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OSRS Flipping Guide (2026)
Flipping on the OSRS Grand Exchange means buying low and selling high — here's how to actually find those margins in 2026.
Updated for 2026. The loop is the same as ever: find a spread, buy under it, sell above it after tax, and respect buy limits.
What items are good to flip right now
Look for items with real volume and a gap between the live buy and sell prices after tax. Thin spreads on dead items lock your cash for hours.
Examples that often show workable volume:
- Chaos runes — high limit, frequent fills, thin but repeatable margins
- Zulrah’s scales — constant PvM demand, mid-stack friendly
- Blood runes — steady combat and skilling use
Treat these as starting points, not a fixed list. Always confirm the live spread before you commit a full buy limit. Bonds can also flip when the spread opens; check the live Old school bond price and our OSRS bond GE tracker when that is your focus item.
For a live list split by cash stack, see best OSRS items to flip.
GE tax math (worked example)
Sellers pay 2% per item, capped at 5m gp. Bonds are tax-exempt. Cheap items can round to zero.
Example: you buy at 98,000 gp and sell at 100,000 gp.
- Tax on the sale = floor(100,000 × 0.02) = 2,000 gp
- Net = 100,000 − 2,000 = 98,000 gp
- Profit = 98,000 − 98,000 = 0 gp
The booth looked like a 2k margin. After tax it was a wash. High-value items hit the 5m cap (2% of 250m+), so a 400m sale still only pays 5m tax — run those on the GE tax calculator instead of doing it in your head.
Buy limit mechanics
Limits are per item, per account, on a rolling 4-hour reset. They are not a suggestion.
- Look the number up first: OSRS buy limits.
- Do not fill a whole limit unless you have an exit. Gold sitting in offers is gold you cannot rotate.
- Volume on most traded items tells you whether the market can absorb your limit. If you are the volume, you are the price.
The 70% rule
A rough guide some flippers use: buy at or below 70% of the item’s sell price so there is room left after GE tax. It is not a law.
Liquid runes will almost never give you that spread. Quiet items will, and they will also sit. Use 70% as a “is there any margin at all?” check, then look at live high/low and what you can afford to have stuck. The longer merch version is in the OSRS merching guide.
How to find flip margins with a GE tracker
Margin = sell price − buy price − GE tax on the sale.
Most taxable sales take a 2% cut from the seller (capped at 5m per item). Cheap items can round to zero tax. Bonds are tax-exempt. If you ignore that cut, a green-looking spread can still lose gold.
A GE tracker pulls live buy and sell prices so you see the real spread without camping the booth. You compare both sides, subtract tax, and decide whether the leftover profit is worth the buy-limit risk. For the longer explainer on how tracking works, read what an OSRS GE tracker is.
GeHound surfaces those live numbers and can alert you when a price hits your line, so you are not refreshing charts by hand. For the alert workflow, see OSRS flipping alerts or set up your first alert.
Common flipping mistakes (tax, buy limits, price manipulation)
- Skipping tax math. A 100k “margin” that loses 2% on the sell is not 100k of profit. Bake tax into every offer before you buy.
- Ignoring buy limits. Most items reset every 4 hours. Buying a full limit with no exit plan parks capital until the reset — or longer if the sell side dies.
- Chasing manipulated prices. If one side of the book suddenly jumps with no news or volume behind it, someone may be pushing offers. Wait for fills at real prices instead of matching a fake wall.
Patience beats force-buying a bad print. If the fill does not come, cancel and move on.
F2P vs. members flipping
F2P flipping uses a smaller tradeable pool and usually thinner margins than members. The same buy-low, sell-high loop still works — you just have fewer items and less volume to rotate through.
For F2P-only picks, limits, and constraints, use the OSRS F2P flipping guide. Keep this page for the general margin and tax rules above.