04-09-2009, 12:15 PM
The Grand Exchange Central (GEC) is a constantly updated repository of Grand Exchange item pricing. The GEC can be thought of as a compliment to, or even an alternative, the official Runescape Grand Exchange Database. We provide easy to use Runedexes which provide snapshots of how various categories of tradable items are performing on a daily basis. All items tracked by the GEC contain up to 240 days of pricing history, displayed in easy to understand graphs. Simply put, the GEC is a educational resource to make informed investment decisions in the world of RuneScape.
A primary mission of the Grand Exchange Central is the taking back of the word "merchanting", which has gotten a bad stigma over the years. We pride ourselves on being a safe site for all types of visitors. We maintain a zero tolerance policy concerning real world trading, exploiting bugs, and cheating. We are a free site, and do not allow visitors and members from using the site to engage in any activities that may put visitor RuneScape accounts in danger or violate any Jagex rules. Also, respect is a must. Free flowing discussions are encouraged in our forums, but we keep a close eye on things to make sure that visitors are not belittled or otherwise made to feel uncomfortable.
The Grand Exchange Central is in a constant state of improvement, and visitor input is always warmly welcomes by the GEC staff. Not a week goes by that new features or improvements are not implemented on site. Our growth has been incredible over the past few months, and we are looking to become a premier site for RuneScape investing information. There are many aspects of the Grand Exchange Central that users can utilize to make better investment decisions. These tools are outlined below:
Item search: Easily search for items within our database of thousands of tradeable items. Select these items to view price lists, history charts, and comparisons.
Constant updates: The GEC is designed to automatically update. The official GE site is repeatedly checked throughout the day for changes. Any changes are reflected in our database, usually within an hour.
Runedexes: These are similar to Wall Street Indexes in that they lump many items together in to categories and provide a numerical snapshot of how that category is performing. Runedexes look at the average weekly price of items in that Runedex from 90 days before, calibrate that value down to 1000 points, and then apply that calibration divisor to the average price of items in the Runedex today. Runedexes under 1000 points have devalued since 90 days ago. Runedexes above 1000 points have increased in overage average value over the past 90 days.
Runedexes also provide a consolidated way of reviewing items in certain general categories. This allows for quickly view a lot of information in a small space. Runedexes provide current market prices, recent history, f2p/p2p availability, and can even detect if items are potentially being manipulated by clans (see below).
Comparisons and Alchemny Tables: Comparison and Alchemny Tables were part of item detail pages up till the time when the GEC updated it's design. These features are currently unavailable, but returning very soon. Below are details about these soon to return features.
Many individual item pages also contain direct comparisons between the selected item and a related item. The related items are usually things which are solely made from or made into the selected item. For example, uncut gems are compared directly with cut gems. At a quick glance an investor can see if cutting a certain gem will adversely effect its resell value and by how much. Other compared items include grimy and clean herbs and other logical comparisons.
Many items also display their high and low alchemy values and compare these values to prices currently available on the Grand Exchange. These charts give much needed information to determine if alchemy is the way to make a profit or at least limit a loss.
Clan Manipulation Detection: The GEC performs an analysis of items in our database in order to detect if items are being manipulated by clans. As a rule, the GEC does not endorse clan manipulation. However, clan manipulation can effect other innocent investors in RuneScape, and therefore we provide this detection for investors can make informed investing decisions
Our Clan Manipulation detection mathmatics are not perfect, but they do provide a nice level of security and reasonable accuracy. Any items that have increased or decreased in overall value by more than 4% over the past five days are flagged as potentially being manipulated. New items added to the oGE and GEC are excepmt from this detection as larger than usual interest in these items by all RuneScape players is expected.
Parts Lists: Many individual item pages also contain lists of items that are used to build the selected item. This also provides at a quick glance if building an item from scratch will produce a profit. One example of an item with a parts list is Steel Bars. The two coal pieces and single iron ore involved in its production are displayed with their prices and grand total and compared directly to the value of a single steel bar. In this example it is clear that smelting steel bars does produce a profit of around a 190gp. Some other items may also contain parts lists without the price comparisons simply because the items can be produced from different items in different ways. But by looking at the parts list an investor can determine which way of building an item to produce a profit that the investor is most comfortable with. An example of this is potatoes with butter which can be made from potatoes or baked potatoes and buckets of milk or pats of butter. In either case the data provided in the parts list is invaluable.
Graphs: All the individual item pages also include graphs that log data as far back as 90 days. The Grand Exchange Beta database on the official Runescape website only provides data back to 30 days.
Watch Lists: Tired of constantly watching item prices just to discover they haven't reached the levels you are interested in. Well, the Grand Exchange Central allows visitors who join our Mock Exchange to setup watch lists that alert them via e-mail concerning pricing landmarks, such as rising above a certain GP value, or falling below a certain percentage of the origional watched value. There are tons of watch options, and more options will be added in the near future.
