Rocket League Trading Guide: Common scams, strategies, trading vocab, resources, more

Trading is surprising, isn’t it? Realizing there’s a whole community that focuses exclusively on inventories. Hundreds of thousands of hours spent on websites and Discord servers, checking price rises, falls, and peaks on items you didn’t even know existed. Beautiful. You got your non-crate aficionados, your black market mafia, and the collectors looking for every item in every colour.

Trading in Rocket League is complex, except that it isn’t and I’ll tell you everything you need to know to become a master trader in no time.

Rocket League Trading Vocabulary - know your words

First of all, you are going to need some vocabulary for this one, so let’s take a trip back to the classroom for some basic verbiage in the trading community. This way, you’ll never get caught out of the loop and you can start abbreviating everything in front of your parents while using MySpace. MySpace’s still a thing, right? Right?

• H and W: Have and Want. Used in almost all servers. Sometimes people just post their H’s and W’s without the counterpart, leaving them in limbo, waiting for someone to approach them. Don’t be that guy.
• LF: Looking For. More acceptable to use on its own. Usually, these people have many credits to spend, they are just looking for a person with the item they want or they have nothing to offer and are willing to bargain their copy of the game. No in-between.
• Cr: Short for Credits. These can be bought in the store for real money, but who needs money anyway? I am getting ahead of myself.
• Underpay: For your information, you will want to check RLInsider for the trading economy. This will be your stock market until the end of time. Underpay means I don’t care about rules and I’ll pay whatever I want, take it or leave it. Bold strategy, Cotton.
• Overpay: Paying over the prices posted on RLInsider. This usually is just negotiating depending on the demand of the item, the certification of the item, the colour of the item or just because you know your customer is desperate.
• Trade-In or Trade-Up: Items that can be traded for a better item. You will need 5 non-crate items to be able to trade in or trade up. We’ll touch this topic later on.
• Tradeable: Most items are tradeable amongst players, except for a specific few identifiable by a little yellow circle crossed in the top right corner of the item. Don’t go false-advertising your inventory.
• Quick-sell: No negotiating involved. You either take it or leave it. Those traders are friends of our next term.
• Firm: Price is non-negotiable. Walk on eggshells around these trades because these people tend to be really sensitive when it comes to interacting like real humans.
• Additionals: Also known as “Adds”. Used to close a deal, specifically when you cover some, not all, of the other trader’s requests and you just throw items until they accept the offer. 

(Picture: Psyonix)

After getting all that out of the way, trading is just a matter of getting another person into your Rocket League Party, hovering over their name, clicking “Invite to Trade” and if they accept, you will be prompted with this screen. You place the items you want to give away. You see the items they are offering.

When an agreement is reached, they click their start button or hit accept. Don’t worry, the trade will not go through until you also click accept and that’s trading.

Of course, that’s trading if it was invented for monkeys, but we are businessmen. Stick around to find out everything you need to know and even everything you never even questioned about Rocket League’s trading world.

Trading for Credits in Rocket League - know your worth

Your worth or potential in the trading community is totally based on the inventory you have available to trade.

If you are a F2P player, don’t stress. Drops are enabled every week with challenges, after every five XP levels or so with the Free Rocket Pass, and during some RLCS events with Fan Rewards.

You can kickstart your trading career with any of those and if you get lucky, someone will have posted to Rocket League Garage that they are looking for something that just dropped to your inventory. 

(Picture: Psyonix)

If you are an experienced player and you’re late to the trading party; I've got a surprise for you, pal. Even a year of casual play can translate into a fortune in items and for your sake and mine, please: check everything on RLInsider.

Everything.

This goes to any new trader, new player or not: Do not trade away stuff just because you’re desperate. Know your worth.

Because if there is a rule number one in-game, there is a rule number one in trading, and that is that every inventory is worth at least 1000cr.

Something in there is being looked for by someone out there and that first sale can get you from item number one to item number two, so on and so forth until you save enough for your first Rocket Pass. 

