SilentTM's Ultimate Guide To A Trillion

SilentTM's Ultimate Merchanting Guide: How To Be A Trillionare
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-This guide was written in 2014, so it may not apply now-

Table Of Contents:
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Introduction
Definitions
What You'll Need
Levels Of Investment
Chapter 1: What kind of investor are you?
Chapter 2: The types of investing and their individual qualities
Chapter 3: How do I figure out prices?
Chapter 4: The Why Of Prices
Chapter 5: What personal traits can I apply to investing that will boost my gains?
Chapter 6: Past Methods of Merchanting, long gone with hopes to return.
Chapter 7: Moral Debate: Buying from hackers, are you all guilty?
Conclusion

Introduction:
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Hello everyone. I really don't know what inspired me to make this guide, but if it helps, then good.
I've only ever written a guide in my guilds BBS but this I will write for anyone and everyone who
wants to know my secrets. I won't tell you all of my secrets, what's the fun in that? I will not be
telling you what exact item to buy. I will not be telling you what price to buy it for. It's your job to
discover that for yourself. I also want to note that I have only recently returned to MapleStory after
a one-year vacation, so that also contributes to why I won't go too indepth about the different
prices for different items. It's up to you to figure them out yourself. I will however break down the
methods used to discover prices so don't worry. What I will also do is lay out the ground work for all
of the different variations of merchanting. There are so many different methods you can apply to
your merchanting, it's up to you to decide which method your most excelled at, and which you'd like
to use. I will divide them by different chapters, and the amount of net value you're working with,
different levels so to speak. Aside from the different levels of value you're working with, I will be
discussing the enhancements/traits that we merchants use PERSONALLY to enhance our ability to
make good investment decisions and build strong investment connections, such as our ability to
market, our ability to speak, our ability to be honest, our ability to predict market movements, our
ability to discover underlying value to every single item/service possible. I want you to keep in mind
that when I wrote this guide, I have JUST returned from a one-year Hiatus from MapleStory. I
haven't had a chance to update myself with what's new in the MapleStory Economy, so some of my
examples may be out dated and MAY OR MAY NOT still apply now, but the CONCEPTS remain the
same. So, are you ready?

"give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime"

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Definitions:
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Price Potential: At the current economic level, the highest potential price that a specific item
can be sold for. In other words, the highest any idiot would pay.

Asset Value: The total amount of mesos that you are worth, including all items in your
possession.

Investing: The process of placing your currency into an item or service in the hopes of a future
profit return.

Capital: Amount of pure mesos readily available to you for use of investing, not including
currency in the form of items, etc.

Income/Profit: Sale price - price paid. Or the return amount received from purchase of an
investment and the sale of that investment.

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What you'll need:
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-A permit or a mushie depending on your level of merchanting (Up to you to figure how to get one)
-Some time
-A brain
-A calculator maybe?

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Levels Of Investment:
--------------------------

 (Please don't take this in offence. I'm only using the term "level" to
elaborate on the different investing tiers you can work with. I'm not bashing the poor in any way.)
(also, don't take my meso amount figures into full consideration, you are free to test the waters with
all amounts and all levels. I'm just laying out the basic ideal amount that you will need to perform
each level of merchanting.)

Level 1 (The Newborn): 1 Million - 100 Million Asset Value.

At this stage you're barely surveying the world around you, not really knowing where to begin.
You're a baby not even able to walk. You don't know exactly what to use your feet for but you
experiment and slowly learn as you grow.

Level 2 (The Toddler): 100 Million - 1 Billion Asset Value.

At this stage you've started crawling and barely walking but you haven't yet adjusted to the idea of
sprinting. The idea of running a race is farfatched to you and quite simply scary. You don't know if
you'll fall, or if you will surpass the person next to you. But it doesn't matter. Cause you will prevail.
Heh heh heh.

Level 3 (The Kiddo): 1 Billion - 10 Billion Asset Value.

After some time with trial and error, you've finally reached the point of stability. You've finally began
to pace, but is it too much to sprint? You're starting to be familiar with your feet, you know what it's
capable of, you know what it wants to do, where you want to go. You're just not exactly sure how to
get there. But at the same time you're confident in your abilities. You stare down the world with
ambitious eyes and begin to move quick, but not quick enough.

Level 4 (The Young Man/Woman): 10 Billion - 50 Billion Asset Value.

After time and time again, pacing and pacing, you've finally started sprinting. You're laughing at
your success, giddy with hysteria. You're sprinting a 100 meter dash for the first time, you're almost
to the finish line... and then you fall. You thought you could do it, you thought you were the man/woman.
But you're not. You've still got lots to learn. So you get up and you run that dash again. You
run it, and run it, and you pass it. This is the final step before the climax. The marathon.

Level 5 (The Man/Woman): 50 Billion - 1 Trillion Asset Value.

Now... Now is your moment to shine. You've gone through countless trials and errors, your face is
hardened and roughened with struggle. You've seen the lowest of the lows and the highest of the
highs. You've ran countless miles, you've fallen one too many. But you didn't give up. You're at the
peak of your success, but there's still one further step you must take. The final marathon, the
ultimate test of endurance, patience, and persistence. Youre at the starting line... there are many
contestants around you... all competing for the same prize. You're sweating but the race has not
begun. You look at the sky, the birds seem to move in beautiful unison, the sky is unbelievably blue.
This is the day that you've been conditioning yourself for all this time. The starter calls you all to
attention, his gun in hand. He announces the rules, but you pay no mind. You already know them.
You've applied these rules your entire career, you have them implanted in your head. The starter
raises his gun, sweat trinkling down his forehead, his eyes boring into you. 3... 2... 1... Begin. You
run, and you don't stop.

