Path of Exile trading explained: How to trade with other players

Bill Cooney
Path of Exile trading

Selling and buying items from other players in Path of Exile might be different from other RPGs, but it’s still a big part of the game. Here’s everything you need to know to get started trading.

Trading with other players works very differently in Path of Exile compared to say Diablo 3. There’s no centralized currency like gold for players to trade back and forth for items.

PoE uses several different types of crafting material that also double as currency instead (commonly scrolls and orbs). The barter system can be a bit of a trip if you’re coming from a game like WoW, so let’s go over everything that makes it tick.

How to trade in Path of Exile

Path of Exile gear
Path of Exile operates on a pure barter economy.

There is no in-game Auction House or trading plaza in Path of Exile as there are in games like Diablo 3 or WoW, instead you have to just trade directly with other players. This means it’s up to you to find a player with the item you want and manually initiate a trade.

It’s easier than it sounds because you can use sites like Poe.trade, which is run by the game’s devs, to find players selling the item you want to buy. This is the easiest site to use, since you can message players and set up the trade directly.

Once you’re all ready to go, players drag the items they’re willing to exchange onto a shared screen. After everything’s agreed upon, both players accept and the trade is completed.

Trading process explained

The full process should go something like this:

  1. Use Poe.trade to find the item you want
  2. Click the ‘whisper’ button next to the player’s name who’s selling the item
  3. After you click whisper, a line of text will be copied you can paste into game chat to contact the player directly in-game
  4. If they players online, they’ll hopefully message you back
  5. Set up a place to meet (typically your Hideout, or theirs)
  6. Make sure to bring the agreed upon currency with you
  7. Once you meet up, finish the trade

Path of Exile currency

Poe.trade whisper buttonHere’s where the whisper button should be on Poe.trade.

There are a massive amount of items that can be used as currency in PoE. There are literally hundreds of these items, with of the basics being Scrolls of Wisdom, Chaos orbs, shards, vials, or Mirrors.

For a full list of potential currencies in PoE, you can check out the full list here, along with conversion rates and all of that good stuff. But, in general, any item that can be stacked and used somehow in crafting could qualify, though Chaos orbs are usually the most common denominator.

That should be enough to at least get you familiarized with the market in Path of Exile. As with other online RPGs it’s possible to make quite a bit of money just by buying and selling items, but there’s plenty of possibility for casual players to make a score as well.