• Read more: Rocket League Rocket Pass Season 2: Release date, cost and what to expect

But Mitch, I just made my first 1000cr, I want a Titanium White Octane. I don’t want to waste all my time and effort to get banners and antennas. Well, my beloved Bronze, Rocket Pass is step number one in our Operation Trading Domination. Let me show you.

Trading Rocket Pass Items - know your battles

If you are a try-hard Rocket League player and a completionist like me, you will have tackled every possible and available Weekly and Season Challenge since Rocket League went F2P.

You did? Awesome, because that’s part two of our gameplan: investing.

The Rocket Pass is the best thing since sliced bread because it is slow, but a steady gold mine. You get two drops (Free and Premium) with every XP Level you reach, but it costs 1000cr to get all your Premium drops unlocked.

• Read more: Rocket League Rocket Pass Season 1: all tiers and unlocks, cost, challenges, end date, and more

Up until Level 110 of the Free Rocket Pass, you get an Uncommon, Rare, or Very Rare drop every level or so, but if you purchase the Premium Rocket Pass you get a drop every XP Level you reach. Although they are not tradeable amongst players until after Level 70.

(Picture: Psyonix)

You also get Drops of 100cr from the Premium Rocket Pass every time you reach one of these XP Levels:

• Level 12
• Level 24
• Level 36
• Level 48
• Level 60
• Level 67
• Level 80
• Level 90
• Level 100
• Level 110

And yes, I did the math. You get exactly 1000cr back. Remember those Weekly and Season Challenges I mentioned? They help you Level up faster. Also, with the Premium Rocket Pass you get double the weekly and season challenges to claim XP.

Also, the Premium Rocket Pass boosts your every-match gained XP by 80%. Oh, and not only do you make your credits back, but you also call sell your painted pass items as they are very sought after. 

The Rocket Pass is a gold mine and should be your very first investment after getting your first 1K. Even if you don’t get good painted pass items, you can always use them as leverage or adds to close deals, but more on that later.

Most common traders in Rocket League - know your customer

The sooner you get your hands on new items, the better. That is so you have the higher ground on the trades when the items are at their most sought after, and most likely the highest priced. This also applies to the pass items so remember to save for next season as well!

Which brings me to my last point: customers. We are nothing without them. Here is a list of the very common characters you will run into and how to play your cards just right:

(Picture: Psyonix)

The Non-Crate Guy: Let’s get something clear first. Non-Crates, in short, are items that can go into your inventory and trade into the game for another random item. A set of five non-crates profits one item of the next rarity. The list of rarities goes like this, from least rare to most rare:

• Uncommon
• Rare
• Very Rare
• Import
• Exotic
• Black Market

Not all items are non-crate, so people who are seeking these items are paying for them for their non-crate worth, not the real item. Don’t be fooled and sell your painted Octane just because it is non-crate. For every non-crate Item you receive, make sure to double-check their value on RLInsider. Maybe they are worth more on their own. Maybe they just have value because they are non-crate. Before you burn or sell, check Insider.

Don’t make me repeat myself.

It’s best if you bundle your NCs, as the community abbreviates it, and you sell them in bulks. The buyer either purchases and resells for 10cr profit per piece or just trades them in testing their luck trying to get a more expensive, higher tier of rarity item. Worst case scenario, they just sell their even more rare Non-Crate and call it a day.

Underpaying Guy: Like we needed any proof that the trading system is a reflection of our social classes. This type of trader has thousands upon thousands of credits ready to buy high-quality items of the hands of pretty desperate folks. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been there and done that, but I had my reasons to undersell. I feel like a parent scolding their children. “Don’t do what I did even though I did it... it was a different time!"

Underpayers will lowball the heck out of you. Just stand your ground and don’t fall for their offer unless you need the dough to invest in another desperate seller that you know for a fact you will profit off. These guys don’t give a hecking dang about RLInsider so don’t even bother, just know that they know they can profit off your item and they most likely already have a buyer lined up after basically stealing it from your little naive hands. You have been warned.

