Tired of paying Evon Gnashblade? Use the [SCRO] guild to trade instead!

Every item you sell on the TP (Trading Post, a.k.a. Black Lion Trading Co) costs you a 5% fee just to list, plus a 10% fee when it sells. I recently listed the precursor Dusk for just under 900 gold, and ended up with 765 gold - 135g went to Evon Gnashblade's coffers. I would've gladly sold it to someone directly for 800g, saving myself 35g and waiting for 2 months for it to sell, and saving the buyer 100g.

That's why I created the Golden Lion Cub Trading Co [sCRO], to enable "escrow" trades where the guild acts as a trusted clearing house. It probably won't make much difference for very small trades, but for trades above 50 or 100g, those 15% can really start hurting your wallet.

Limitations? Yes, imposed by the game. You need a full GW2 account (not a free one), you need to wait 72 hours after joining the guild before you can use our guild stash, and you can trade in-game items for a value of up to 1000 gold. (2000 once we get a treasure trove, 3000 if/once we get a deep cave.)

The catch? You'll need to trust the guild not to cheat either side. And you'll need to find a buyer/seller willing to trade with you (in the game or using the forums on our website). But the guild is not-for-profit, it's free-to-join, and no rep required (in fact, feel free to leave and re-join when you need).

It's a tiny guild (3 members so far) to start with and I have no idea whether people will even be interested in such a service. I got 3 nice people to help me capture a guild hall this weekend (Gilded Hollow) and have invested some gold and materials for the first few upgrades. Tips would of course be welcome, but aren't required and won't buy you any advantages - the guild is just a neutral party facilitating a trade between two other parties.

We won't do PvE, PvP, Fractals, Raids, Dungeons, or WvW in this guild (well, never say never, but you get the point). It's all about trading.

If you're interested, check out the website and our FAQ to see how it works and how you can avoid the risk of someone cheating you.

Happy trading!

People can just use the in-game mail function. No waiting period necessary and things can be "documented" using screenshots.But the thought is appreciated.

FYI people have tried this before and none of the solutions lasted. There is simply too limited a pool of buyers and sellers for any particular item. Your guild can manage up to 500 members; the TP can manage up to 5 million accounts (if not more) — it's hard to compete with that.

There's also the issue of whether members of any particular guild are any more reliable than anons. People I know who have done ex-TP trading generally have done so via Discord, GW2 Exchange, or even /map.

And finally, although you can store up to 3k gold in the guild's bank, you can only withdraw 500g per week per account. Lots of people are willing to pay 15% in fees to get gold today rather than be limited to 1000g in the first 8 days.

Despite that history, I'm sure you'll get more than a few members who end up saving a few hundred gold. That's a good thing (although bad for the economy overall).

Good luck in your endeavors.

@Embered.5089 said:People can just use the in-game mail function. No waiting period necessary and things can be "documented" using screenshots.But the thought is appreciated.

Sure, if it's for one-off trade below 500g (that's your weekly limit for accepting gold via mail) and if you know you can trust the other guy.

But what's to stop the other guy from walking off with your gold/item before sending you his item/gold in return? Will you be able to report him and get your stuff back if he claims it was a misunderstanding and thought you were just being generous? That's what an escrow is all about, it avoids that risk. The old GuildWars (1) gave you the ability to trade items directly with another player, with both parties having to accept the deal before it was finalised. GW2 no longer lets you do that, and dealing with a stranger is a bit of a gamble.

As for "documenting" via screenshots... those are way too easy to fake, especially the chat section.

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:FYI people have tried this before and none of the solutions lasted. There is simply too limited a pool of buyers and sellers for any particular item. Your guild can manage up to 500 members; the TP can manage up to 5 million accounts (if not more) — it's hard to compete with that.

There's also the issue of whether members of any particular guild are any more reliable than anons. People I know who have done ex-TP trading generally have done so via Discord, GW2 Exchange, or even /map.

And finally, although you can store up to 3k gold in the guild's bank, you can only withdraw 500g per week per account. Lots of people are willing to pay 15% in fees to get gold today rather than be limited to 1000g in the first 8 days.

Hmm, I'd thought that only applied to sending gold via in-game mail, but after doing a bit of googling, turns out you're right. I hadn't been aware that limit also applied to guild stash withdrawals. I guess the workaround would be for the seller to withdraw up to their limit, and a guild officer to withdraw the rest and send it to the seller via mail. They'd still have to wait before being able to accept it, but it'd be sitting there at least. And if you run out of guild officers who can withdraw... yeah, that might get complicated. :-)

Despite that history, I'm sure you'll get more than a few members who end up saving a few hundred gold. That's a good thing (although bad for the economy overall).

Good luck in your endeavors.

I honestly don't expect this to take off to the extent that it'd impact the game's economy, but thanks for the wishes, much appreciated!