Palworld: Things You Need To Know About The Black Marketeer

Despite the world being literally packed with Pals of all different types in Palworld, there are also quite a few human NPCs as well. This is of course counting the Tower Bosses, the random wandering villagers, the villagers in settlements, the wandering merchants, the PIDF Guards of all types, all four of the different enemy factions, and of course the Black Marketeer NPCs. Yet, even in comparison to the Syndicate, Free Pal Alliance, Brothers of the Eternal Pyre, and PAL Genetic Research cronies, the Black Marketeer still has the scariest design.

Palworld: Best Mount Pals For Running

The following mounts make exploring Plaworld's vast open spaces far more enjoyable and substantially quicker.

These guys look absolutely terrifying as if they wanted to make it as obvious as possible that they were up to no good. However, you may be surprised to learn that they're one of the most beneficial NPCs in Palworld, especially for those of you trying to complete your 'Catch 10/10' challenges for each Pal. So, let's go over everything that anyone playing Palworld should probably know when it comes to the Black Marketeer

Black Marketeer Overview

What Purpose Does This NPC Serve?

First, let's give a general overview of the Black Market Dealers or 'Black Marketeer' NPCs in Palworld. These are NPC Merchants that are found (typically) in off-the-beaten-path locations that are away from prying eyes. Most are found near cliff edges, in caves, and at the bottom of valleys with only one or two being anywhere near civilization. Once they're found, you can then talk with them to either buy or sell 'contraband', which in this case are Pals.

That's right, players can buy Pals here or even sell their own, just like with a regular Pal Dealer NPC. However, instead of the Pals being around their typical level and costing upwards of 30,000 Gold Coins, the Black Marketeer sells his inventory for a lot cheaper in comparison and their levels are usually very low (implying they probably just hatched not too long ago). Overall, Black Market Dealers are basically just another avenue by which you can obtain and raise higher-leveled Pals a bit earlier than intended or a method by which to get your 'Catch 10/10' done as acquiring a Pal by any means still counts as a 'catch'.

All The Things You Probably Don't Know About Them

Now, because (at the time of writing this) Palworld is still so new, a lot of small bits of misinformation are spreading around about the game, especially in regard to the Black Marketeer. In an attempt to address this, let's go over some of the most common questions players seem to have about these NPCs and answer them as much as possible:

Question	Answer
Do Black Market Dealers ever move locations?	No, where you find them is where they'll always stay, so it's very much worth marking each of their locations on the map when found.
How Many Black Marketeers are there?	12 Black Market Dealers in total exist on the Palpagos Islands. 7 on the central 'green' islands, 1 near the base of the icy mountain where the Tower of the Free Pal Alliance is, one on the beach south of Mount Obsidian, one at the base of the Astral Mountain in the northmost island, and two on the desert island.
When do they refresh their stock?	A lot of people think that Black Market Dealers don't refresh their inventory at all, this is wrong. People also think they get new inventory every in-game day and this is mostly true. However, if players also 'Return to Title' and load back in, their inventory should have rotated as well. Lastly, if you manage to catch a Black Market Dealer, putting him in the Palbox and then re-assigning him to the base should also rotate the inventory.
Is their inventory individual for each player?	No, in fact all players on a server have access to the same inventory for the Black Maketeer. This means that if a player comes up and buys one of his Pals on sale while you're looking, that Pal will suddenly become 'Sold Out' on your screen.
Does the Black Market Dealer tailor their inventory based on their surroundings or the player's level?	Not from what we can tell, it seems like the stock is completely random.
Can you 'catch' a Black Market Dealer?	Yes, and this is actually a convenient way to keep one nearby for easy access.
If you capture a Black Market Dealer, will a new one spawn at its old location?	Eventually, he will.
Are the Black Market Dealers difficult to fight?	They're relatively rough as they have a minigun similar to the Syndicate Crushers.

This NPC just doesn't have a lot of info on them in-game, they don't even get an entry in the Survival Guide. So hopefully this will help explain some things about them so you feel like you understand how they work just a bit more.

Is It Worth Spending Gold Coins At The Black Marketeer?

Or Are There Better Places To Spend Your Hard Earned Gold?

Palworld - Selling Pals at Black Marketeer

And finally, let's briefly give a 'final verdict' on whether it's worth spending Coins on the Black Marketeer or not. Obviously the 'worth' of using this NPC will differ from player to player, but for the most part, everyone agrees that the Black Marketeers are worth spending money on pretty regularly, depending on what Pals they're offering.

This isn't the best place to buy Pals that players can easily find Alpha variants of on the map and out in the world (such as Penking or Kingpaca) but it's absolutely worth spending Gold here if they're offering low-level versions of rare later game Pals such as Wixen, Beakon, or Lunaris.