Thanks for the suggestion of the Sane Magic Prices guide book. I think this works well as a baseline for my adventures I may keep Xanathar's in my back pocket for selling items and adjusting per location accordingly. I can be such a RAW DM that my compulsion to have specific details can get in the way of enjoying the adventure I'm running.
I might roll some random items on it but before I give my players the option of it I decide if it's broken or not but some items are just out of bounds. No luck blades, no ring of three wishes, no amulet of the planes, etc. They might get those items as big rewards of a long quest chain or after a mega boss fight but you aren't going to find those in random shop #253. Sometimes I just make fun items that are stupid but someone is like YES. I once sold a hole in the wall. It was just a magic hole. It had moss in it. You could fit a pouch in the hole, and move it onto other surfaces. It wasn't a portable hole or a bag of holding of type of quality, It was just a hole that hid a pouch in it. I had a rogue buy it for 2000 gold because it became his ultimate hiding spot for his small gems.
While we didn't purchase one once, I stole it from the DM's NPC... who was a total jerk but kept getting us out of bad situations... at the same moment I became the big jerk by stranding her in the bad spot we were in... but she kind of asked for it and I was tired of the way she kept manipulating my friends to pay for her services. Regardless, we soon learned the value in not acquiring powerful items that we had no business having. The first few adventures were fun, but then the dice took a turn and I'm not sure how we all got out of it alive. It only took us a few levels before we found her and gave it back! The temptation to use it was strong in many cases, but is tempered by the fear of picking up the dice and rolling to find out how this trip is going to go. On one hand it was some of the most memorable moments of the entire campaign. On the other... sheer terror in ever visiting the Plane of Air again. Or wherever we landed that was all mountains and snow (still not sure what plane that was but there were some monstrous things chasing us down slope till we could get out again). It didn't take long to realize what all planes are actually out there and how much worse it could have been.
So sure, don't let them buy an item, but if there is an opportunity to tempt Players with power... sometimes it is fun to use that temptation against them and let them have something they should never have... (Decks of Cards, Amulets of Planes, etc.)
Players sell most items at 1/2 the price. Making it costs 1/2 the price as well (when you make to order you get 3/4 when you sell it to a merchant)
I use this as a guide of the equivalent prices for magic items but, I tend to feel that the prices themselves are far too high for my world. So I generally reduce them but it allows me to work out if I charged 900 for a +1 sword then things that cost the same as a +1 sword in that price list should all come in around the same price.
In terms of selling, at the end of the day the buyer needs to make a profit, magic items do not suffer wear and tear like mundane items so the price is determined simply by how much the buyer thinks they can sell it for and what profit they need to make. So a magic item that cost 1000 would probably be sold for between 500-700 depending on how the negotiation goes (my players all roleplay these interactions and then make the appropriate roll with a DC based on the roleplay aspects).
Across my world the value of magic items differs, for instance in a large city a +1 sword might cost 700 instead of 900 so selling it the player will make less, in fact my players have learnt that sometimes if they keep hold of magic items to try and sell off the beaten track they might make a bit extra money. Although there is also the risk that a merchant will state that they wont be able to sell an item on because it is too rare/expensive etc.
Thanks for the suggestion of the Sane Magic Prices guide book. I think this works well as a baseline for my adventures I may keep Xanathar's in my back pocket for selling items and adjusting per location accordingly. I can be such a RAW DM that my compulsion to have specific details can get in the way of enjoying the adventure I'm running.
While we didn't purchase one once, I stole it from the DM's NPC... who was a total jerk but kept getting us out of bad situations... at the same moment I became the big jerk by stranding her in the bad spot we were in... but she kind of asked for it and I was tired of the way she kept manipulating my friends to pay for her services. Regardless, we soon learned the value in not acquiring powerful items that we had no business having. The first few adventures were fun, but then the dice took a turn and I'm not sure how we all got out of it alive. It only took us a few levels before we found her and gave it back! The temptation to use it was strong in many cases, but is tempered by the fear of picking up the dice and rolling to find out how this trip is going to go. On one hand it was some of the most memorable moments of the entire campaign. On the other... sheer terror in ever visiting the Plane of Air again. Or wherever we landed that was all mountains and snow (still not sure what plane that was but there were some monstrous things chasing us down slope till we could get out again). It didn't take long to realize what all planes are actually out there and how much worse it could have been.
So sure, don't let them buy an item, but if there is an opportunity to tempt Players with power... sometimes it is fun to use that temptation against them and let them have something they should never have... (Decks of Cards, Amulets of Planes, etc.)
All sales final.
I use this as a guide of the equivalent prices for magic items but, I tend to feel that the prices themselves are far too high for my world. So I generally reduce them but it allows me to work out if I charged 900 for a +1 sword then things that cost the same as a +1 sword in that price list should all come in around the same price.
In terms of selling, at the end of the day the buyer needs to make a profit, magic items do not suffer wear and tear like mundane items so the price is determined simply by how much the buyer thinks they can sell it for and what profit they need to make. So a magic item that cost 1000 would probably be sold for between 500-700 depending on how the negotiation goes (my players all roleplay these interactions and then make the appropriate roll with a DC based on the roleplay aspects).
Across my world the value of magic items differs, for instance in a large city a +1 sword might cost 700 instead of 900 so selling it the player will make less, in fact my players have learnt that sometimes if they keep hold of magic items to try and sell off the beaten track they might make a bit extra money. Although there is also the risk that a merchant will state that they wont be able to sell an item on because it is too rare/expensive etc.