RS3 Grand Exchange Tax Explained

~4 min read

RuneScape 3 takes a cut every time you sell on the Grand Exchange. If you flip, the GE tax quietly eats into every margin — so it pays to understand it.

What the tax is

When an item sells on the GE, a 2% sales tax is deducted from the seller's proceeds. The buyer pays the full price; the seller receives 98% of it. It is charged per item, so a stack is taxed on the whole sale.

Why it matters for flipping

Your true profit on a flip is not just "sell minus buy." It is:

net profit = (sell − buy) − (2% × sell), per item.

On thin margins, that 2% can be the difference between a winning flip and a losing one.

A worked example

Say you buy an item for 100,000,000 and sell it for 105,000,000:

• Raw spread: 5,000,000
• Tax on the sale: 2% × 105,000,000 = 2,100,000
• Net profit: 2,900,000

So a "5m margin" is really about 2.9m after tax — roughly a 2.9% return on the buy price. Always run the tax before deciding a flip is worth a slot.

Rules can change — verify in-game

Jagex has adjusted GE tax rules over time (including exemptions for some low-value items and changes to any caps). Treat the 2% as your planning rule of thumb, and confirm the exact figure the game shows you before you sell.

Let the math run itself

ZephFlip calculates every margin, ROI, and profit figure after the 2% tax automatically — so the number you see is the number you keep. No mental math on every flip.