Hi/Low: Individual item pages also include hi/low summaries going back to up to 90 days. This is an excellent resource for determining the timing of buying items in an effort to make profits by long term investing. If an item is hovering around its two month low it may be time to purchase a bunch of that item on the cheap. Granted that item may have been on a death spiral for the last two months with no end in sight. The graphs help tremendously in this situation.
Other Things To Know:
Accuracy of data: The GEC data comes directly from the official Grand Exchange website. However, this data is only updated once a day and then stored in a database on the GEC host. Therefore changes may occur on the official GE website that may not be reflected here till the next data acquisition.
Approximations: Prices over 9,999gp are approximations. This is because Jagex and the official Runescape GE site list all prices over 9,999gp as either 'k' items or 'm' items for thousands and millions respectively. At this time the GEC must accept the approximation, though we do hope the fine people at Jagex will eventually make a handy web appliance for sites like this to acquire more specific data (like they did with high score).
Host stability: We recently switched from a free hosting service to a paid hosting service. During this transition period some visitors may experience some minor problems. These problems will be corrected as quickly as they are discovered.
Forgiveness: I, Absenm, am the only person working on this site. In places where I have used the term we it is only meant as a union of me, Absenm, and the Runescape Thoughts and GEC websites. I have built and maintain this site in my free time, though it has been heavily designed for self automation. In fact, once I have the data entered and the pages designed as I wish, I should not need to do anything to maintain this site with the exception of maybe an occasional new feature here and there. All that being said, I want it known that I only just recently learned how to program in php and mySql through the building of this site and hundreds of hours of trial and error. For the most part the visitor should see a nice clean site. But the code itself is clumsy as it was written by an armature programmer and thus an occasional error filled page may display. My apologies to anyone who experiences this. As my skills improve I hope to clean up the coding of this site.
Rule 7: Are we breaking rule seven by providing this data. Answer, NO. Rule 7 states in part that "any type of software, including: downloadable software (e.g an .exe file), or web-based software (e.g a website set up to perform a similar function with flash, java, javascript or serverside scripts)" may not "displays pages from the RuneScape website within itself and which has RuneScape specific features (i.e. worldswitchers/toolkits) must not be used to access the website unless that software does nothing to encourage breaking of our rules and does not endanger users' accounts." None of these conditions apply to the GEC.
1) We do not display Runescape webpages. 2) Runescape GE item prices are not a Runescape specific feature because it is factual data provided publicly. 3) We do not encourage rule breaking and actively work to prevent this behavior. 4) We do nothing to endanger user accounts. 5) We provide no software to download and strongly agree with Jagex's recommendation against such downloading. 6) This site is simply an alternate display of factual data concerning the Runescape Grand Exchange. 7) The GEC provides this information freely and with no restrictions on access with the exception of banning people known to violate Jagex and RuneScape rules.
A primary mission of the Grand Exchange Central is the taking back of the word "merchanting", which has gotten a bad stigma over the years. We pride ourselves on being a safe site for all types of visitors. We maintain a zero tolerance policy concerning real world trading, exploiting bugs, and cheating. We are a free site, and do not allow visitors and members from using the site to engage in any activities that may put visitor RuneScape accounts in danger or violate any Jagex rules. Also, respect is a must. Free flowing discussions are encouraged in our forums, but we keep a close eye on things to make sure that visitors are not belittled or otherwise made to feel uncomfortable.
The Grand Exchange Central is in a constant state of improvement, and visitor input is always warmly welcomes by the GEC staff. Not a week goes by that new features or improvements are not implemented on site. Our growth has been incredible over the past few months, and we are looking to become a premier site for RuneScape investing information. There are many aspects of the Grand Exchange Central that users can utilize to make better investment decisions. These tools are outlined below:
Item search: Easily search for items within our database of thousands of tradeable items. Select these items to view price lists, history charts, and comparisons.
Constant updates: The GEC is designed to automatically update. The official GE site is repeatedly checked throughout the day for changes. Any changes are reflected in our database, usually within an hour.
Runedexes: These are similar to Wall Street Indexes in that they lump many items together in to categories and provide a numerical snapshot of how that category is performing. Runedexes look at the average weekly price of items in that Runedex from 90 days before, calibrate that value down to 1000 points, and then apply that calibration divisor to the average price of items in the Runedex today. Runedexes under 1000 points have devalued since 90 days ago. Runedexes above 1000 points have increased in overage average value over the past 90 days.
Runedexes also provide a consolidated way of reviewing items in certain general categories. This allows for quickly view a lot of information in a small space. Runedexes provide current market prices, recent history, f2p/p2p availability, and can even detect if items are potentially being manipulated by clans (see below).
Comparisons and Alchemny Tables: Comparison and Alchemny Tables were part of item detail pages up till the time when the GEC updated it's design. These features are currently unavailable, but returning very soon. Below are details about these soon to return features.
Many individual item pages also contain direct comparisons between the selected item and a related item. The related items are usually things which are solely made from or made into the selected item. For example, uncut gems are compared directly with cut gems. At a quick glance an investor can see if cutting a certain gem will adversely effect its resell value and by how much. Other compared items include grimy and clean herbs and other logical comparisons.