(Picture: Psyonix)

The 24x10 Blueprint Guy: Ah, my favourite topic. You know, a lot of people complained about the removal of crates and the addition of blueprints. Don’t remember? Yeah, me neither.

So, if you are new to this trend of trading, I am gonna go out on a limb and take a guess that you have more than 100 blueprints that you haven’t even bothered to read. For the love of God, check your blueprints, people. Make sure you bulk sell the ones of lower value.

Those 10 credits you get for 24 blueprints are gonna seem little too few when you see their real value. If they really are worth nothing, trade them in yourself and try your luck for better blueprints. As they say, one man’s blueprints are another man’s treasure.

So far so good? This pretty much covers half of what trading is. Oh, and one last piece of advice: go have fun. Rocket League is meant to be a fun, entertaining competitive game, and it is like no other. Go through the items on Google or Garage and make a wish list. Aim big. I do my best trading when I’m focused on a goal. In my case, they are Sky Blue bodies, but you do you. Please don’t copy me. I want to be unique.

• Read more: Rocket League: Best defending training packs

Whatever item, big or small, Titanium White or Burnt Sienna, remember the best items are the ones you like. Just go out there, make a fair deal, don’t scam, keep it simple and safe for everyone, and as always, Happy Trading!

Most common scams in Rocket League - know your enemies

The saying “the customer is always right” was invented by a customer; a customer trying to scam a business. Plain and simple. Therefore, you are gonna need to have your eyes peeled back and a sixth sense for these kinds of things, because they will be mercilessly creative when taking your stuff like candy from a baby. Here are the most common scamming schemes you will find in a Discord server near you:

• The Duplication Guy: Will ask you for a fee in credits + the item you want to “duplicate” and he will get back to you. Of course, he will block you in Discord and Rocket League right after because duplication is non-existent in Rocket League and if it were, it would be a direct violation of trading policies and a ban. Just don’t.
• The Screenshot Guy: This one goes to my console-players, only. In the absence of Bakkes mod (a mod that allows you to try, not own, any item in-game for aesthetic and local purposes only), this type of scammer is a “YouTuber” trying to get your items for a thumbnail. Of course, for free or heavily underpaid. You will notice they are scamming when you offer to send them the screenshots yourself. Either or, stay away from anything that seems fishy, which this one 110% does.
• The Too-Many-Friends Guy: Now, one for our PC players. This one implies that our scammer has a “full friends list” therefore you will have to add them directly through Steam’s or Epic Games’ website. They will send you a link, you sign in and add them. The thing is, the link is phoney. It might look like your regular site, but it’s a hacker website designed to get your account info and steal your inventory.
• The Overpaying Guy: This last one is a little bit more intricate. This one is like scamming without scamming? Basically, it involves two perpetrators. Perp #1 will post that they are looking for Trash Item XYZ and they are offering 1000cr, when in reality the Trash Item is worth 50cr only. Then, Perp #2 will post that they have Trash Item XYZ for 900cr firm. You see where we’re going with this? You buy the item off Perp #2 and Perp #1 pulls the offer. 

Remember to triple check everything before clicking accept, as there is no running to Mom-Psyonix. They have made their stance very clear on this matter, and it’s understandable.

(Picture: Psyonix)

Most scams are half to blame on the scammed, but it’s kind of always the victim’s fault for not checking RLInsider first. Make it make sense.

Rocket League Trading Instinct - know yourself

This pretty much sums up what Rocket League trading is. One last piece of advice, though: go have fun. Rocket League is meant to be a fun, entertaining, competitive game, and it is like no other. Go through the items on Google or Garage and make a wish list. Look at designers’ cars and trends. Aim big. I do my best trading when I’m focused on a goal. In my case, they are Sky Blue bodies, but you do you. 

• Read more: Rocket League: Best shooting training packs

Because whatever item, big or small, Titanium White or Burnt Sienna, remember the best items are the ones you like. Just go out there, make a fair deal, don’t scam, follow your instinct and, as always, Happy Trading!