Selling to NPCs or on the Market: how to decide
When the price gap justifies waiting on the Market, and when the NPC is the right call.
The rule most players use — "the Market always pays more" — is wrong often enough to cost real gold. The Market pays more on liquid items; on items nobody is looking for, the offer sits and the gold never arrives.
The decision has three variables: the price gap, the volume you hold, and how long you are willing to wait.
When the NPC wins
When the gap is small in absolute terms. Selling 200 units for 12 gold more each earns 2,400 gold — less than the attention cost of creating and watching the offer.
Also when the item has no active buyer in your world. The tool flags those: an item with no Market buy offer gets its own badge.
When the Market wins
When the gap is wide and the item is in demand — imbuement materials are the classic case. The list of items worth more on the Market than at NPCs shows exactly where the gap is widest.
Frequently asked questions
- How big does the gap need to be to use the Market?
- It depends on volume. A rule of thumb: if the total gap (per-unit gap × quantity) is only a few thousand gold, the NPC usually wins on convenience.
- How do I know whether an item has a Market buyer?
- The analysis shows the Market buy price per world. An item with no active offer is marked as having no buyer.