Commodities

Commodities are a type of treasure that can be bought from, and sold to the Merchant Alliance at Outposts. The Merchant Alliance Outpost Inventories book next to Senior Traders will show which commodities are sought-after, or in surplus at each Outpost.

Commodities have a cooldown and each outpost has a separate cooldown of three in-game days from time of purchase (not claim), restocking at 6am. This means the cooldown can be between 48 and 72 minutes depending on the time of purchase.

Commodities are crew-based. Only one member of the crew can purchase the crate, and only that crew member can claim the crate they purchased.

Trade Routes
Next to the Merchant Alliance Senior Trader NPCs at Outposts is a Merchant Alliance Outpost Inventories book. It lists which commodity is sought-after, or in surplus at each Outpost. Each Outpost will sell one of every type of Commodity except for the type that they have in surplus which they will sell ten of; and the one that is sought-after which they will not sell any of. In this way each outpost sells fifteen Commodities.

Trade routes are created by going to an Outpost that has the sought-after Commodity that was in surplus at the last Outpost you were at. Trade routes can be as short as two Outposts long or as long as all seven.

Trade Routes change once every week, on Sundays at 1:00 am BST (00:00 GMT).

Mechanics
A Player can only carry one Commodity at a time and cannot use any other items while carrying them. Commodities will float to the top when dropped in Water, however they will start sinking to the bottom after some time has passed and disappear. Crates dropped on land or on shorelines will stay in-game for a long time. Every Commodity can be caught with a Ship's Harpoon.

Where to find
Commodities can be bought from Merchant Alliance Senior Trader NPCs at Outposts while sailing as Merchant Alliance Emissaries. They cannot be claimed without sailing as Merchant Alliance Emissaries.

Emissary Mechanics
Any Player Crews sailing as Merchant Alliance Emissaries can receive Emissary Grade Reputation and Emissary Value for selling the crate to Merchant Alliance Senior Trader NPCs at Outposts. This benefit is also applicable for Reaper's Bones Emissaries selling to the Servant of the Flame NPC. The higher the Crew's Emissary Grade, the more Gold, Reputation and Emissary Value they receive for selling Commodity Crates.

Players earn more Emissary Value and Emissary Grade Reputation with Merchants for Commodities that are sought-after at the outpost they sell at, and less for Commodities that are in surplus at the outpost they sell at.

Rewards
Commodities can be cashed in to Merchant Alliance Senior Traders at any Outpost other than the one it was bought from for Gold and Reputation with the Company. As stated before, Merchant Alliance Emissaries will also receive Emissary Value and Emissary Grade Reputation with the Merchants for selling the Crates while flying an Emissary Flag. Being an Emissary also increases the Gold and Reputation gains for selling Crates. Alternatively, Crews can choose to sell any acquired Crates to the Reaper's Bones Representative at The Reaper's Hideout instead.

The following is a table of the multiplicative Rewards for selling Trade Good Crates as Graded Emissaries.

Commendations

 * Haggler of Surplus Stock → Purchase 250 Merchant Commodities at a discounted price.
 * This commendation is misleading as there is no discounted price. You progress this commendation by purchasing Merchant Commodities at a surplus. This commendation is not crew based.
 * Profiteer of Sought Stock → Sell 250 Merchant Commodities at an inflated price. | Unlocks the Merchant Alliance Hook for purchase
 * Taker of Stolen Stoke → Sell 50 stolen Merchant Commodities at an inflated price.
 * Master of Shifted Stock → Make the most possible profit buying and selling 150 Merchant Commodities. | Unlocks the Merchant Alliance Eyepatch for purchase
 * This commendation is misleading as there is no discounted price. You progress this commendation by purchasing Merchant Commodities at a surplus then selling as sought-after. This commendation is not crew based.

Types of Commodities
There are various types of Commodities with varying Gold, Reputation and Emissary Values:

Trivia

 * Commodities are identical to Wood Crates except that the wood is a lighter color and the wood symbol is replaced with the Commodity's symbol.
 * Two Commodities have multiple names. The Assorted Gemstones commodity is called "Unclassified Gemstones" in the purchase menu and in the Merchant Alliance Outpost Inventories book, and Unprocessed Tea is called "Ungraded Tea".
 * There are 9,344,160 (7!x!7) possible trade route configurations.