The Complete Guide to Commerce – Part 1

1.       Introduction
2.       Basics of Commerce
          a)      Buying Items
          b)      Selling Items
3.       Commerce Permit & Tax
          a)      Obtaining the Commerce Permit
          b)      Understanding the Commerce Permit
                           ~ Permit Level
                           ~ Tax Rate
          c)       Tax Rates
                           ~ Lowering Your Tax
                           ~ Table of Tax Increments
                           ~ Tips and Hints for Commerce Quests
4.       Commerce Centres & Coordinates
          a)      Ascaron – ArgentCity
          b)      Ascaron – Zephyr Isle
          c)       Ascaron – ThundoriaHarbour
          d)      Ascaron – Glacier Isle
          e)      Ascaron – Outlaw Isle
          f)        Magical Ocean – ShaitanCity
          g)      Magical Ocean – Canary Isle
          h)      Magical Ocean – Cupid Isle
          i)        Magical Ocean – Isle of Chill
          j)        Deep Blue – LowerIcicleCity
          k)       Deep Blue – Isle of Fortune
5.       Glossary of Commerce Items
          a)      Commerce Items by name
          b)      Commerce Items by location bought
          c)       Commerce Item by Permit required
          d)      Special Items
          e)      Salvage Items
6.       Calculating Commerce Profits
7.       Conclusion
8.       Credits

1. Introduction

This is a guide to commerce in the World of TOP. It covers various aspects of trading, including getting a commerce permit, finding commerce centres and goes in-depth with the buying/selling points of commerce items. It also is fully illustrated ^_^.  However, what this guide doesn’t do is calculate profits. The prices of the commerce items change frequently and everyone has different tax rates and different cargo spaces. All these variables make it really hard to calculate profitability, but I will go more into that later.

2. Basics of Commerce

Commerce is essentially the buying of one type of item from special traders, storing it in your boat, sailing to another trading centre and selling the item there. You can start Commerce from the time you are lvl 20.

In order to start commerce there are 3 things you need; a boat, a Commerce Permit and money. Whatever boat you chose is dependant on your level and how much money you have. Higher-level (and stronger) boats can only be bought by people with high levels. When you are lvl 20, there are only a few boats available to you. Once you get to a higher level it is a good idea to buy a new boat as it will be faster, have more durability and in some cases, have a bigger cargo, which means more profit per trip.

For more on buying a boat see these guides;
How to Buy and Use a Ship - Here
Complete Battleship Pictorial Guide - Here

The commerce permit is obtained from the Shaitan Trader Sidorf. This is covered in the section below. You also need money upfront to firstly buy you boat and to buy the items.

a) Buying Items

To buy commerce items, go to the Commerce Trader and click on Cargo Trade.




This brings you to a window with items that are buyable and what is in your cargo. Simply drag an item down into your cargo slot to buy it. The system will automatically work out how many free slots you have in your inventory and will calculate the purchase price for that amount. Commerce items are non-stackable so each one will take up 1 cargo slot. You will note that there is a certain quantity of items available at each trader. If the quantity listed is 0 then that entire item has been bought out already.




b) Selling Items

If you click on the second tab in the selling window, it brings you to a list of all the items that can be sold there. Some items can be sold in many locations, while others only are sold to 1 or 2 places. If you try to sell to a Trader and item that isn’t on the list the price will be $0 so DON’T sell it there. In section 5 of this guide I have listed all the combinations of buying and selling so use that as a reference.

To sell the item simply click and drag it up from your inventory into the selling window and press ‘Confirm’. Alternatively, a faster method is to right-click the item to being up the selling prompt.



All Commerce Transactions are recorded in the System Window so if you want to recap how much you bought something for, just scroll up to find it.





Also note that the prices aren’t fixed. Every half an hour the system refreshes itself. When it does this, it refills the quota of items there to a pre-determined maximum and alters the prices. Most prices fluctuate in a range from $50- $200 so it really is quite difficult to calculate profit rates. However, generally speaking the most expensive items are usually the most profitable as they sell for more (e.g. one item buys for $300 and sells for $600 = $300 profit per item. Another item buys for $500 and sells for $1,000 = $500 profit per item).  After a while of running a certain route you will start to get a feel for what are the best combinations.