An Easy Guide to OSRS Flipping

What flipping really means and how you can do it

Many OSRS money-making guides recommend OSRS flipping. However, if you're new to the game and its terminology, you might be at a loss as to where to start. To remedy that, here's a quick guide to making OSRS gold from flipping!

What Is OSRS Flipping All About?

Flipping is defined as the act of buying an item with the intent to sell it immediately for a profit. When you buy an item to sell for a later date, that's considered 'merching' and has a different set of rules.

How Do You Earn Money with OSRS Flipping?

First, pick an item to flip. You can do this by choosing an item (criteria explained in a later section), and checking its margin. To do that, buy one and then sell it instantly. When you check the history, you'll see the price you bought and sold it. The difference between those two is the margin.

Higher margins do yield more profit, but you can't discount those with a lower margin. You could still get some profit from them, though it'll be smaller. It's your choice. Once you've calculated the margins, buy the item at the cost of the lower end of the margin, and sell them for the higher end. That's all you do!

With the buy limit in the Grand Exchange though, you'll be limited with how many you can buy of an item. When you reach that limit, it's time to change items to flip. Start by calculating margins again, then buying and selling it in bulk.

Item Criteria

Here are the characteristics of a good item to flip in Old School Runescape.

First, it's in demand.

Players are always trading for it, whether for leveling or skilling.

Second, its margin is in the acceptable range.

Good judgment comes from experience. Don't be afraid to experiment when you're starting out. High volume items are good to start with, as they won't put a dent in your wallet if a sale goes wrong. The process of flipping these items also won't take too much time. There are many ways to find an item to flip. One is to check out the wiki. Look for herbs, runes, or items that are relatively cheap, but important to players. They're the ones that are going to be in demand and traded often. Another resource to look at for flipping items is the game's site itself. It has a page that lists all the top traded items on the Grand Exchange.

Of course, other players looking to do the same would also look to these resources for items. It's no different for video and other kinds of guides. If they used an item as an example, you'll see comments that flipping is ruined for that item. As they were used as an example, followers of the guides might use that same item.

Additional Tips

Don't spend all your money on trying to flip one item. If the sale goes bad, you'll have nothing left. Set an initial flipping budget, and keep some savings to tide things over when losses deplete your capital.

You might want to make a spreadsheet to keep track of your sales, margins, and profits. Generally, what you've found as profitable today will be profitable again sometime in the future. It'll also help you compare the relative profitability of an item to the others you've tried.

Sometimes, things happen in the OSRS GE. Maybe someone just happened to drop a bulk sale of the item you wanted to flip. As a result, you lost money or just barely broke even. All you can do is to move on and try again. Success isn't 100%.

Flipping margins fluctuate with the number of players actively flipping the same items. Because of that, you might find that items have different margins depending on the time. You might want to find a time when you can get a reasonable profit.

You can also use the OSRS GE Tracker for all kinds of trading needs. It keeps track of the OSRS trading history of items, your profits, and can even notify you of price fluctuations. It's a great resource and tool to use for all your trading needs.

As you flip, you gain experience and OSRS gold. Your judgment also gets better, so you'll have higher and higher profits. Don't stop practicing and keep the money rolling into your hands.

Enjoy Old School Runescape!