(Don't ask I got carried away)

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Chapter One: What kind of investor are you?
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One of the basic ideas that you must discover about merchanting, is what kind of investor do you
want to be? What kind of merchant do you want to be? As I've mentioned before there are different
variations to merchanting that you may apply. You aren't restricted to one. Depending on your asset
value, you can choose one, or you can choose all. Here are some of the different types of
merchanting that we have in our market today. (Before we begin I'd like to note that I will be breaking
down the layers between variations of merchanting by the levels of asset value in the next chapter.
This is only a summary)

Flip-Merchanting (level 1-2+): The process of buying an item for generally lower than it's
market value, and flipping it for a higher price for a quick to semi quick return. Entrance or run-
through FM 1-22. (though nowadays we have that one website MFM)

Long-Term Investment (Level 3+): A long term investment is the process of buying an item in
hopes or prediction of an increase in value over a long period of time.

Monopolization (Level 4+) : Monopolization is in a way a form of both flip-merchanting, and
long-term investing. It is the process of solely owning the market of a specific item, in hopes of
raising the value yourself.

Multi-Dimensional Merchanting (Advanced, Level 5+ At least): Many people are restricted to
the idea that merchanting only takes place in-game, in one direction. But in reality, the opposite is
true. In order to truly master the art of merchanting you need to utilize the fluctuation of ratios not
only in-game but out of game as well, and take advantage of reallocation of assets. Mesos are not a
value in and of itself, it's value is forever tied to the value of our real life currency. Will discuss a BIT
more later.

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Extra:
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Craft-Merchanting  (Level 1+): The process of buying recipes and ingredients, crafting the
desired item and reselling for a profit.
So these are some of the main types of merchanting you can apply and combine with your own
methods of trading in the market. Now, let's break it down even further.

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Chapter 2: The Types of Merchanting & Their Individual Qualities
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These are five different types of merchanting used to build wealth in game. Each have their own
individual qualities, pros and cons. Please keep in mind that there are much more ways that you can
build wealth, but I'm only discussing some of the types of INVESTING. I will not be talking about
farming/scrolling/anviling/bossing/anything of that sort. But, it's up to you to pick your poison.
Let's begin.

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FLIP-MERCHANTING:
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The process of buying an item generally for cheaper than it's market value, and flipping it for a
higher price for a quick to semi quick return. Entrance or run-through FM 1-22 (though nowadays we
have MFM)

The good ol' classic flip-merchanting. The one that everybody is familiar with. Buy low
sell high. Flip merchanting is a very effective method of merchanting, and has been used for ages. It's one of the most if not the most basic form of trading that there is. What exactly is flipping, you ask? First of all, there are multiple
ways that you can go about flipping an item/finding an item to flip. Here are three ways that I know
of.

-You can begin in the FM entrance, spamming B> _____ for XXX.
-You can run through FM 1-22 and discover underpriced items.
-Nowadays we have MFM, which I myself am not too familiar with but would agree that it is a very
useful tool, IF you know what exactly you're looking for.

Let's start by dividing flip-merchanting by the amount of net that you're worth. Obviously you're
limited to plenty if the amount of capital you may invest is under 100M. But no worries. Merchanting
takes place in all tiers, and you don't need god like amounts to earn a return. Please remember that
once you advance to a higher level, you are not restricted to that level. You may obviously continue
to merch w/ the methods used in prior levels.

Quick-Note: A common misconception is that in order to make a profit you must buy low and sell
high. This is true to a certain extent but not fully. Of course you can buy really low, sell medium. You
can buy medium, sell high. Or you can even go out on a limb and buy high, sell real high (but uh,
why) It all depends on your LEVEL of patience, your level of marketing, your desired profit-margin.
It's all on you. Your preference. How long you're willing to wait. Your behavior towards risk. Etc.

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Level 1) The NewBorn
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1 Million - 100 Million Asset Value

At these levels there's not really much that you can do to kick-start your in-game flipping. So you'll
have to start small obviously. An ideal item that you could merchant would be scrolls.

Now... you can stand in the entrance and spam "B> __ Scroll for XXX" all day if you'd like but this
obviously is a time killer, and not as effective. By the end of the day you might only come out w/ 20
or so scrolls depending on the scroll that you're focusing on. Again, you don't have to focus on
only one scroll, but some scrolls are more in demand than others. Scrolls for attack for instance, are
demanded in general. So you may want to keep more of your scroll assets in those. Again, it's
entirely up to your preference.

Another item that you can look for are lower tier % equipment. Most people are under the
assumption that "oo people only want godly 200% stuf ok u noob nobody wants ur junk % l0l", but
at these levels you really have no choice. And there IS a market for lower % equipment. Just because
they take a bit more time to sell, does not mean that there is no market for it. So, in these cases, you
must use your own judgement and context price connecting skills (will talk more about this later) to
figure out what this item MAY sell for, and the probability that it will sell in a specific time frame.

Alright, now to another method that I find much more effective. The lovely 1-22 run.
Once you know the value of an item, and the current market price of that specific item, for example, a
scroll, it would be much easier to scan the FM 1-22 for bundles of scrolls that are cheap in price.
There are plenty of shops that knock off the price of their scrolls by a good amount, and if you
happen to find a decent spot in the FM you may resell for a nice profit. Even buying 10+ at a time.
The profit may not be much but with time, patience, and persistence, you will slowly build your
wealth. Billionaires aren't made overnight.

