Post anything you know about the trade system in GL for those who are new to trading.

One ) Wrong place for this. This section of the forums is for actual trading, not authoritarian guideline posts.

Two ) The only 'guideline' is to not rip people off, and if people are too stupid to figure that one out on their own, they shouldn't be trading.

wow someone must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning that or there in a bad mood

1-I disagree with this a bit. IF there were guidelines necessary, this would be the proper place for a sticky with said guidelines
2-I agree wholeheartedly with this

And yeah, seems a bit on the "not a morning person, still needs coffee" side...

There are a few generally accepted rules/guidelines
CTP, Ku and EM
CTP = complex tech parts
Ku = kurenite
EM = exotic matter

the accepted exchange rate is 1CTP = 10Ku = 100EM

Planet Selling
Do NOT give away the owner's name, rank or legion. Only reveal the legion in PM, and double check the asker isn't from the owner's legion OR A SISTER LEGION.

How to set up the pitch:
Size (large, massive, tiny, etc)
Mining, artifact and research levels.
Rough, COMBINED attack and defence (include defence from council bases and stuff). Say the planet had 2400 defence and 2400 attack, and a council base (500 invasion defence), I'd say it has around 5.5k invasion defence.

Give a rough indication if it's in one of the top 50 legions, by saying top 50, top 25 or top 10. NOTHING MORE. Sometimes people pay more for top legion planets.

Say IF it has special, limited structures (like omnibases). Do NOT list the actual structures - only disclose them in private - these make planets very traceable. Sometimes the structures are worth more than the planet itself.

Generally, people don't want planets that are worse than Large/rich, unless they have special bonuses (structures etc).
planets can go for anything from 100 CTP

A risky way to "sell" a planet is by contacting the owner and asking them to pay you to purge their planets - this can reduce the risk involved by not having to invade anything, but the owner may get annoyed and start attacking you, or flux the planet themselves.

Artifacts
There are main "groups" of artifacts, ordered in average cost:

Planet fluxes: Cost around 6000-9000 Ku at the moment.

GP Only Artifacts: These are mainly the 3 extra storage structures, traded by building on a planet visible by the buyer and seller, and then the buyer invades it. They have recently gone for around 3000-6000 Ku.

Rare NPC drops: Orbital mass disruptors and RSL implants. Can sell for anything between 1500-4500 Ku. You sell the share of it, so DON'T stack them if you want to sell more than one.

High demand Combat: These are generally the most valuable. They are Time manipulators (TMs), shield amplifiers (amps), Repair Nanodrones (Nanos) and shield restorers (restorers). These have no real fixed price, but should be the highest valued and first sold in most auctions.

Mid demand Combat: Ancient crystal foci (foci), Nanite swarms (swarms), Dranikk saboteurs (sabs), disarming bombs (bombs) and EMP spheres (EMPs). These are the next most valuable "common" artifacts.

Mission Artifacts: All artifacts used in certain missions. Check the wiki for details. Flux probes and subspace seekers are the current "wanted" artifacts for the Kronyn chain.

CT lab artifacts: All artifacts used to male CT lab creations. Check the wiki.

Useful Artifacts: Neural interfaces (neurals), Planetary time vortexes (PTVs), Containment cages (cages), Halycon and Kronius virus traps (Haly and KV), Quantum flares (flares), Positron clouders (clouders)

Anything else: Generally you'll be lucky to sell these

As I said, this list is in descending value. REMEMBER: no prices are fixed, it can change daily.

Thanks, spyder. I now understand a lot more than I once did about trading. Anyone else add to that?

I was stuck dealing with a low level player who was constantly nailing me with artifacts. He wasn't happy that I started farming him since he was farming a low level legion member, and wouldn't stop despite me attempting to be diplomatic, and I was dealing with him being a #*&$ when I posted this, so wasn't in the best of moods.

Too Long, Didn't Read.... Just say you needed coffee. That explains all manners of problems...

I needed coffee, even though I don't drink it.

Thanks for the good info -- however I have a question that's not answered here:

How, exactly, do you go about physically making the trade? (I'm assuming people in different legions that don't have trade agreements?)

Friend each other on FB, and when you press send, choose them on the friends tab.

Ah, thanks. So you're basically limited to artifacts that can be shared/sent.

can anyone work-up a price list for artifacts?

eg;

shield restorer = 5ku
nanodrones = 10ku
planet flux = 600ku

etc. etc. ......

That, is impossible. Rough limits, like 6-9k ku for a flux are in place, but that's about it.

Things are only worth what someone's willing to pay.