Merchant Ship

Overview

The Merchant Ship is a floating vendor docked at Starsand Port in Half-Moon Bay. It is the single most profitable place to sell goods in Starsand Island, buying items at 200% of their normal value, double what any regular shop pays. The ship also sells rare items that are not available from mainland shops, and its stock refreshes every Monday.

The Merchant Ship is unlocked by completing the Starsand Port Construction quest from Marston. Once the port is rebuilt, the ship becomes permanently accessible at the docks.

Quick Reference

How to Unlock the Merchant Ship

The Merchant Ship becomes available after you complete the Starsand Port Construction quest, one of Marston's main quests at Half-Moon Bay.

1. Travel to Half-Moon Bay and find Marston at the run-down port site.

2. Accept the Starsand Port Construction quest.

3. Deliver 15 Stone and 15 Softwood. Both are basic resources you can gather from the very start of the game.

4. Wait one in-game day. The port rebuilds overnight.

5. Return the next morning. The Merchant Ship, Parrot Ship, and yacht rentals are now available.

The material cost is trivial, so prioritise this quest as soon as you reach Half-Moon Bay. The port construction is part of a larger quest chain:

Selling to the Merchant Ship

The Merchant Ship buys your items at 200% of their normal sell value. This is the defining feature that makes it the best money-making tool in the game. A crop that normally sells for 100 Coins at Zerine's General Store sells for 200 Coins at the Merchant Ship.

Buy Order System

The Merchant Ship does not buy everything. Each week it posts a set of buying orders, specific items it wants to purchase. These orders change every Monday when the stock refreshes. The ship also accepts only limited quantities per item, so you cannot dump unlimited stock.

Check the ship's buying orders every Monday and plan your week accordingly. If the ship wants Watermelon this week, prioritise harvesting and saving Watermelon for the ship rather than selling at regular shops.

Requested Items and Pricing

The Merchant Ship's true value comes from its buying orders. It requests specific items each week and pays 200% of their normal sell value. Below are all known items the ship requests, grouped by category, along with the price the ship pays and the maximum quantity it will accept per week.

Crops

The ship regularly requests a mix of common and rare crops. Farming these in advance and storing them for the next Monday refresh is one of the best ways to earn consistent income.

Seafood

Fish and shellfish tend to bring the highest individual prices at the Merchant Ship. Saving premium catches for the ship rather than selling them at regular merchants can double your Fishing income.

Materials and Furniture

The materials category includes both raw crafting materials and finished furniture items. Furniture pieces sell for some of the highest prices on the ship, with the Golden Canopy Bed bringing in nearly $3,000 per unit.

Ranching

Animal products from your ranch can also be sold to the ship. While the per-unit prices are lower than seafood, the quantities are decent and the items are easy to accumulate passively from your animals.

Best Items to Sell

To maximise profits, sell processed goods rather than raw materials. Cooking multiplies a crop's value, and the Merchant Ship doubles that further. Stacking processing bonuses with the ship's 200% rate creates enormous returns.

The Pickling Jar + Merchant Ship combination deserves special mention. Pickling increases value by over 200%, and the Merchant Ship doubles the result. This stacking effect makes pickled goods the single most profitable items to sell in the game. Pickling takes 15 in-game hours per unit and requires Fine Salt (produced at the Charcoal Kiln from Salt Bricks found in the Moonlit Forest).

Offered Goods

In addition to buying your goods, the Merchant Ship sells rare food items and recipes that are not available from mainland shops. The inventory rotates weekly, so different items appear each Monday. Below are items that have been confirmed in the ship's rotating stock:

Because the stock is randomised each week, not all items appear at the same time. Visit every Monday to check what is available. You can also place orders for items from the Merchant Ship for pickup in a few days if you cannot afford something right away.

Merchant Ship vs Quick Shipping Box

The Quick Shipping Box (crafted from a blueprint at Zerine's General Store for 3,500 Coins) lets you sell items from your farm overnight at standard prices. It is more convenient but pays far less. Here is how the two compare:

The optimal strategy is to use both. Save your most valuable items for the Merchant Ship each Monday and dump everything else into the Quick Shipping Box overnight.

Weekly Routine

To get the most out of the Merchant Ship, build a weekly habit around the Monday stock refresh:

1. Monday morning: Visit the Merchant Ship. Check the new buying orders and note which items the ship wants this week.

2. Monday to Saturday: Gather, grow, cook, and pickle the items on the buy list. Store them rather than selling elsewhere.

3. Sunday evening: Process any remaining raw materials (cook, pickle, smelt) so everything is ready.

4. Monday morning (next week): Sell your stockpile at the ship for 200% value, then check the new buy orders and repeat.

Highest-Value Requests

If you want to focus your farming and crafting efforts on the items with the biggest payouts, here are the top requests ranked by total revenue potential per week (ship price multiplied by maximum quantity):

The Golden Canopy Bed is the single highest-priced item on the ship at $2,956 per unit. Five of them bring in $14,780 in a single week. However, furniture requires significant crafting investment. For players looking for easier income, seafood is the most efficient category since fish can be caught in bulk without consuming crafting materials.

Tips