Scrolls are not the only item restricted to this level one phase, you can also merchant % equipment
at lower tiers (epic) and chairs that are seemingly higher in value than the price listed. Of course
many chairs nowadays are under 100M, so you may be lucky to find one that's 20-30M underpriced
for example. % Equipment may be limited at this level, but you can still find some. These take a bit
longer than others but when the profit comes it's definitely worth it. Please keep in mind that
Equipment, Scrolls, and Chairs are not the only items that are merchable. Keep your options open,
there is a value and a market for almost every item in the game, other wise it wouldn't be in the game.
Merch whatever you find worthwhile. Hell, it can even be etc items. Be creative.

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Level 2) The Toddler
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100 Million - 1 Billion Asset Value

After some time flip merchanting with level 1 items, you're now reaching a higher asset valuation. You're less restricted than you were before, but still not quite there yet. You're still a toddler. You have some ways to go. At these levels you may move out of the lower tier items and start focusing on higher tier % equipment (but not that high) and also higher demanded USE items such as more high grade scrolls and nebulites, et cetera. The same method applies here, you can stick to what you know or you can expand your horizon a bit. Start moving onto unfamiliar territory, and take risks. Don't be afraid to fail. You will only grow wiser through your failures. At level 2 merchanting, you start to become more familiar with prices and the concept of merchanting. How it works, and what works for you. You start becoming more comfortable with risking your oh so valued mesos to make more oh so valued mesos.

At these levels you can STILL stand at the entrance and spam things such as "B> % Equipment B>
Scrolls B> Chairs B> Nebs" etc, but as I've said before I personally have always found the FM-1-22
scanning/run through as the most effective method of finding items underpriced and reselling them
for a higher one. I've made billions buying and reselling in this way.

% Equipment has always been ideal but they typically take a bit longer than use items to sell. Chairs
are also still ideal but they too have the same selling time frame. But your patience and persistence
can outgrow the tallest of trees. Level 2 merchanting is basically the same as Level 1, but your
options obviously are more diverse. You can stick to the basic level 1 items, or you can start moving
onto level 2 items. Unique equipment with % on them is a good choice at this value level. Often times people aren't sure of the potential price of their item so they misjudge it by a few mill to a few hundred mil. Sometimes even more. This is the time to snatch that oppurtunity. Snatch up a bunch of % Equipment, snatch up demanded weapons for your tier level. Not everyone is rich and can afford godly attack weapons, so they strive towards the mediocre ones. OWN that mediocre market. I remember starting up years ago and having my own mediocre market of % equipment, and weapons.

I was basically buying and reselling semi-scrolled attack/m.attack weapons and judging them to hold more potential. I'm talking about crappy +6 scrolled "junk", +5 junk all slots maxed. But I owned this niche. I knew it. I was comfortable with it. It worked. If it worked for me it can work for you. I've made billions off this market as well. I've satisfied the lower class. But then again my judgement helped me make good decisions. Chairs (yet again), are also a good item to merchant at this level. Again the same concept as level one, but your choices and options are wider. Become familiar with more valuable and expensive chair prices, take advantage of EVENTS. Lots of events drop the price of certain items due to an increase in supply in a short period of time. We all know about "supply & demand". Utilize this. Events don't come every day. Buy them while they're cheap. This doesn't only apply to chairs, but everything else that comes out during events as well. Gachapon, etc. I personally would prefer to lean towards equipment, weapons, and scrolls but good oppurtunities do arrise for chairs and collectible items during certain events. So use your own judgement to compare and contrast which is more worthwhile, which will sell quicker, which will sell for a higher return, etc.

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Level 3) The Kiddo
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1 Billion - 10 Billion Asset Value

So... you've finally reached that point. You're finally a billionaire. You've reached your first milepoint,
but there's still more to achieve. You're not exactly flawless, nobody is, but you've got the basic
ground rules set for yourself. You have your own methods to live by, your own techniques applied.

Now, you're familiar with flipping items that have been set at a pretty cheap price, you're familiar with
equipment, weapons, chairs, other miscellaneous items that are demanded. What other options can
you expand to, once you reach these levels? I think we've reached the point where you have enough
net worth to begin merchanting real godlies. Of course you won't be able to merch many at a time,
but you can possibly come out w/ upwards of 500M+ profit per item in these stages. At this point
the rate of return is much quicker than it was at level 1, since you're dealing with more mesos to
begin with. To make money sometimes you need money.

At these stages, it's pretty obvious that you can stick w/ what you know. The simple level 1-2 tiered
equipment and use items are still good to merchant with. Those deals will always be available to
you. But once you save enough mesos, you should definitely start researching godly weapons and
equipment. Try to find tradable godlies with high %, or highly scrolled attack/m.atk weapons
underpriced. At this level, UNLESS you find a godly that's extremely underpriced, I wouldn't
recommend merchanting PSOK'ed items, due to the current high NX ratio. In the end it's entirely up
to you and how much profit you're comfortable with making. It's kind of dumb asking "should I buy
it for X amount? To make X amount?" if you already know the potential sale price (I will be using
this term often in this guide, due to the constant change in item price), because you can really only
answer that yourself judging by your own preference. Nobody can answer that for you. You need to
decide how much profit you're comfortable with, and how long you're willing to wait for your item to
sell. Also, don't be afraid to over price your equipment reasonably if you YOURSELF feel that
someone may come along and find it as a good deal. You have to use your own judgement. I've been
told many times that my items were over priced but if I had a penny for how many times someone
told me that, yet the item sold, I'd be a billionaire irl. Lol. And plus, you can always take offers, or
lower the price. It's up to you, and your profit/waiting preferences.

