GE tax and flipping
What the 2% Grand Exchange tax takes, and how flipping margins really work.
Every Grand Exchange sale pays a 2% tax, rounded down — capped at 5,000,000 gp, and items selling under 50 gp are exempt. A margin that ignores the tax is not the margin you receive; every margin on this site has it subtracted already.
The flip finder ranks by net margin × min(buy limit, 100): a 200 gp margin on a ×1 item earns less per hour than a 20 gp margin on a ×100 item.
The arithmetic, per item
- Abyssal whipbuy 790.6K → sell 813.8K − tax 16.3K = net 6,933
- Rune platebodybuy 38.8K → sell 38.5K − tax 769 = net -1,109
- Nature runebuy 138 → sell 140 − tax 2 = net 0
Buy price is the low quote, sell price the high quote, tax 2% of the sell side rounded down — net margin, the number behind the flip finder.
Top net margins
- Opulent table (flatpack)2.00M → net 960.0K
- Adamant helm (h4)943.3K → net 918.5K
- Gilded wardrobe (flatpack)985.0K → net 835.4K
- Gilded cape rack (flatpack)1.00M → net 830.0K
- Uncut zenyte19.40M → net 809.7K
Drops you sell instead of alching pay the same tax — compare both outlets in the kill value simulator, and the alch floor case in the alch profit screen.
Questions
- What is the Grand Exchange tax?
- 2% of the sale price, rounded down, capped at 5,000,000 gp. Items selling under 50 gp are exempt.
- Does the tax apply when buying?
- No. The tax is charged on sales only.