How do they work exactly? By setting up the chest do you actually get the materials and stuff that people sell to it or is that just lost into the system?
Is there any other way to set up some kind of a "stall" where you can set prices and but stuff off PCs or will that have to be done through RP?

People put the items in the chest. You open the chest and save them to your stocks. You then negotiate the rates with the PC. It doesn't work exactly like it leads you to believe. The person trying to sell the materials doesn't sell them directly to the system.

They sell them to you and then you sell them to the system.

Edit: One improvement I would like to see however is the removal of the price listing from the box itself. To allow the trader PC to be able to negotiate prices more freely without the player saying "Well the box says you can sell it for x amount. So I want x amount or I could just sell my stuff to a merchant NPC."

Another improvement would be to give better rates to a trader PC based on ranks in the trade. A way for the trader NPC to sell the goods for more than normal to the system so that they can negotiate higher rates than what a PC would get from an NPC merchant.

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But what if I want to KEEP the items? Does it allow that or would I just have to resort to barter?
Oh and is the storage chest persistent? Will it still hold the items I put in it through resets and if I remove the chest?

Yes you can keep the items. You can save them to your stores and then just trade whatever amount of gold you agreed upon to the PC that sold you the materials/items.

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Um.. hmm, still confused, guess I better try it and see.

Here's how it breaks down:

1. Set up your shop.
2. PC wants to sell you some items.
3. PC puts their items in your chest and closes the lid.
4. You click the chest, open it up and close it and say "Save these items..."
5. You negotiate the rates with the PC.
6. You trade whatever agreed-upon amount to the PC.
7. If you wish to cash in the items they just gave you to the system, you open/close the chest again and choose "Sell..."
8. If you wish to keep the items, you just use your job log to make the box disappear, unless you want to conduct further business.

Please keep in mind that if you choose to sell, it will sell all of the same item. For instance:

If you have 28 Iron Ore in your Metal Trader box and you choose to sell some Iron Ore, it will sell all 28, without asking to confirm. So, if you want to keep some, be sure to remove some from your stores before selling any.

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So when you make the box disappear all the items get added to your inventory? There's really not much difference then bartering then I suppose, does the box at least save the items in it through resets?

Let me put it this way. Think of the box as a "list" of items that belong to you. They are saved through resets and server swaps. And it frees up a lot of inventory space. I'm not sure if you're a metal trader or what trader job you're dealing with, but when you have over 200+ metal ore, it weighs you down, quite a bit and you'll be lucky if you have enough space in your inventory to carry all that stuff.

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Ah so it is mostly for the storage function then, I take it the materials don't stack outside of a chest then?
Well that makes sense to get it then I guess, thanks. I assume you can put your own materials in the chest and have it hold them as well.

You got it. Not to mention the convenience of being able to sell the items at-will without having to find a merchant NPC.

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