How the Grand Exchange Works in OSRS

GE Basics

The Grand Exchange is located in the northwest corner of Varrock and can be accessed by any player. It acts as a marketplace where players post buy and sell offers for items, and the system automatically matches them. You do not trade directly with another player — instead, the GE handles the matching and transaction.

Every player has 8 GE slots available (members get all 8; free-to-play players get 3). Each slot can hold one active offer — either a buy offer or a sell offer. You can have multiple offers for the same item across different slots.

How Matching Works

When you place a buy offer, the GE looks for sell offers at or below your price. When you place a sell offer, it looks for buy offers at or above your price. If a match is found, the trade executes immediately. If not, your offer sits in the queue until a matching offer appears.

The matching algorithm always favors the older offer. If two sellers are both offering an item at the same price, the one who listed first gets matched first. This means patience is rewarded — placing offers at reasonable prices and waiting will often save you money compared to buying instantly at a premium.

The GE Tax

As of December 2021, the Grand Exchange charges a 1% tax on all sell transactions, capped at a maximum of 5 million GP per transaction. The tax is deducted from the seller's proceeds, not charged to the buyer.

For example, if you sell an item for 1,000,000 GP, the GE takes 10,000 GP in tax and you receive 990,000 GP. If you sell an item for 600,000,000 GP, the tax is capped at 5,000,000 GP and you receive 595,000,000 GP.

The tax serves as a gold sink to help control inflation in the game. It is important to factor this into your calculations when flipping or merching, as it reduces your effective margin on every trade. Use our GE Tax Calculator to quickly calculate the tax on any transaction amount.

Tax-Exempt Items

Some items are exempt from the GE tax. Bonds are the most notable tax-exempt item. All other tradeable items are subject to the 1% tax. Keep this in mind when calculating profits — even small margins can be wiped out by the tax on mid-value items.

Buy Limits

Every item on the Grand Exchange has a buy limit — the maximum number of that item you can purchase within a 4-hour window. This limit exists to prevent any single player from monopolizing the supply of an item.

The 4-hour timer starts when you buy the first unit of an item and resets on a rolling basis. Buy limits are per item and per account. Having multiple buy offers for the same item across different GE slots does not increase your limit — they share the same 4-hour allocation.

Common buy limit tiers include:

• 13,000: Runes, arrows, common consumables
• 10,000-11,000: Food, potions, seeds
• 125-150: Standard weapons and armour
• 70: Higher-tier equipment
• 8: Rare drops and high-value uniques

You can check the buy limit for any item in our Item Database. Knowing buy limits is essential for flipping — it determines the maximum quantity you can trade in each cycle.

Price Mechanics

The Grand Exchange displays a guide price for every item. This guide price is not the actual trading price — it is an average calculated by Jagex based on recent transactions. The guide price updates periodically (roughly daily) and can lag behind real market movements.

The actual price you pay or receive depends on current supply and demand. If demand exceeds supply, the real trading price will be above the guide price. If supply exceeds demand, it will be below. This is why checking live prices on our site is important — the in-game guide price can be misleading, especially for volatile items.

Price Limits

The GE enforces a price range for most items, typically allowing offers within a certain percentage of the guide price. This prevents extreme manipulation. If you try to buy an item for 1 GP or sell for max cash and the item has an established price, your offer may not fill or may be restricted. For items with low guide prices (under 100 GP), the range is wider to allow for legitimate price discovery.

F2P vs P2P Trading

Free-to-play and members players have different GE experiences:

• F2P players: Can only trade F2P items, have access to 3 GE slots, and have lower buy limits on some items.
• Members: Can trade all items (including members-only items), have access to all 8 GE slots, and have full buy limits.

If your membership lapses while you have active members-only items in the GE, those offers will be paused until you resubscribe. Your items and gold are safe — they do not disappear. F2P flipping is still viable but more limited due to fewer slots and a smaller item pool.

Tips for New Players

Getting started with the Grand Exchange can feel overwhelming. Here are practical tips to help you use it effectively from day one:

• Always check margins first: Before buying any item to flip, check the margin using the buy-1-sell-1 technique described in our Flipping Guide.
• Use our Item Database: Browse our Item Database to see live prices, buy limits, volume data, and price history for every tradeable item.
• Start with high-volume items: Items that trade thousands of times per day (food, runes, potions) are the safest to trade because offers fill quickly and prices are stable.
• Be patient: Placing offers slightly below instant buy (for buying) or above instant sell (for selling) and waiting 5-10 minutes can save you 1-3% on every transaction.
• Keep all slots active: Even if you are not actively flipping, put buy offers in your unused GE slots for items you will need later. Buying at a good price passively saves money over time.
• Watch for scams: Never trust players offering to "double your money" or asking you to trade items outside the GE for above-market prices. The GE is the safest way to trade.