_Trade Goods

TYPICAL TRADE GOODS

Here are the way typical trade goods are measured. Exceptions will be noted with each trade good.

UNIT OF MEASURE

Trade goods are commonly shipped in units of 100 lbs.
Smaller goods, e.g., jewelry are shipped in smaller units.
Bigger goods, e.g., cattle are shipped in bigger units.

TRANSPORTATION

Trade goods are typically fully processed at or near the location they are procured. For example, iron ore is typically smelted into iron at or near the iron mine. This minimizes the transportation costs. The cost to transport 100 lb. overland is 1 GP per mile or half that oversea.

PIRACY

There is a 5% chance transported goods are lost due to piracy / bandits. Big cities have folks that offer insurance for 10% the price of the goods.

TAXES

Transporting goods through a kingdom or storing goods within a kingdom for a month incurs a 1% tax.
Selling within a kingdom incurs an additional +9% tax, resulting in a minimum tax of 10% for a quick sale.

GOODS QUALITY

Many goods have a quality rating (cheap, average, premium).
Commodity goods are always considered average quality. Because iron is a commodity, there is no such thing as cheap or premium iron.

Cheap Quality 50%
The purchase and the sale price is half that of average quality goods. It is rare to trade cheap goods over any significant distance since it costs the same to transport as average goods, but the profit margin is only half. Cheap goods are roughly twice as common as average goods. Cheap goods are most often sold locally.

Premium Quality 200%
The purchase and the sale price is double that of average quality goods. Premium goods are readily traded since the cost to transport is the same as average goods, but the profit margin is doubled. Premium goods are roughly half as common as average goods.

Trade Good Conditions

Trade Good List