Barter trades a fixed set of items, sometimes plus cash, for one item you can’t buy anywhere else. It is the only source of the Drill, the Glass Cutter and the two ID Cards that open the big heists, and the main source of epic Decoders and the Eviction Right. There are 9 recipes live right now.
Where to barter
Barter happens behind suspicious doors in Looty Bay, and Lenny runs it at Lenny’s Motel. The Motel is the easy option: it is a safe zone, so you can hand over a bag of filled cumulative items without anyone shooting you for it.
All recipes
| You give | Cash | You get | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Action Camera (filled) + USB Hacking Tool (filled) ×2 | $50,000 | Drill | Bank vault door |
| Code Tablet (filled) ×3 | — | Glass Cutter | BIG EGG #53 at the Art Gallery |
| Evidence ×20 | — | ID Card | Police Station armory |
| Deposit Box Keys (filled) | — | ID Card | Bank gold vault and locked door |
| Decoder ×3 | $10,000 | Decoder (epic) | Raiding: −3 defense |
| Action Camera (filled) | — | Decoder (epic) | Raiding: −3 defense |
| Sergeant's Badge ×15 | — | Lieutenant's Badge | Better cop kit |
| Electronic Fuse (epic) | $250,000 | Electronic Fuse (legendary) | Base defense: +5 |
| Decoder ×50 | — | Eviction Right | Full base takeover |
When a barter is worth it
Most barter outputs sell for far less than their inputs. You barter because the output opens something, not to flip it. Compare what the inputs would fetch at a Fence (level 1 prices) with what you get back:
| Recipe | Inputs sell for | Output sells for | Payoff if you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drill | $500,000 (incl. $50,000 cash) | $32,800 | Bank vault: Gold Bars at $52,000 each across 8 spots, plus Bank Money Bags |
| Glass Cutter | $225,000 | $20,000 | BIG EGG #53: $550,000 at L1, $825,000 at L5 |
| ID Card (armory) | $80,000 | $7,200 | Police armory exotic weapons |
| ID Card (gold vault) | $20,000 | $8,200 | Bank gold vault |
Two quick reads from that table. The Glass Cutter is the clearest win: three tablets worth $225,000 turn into a $550,000+ egg. Deposit Box Keys are the opposite case: a filled set only sells for $20,000, so bartering it for the gold-vault ID Card costs you almost nothing.
Heist chains
Each big job is a short chain. The middle step is always barter:
| Start | Fill or collect | Barter into | Opens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crack safes in Looty Bay | 3 Code Tablets (4 points each) | Glass Cutter | BIG EGG #53, Art Gallery |
| Criminal actions + hack locked-room PCs | 1 Action Camera + 2 USB Hacking Tools | Drill (+ $50,000) | Bank vault door |
| Hack bank deposit boxes | Deposit Box Keys (60 points) | ID Card | Bank gold vault |
| Collect Evidence | 20 Evidence | ID Card | Police armory |
| Loot Decoders | 50 Decoders | Eviction Right | Another player’s whole base |
How each cumulative item fills is covered in cumulative items.
Rules and edge cases
- Cumulative inputs must be the filled version. An empty camera or tablet won’t count.
- The Decoder recipes accept only the listed Decoder. The epic Decoder recipe wants uncommon Decoders, which only come from loot; shops don’t sell Decoders.
- The Eviction Right is barter-only at release. Pre-launch, Kefir described it as an extremely rare loot drop.
- The legendary Electronic Fuse is also on the laptop (research $500,000, $250,000, tier III), so barter is one of two routes to it.
- Removed at release: Gold Bars for the Buletti Soltempra. Sell Gold Bars to a Fence.
- The Jammer for the Grand Hotel car heist is in neither barter nor loot yet.
Related
DrillGlass CutterID CardID CardDecoderEviction RightElectronic FuseLieutenant's Badge
From the FAQ
- What is barter?
- Where do I barter?
- What are all the barter recipes?
- What do I need to rob the bank?
- How do I steal the golden egg?
- How do I get into the police armory?
- What do I do with Evidence?