'll try to update the guide as far as profits go. But it'll be hard since I have a lvl 32 warlock that should be able to make it with 1 stars, but I don't know any hunters to do 2-5*s. And thieves obviously wouldn't let me do it just to have a perfect guide. Jerks, even though my main is a thief xD.