OSRS Flipping Guide for Beginners

What is Flipping?

Flipping is the practice of buying items at a low price and immediately reselling them at a higher price on the Grand Exchange. Unlike merching, which involves holding items over days or weeks, flipping happens within minutes. You profit from the spread between what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers are willing to accept.

The profit on each flip is called the margin — the difference between the instant buy price and the instant sell price, minus the 1% GE tax (capped at 5 million GP per transaction). The GE tax was introduced to act as a gold sink, so it is important to factor it into every trade you make.

Flipping requires no combat level, no skill requirements, and no quests. All you need is starting capital and an understanding of how the Grand Exchange works. You can flip on a brand new account with just a few thousand GP.

How Margins Work

Every item on the Grand Exchange has two real-time prices that matter to flippers. The instant buy price is the lowest price at which someone is currently selling the item — this is what you pay when you put in a high offer that fills immediately. The instant sell price is the highest price at which someone is currently buying — this is what you receive when you sell an item for a low price that fills immediately.

Your margin is calculated as: sell price - buy price - GE tax. For example, if you buy an Abyssal whip for 1,500,000 GP and sell it for 1,520,000 GP, the raw margin is 20,000 GP. The GE tax is 1% of the sell price (15,200 GP), so your actual profit is 4,800 GP per whip. Use our Flip Finder to see real-time margins calculated automatically for thousands of items.

Finding Your Margins

Before committing your gold to a flip, you need to check the current margin. The classic technique is straightforward and works for any item on the GE:

• Step 1: Buy 1 of the item at a very high price (e.g., 10% above guide price). This instantly fills and tells you the current instant buy price — what sellers are asking.
• Step 2: Immediately sell that same item for 1 GP. This instantly fills and tells you the current instant sell price — what buyers are offering.
• Step 3: Calculate the margin. If you bought for 1,520,000 and sold for 1,500,000, the raw margin is 20,000 GP before tax.

This costs you a small amount (the margin on 1 item plus tax), but it gives you accurate, real-time pricing data. Now you know exactly where to place your buy and sell offers for the remaining quantity.

Buy Limits

Every item on the Grand Exchange has a buy limit — the maximum number you can purchase within a 4-hour window. This limit is per account and resets on a rolling basis from when you first buy the item. Buy limits are one of the most important factors in flipping because they cap your profit per cycle.

Common buy limits include:

• Runes: 13,000+ per 4 hours
• Food and potions: 10,000-13,000 per 4 hours
• Common weapons and armour: 70-125 per 4 hours
• Rare and high-value items: 8-15 per 4 hours

Check the buy limit for any item in our Item Database before committing your gold. A 500 GP margin on an item with a buy limit of 10,000 is far more profitable than a 5,000 GP margin on an item with a buy limit of 8.

What Items to Flip

Not all items are good for flipping. The best flip items share three key characteristics:

• High volume: Items that trade thousands of times per day fill your offers quickly. If an item takes 3 hours to buy, it is not worth flipping.
• Decent margins: Look for margins of at least 1-2% after tax. Items with very thin margins are not worth the effort and risk.
• Reasonable buy limits: Higher buy limits mean more profit per 4-hour cycle. Items with limits below 70 require large margins to be worthwhile.

Popular flip categories include commonly used PvM supplies (potions, food, ammunition), popular weapons and armour, skilling supplies, and runes. Avoid items with suspiciously large margins — they often have low volume or are about to crash in price. Use our Flip Finder to automatically identify the best items to flip based on real-time data.

Calculating ROI

Return on Investment (ROI) helps you compare different flip opportunities. The formula is: ROI = (margin / buy price) x 100. A 5% ROI on a 10,000 GP item means 500 GP profit per item. If that item has a buy limit of 1,000, you can make 500,000 GP per 4-hour cycle.

Compare this to a 0.5% ROI on a 10,000,000 GP item — that is 50,000 GP per item, but if the buy limit is only 8, you make 400,000 GP per cycle while tying up 80 million GP. ROI alone does not tell the full story; you must also consider the buy limit, volume, and how much capital you have available.

A good rule of thumb: focus on items where (margin x buy limit) gives you the highest total profit relative to the capital required. Diversify across multiple items to keep all 8 GE slots active.

Common Mistakes

Most new flippers make the same mistakes. Here is what to avoid:

• Flipping low-volume items: That 50,000 GP margin means nothing if your offer sits in the GE for 6 hours without filling.
• Ignoring the GE tax: A 1% tax on high-value items adds up quickly. Always factor it into your margin calculations.
• Going all-in on one item: If the price crashes while your buy offer is filling, you could lose millions. Spread your capital across 4-8 different items.
• Competing on popular flip items: If every flipper is trading the same item, margins collapse. Look for items that are slightly off the beaten path.
• Panic selling: If a flip goes wrong and the margin disappears, sometimes it is better to hold the item for a few hours rather than dumping it at a loss.

Tools to Use

Successful flipping requires good data. Here are the tools we offer to give you an edge:

• Flip Finder — Automatically finds the most profitable items to flip right now, with real-time margins and ROI calculations.
• GE Tax Calculator — Calculate the exact tax on any transaction so you know your true profit.
• Price Alerts — Set notifications for when items hit your target buy or sell prices.
• Profit Tracker — Log your trades and track your flipping profits over time.
• Item Database — Look up buy limits, price history, and trading volume for any item.