Capture the trader near the starting area with a Pal Sphere, flee the guards when the alarm triggers, then place the captured trader at your base so you can buy and sell there.
Traders in Palworld sit at fixed points of interest, which means every restock run is a trip out and a trip back. Catching one and dropping them at your own base collapses that loop into a single interaction next to your Palbox. The whole thing takes about a minute once you know which point of interest to walk into.
Where the trader sits near the starting area
The trader you want is close to where you began the game. Stand at the start area and look out in front of it — the point of interest is right there, and its entrance is the only way in. You are not hunting for a hidden spawn; it is a marked location on the path most players already walk past.
Expect company. The site is patrolled by a ring of guards, and they are the reason this needs to be quick rather than careful. Head straight through the entrance and into the interior, where the merchant is standing at their usual post ready to buy and sell.
How to catch a trader and keep them at your base in Palworld
This is the full run — walk into the guarded point of interest, sphere the merchant, get clear of the guards, and set them down at home.
Enter the point of interest
Walk in through the entrance in front of the starting area rather than trying to reach the merchant from the outside.
Find the merchant inside
The trader is standing in the interior, and you can buy or sell with them normally before you try anything else.
Throw a sphere at the trader
Aim and throw exactly as you would at a wild Pal, targeting the merchant directly.
Use whatever sphere you have
Any Pal Sphere works here, so there is no reason to burn a high-tier one on the attempt.
Run when the guards react
Capturing can trip the guard and defense system, so sprint out of the area as fast as you can instead of fighting.
Place the trader at your base
Deploy the captured NPC at your home the same way you would put down a Pal.
Trade from home
Walk up to them at your base to buy and sell whatever you need.
Throw the cheapest sphere in your bag — the catch does not reward a better sphere, and you will likely be sprinting away from guards seconds later anyway.
Video help
Trading from your own base afterward
Once the merchant is standing in your base, the original location stops mattering. You no longer have to travel back to restock, which is the real payoff — ammo, meds and Pal Spheres become a walk across your own camp instead of a round trip past hostile guards.
It also changes where your base wants to be. The usual advice is to plant your Palbox and crafting stations as close as possible to a high-value spawn — a Wandering Merchant with good sphere or weapon stock, or a Black Marketeer for illegal Pals — and to build clear, lit routes so you can reach them during a raid or at night. Bringing the trader home does that work for you, and it stacks with keeping gold income high so the stock is actually worth browsing.
Using a Viewing Cage to save a base Pal slot
That matters most on a built-out base where every slot is already assigned to a worker. The cage turns the trader into a fixture rather than a resident.
Guard aggro, failed throws and patch changes
| Issue | What |
|---|---|
| Guards turn hostile after the throw | Sprint out of the point of interest instead of fighting; the alarm ends once you are clear. |
| The sphere fails to catch | Retry with another cheap sphere after the area settles. |
| No free Pal slot at your base | Place the merchant in a Viewing Cage and trade with them there. |
| Behavior changes after an update | Move your Palbox and stations next to the trader’s spawn instead. |
Two things go wrong most often. The first is the alarm — the guard and defense system does not fire every single time, but when it does, distance beats damage, so break for the exit immediately rather than trading shots with a patrol. The second is a throw that simply does not land, which costs you a sphere and usually the element of surprise; back out, reset, and come in again with the guards calm.
The other thing to keep in mind is the version. The 1.0 release and the 1.0.1 hotfix that followed did not advertise keeping a trader at your base as a feature, so treat it as behavior that could shift with a future patch — if it stops working, basing next to the trader’s spawn gets you the same practical result.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you actually capture traders in Palworld?
Yes — the sphere throw is the whole method, and it needs no console commands or trainers. Palworld has no single-player developer console anyway; pressing ~ does nothing, and the only official command tools are multiplayer server admin chat commands.
Do you need a specific Pal Sphere to catch a trader?
No. Any sphere in your inventory can do it, so the basic tier is the sensible choice.
Why do the guards attack after you catch the trader?
The capture can trip the site’s defense system, which flags you to every patrol at once. It does not happen on every attempt, and outrunning it is far faster than clearing the guards.
Can you trade with a merchant inside a Viewing Cage?
Players report that you can — you walk up and interact with the caged merchant to buy and sell exactly as you would with one standing loose in your base.
Is keeping a trader at your base an official Palworld feature?
It is not called out in the game’s release material. Palworld left Early Access on July 10, 2026, and the 1.0.1 hotfix (patch 1.100.619) that landed on July 15 was aimed at save data, status effects and platform stability rather than NPC systems.
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