Godly equips are a main focus, but you can also move onto other higher grade items as well. High %
Nebulites, More valuable scrolls, more valuable chairs... the same rules apply. Figure out the current
average market price, buy lower & sell higher. Permanent NX items are demanded but the supply is
often times flooded during their release. But keep in mind that the prices for these are typically low
as this occurs, and once the item is worn it can't be traded again. That being said, once the event is
over, production ceases to exist, and the supply will only lower and lower (assuming no exploits
occur & nexon doesn't recycle). You should know what this means. So, take advantage of this. Will
discuss more about it in the Long-Term Investing chapter. Keep this up and before you know it,
you'll reach that 10 billion mark, finally.

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Level 4) The Young Man/Woman
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10 Billion - 50 Billion Asset Value

So now, you've hit the 10 billion mark. Yet another milestone. You've grown to be a quite dashing
young man/woman. (Lol why do I do this) Anyways. It's time to start expanding even FURTHER. Further?
"How the hell do I do that?" You may be asking. Now it's the time to start moving into the early
stages of long-term investing. Not full-on long term investing, but it's only in the same category
because of the quantity that you'll be holding in terms of your flip-items. It naturally carries you on
into the long-term in a way. Please remember, there are similar traits that you'll find between flipping
and long-term investing. But it's just much easier seperating them in different categories. So, where
to begin.

You'll be focusing more or less on the same categories, the in demand godlies, % equipment,
valuable chairs (or even junk chairs, if you happen to find them for a cheap price), valuable
nebulites... You will be doing exactly the same things. Running through the FM, constantly on the
prowl for underpriced items. Except you're doing this on a larger scale now. You're holding a larger
quantity of items, but the profit margin is vast. You're counting your assets and you notice the
constant rise. One second you were at 10 billion in total asset value, now you're at 20, then 25, then
before you know it, you'll reach the point of 50 billion mesos in asset value. In this perspective,
you're holding your assets for a much longer time, therefore it's somewhat considered a long term
investment as well, but technically you're still flipping that item in hopes for a quick return.

At these level 4 stages, focusing on large quantities of pricier scrolls has always yielded strong
returns for me. With higher capital, you're able to increase your profit-margin. There are times when
you'll be able to find scrolls at unusually low prices, and the profit potential on these investments
are endless. The same goes for godly equipment, permanent NX, and chairs. You will always find
oppurtunities for flips if you regularly scan FM 1-22. It just takes a bit of work. At this point I
wouldn't recommend wasting your time spamming at the entrance. You should have graduated from
that school long ago. Keep in mind the hype factor of a certain class. When certain classes are held
with high anticipations, typically that classes % equipment will raise in price due to the large amount
of players moving towards that class. So anticipate this, and take advantage of this. Continue so
and soon you'll be a man/woman. Soon you'll wipe your arse w/ bills.

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Level 5) The Man/Woman
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50 Billion - 1 Trillion (Connected w/ Long-Term Investing)

So, we've broke it down a bit between the first four levels of merchanting. There's one more level,
how much further can we go? What exactly can we do beyond the level 4 stage? Beyond the 50
billion point, is there anything that we can do differently? Technically, no. Merchanting/trading
consists of the same routines over and over again, but the method by which we merchant changes
with the level that we reach. So let's talk about level 5. The final level of merchanting.
You've finally hit a major milestone. 50 Billion mesos in asset value. You never thought you'd reach
this point. But you did, and you should be proud. But, your career has just barely started. You want
to reach that 1 Trillion point. How do you do it? How is it possible? With Flip-merchanting alone, it
would take forever, and not to mention that the granny shop only allows you to hold 24 items at a
time. But that's why we've breached the ice of long-term investment. And with the assistance of
long-term investing, you should be able to reach a Trillion, with patience and ambition.
You are now in possession of tons of scrolls, all bought cheap from suppliers in the FM 1-22. Tons
of godlies that you've discovered underpriced, high % equipment, high grade nebulites, high attack
weapons sold to you for a decent price, you've got gear being offered on worth 5+ billion each
piece, which you happened to buy for 4 billion tops. But how much longer do you need to do this to
reach 1 Trillion? How much patience can one have?

I've breached many trillions, many of times, but my situation is different from yours. I was not
only flip-merchanting. I was doing it ALL. I was constantly fluctuating my assets between different
currencies. This is a method known as Multi-Dimensional merchanting. Taking advantage of the
fluctuation between the value of Mesos and other external currencies (you know what they are). But
we will semi-break this down in the future chapter, for more advanced merchants.
For flip merchants alone, to breach this point, you must long term invest in a certain way. It will take
ages for you to find that many deals to constantly flip your way to over a Trillion. It will take hundreds,
even thousands of underpriced godlies, underpriced scrolls, underpriced chairs, underpriced
nebulites, and underpriced % equipment just to reach that point. So start focusing on the long term,
utilizing low economic levels (times when the price of certain items drop due to a certain events that
flood the market with that item, therefore lowering the price, or even times when the amount of
players is decreasing due to school, etc.)... So. Shall we begin?

