Grand Exchange Buy Limits
How buy limits work and how they affect your OSRS flipping strategy.
What Are Buy Limits?
Every item on the Grand Exchange has a buy limit — the maximum quantity you can purchase within a 4-hour window. This prevents any single player from cornering the market on an item. Once you hit the limit, you must wait for the timer to reset before buying more.
How the 4-Hour Timer Works
The timer starts when you buy your first unit of an item. After exactly 4 hours, your limit resets for that item. Each item has its own independent timer — buying one item doesn't affect the timer on another.
Common Buy Limits
| Item Type | Buy Limit |
|---|---|
| Runes, arrows, bolts | 13,000 – 20,000 |
| Common resources (ore, logs, herbs) | 10,000 – 13,000 |
| Potions, food | 2,000 – 10,000 |
| Standard weapons & armour | 70 – 125 |
| Barrows equipment | 15 |
| Rare items (Twisted Bow, Scythe, etc.) | 8 |
Buy Limits and Flipping Strategy
Buy limits directly affect your profit per flip cycle. A high-margin item with a buy limit of 8 might earn you less total GP than a small-margin item with a limit of 10,000. The 07Flip dashboard shows buy limits alongside profit figures so you can calculate your total earnings per 4-hour window.
Tips for Working with Buy Limits
- Stagger your buys — start flipping different items at different times so limits don't all reset at once.
- Use all 8 GE slots — flip 8 different items simultaneously to maximise your throughput.
- Consider profit per limit — multiply the per-item profit by the buy limit to compare total earning potential.