What's the point of Bartering?

[Midna the Twilight Princess]

I just read one of the loading screens and it said something along the lines of "Out of money? then Barter!..." but if you have high value items that you aren't planning on using why would you barter them when you can just sell them for money and then buy whatever you need to? I don't see the point in bartering at all.

[Yojo0o]

It's really no more complicated than that. Like most loading screen tips, it's pretty basic. Usually, there's no reason not to simply sell off everything that you don't intend to use or save for some reason.

[Qwesar]

there is no point to bartering. Its the most worthless civic ability.

[Qwesar]

if barter improved the quality/quantity of vendor wares and/or provided a bigger discount then it would be worth taking but 3% discount is too low to see any returns compared to something like Thievery or Lucky Charm

Persuasion is the only mandatory civic ability in my opinion. Since money/gear is basically limitless in this game because merchants restock. The xp and extra story that persuasion gives is too important. And persuasion gives a vendor discount -.-

[Midna the Twilight Princess]

Originally posted by Qwesar:

if barter improved the quality/quantity of vendor wares and/or provided a bigger discount then it would be worth taking but 3% discount is too low to see any returns compared to something like Thievery or Lucky Charm

Persuasion is the only mandatory civic ability in my opinion. Since money/gear is basically limitless in this game because merchants restock. The xp and extra story that persuasion gives is too important. And persuasion gives a vendor discount -.-

Thank you for your insight! i had no idea the discount you get is 3% that's such dogwater. I usually like roleplaying as a charismatic character with points into persuasion and bartering but you bring up some great points. I'll probably just respect my character and put those points into persuasion instead

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

It increases sell value and decreases buy value of items.

Each 20 points in attitude provides a 3,84% better value of your items at this merchant to a max amount of 19%.

DLC Captains Head +2
Belt +1
Amu +1
Justinias Favor Gloves +1
Attitude +5
= 10 without even skilling a point in to it.

So you can sell your items for 59% more and buy an item for 37% less.

But it's not necessary. You can just get 11 thievery in Reaper's Coast and steal 57k gold from each merchant. If he does not have that much, just buy his items and you have the items and the gold afterwards.

[Midna the Twilight Princess]

Originally posted by Baldurs_Gate_2:

It increases sell value and decreases buy value of items.

Each 20 points in attitude provides a 3,84% better value of your items at this merchant to a max amount of 19%.

DLC Captains Head +2
Belt +1
Amu +1
Justinias Favor Gloves +1
Attitude +5
= 10 without even skilling a point in to it.

So you can sell your items for 59% more and buy an item for 37% less.

But it's not necessary. You can just get 11 thievery in Reaper's Coast and steal 57k gold from each merchant. If he does not have that much, just buy his items and you have the items and the gold afterwards.

I wasn't talking about the skill bartering I was referring to the act of bartering your items in-game. I was asking what the point of trading your items is when you could just sell them for gold.

[Stormwind]

Originally posted by Goro Majima:

Originally posted by Baldurs_Gate_2:

It increases sell value and decreases buy value of items.

Each 20 points in attitude provides a 3,84% better value of your items at this merchant to a max amount of 19%.

DLC Captains Head +2
Belt +1
Amu +1
Justinias Favor Gloves +1
Attitude +5
= 10 without even skilling a point in to it.

So you can sell your items for 59% more and buy an item for 37% less.

But it's not necessary. You can just get 11 thievery in Reaper's Coast and steal 57k gold from each merchant. If he does not have that much, just buy his items and you have the items and the gold afterwards.

I wasn't talking about the skill bartering I was referring to the act of bartering your items in-game. I was asking what the point of trading your items is when you could just sell them for gold.

I dont understand the distinction. What is the difference between selling your items and "trading" them in for gold?

[Yojo0o]

If you and the merchant are both low on gold, then you could potentially trade items instead of making a cash transaction. This rarely comes up, though.

[Spawnling]

Originally posted by Goro Majima:

I wasn't talking about the skill bartering I was referring to the act of bartering your items in-game. I was asking what the point of trading your items is when you could just sell them for gold.

You can gift gold and items to a merchant to increase your attitude, which gives you a permanent discount.
The bartering option allows you to do so.

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

Originally posted by Goro Majima:

Originally posted by Baldurs_Gate_2:

It increases sell value and decreases buy value of items.

Each 20 points in attitude provides a 3,84% better value of your items at this merchant to a max amount of 19%.

DLC Captains Head +2
Belt +1
Amu +1
Justinias Favor Gloves +1
Attitude +5
= 10 without even skilling a point in to it.

So you can sell your items for 59% more and buy an item for 37% less.

But it's not necessary. You can just get 11 thievery in Reaper's Coast and steal 57k gold from each merchant. If he does not have that much, just buy his items and you have the items and the gold afterwards.

I wasn't talking about the skill bartering I was referring to the act of bartering your items in-game. I was asking what the point of trading your items is when you could just sell them for gold.

Oh ok, i did not even know this option ^^

[Midna the Twilight Princess]

Originally posted by Stormwind:

Originally posted by Goro Majima:

I wasn't talking about the skill bartering I was referring to the act of bartering your items in-game. I was asking what the point of trading your items is when you could just sell them for gold.

I dont understand the distinction. What is the difference between selling your items and "trading" them in for gold?

When you "Barter" with a merchant you can exchange your own items for theirs in a process where no gold is actually spent. This process is basically useless from what I can tell however because you can normally just sell whatever you aren't going to use and use that gold to buy what you need.

[Nibbie]

Originally posted by Goro Majima:

Originally posted by Stormwind:

I dont understand the distinction. What is the difference between selling your items and "trading" them in for gold?

When you "Barter" with a merchant you can exchange your own items for theirs in a process where no gold is actually spent. This process is basically useless from what I can tell however because you can normally just sell whatever you aren't going to use and use that gold to buy what you need.

I think you see selling items for gold and selling items for items as two different actions for some reason, but I don't know why. You are losing and gaining identical amounts either way, right? Why sell item A worth 200 gold then buy item B worth 200 gold when you could sell item A for item B? Like, you don't need to carry items around and only trade items for items or anything, but I don't see a point in not cutting out the extra transaction when possible.

[Midna the Twilight Princess]

Originally posted by Nibbie:

Originally posted by Goro Majima:

When you "Barter" with a merchant you can exchange your own items for theirs in a process where no gold is actually spent. This process is basically useless from what I can tell however because you can normally just sell whatever you aren't going to use and use that gold to buy what you need.

I think you see selling items for gold and selling items for items as two different actions for some reason, but I don't know why. You are losing and gaining identical amounts either way, right? Why sell item A worth 200 gold then buy item B worth 200 gold when you could sell item A for item B? Like, you don't need to carry items around and only trade items for items or anything, but I don't see a point in not cutting out the extra transaction when possible.

In my opinion it just takes longer to trade items. While you are technically "cutting out the middle man" ie. gold when trading, it just seems like a longer more tedious method in my eyes. The first two options whenever you open the "trade menu" with any NPC are buying and selling, and then later down the list you can do things like donating, trading items etc. but because the first two options are related to gold its just hardwired into my brain at this point to use gold. If that makes sense