Trading post

[City312]

Does it have to be manned for the items to be sold to customers? Or is it like business with storefronts where products are sold even when nobody works there?

[Lucius Corvus]

Some one has to man it to sell out of it has little bag sign just need one person caravan side can be unmanned and taxi part need one person per coach but keep there pay around 100 or you go in hole fast

[Jean Dupleix]

In order to sell to customers on the map you need to have the trading post (wo)manned and the worker need to be set to selling. Note that you can change business hours. NPCs dont shop during their working hours.
Once you have horse carts and the Caravan upgrade you can send carts to sell to places off the map. These caravans can sell goods on high demand at B prices which are 60% higher than the S prices you get at local markets. The caravans dont need any accompanying worker and take 3 or 4 days to return. Goods on demand in these off the map places are set randomly at start of seasons.