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The Trader Role is probably the most realistic Role in Red Dead Online. You go out and collect furs and carcasses, and then you trade them for money, simple. The downside to this is that much like real life, it’s a bit boring. Still, it’s a pretty decent moneymaker and it unlocks some great rewards. Perhaps the most valuable thing locked behind the Trader Role is the Moonshiner Role.

Related: Ways To Raise Your Honour In Red Dead Online

The Trader Role will see you and Cripps, your camp buddy, starting up a business together, Cripps Trading Co. The main activities here are hunting and delivering. It’s relatively uneventful, peaceful even. It ain’t much, but it’s honest work. This guide will help you become the best Trader you can be.

Updated September 20, 2023, by Sean Murray: Looking for how to get the Trader role in RDR2? Wondering what the joys and tribulations of trading entail? Your search is over. We've refreshed this guide with improved formatting and more breakout tips to make your career as a trader a fruitful one.

How Do You Become A Trader?

cripps at camp

Becoming a Trader is definitely a little more tricky than it should be. You’ll have to read a letter sent to you by Cripps, either by going to a post office or getting it from your camp lockbox. This will cause a marker to appear on a general store on the map. The store varies, so look at them all.

You can only read this letter if you have a camp currently set up, so bear that in mind.

Head to the marker and you’ll start a cutscene with Cripps and a disgruntled general store employee. Cripps will request 15 gold as a start-up fee so he can buy a butcher’s table necessary for him to turn animal materials into valuable products.

If you don’t just have a cool 15 gold to spare, don’t worry, you can buy the table from the camp store instead.

What Does Being A Trader Unlock?

Red Dead Online Medium Delivery Wagon Forest

This role unlocks a host of great camp upgrades, most importantly, dogs. They are good boys and you should buy one immediately. The best practical upgrade it unlocks is the camp stew pot, an infinite supply of food that’ll restore the cores of you and your posse. You'll be hunting so much that you won't need to buy the stewpot immediately, but it is a useful item.

You can also unlock some vehicles. The medium and large trading wagons help with deliveries, and the hunting wagon allows you to transport up to five large carcasses at a time, making your hunting escapades far more efficient.

It's a shame this Role doesn't unlock housing options, as it seems really suited to it.

Related: Awesome Things You Didn't Know You Could Do In Red Dead Online

What To Do As A Trader

Charles Smith from Red Dead Redemption 2

The new gameplay loop unlocked has you donating animal materials to Cripps so that he can turn them into goods you then sell. One bar of supplies will fill a quarter of the sellable goods bar, so either pay $20 to buy more or complete a little side mission to restock. Do whichever you prefer, as stealing supplies has no effect on your honor.

This is the role that feels most like the businesses in GTA Online, so anyone who’s also played that will know what to expect.

Simply put, you go and hunt and give Cripps the fruits of your labor. You’ll then transport the goods he makes to a buyer, normally encountering some bandits en route or at the drop-off location. The thing you’ll be doing most is killing animals, so make sure you don’t have to visit Harriet anytime soon.

Also, as you'll be on your horse a lot, make sure you get a good one.

How To Make Money As A Trader

a box full of gold bars

The only way you make money as a trader is by completing deliveries. There are a few things that can help you increase how much money you make per delivery, so there is some depth to this Role.

The most immediate way to get more money is to do distant deliveries instead of local ones. The problem with these is that they take about twice as long and mean rival players can intercept you, so they’re not really worth the risk as they only give you an extra $17.

The best way to increase the value of your goods is to rank up and buy the medium and then large delivery wagons. These will unlock more of the true value of the items. It seems people will pay more if you sell in bulk.

Related: Red Dead Online: Things That Make It Best Played Solo

How To Earn Experience As A Trader

Red Dead Redemption 2 Arthur Bear Hunted Grass Bush

Completing deliveries and resupply missions will give you pretty good XP returns, so make sure to do those whenever you get the chance. Also, you get five Trader XP and five general XP for every animal part you donate to Cripps. This might not sound like much, but you’ll be donating a lot to the man, so it quickly adds up.

An easy and reliable way to get decent XP gains is by completing the daily Trader challenges. You start with one per day, then get another at rank five, and another at rank ten.

These give 200 Trader XP and 200 general XP, as well as some gold, so make sure to complete them.

Final Trader Tips

RDO Trader in camp with dog

Players can grief you by skinning animals you’ve killed and taking things from your horse. They could even just shoot the carcasses you’ve gotten to lower the quality. Get around this by pitching up your camp in relatively deserted areas, like Rio Bravo.

Pelts add significantly less raw material than carcasses, so always prioritize a large carcass over a bear or bison pelt.

The best way to quickly fill the materials bar is to hunt near your camp. Kill an animal, pop it on your horse, kill another, and lasso that carcass back to camp with you. Donating to Cripps should reset animal spawns, so this is a pretty reliable method.

Use your hunting wagon to store perfect cougar carcasses. These are worth a lot and the hunting wagon will let you store five. Go and hunt near cougar spawns, put the cougars in the wagon and other carcasses on your horse. Doing this will ensure Cripps is always busy.

Next: Red Dead Online Complete Guide And Walkthrough