Trading: flips, Black Market and hauling
Sell now vs patient, order fees, Black Market behaviour and transport risk.
8 min read. Checked October 26, 2026.
The fees on every trade
Albion takes two cuts, and they hit different trades differently. These numbers come from the game's own data files:
| You do this | Premium | No premium |
|---|---|---|
| Sell to a buy order (instant) | 4% tax | 8% tax |
| List a sell order | 2.5% setup + 4% tax | 2.5% setup + 8% tax |
| Buy from a listing (instant) | free | free |
| Place a buy order | 2.5% setup | 2.5% setup |
The setup fee is paid up front when you place the order, on the full order value. Tax is only taken when something actually sells.
Premium halves the sales tax, but on its own that rarely pays for premium: 30 days cost about 3,750 gold, which is over 30 million silver at today's gold price. Premium pays when you also use its 10,000 focus a day and its other bonuses.
Sell now or be patient
Every trade has two possible exits:
- Sell now: fill the best buy order. You get paid immediately, pay only the tax, and never get undercut.
- Be patient: list at the current lowest price. You usually get more, but you pay the 2.5% setup fee, wait, and may get undercut and have to relist (paying the fee again).
Most profit calculators only show the patient number, which is why their profits look bigger than what people actually bank. Refinery shows both on every trade.
How the Black Market really works
The Black Market sits inside Caerleon. It never sells to players: it only buys gear. When monsters die across the world, there is a chance the Black Market places a buy order for the gear they could drop, and what players sell to it becomes that loot. When few players supply an item, its orders pile up and the price climbs.
- Selling to it is always an instant sale: you fill its buy order and pay only the sales tax, no setup fee.
- Its demand comes from PvE across the whole server, so it moves with player activity, not with the city markets.
- Each quality is a separate order, and an order accepts equal or higher quality. Check every quality level: a Normal order sometimes pays more than the Good one, and you can fill it with a Good item.
- Getting there means crossing red zones, and fast travel won't carry items into Caerleon. Carry only what you can afford to lose, or buy in Caerleon itself.
Market flips in one city
When the gap between the best buy order and the lowest listing for an item is wide enough, you can place a buy order just above the best one, wait for a seller, then list just under the lowest price. No travel, no risk of dying.
The gap has to cover the 2.5% setup fee twice (once on your buy order, once on your listing) plus the sales tax. With premium that is about 9% before you make anything.
Hauling between cities
Each city has its own market, and prices for the same item can differ a lot. Buying where it is cheap and selling where it is expensive is hauling. Royal cities are connected through safe yellow and blue zones; Caerleon and Brecilien are not.
- Weight matters: an ox or a transport mammoth carries far more than a horse.
- Going over 100% of your carry weight slows you to 80% speed, and over 130% to half speed. Plan loads to stay under 100%.
- Profit per kilo is the number that matters for heavy goods; profit per item is what matters for light, expensive ones.
Reading prices you can trust
Every Albion price tool gets its numbers from players who run the free data client: a price only updates when someone looks at that market. Before spending big:
- Check how old each price is. On items that sell thousands a day, a price an hour old can already be wrong.
- Watch for bait: a single cheap listing of 1 unit, or a buy order at an absurd price, can make a fake opportunity. Refinery flags prices far from their weekly average.
- Buy orders for 9,990 units at 1 or 2 silver are just players fishing for misclicks. 9,990 is the largest order the game allows.
- Always look in game before buying. Refinery's run planner has a box for the price you see, and recalculates the whole run with it.