Many items also display their high and low alchemy values and compare these values to prices currently available on the Grand Exchange. These charts give much needed information to determine if alchemy is the way to make a profit or at least limit a loss.
Clan Manipulation Detection: The GEC performs an analysis of items in our database in order to detect if items are being manipulated by clans. As a rule, the GEC does not endorse clan manipulation. However, clan manipulation can effect other innocent investors in RuneScape, and therefore we provide this detection for investors can make informed investing decisions
Our Clan Manipulation detection mathmatics are not perfect, but they do provide a nice level of security and reasonable accuracy. Any items that have increased or decreased in overall value by more than 4% over the past five days are flagged as potentially being manipulated. New items added to the oGE and GEC are excepmt from this detection as larger than usual interest in these items by all RuneScape players is expected.
Parts Lists: Many individual item pages also contain lists of items that are used to build the selected item. This also provides at a quick glance if building an item from scratch will produce a profit. One example of an item with a parts list is Steel Bars. The two coal pieces and single iron ore involved in its production are displayed with their prices and grand total and compared directly to the value of a single steel bar. In this example it is clear that smelting steel bars does produce a profit of around a 190gp. Some other items may also contain parts lists without the price comparisons simply because the items can be produced from different items in different ways. But by looking at the parts list an investor can determine which way of building an item to produce a profit that the investor is most comfortable with. An example of this is potatoes with butter which can be made from potatoes or baked potatoes and buckets of milk or pats of butter. In either case the data provided in the parts list is invaluable.
Graphs: All the individual item pages also include graphs that log data as far back as 90 days. The Grand Exchange Beta database on the official Runescape website only provides data back to 30 days.
Watch Lists: Tired of constantly watching item prices just to discover they haven't reached the levels you are interested in. Well, the Grand Exchange Central allows visitors who join our Mock Exchange to setup watch lists that alert them via e-mail concerning pricing landmarks, such as rising above a certain GP value, or falling below a certain percentage of the origional watched value. There are tons of watch options, and more options will be added in the near future.
Hi/Low: Individual item pages also include hi/low summaries going back to up to 90 days. This is an excellent resource for determining the timing of buying items in an effort to make profits by long term investing. If an item is hovering around its two month low it may be time to purchase a bunch of that item on the cheap. Granted that item may have been on a death spiral for the last two months with no end in sight. The graphs help tremendously in this situation.
Other Things To Know:
Accuracy of data: The GEC data comes directly from the official Grand Exchange website. However, this data is only updated once a day and then stored in a database on the GEC host. Therefore changes may occur on the official GE website that may not be reflected here till the next data acquisition.
Approximations: Prices over 9,999gp are approximations. This is because Jagex and the official Runescape GE site list all prices over 9,999gp as either 'k' items or 'm' items for thousands and millions respectively. At this time the GEC must accept the approximation, though we do hope the fine people at Jagex will eventually make a handy web appliance for sites like this to acquire more specific data (like they did with high score).
Host stability: We recently switched from a free hosting service to a paid hosting service. During this transition period some visitors may experience some minor problems. These problems will be corrected as quickly as they are discovered.
Forgiveness: I, Absenm, am the only person working on this site. In places where I have used the term we it is only meant as a union of me, Absenm, and the Runescape Thoughts and GEC websites. I have built and maintain this site in my free time, though it has been heavily designed for self automation. In fact, once I have the data entered and the pages designed as I wish, I should not need to do anything to maintain this site with the exception of maybe an occasional new feature here and there. All that being said, I want it known that I only just recently learned how to program in php and mySql through the building of this site and hundreds of hours of trial and error. For the most part the visitor should see a nice clean site. But the code itself is clumsy as it was written by an armature programmer and thus an occasional error filled page may display. My apologies to anyone who experiences this. As my skills improve I hope to clean up the coding of this site.
Rule 7: Are we breaking rule seven by providing this data. Answer, NO. Rule 7 states in part that "any type of software, including: downloadable software (e.g an .exe file), or web-based software (e.g a website set up to perform a similar function with flash, java, javascript or serverside scripts)" may not "displays pages from the RuneScape website within itself and which has RuneScape specific features (i.e. worldswitchers/toolkits) must not be used to access the website unless that software does nothing to encourage breaking of our rules and does not endanger users' accounts." None of these conditions apply to the GEC.
1) We do not display Runescape webpages. 2) Runescape GE item prices are not a Runescape specific feature because it is factual data provided publicly. 3) We do not encourage rule breaking and actively work to prevent this behavior. 4) We do nothing to endanger user accounts. 5) We provide no software to download and strongly agree with Jagex's recommendation against such downloading. 6) This site is simply an alternate display of factual data concerning the Runescape Grand Exchange. 7) The GEC provides this information freely and with no restrictions on access with the exception of banning people known to violate Jagex and RuneScape rules.