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LONG-TERM INVESTING: Level 4+
----------------------------------------------------

A long term investment is the process of buying an item in hopes or prediction of an increase in
value over a long period of time

You're probably asking why anyone would want to long-term invest? Don't you want to make the
quick return? Why wait? Well, let's put it this way. Say for example an event has just passed, and in
this event a certain scroll was flooded into the market, due to the amount of players participating in
this event. This can be any event, whether a hand out, or gachapon, or etc. Let's say that before this
event, at normal market levels, the price of this scroll was 50M. NOW, after being flooded with such
a supply, and an unchanged demand, the price of this scroll very quickly drops to 25, then 20, then
15M. There are literally THOUSANDS if not TENS of thousands of these scrolls in the market now.
You, yourself, are sitting on 50 billion mesos in capital. You have your pick of godlies, yes you can
pick that. If you find a decent underpriced godly, why not? But these scrolls, we'll call them X
Scrolls' price can only go up (Assuming Nexon does not make major changes to the circumstances
of these scrolls that will deem them obselete, and assuming some exploit doesn't further drop the
prices of X scrolls) once the market reaches normal levels again (in other words, once the event is
over). So if you're sitting on a large pool of mesos, why not invest 50 billion, in hopes for 100 billion
in the near distant future? I know it may sound "too easy" or "too good to be true" but with hard
work, dedication, and motivation, you can do this. Take advantage of events such as this. They
create price oppurtunities in so many different categories, not just scrolls alone.

PERM NX, is one example that I've always enjoyed bringing up when discussing long-term
investing. Typically, nexon will constantly find ways to have us players and customers purchase NX
in one way or another. One of these is releasing new Permanent NX items that are tradeable in game.
These items are valuable, when released, yes, and the same rules apply. A huge quantity are released
into the market during these events, causing the price to drop to start at unusual levels for these NX
items. I'd like to believe that during the next round of Perm NX items, that Nexon will most likely
change them. Doesn't this provide you with an oppurtunity? A niche or a void to fill? You're damn
right it does. Buy it, hold it. It's really that simple. Now, I wouldn't go out on a limb and say you should buy all
things released during events, but go for the ones that are generally demanded. Once the supply
diminishes, the price will raise, and that's your time to shine.

I want to bring up the example of Ink & Wash Rings. Need I say more?
Or even Cat Hoods way way back when. There was a time when they were 200M, and before the
exploits they went up to levels over 1 billion +. That's 5x the the price paid. The wait is worth it. Long
term investment, is worth it.

Don't limit yourself to only my examples. Find what's valuable to the public, determine what factors
will increase the price people are willing to pay, determine what price YOU are willing to pay,
determine what PROFIT you are able to accept. You are the merchant. You are striving towards 1
Trillion. Don't let anyone stop you. You are now the man/woman.

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MONOPOLIZATION: Level 4+
----------------------------------------------------

Monopolization is in a way a form of both flip-merchanting, and long-term investing. It is the
process of solely owning the market of a specific item, in hopes of raising the value.

In a way, Monopolization is a form of both flipping and long-term investing. As I've said before,
merchanting and investing are similar in so many ways, but for purposes of organization it's easier to
separate them by different categories. Monopolization is one category that I've constantly used in
my merchanting career. And it has brought me plenty of success, but the amount of capital needed
to perform Monopolization is almost incomprehensible. You need so much readily available capital
that at times it may get frustrating.

To monopolize, you need to solely own the market for the specific item that you are targeting. To
have a partner in monopolization in essence, CAN work, but is also frustrating if you partners can
not work it out. You must divide the rate of sales and be comfortable with it, otherwise it won't work.
You will constantly battle out the prices and the whole point of monopolization dies. In order to
monopolize, you would need a vast amount of mesos ready to blow, depending on the item. How do
you pick what items to monopolize? Well, an ideal item to monopolize are temporarily available items,
items that are flooded (just like long-term investing) into the market during temporary events,
causing low prices. But not only do you have to buy them at low prices, you also have to clear out
ALL/MOST shops of these items up until the end of the event, and even AFTER the event is over.
That way you truly are the sole owner of that market. Once this happens, and you succeed, with no
interruption (ie. Nexon releasing another event the next fricken week, for example) then you can set
your price higher and higher and higher. One example many of my kin are aware of is my own
monopolization of Golden Hammer 50%'s in 2012. The price was so low I found it utterly ridiculous
that no one attempted the same thing I did. I bought my hammers for at least 15M upwards to 70M. I
solely owned the hammers for a good while, and released them for 100-140M (yes I even sold some
for 140M). How did I determine these prices? Context Price Connecting. I will discuss this more in
the "Chapter 4: How do I figure out prices?".

That's just one example you can use. Monopolization can apply to almost any item that is available
in the market, but some of the lower tier items are harder to monopolize due to the constant
availability of them from drops (and let's not mention hackers). It can work, but don't expect a 200%
return on the item right away. You would need the general economy to move upwards in that
situation in order to profit on lower tiered monopolization. Just keep that in mind.
What else besides use items can you monopolize? Obviously the items that we spoke of in the
Long-Term Investing section. I won't go too in detail, but I'm sure you'll figure it out on your own.
By definition monopolization can work with anything, some just harder than others. You will need
tons of available mesos for this. Please do not attempt it half heartedly. It is extremely pointless
buying 1/3rd of the market out at market price. You'd either lose taxes or wait an extremely long time
selling them for a profit.

