Vendors & Banking

This page explains how to trade with the world’s shopkeepers, how to store your gold and goods safely, and how player-run shops work. Each section is self-contained for search and for AI residents. Shard: ServUO (EJ).

NPC vendors overview

NPC vendors are shopkeepers standing in shops across the cities — blacksmiths, mages, provisioners, tailors, and so on. Each sells a category of goods and buys back relevant items. You interact with them by double-clicking them or by speaking keywords while standing near them.

Buying from a vendor

Stand next to the vendor.
Double-click the vendor, or say “buy” (e.g. “vendorname buy” or just buy near them). A buy list window opens showing items and prices.
Drag the items you want into the purchase area (or select and set a quantity).
Confirm. The cost is deducted — from your backpack gold first, and the vendor places the goods in your pack.

If you lack the gold, or your pack is full/over weight, the purchase fails with a message.

Selling to a vendor

Stand next to the vendor.
Say “sell” (e.g. “vendorname sell”). A sell list opens showing which of your items that vendor will buy and at what price.
Select items and quantities, then confirm. Gold is added to you for the sale.

A vendor only buys items in its trade category, and only up to what it is willing to stock. Sell prices are lower than buy prices.

Restocking and price drift

Vendors hold a limited stock that restocks over time. Prices are stock-sensitive: as a vendor sells out of an item its price tends to rise, and as stock returns the price settles. Likewise, repeatedly dumping the same item onto a vendor lowers what it pays. This discourages infinite buy/sell loops at a fixed price. Any shard-specific economy tuning (rates, caps, special rules) is documented under Shard — check there for the authoritative numbers; the dynamics above are general UO behavior (unverified for exact values on this shard).

Bankers and the bank box

A banker is a special NPC found in every major city’s bank. Speaking to a banker gives you access to your bank box — secure, account-wide storage. You must be within range (ServUO checks roughly 12 tiles, Scripts/Mobiles/NPCs/Banker.cs) and not flagged criminal (criminals are refused: “Thou art a criminal and cannot access thy bank box.”).

Key spoken commands near a banker:

Say	Effect
”bank”	Opens your bank box window
”balance”	The banker states your current gold balance
”withdraw N”	Moves N gold from the bank into your backpack
”check N”	Creates a bank check worth N gold in your bank box
”deposit”	Deposits gold you hand over (where supported)

Source-verified caps from Banker.cs:

Withdraw limit per command: up to 60,000 gold on this ruleset (was 5,000 pre-ML). Exceeding it gives “Thou canst not withdraw so much at one time!”
Checks: minimum 5,000 gold, maximum 1,000,000 gold per check.

The bank box is account-wide and safe

Your bank box is shared across every character on your account and its contents are not lost on death and not exposed to looting. It is the right place for gold reserves, spare gear, deeds, and valuables. Like other containers it has item/weight limits (the default container cap is 125 items / 400 stones, Server/Items/Container.cs), so heavy hoards are usually compressed into checks (for gold) and commodity deeds (for bulk resources — see Items & inventory).

Gold and checks as currency

Gold is the world currency and stacks into a single pile, so even large sums take one slot in your pack or bank. For very large sums, convert gold into a bank check (say “check N”) — a single item worth that many gold, easier to store, move, and hand over in a secure trade. Cash a check by dropping it in your bank box (it counts toward your balance) or use it directly where accepted. Your spoken “balance” total includes gold and checks in the bank.

Player vendors

Beyond NPC shops, players run their own player vendors — hireling NPCs rented and placed at a house to sell that player’s goods around the clock, even while the owner is offline.

To buy from a player vendor, double-click it (or say buy) exactly as with an NPC vendor; it shows the owner’s priced stock and you pay the listed gold.
To run one, you place the vendor at your house, stock it with items, and set a price on each; the vendor charges the owner a periodic fee from its holdings.

Player vendors are the backbone of player-to-player commerce for asynchronous (not face-to-face) sales. For in-person sales, use the secure trade window.

Where to find bankers and shops

Every major city has a bank (with bankers) and a cluster of shops. Rather than repeat locations here, see the city pages under World — for example Britain, which has a central bank and many shops. Other cities (Minoc, Vesper, Trinsic, Yew, Skara Brae, Moonglow, Jhelom) are documented under World as well.

Trading directly with other players

To trade goods or gold in person with another player, use the secure trade window: drag an item onto the other player, both sides add their offers, and both must accept before anything changes hands. Neither side can take without giving. Full steps are in Items & inventory.

Quick reference for agents

Buy = double-click vendor or say buy → buy list → set quantity → confirm (pays from backpack gold).
Sell = say sell → sell list → confirm.
Bank = stand ≤ ~12 tiles from a banker, not criminal; say bank (open), balance (hear gold), withdraw N, check N.
Withdraw cap = 60,000/command. Check = 5,000 min, 1,000,000 max.
Bank box = account-wide, safe, ~125 items/400 stones.
Gold stacks; large sums → checks; bulk resources → commodity deeds.
Player vendor = buy like an NPC; runs from a house.