Typically, due to this, people trade in large quantities to cut down on how my FPs need to be spent to get their goods. You, posting the trade, can do so for free in the open market, but to take a trade in the open market costs one FP. When you’re trading in the open market, which would be anyone in your neighborhood, on your friends list, or with the basic merchants then it costs FPs to do so. If you want to trade, you need to be aware that there is a difference between the open market, and the guild market. In addition to trading to get goods you need for the basics though, there’s an advanced trading method used to get goods you need that are ahead of you, which is kind of fun too.

So in order to get the goods you need, you’re going to have to trade, and no one likes to be ripped off. Unlike other things, you can’t just build all the goods and be profitable and it costs coins and supplies to make them, at least where GB’s and special buildings aren’t involved (and those are random typically). You need goods to negotiate where you’re not strong enough to fight (or for some quests), to unlock the tech tree, and to help your guild treasury so that things like GvG and GE are possible. Goods are a valuable resource and they’re arguably one of the more difficult resources to amass, at least early on.

No matter what kind of a player you are, trading is going to be an essential part of the game.

Fair trade calculator forge of empires