Often, users enter Flipchat1 and will ask for an item such as Rocktails or Armadyl Godsword; and they will receive the simple response- self check. What is self check though? How does it work? Whether a veteran flipper or 100% new to flipping altogether, you could still be facing that same confounding question.

"Self Check" can be defined simply as an item we do not cover here in Flipchat1; however it is very difficult to profit from "Self Checking" An item with only a 1 or a 2 per 4 hour G.E. buy limit. So an easier and slightly more accurate definition of "Self Check" would be finding a margin on your own for an item with a G.E. limit of 3 or more per 4 hours.

Now then, I wanted to create a guide for "Self Checking" with items, since a lot of people like to give the 'buy low/sell high' advice -which, by the way, is terrible. One of the biggest things you need to be aware of is the G.E. buy limit for an item and http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Grand_Exchange/Buying_limits is your best friend for that.

For my example I'm going to use adamantite ore; I will be locating the margin, and then buying and selling the ores for profit.

First off, you need to know the G.E. buy limit for adamantite ore; the quickest and easiest way to find the item on the runescape wikia website is to ctrl + f to find it on the list.



Here we can see the G.E. limit is 25k per 4 hours.



Okay, now is when you really need to pay attention. The first thing you're going to do is open up the G.E. interface and type in 'adamantite ore'; click on it when it pops up and then set the quantity to buy to '1'. Next you're going to go over to the 5% button and tap it once or twice (usually that's all you need) and then hit 'confirm offer'. It should buy instantly.



Here we can see that it insta bought- with some GP back for 1,185. Lets put that number aside for a minute.



Now you're going to sell that 1 adamantite ore that you bought; to do so you're going to lower your price by 5-10% typically; and again, make sure you only bought one and are selling one so you don't have to mess with any complicated math to figure out what each one bought/sold for individually!



Here we can see that the adamantite ore sold for 1151; which is 127 GP more than my offer amount. Now then, its time to put these numbers together!



So now you have your buy/sell price for adamantite ore- always remember that the lower number (usually the insta sell) is the buy price; and the higher number (usually the insta buy) is the sell price. So that makes our margin 1151-1185.



Now its time to buy the item. Remember, you already bought 1 of the 25k per 4 hour limit, so the amount you're going to buy is 24,999. You'll buy these at 1151 each, which is almost 30m GP! (You always need to pay attention to the total buy price to make sure you've got the GP to cover the price; otherwise you'll need to split it into several, smaller flips and keep track of the number you buy/when so you're not waiting for hours for it to finish buying because you set the quantity to more than your limit! Now its time to sit back and wait for the ores to buy, which could take a while so I suggest finding something else to do to utilize your time- no exp waste!!!



So, in the case of the adamantite ore the buy price likely rose during my buy time since only 712 bought for me, either way, I'll finish my example by selling the ores at my sell price of 1185.




And there you have it, Buying/selling at a margin that you found yourself. Its not always such a large failure as this; but margins change frequently; so its not a guarantee that you'll buy every single item at the price you pc'd, and the same goes for the sell, prices fluctuate, that's just how it is with supply and demand of the G.E.!

I'll try one more example here to help drive the point home. This time I'm going to find the margins for the adamant bar which has a 10,000 per 4 hour limit.



This means that the margin is 2486 for the buy and 2500 for the sell; and remember that to find the margins you buy 5-10% above the G.E. margin, and sell 5-10% below it- usually. Sometimes you have to take it a little farther.


Tada! All bought, time to sell!


And we're sold.

Not a huge margin, but didn't take too long either, and that, my friends, is the simplicity that is self check! So don't listen to the 'buy low, sell high' garbage people like to throw around because that is TERRIBLE advice. You find a margin by buying 1 item 5-10% up and selling it 5-10% down and recording the prices.

For more information/ descriptions of self checking items, check out our youtube channel- Flipchat1

Self Check Guide Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi4taCEQ_KQ

Good luck!