Now... the final form of merchanting that I've found the most effective in my view.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MULTI-DIMENSIONAL MERCHANTING: ADVANCED+
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now you're probably sitting there, staring at this post like who is this crazy son of a B? This ain't no
sci-fi movie w/ worm holes. But I swear I'm not crazy. Many people are under the
misconception that Merchanting takes place in one direction only. That is, inside looking outwards.
But they are wrong. This form of merchanting is not available for the lower level tiers, due to the
nature of it. If you do not have TONS and tons of either mesos or other forms of "currency", then
you can skip this section. But this Multi-Dimensional merchanting consists of reallocation between
different THREE different forms of currencies. Taking advantage of the fluctuating value between
them. At certain times, Mesos are valued lower. At other times NX is valued lower. There's a third
ratio that you must put into place but I will not be talking about it due to the nature of it. It's your job
to discover when to place your assets into which and what and when. That is all I will say about this
section. But if you can master the art of reallocating your assets, I can guarantee trillions. All I can
say is, just because you have 1 billion mesos now, it does not mean that you are worth more than
someone else with 500 million mesos might have been last month. That's all for this section.

--------------------------
Extra:
--------------------------

Now we've gone through the major forms of investing used in game. I want to mention here a simpler
form of merchanting known as crafting. If there are any more simple forms that you basilers would
like to contribute to this guide, please feel free.

Craft-Merchanting)

Craft merchanting is one that I've used in my early stages of merchanting, back when I was still a
toddler. This is the process of buying recipes and ingredients of an item, crafting it, and reselling it
for a profit. The profits available to you in this industry is decent, but not quite as fast. But for the
lower levels (level 1-2, and maybe even 3) it would be ideal. Take it up if you have the time and
patience.

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**CHAPTER 3: How Do I Figure Out Prices Anyway?**
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I've talked about some of the most known methods of merchanting available. But I haven't yet
talked about prices or specific items, or how you can determine these prices for yourself. As I've
stated before I will not be telling you prices of items and what price you should buy them for, but I
will be telling you how to go about finding that out. Well, it really is simple. The way that I learned
my prices was just... doing it. After time and time again of trial and error, of basically scanning the
FM 22 - 1 constantly and repeatedly, the prices become familiar to you. The prices are injected into
your blood like a shot of caffeine in the morning. To know the market you have to be the market.
Seriously. You can't just sit around the FM and ASK everyone what price a certain item is, for EVERY
single item. You must do the work. It's not a crime to ask for P/C's here and there, for items uniquely
priced such as godlies, etc. but even godlies can be determined by certain methods you can use.
One other method I've mentioned earlier was the Context Price Connection; I honestly didn't know
what else to call it so that's just what I'll use.

Context Price Connection is judging the price of your item by the price of something else. Take for
example a golden hammer 50%. Now, at this very moment golden hammers are worth like 10-20M in
game due to the huge availability of them in the market. But under normal circumstances, how can
you use Context Price Connecting to find the value of a Golden Hammer? What system in
MapleStory is strictly set at certain values? Items in the Cash Shop, obviously. Luckily for you,
Hammers are available as well in the Cash Shop and are priced 4.9K NX. This at the current ratio
would place them at about 300 Million mesos worth in the cash shop. Now under normal
circumstances (our current economy is not normal circumstance IMO, I don't know why Nexon is
allowing Hammers to be so easily obtainable (even if 50%), if they expect anyone to buy their NX
Hammers. Even I don't have a crystal ball, but then again Nexon is 900 YEN a share and a 400-billion
Yen market valued company so I don't believe that this affects them really) this gives you an
underlying value to a Golden Hammer, and it gives you an idea to what the price potential of this
Golden Hammer may be. (That's how I determined the 100-140M price potential when I monopolized
them awhile back).

Keep in mind that Context Price Connection does not only apply to things in the Cash Shop only,
but it may apply to judging godlies with other godlies as well. You just have to use your own
judgement to figure it out.

Another method of determining prices is using our new Maple FM! Although I agree that MFM is a very
useful tool, there's no denying that, I simply am old school and still believe that running through the
FM is effective. MFM works for those of you who already KNOW what you want to look for, but I
feel it's lazy and ineffective to flip through the pages as opposed to manually running through the
FM. You can also use MFM to compare prices in one world to prices in another world. The
economies in both worlds are similar in the sense that they both have a set amount of players, and
most of them want the same things. The only main differences are... exploits in some worlds may not
be as severe as exploits in others, and population. Some exploiters just choose more populated
worlds to exploit in. But comparing prices between the worlds helps give you an IDEA as to the
potential price of an item, so use it if you know what you're looking for.

These are some methods that you can use to determine prices. PC's are cool, but you can't rely on
them forever. It's simply lazy and you are not a baby. Run through the FM, get a feel of it. Soon you
will have it in your head like clockwork.

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CHAPTER 4: The WHY Of Prices.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, in the previous chapter we discussed methods of FINDING the price of an item. We talked briefly
about Context Price Connection, and how to vaguely determine the value of an item. In this chapter,
I want to talk about why prices are this way. You may be asking something like, "Hey, what's the
difference?". Chapter 3 talks about WHAT, while this Chapter will talk about WHY. This chapter will
not only help you figure out why an item is valuable, or why the price is that way, but it'll also help
you determine prices of the future. What changing factors will affect the price of an item/service that
you are hoping to invest with... and so on.

So, to start off this discussion I will start by saying that this perspective begins as of September
2014. My examples used in this chapter will reference the future as of this date. And because of a
discussion in the comments I had with another basil member, I felt it was important to discuss and
include this chapter into my guide.

The simplest explanation I can give to the WHY of prices, as cliche as it sounds, is Supply &
Demand. But that's only the main form of "why" to prices. Let's call supply & demand the "Alpha"
of the WHY. Is there a Beta form to the WHY of prices? Yes. There is. But we'll talk about that later.

