Trading lil confusing

[Namık]

i have been trying to make big amounts of money after i capped all my skills and can t find trainer (young world) figured i can make 800 bucks per haul from jungle woods and tried trading but a settlement with no mines or smelter doesn t buy ores for high price even tho they have workshops that use metals, i make 200 profit per 250 ore haul from 67% to 87% whic is already super rare to find and i lose more than 200 due to food running out (so i have to buy some)

overall i need information why this happens and how trading works

(this is my third run after i learned how to not die in my first two runs)

[Draken]

Main thing driving trade prices is availability - if the settlement doesn't have specific material (whole settlement, not specific family - each family has their own inventory) it usually drives the sell price up.

If they have abundance of materials, it usually drives the price down.
They may be some other factors, but this is the most reliable conclusion I came up with.

You also need to know that NPC settlements are also sending caravans all the times to sell resources, so relying on the specific settlement having specific building is not always accurate for determining potential buyer - you might have visited just before a NPC caravan hauled them full shipment of ore.

Finally, ore by itself is not used for finished items, nor is usually very expensive - thus I recommend ingots (or if there is lack of them, gems).

I had some good trading profit either by buying ores and smelting them into ingots, or buying ingots at 67% price and selling at 88% in separate towns.

Just be sure to do it in one bulk, not over multiple trecks - and if specific settlement doesn't buy it at 87%, move forward.

Lvl 18 adventuring passive which allows you to gather food on the move is super helpful here - but if you trade e.g. 100 iron bars which you bought at 67% and sold at 88%, this by itself should net around 1500 gold, so buying food should be a non-issue even if you have to move through a few settlements to sell it.

[Namık]

Originally posted by Draken:

Main thing driving trade prices is availability - if the settlement doesn't have specific material (whole settlement, not specific family - each family has their own inventory) it usually drives the sell price up.

If they have abundance of materials, it usually drives the price down.
They may be some other factors, but this is the most reliable conclusion I came up with.

You also need to know that NPC settlements are also sending caravans all the times to sell resources, so relying on the specific settlement having specific building is not always accurate for determining potential buyer - you might have visited just before a NPC caravan hauled them full shipment of ore.

Finally, ore by itself is not used for finished items, nor is usually very expensive - thus I recommend ingots (or if there is lack of them, gems).

I had some good trading profit either by buying ores and smelting them into ingots, or buying ingots at 67% price and selling at 88% in separate towns.

Just be sure to do it in one bulk, not over multiple trecks - and if specific settlement doesn't buy it at 87%, move forward.

Lvl 18 adventuring passive which allows you to gather food on the move is super helpful here - but if you trade e.g. 100 iron bars which you bought at 67% and sold at 88%, this by itself should net around 1500 gold, so buying food should be a non-issue even if you have to move through a few settlements to sell it.

so basically check EVERY settlement regardless of buildings present?