Merchants

The majority of 'Trader Service' and almost all 'Pawnbroker' class merchants are tied for the largest of item types bought and sold: between 10-12 item types. However, between a third and half of the larger number of 'Trader Service' merchants sell only one or two items.

The number of items drops quickly to six with Enchanter merchants, and more still to the large number of more specialized traders such as Alchemists and Apothecaries, Priests and Smiths, who sell three. Healers, Publicans, and a handful of Traders sell only Ingredients and Potions, followed by the one-item sellers: Thieves' tool sellers, Booksellers, and Clothiers.

This 'tree' is not merely a statistical curiousity; it is also the path of the flow of goods anytime a player wishes to maximize the amount of gold they can get out of the game, for any one given commodity the player has a large supply of. The player enters the entire supply of this commodity at the top of the tree and anywhere it can be traded directly, buying up commodities that can be sold further down the tree to enable these top-tier sellers to afford all of their commodity.

In the case of potions produced with Alchemy skill, Ra'Virr in Balmora is one of the more valuable traders in the game. He restocks extremely high value magical weapons, and buys potions. this flow of merchandise, potions and weapons, can be distributed directly to all but three of the 41 merchants who have a 1000 or better gold supply, many of whom are Enchanters, who often restock enchanted clothing, which can be sold on to Clothiers. Booksellers and Thieves' tool sellers are the thankfully rare exception that is very hard to find big-money items for. But by then, the player can have gotten 77,899 gold from the other 39 top sellers without having to Rest.

Enchanted items is a two-edged sword among categories. On the one hand, it takes in in one fell swoop, all enchanted items. On the other, it requires the knowledge that merchants will always buy what they sell, not always sell what they buy, and will always buy enchanted versions of the items they buy. That is to say, a merchant with swords for sale will always buy swords. A merchant that buys weapons may have no weapons for sale, and will always buy enchanted weapons, whether or not they are marked with the tag of buying all Enchanted items.

It has been proven that the Orc shaman in the Balmora Mages' Guild, Sharn Gra-Muzgrob, will buy Enchanted clothing, despite being only tagged for potion base items and Enchanted Items. This proves that the information at UESP, which states: "This page lists all merchants who deal in magical items. By itself, this distinction means nothing. All merchants must also deal in armor, clothing, weapons, or books (scrolls) in order for this to have any effect. A few merchants on this list are flagged as selling magical items who do not sell any of the four types for which magical items exist." is in error; it would seem that the author assumed that tags referred to items sold, rather than items bought.

Alchemists, Assassins, Enchanters, Healers, Pawnbrokers, Priests, Publicans, and Thief Merchants have up to three exceptions to the listings in the table. Exceptions are listed below the table. Traders are separated into three groups with recurring sets of buy items Exceptions:
 * Alchemist: Mororurg. Also buys Enchanted Items
 * Assassin: Foves Arenim and Lassour Zenammu. Also buy Weapons
 * Enchanter: Tarhiel (yes, the one who falls from the sky and usually dies, but does not converse and therefore cannot trade)
 * Healer: Sharn gra-Muzgob, Tyermaillin also buy Enchanted Items. Ulumpha gra-Sharob also buys Apparatus
 * Pawnbroker: Dralasa Nithryon and Perien Aurelie also buy Books and Apparatus. Sernsi Drelas does not buy Potions, but buys Apparatus
 * Priest: Methal Seran does not buy Books
 * Publican: Fara also buys Thieves' Tools
 * Thief: Fenas Madach and Lirielle Stoine also buy Ingredients and Miscellaneous items.

Singular Merchant Classes: • Agent: Germia (Vampire), Hercerinde Thieves' Guild • Barbarian: Areas (Vampire) • Commoner: Hetman Abelmawia • Farmer: Lord Cluttermonkey (Dev Test NPC) • Guard: Todd's Super Tester Guy (Dev Test NPC) • Noble: Baren Alen • Smuggler: Used Clutter Salesman • Sorceror: Skink-in-Tree's-Shade • Spellsword: Ranosa Gilvayn

Monster Merchants
Both of the monster merchants are particularly good for getting large amounts of gold fairly quickly; mostly because they carry a lot, but also because they trade at base prices, unmodified by Disposition or Mercantile skill. This means that the player can trade items back and forth to 'make change', and get the maximum supply of Drakes for each day. For example, a 12,000 drake Glass Helm cannot be sold to Creeper directly, but if he already has an Ebony Dart (2,000) and an Ebony Bracer (5,000), those items can be bought back and left near him to sell later.

Between them, Creeper and the Mudcrab have 15,000 drakes, which is considerable and more than any other two merchants, but the next top five merchants have almost twice as much money: 29,500. So do not neglect the other merchants if maximum money over time is desired, especially once the character's Mercantile is high, as they will pay more for the same items than the monster merchants.

Creeper
"I'm creeping!" Location Creeper is a Scamp Daedra on the top floor of Ghorak Manor in Caldera, east of the Mages' Guild and south of the Smith. He keeps a stock of 5,000 drakes, and buys Armor, Weapons, Potions, Miscellaneous items, and Enchanted items (therefore scrolls and enchanted clothing).

Mudcrab Merchant
"How dry I am...Lesh make a deal" Location The drunken Mudcrab Merchant is far more sinister; without even the access to Oblivion that Creeper might conceivably have, he still somehow comes up with another 10,000 drakes to spend each day, on Armor, Weapons, and Potions. Either head four map squares directly East from Vivec's Foreign Quarter or Telvanni Quarter cantons; the Mudcrab's island is the one directly East of the island the Mzahnch Dwemer ruin is situated on. Or if you have access to its Propylon Index, go three map squares South and one map square West from Telasero Stronghold.