Alpha)

The main factor that we must put into play is the demand of a certain item; how much it's yearned
for, how valuable it is... Another Alpha factor is the supply, how easily it's obtained, how many are in the market. Supply & demand is the root of all value and it sums it all up with two simple words. That's why it's used so often. But how much can you actually interpret from those two words? How easy is it to say these words yet still feel lost in the realm of economics? To help visualize it, we'll use an example of supply & demand. Keep in mind that we're only going to be talking about Alpha forms of the why of Prices. Please bare with me, I will clarify it later.

Demand: Let's take for example a Unique Potential Scroll. Before we begin, we need to know exactly
what the goal of MapleStory is, the goal of it's players. What we'd also need to know is what exactly
does a Unique Potential Scroll do? I'm sure we all know, but let's just clarify it anyways. A Unique
Potential Scroll is a scroll which, when used on an item, gives it a Unique-tiered potential. Nowadays
there are 4 tiers to compare and contrast with eachother, Unique being the highest tier after
Legendary. So obviously, Unique is in pretty high demand because the goals of a player (to be
strong) and the Value of the item are tied into one.

Supply: Another Alpha form of the WHY of prices is Supply. This one's just as important. Here's
why. Under normal economic circumstances, an item high in value typically isn't easily obtainable.
The price of a valued item is determined by the attainability of that item on top of how much it is
demanded by the general public. Which leads to a simple formula.

Supply & Demand = Value.

So if the demand was high but there was a very limited supply in the world, the prices would be
bidded to rates higher than usual.If the demand was high but there was a moderate supply in the world, the prices would
float at decent rates. & If the demand was high but there was a huge supply flooded in the world, the prices would drop
to unusual levels. It really is an equilibrium in that sense, which leads us to the conclusion that the Market is always,
always, always correct and it is always changing because it reflects the public, the supply, and the
demand. People say the market doesn't make sense, I'm guilty of using this quote, but in reality the
market makes perfect sense in the SENSE that it reacts exactly as we the people of the economy react
towards the market. Our actions and the markets actions are forever tied together.

Now let's talk about another form of the WHY of prices. The Beta.

Beta) The Beta Form of prices is a factor that must be included in your investment decisions. It's an
external force, it's related to the value of mesos. Now you're probably sitting there, wondering why
the heck do mesos have anything to do with the value of an ITEM that you're purchasing whether
for consumption or investing other than it being used to purchase the item in the first place? Well, it
has a LOT to do with the item that you're purchasing. Here's why:

Mesos have an external value to them, or shall I say, an "underlying" value. Unfortunately there are
ahem... money relations to mesos, and these factors may affect prices of your item, maybe not now...
but in the future perhaps. I don't want to discuss too much about this Beta form due to the nature of
it, but I will say this. Sometimes mesos are extremely flooded in relation to the amount of players
leading to a very high supply. This in turn affects the value of the meso and the attainability of it.
And an example of how this relates to your item would be, IF we lived in a world where money fell
from trees, and IF money fell from trees at a suddenly higher rate on Christmas than on any other
day of the year... items that you want to buy during Christmas would naturally go up in price due to
the nature of bidding and the nature of it's attainability. In other words, supply & demand.
So, next time you have a targeted investment, please use these factors to keep in mind why the
prices are so, what makes you think the value will increase, and so on.

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**CHAPTER 5: What Personal Traits Can I Apply To Investing That Will Boost My Gains?**
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many people want to be rich. It's obviously not for everyone. What you need to get there is true
hard work and dedication to do so. You must have ambition, you can't sit there and expect others to
do your work for you. Helping others is fine, there's nothing wrong with that. But to strive to make it
to where you want, you need your own set of moral codes to live by. What works for you, what will
GUIDE you towards that mile stone you want to reach. Your honesty, your patience, your ambitious
personality, your charisma, your instincts, your intuition, your six sense, so to speak. You need to
trust your judgements and come to your own conclusions when deciding what investment will work
out for you. Don't listen 100% to what others have to say because chances are that person is trying
to walk over you. Take it into consideration and then move on. Also, make friends, make lots of
friends. Don't be a turtle hiding beneath it's shell. Sure, you can make it without the assistance of
others, but having friends and connections definitely gives you a boost to where you want to go.
There is no denying that. When people say they are self-made, I'd have to disagree. Everyone is in
some way guided by the help of others, and without these ripples in the pond, there is no you. So
remember, don't ever give up, trust your own judgements, come to your own conclusions, and make
friends. The more friends you have, the better. Who the hell needs enemies? Why must you act
superior to others and give yourself a reputation to be hated? Stay humble no matter where you are
in the tiers. It'll make MS a better place, and not only MS, but the real world as well. PLUR. Peace,
Love, Unity, Respect. Thx.

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CHAPTER 6: PAST METHODS OF MERCHANTING, Long Gone With Hopes Of Return
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For purposes of reminiscing and fun, I will discuss some of the long gone methods of merchanting
that were used by some of the old school... this one's to you.

MTS Merchanting:
--------------------------

Ah, MTSnowy. From one merchant to another, I give you props for your dominance in the MTS
market. MTS merchanting was the process of buying an item in the MTS for cheap and reselling it
for an NX profit (dur). Unfortunately for me, I got around to MTS merchanting a few months before
they closed it down, but in those few months I netted a good amount of NX for myself. The amount
of flip/investing oppurtunities available to you in this world of it's own was enormous. At the time
that clean rat mouths were worth 20K+ NX you would find people placing them at 4-5K at times. And
not only that, you were not RESTRICTED to only one world, you had the WHOLE GLOBAL MS
market available to you. That's a market worth tens millions of NX calling your name. I truly miss
MTS, and I hope some day they'll return with a system similar to it.

