Escape from Tarkov’s Dealers and Flea Market can be confusing as there’s a lot to take in and very little information in-game. So, to make things easier, here’s everything you need to know about the flea market and dealers.
One of the biggest aspects of EFT is trading and the in-game economy. Every run you’re going to find some items that you don’t want or need, and being fortunate enough to loot a desirable item can take a long time.
As such, Battlestate Games have included the Flea Market, which allows players to buy and sell goods to other players, as well as Dealers, who let players trade certain items. There are many options for buying and selling items, but very little explanation of how it all works, so here’s everything you need to know.
How does the Escape from Tarkov Flea Market work?
The Flea Market allows players to trade goods with each other as well as the Traders. To access the Flea Market players need to be at least level five with their PMC [Player-Main-Character].
Just about every item can be found on the Flea Market, making it the perfect place to buy, sell, or exchange items. Navigating it is fairly simple, if you want to buy something, choose the “browse” category at the top and either enter the item name or search through the various sub-categories. You can also put items on your wish list, aka the “w-list”, to make them easier to find once you want to purchase them, or sell your own items by clicking on “my offers”.
To start with, you can only offer three items, but this increases as you use the market more, eventually allowing up to 100 offers. Once an item is purchased or sold, you can receive your goods through the in-game messenger, which will be sent by the trader Ragman.
What do the Escape from Tarkov Dealers do?
There are currently eight different AI dealers in the game. They all specialize in different types of goods and allow players to buy and sell items with various currencies, as well as exchange specific items for certain goods.
Some Dealers also give missions to players, allowing them to earn items, money, loyalty, and extra experience points. As you complete missions with dealers you will gain more loyalty with that dealer. This, combined with spending a certain amount of money, will eventually give you better deals and more item options.
All of them also reset their stocks at different times and with so many dealers doing so many different things, its best to get into them one by one.
Prapor
Prapor is likely the first dealer you will speak to. He offers an introductory mission to the game and deals mainly with basic weapons, simple attachments, and ammo.
The majority of his items can be purchased with Rubles, the currency players start with, and he offers a few exchanges. When it comes to selling items, he’s most likely to offer you the best prices for guns and ammo, but it is worth comparing to the Fence or Skier before making a sale. For any other items, look to the other dealers.
Fence
The Fence deals with just about anything he can get his hands on – be it weapons, armor, meds, or even keys. If there’s an item you want and the other dealers don’t have it, then the Fence might be the one to go to.
However, his items are usually a tad more expensive than they should be, so it may also be worth waiting for another dealer to restock or visit the Flea Market. But, the good thing about the Fence is that he trades exclusively in Rubles, so you at least don’t need to sort through four different currencies or a bunch of exchangeable items.
Therapist
The Therapist is fairly straightforward, she acts as a medic – selling various meds, food, and water for Rubles as well as in exchange for other items.
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The stronger meds are only available through exchanges, so you may want to keep any Tape, Matches, and Paid that you find. However, when just starting out buying AI-2 will do and luckily that just costs a few thousand Rubbles.
Skier
Skier is a similar dealer to Prapor. He also deals with weapons, attachments, and ammo, but generally has different types of those items. You may also see him trading containers or selling Euro’s, making him the one to go to for an easy way to obtain a different currency.
Most of his goods are once again sold through Rubles, but, his weapons are often only up for exchange and the required items tend to differ. Although, you can never go wrong with some Horse Statues or a RecBatt.
Peacekeeper
Peacekeeper is yet another arms dealer, although, he is fairly different from the others. He focuses on more modern weapons and only deals in US Dollars.
Luckily, he is often ready to sell you Dollars for Rubles, before demanding the Dollars back again for his goods. This extra bit of work can be worth it, as some of the weapons and attachments he offers can be more powerful than the other traders, just remember to keep your Dollars stocked (as he won’t always have some available), or you may miss a good opportunity.
Mechanic
The Mechanic is probably the most confusing dealer in the game. Much like the Peacekeeper he largely deals with modern weapons, attachments, and ammo, but he uses Rubbles, Dollars, BitCoin, and a bunch of exchanges for his items.
Anything that isn’t ammo will require either BitCoins or some bizarre exchange. It’s best to know what you want from him before venturing out into the world, or you may miss out on a potentially valuable item. For example, he’s happy to trade a Glock for three cowboy hats, and doesn’t mind giving away a sub-machine gun for some old DVD players and light-bulbs.
Ragman
Ragman is another straightforward dealer, as his name implies, he deals mainly with clothing.
He’s a great dealer for anyone just getting into the game, as he sells helmets, body armor, tactical rigs, and backpacks at solid prices. The majority of his items cost Rubles, and a few of the better ones can be exchanged for other goods.
However, he is still amazing for easily getting the basics and definitely one new players will visit often.
Jaeger
Last but not least comes Tarkov’s newest trader – Jaeger. This trader needs to be unlocked by completing the ‘Introduction’ mission from the Mechanic, which requires finding a camp in the Woods map.
Once unlocked you can buy a variety of old school weapons, attachments, and ammo. However, Jaeger’s most interesting items come in the form of Hideout resources.
Almost everything can be purchased with Rubbles, except for the Hideout items which require item exchanges. If you want to build up your Hideout, you’ll need to unlock Jaeger and find the items he’s looking for.
Be sure to visit both the traders and the Flea Market to find the best deal, and remember – trading is key for getting the best Escape from Tarkov gear.