World Transfer Merchanting (Import/Export): (Still relevant today, as Nexon has started to implement more world transfer events)
------------------------------------------------------------

One of my personal favorites. World Transfer Merchanting was the process of transferring funds to
another world, a cheaper world, investing your funds in that world, and importing it back to your
main world. To do this you had to find a world market that was obviously at a cheaper level than
yours. At a cost of 25K NX per world xfer, you had to invest quite a large amount to see a return, but
if you had lots of capital to do this, the return potential was ENORMOUS. Though it was quite
popular back in the day, lots of other people were doing it, so the competition was hostile. But in the
end, you would still see a profit if you invested correctly.

These are two of the main past methods of merchanting that I've used in the past, and are no longer
available to us. As you can see there are so many different and unique ways that you can make a
profit. You just have to apply yourself to it, and discover what works for you. Keep this in mind the
next time you want to invest into something, that there are always going to be open doors, no matter
where you are.

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Chapter 7: Moral Debate: Buying from hackers, are you all guilty?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heh, what a controversial topic. But I couldn't help myself. I see people arguing about this all the
time whenever something funky happens in the market. "Oh ur guilty 4 buyin u shud be bant ok"
"Oh ur guilty 4 merchin u knew it waz haxed l0l nub" Please, please, just no. I know exactly where
you are coming from, but in my honest opinion no one is simply that SQUARE to not touch an item
that was illegitimately produced/obtained, because in SOME WAYS direct and indirect, you're all
guilty. You see that 60% atk scroll right there? Yeah, that cheap one that you found through MFM,
the one you used on your weapon the other day? Yeah, that was illegitimately obtained. You see
that weapon that you bought from that guy the other day? Yeah, that one you're wearing right now.
The one you paid for in mesos, that you obtained by bossing, legit 100%. Well, that weapon was
obtained from someone who used duped scrolls to reach that god like state. You see that DABR
you're wearing? Yeah, well the recipe to that DABR was duped and you are now wearing it. Ha ha ha
ha ha loser u should be banned ok. L0l0l0l. My point is, as long as $ is involved, there is nothing
that you or Nexon can do about it. There will always be loop holes, and it would be
utterly useless to work your way around them. My other point is, don't stress yourself trying to
distinguish too much between black and white, because quite frankly, the world is a moral grey area,
and that applies to MapleStory as well. We are all in some way guilty of "promoting" so to speak,
hacking by buying and using things obtained through hacking, or someone who bought from
someone who obtained something from hacking. I am not promoting hacking in any way, I'm simply
stating that there's nothing anyone can do about it. That's just my two
cents on this topic, but then again, to each his own.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**CONCLUSION**
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So there you have it. My merchant guide, to all of you Maplers out there. I truly hope that I've been
of some assistance to those of you who want to get started in Merchanting. Forgive me for not
going too in depth with prices, and what to buy, and when to buy things exactly, but I only wanted
to lay out the ground work for each section. And I hope this ground work enables you to develop
for yourself your own technique and your own comforts of investing. Don't give up. Merchanting
should be seen as a hobby of yours, something you live for (in game that is, please don't let ms be
ur life ok l0l), so yeah. I want to mention that if anyone has any other tips please feel free to discuss
them in the comments below. Well, there you have it. My merching guide. Now, I'd like to give credit
to some of the notable merchants that I have personally witnessed in my world and worked with and
discussed things with, people that deserve recognition not only for their merchanting abilities but
also most importantly their wisdom. People that I've encountered across the years. Please, if I forgot
you don't take it offensively. I went on a year-long vacation this past year and have only recently
returned. Here are the reasons why.

CherryTigers: Because I've been friends with this guy for a long time and I've watched him progress
over the years from a simple level 1 merchant towards the final level. And I'm truly honored to have
had the chance to work with him not only as a friend but as a merchant partner as well.

InstinctKar: Because he truly is one of my closest friends in MapleStory and I've known him ever
since I was xSilentxCm. And because his motivation and determination is unquestionable. Cheers
laddy.

FM Guild (Some):Because they've been around for along time and they've got a solid group of
merchants in their guild.

Veaf: Cause her knowledge in economics is undeniable and I take her wisdom with open ears without
a shadow of a doubt.

KissMyFinger: Cause even though he's a jackass, he's a damn good merchant and I'm happy I got to
work with him a few times.

TooRich: Cause he's just too F-ing rich.

Gurples: Cause she's got the umph in her and she knows what she's gotta do to make it.

Mike: Cause you were one of my earliest partners that I discussed ideas with when I was barely
starting off and a good friend as well.

Bear (Wherever you are, roll one for me): Cause you're just too damn funny to not be on this list.
You're also a merchant at heart. Even though you don't make shiiiiiit.

o and shout )utz 2 ze jamlamnez ! ALUCYA jenno for bein 2 nub ok === #freeJenna #freeKim #freeRebel

Unfortunately my list is much bigger than this, but most of them quit and have been forgotten. And
I'm sure there are plenty more merchants in my world that I'm sure are great but I unfortunately have
not had the chance to work or speak with. Props goes to you and you all know who you are. These
are only the MERCHANTS that I know (and I've been gone for awhile), so friends, don't get mad if
you're name isn't here okay? Okay.

Enjoy.

~SilentTM~