Minecraft Wandering Trader: Best Trades, Spawn & AFK Farm

Some players can’t stand him, while others can’t wait for him to show up. The Wandering Trader in Minecraft is a surprisingly divisive character. On one hand, he offers some great trades; on the other, he loves popping up at the most inconvenient times. And why are his offers even necessary? Today we’ll take a closer look at the Wandering Trader, his two llamas, and his varied stock. He’s more useful than you might think! And there’s an automatic AFK farm at the end of the article, too.

Minecraft Wandering Trader explained: functions and uses

At first glance, the Wandering Trader looks like a regular villager, but he works quite differently. Yes, you can trade items and Emeralds with him, but he doesn’t stick around permanently in your world. Together with his two llamas, he roams Minecraft and only drops by from time to time. When he’s there, you should make use of his offers!

Unlike his village-bound friends, he sells many items that are only found in specific biomes. That’s why it can be worth exchanging a few Emeralds with him. This is especially good for players who don’t like traveling but still want access to other wood types or flowers.

Wandering Trader spawn mechanics in Minecraft

Many players probably jump the first (or tenth) time the Wandering Trader spawns in their world. He appears out of nowhere—usually right nearby. Roughly 20 minutes after creating your Minecraft world, he has a chance to spawn randomly. The system is designed so he shows up only occasionally, which means it can still take several hours overall.

You’ll definitely see—and hear—him if you spend some time on the surface. In general, he tries to spawn near you on the highest daylight-exposed Y-level. Large, open areas work best to increase the odds. The trader spawns within a 48-block radius of the player or a nearby bell.

However, he doesn’t stay forever and eventually moves on. Typically, he can remain for up to 40 minutes (two in-game days). After that, his cooldown resets and he likely won’t appear again for several hours. You can’t prevent him from disappearing with a Name Tag or any other method—that’s only possible with the farm we’ll show you later.

Best Wandering Trader trades: buying, selling, tips

Thanks to a recent update, you can both buy from and sell to the Wandering Trader. Just like regular villagers, Emeralds are his currency. Keep some on hand—or get them from him when he first appears—handy if you haven’t found a village yet or you’re doing a challenge run.

Items the Wandering Trader buys:

All of these resources are easy to farm and are a solid source of Emeralds. Important: each visit, the trader will only want two of these items, and each trade becomes locked after two uses. So you can’t repeat these as often as with regular villagers. Still, they’re great in a pinch!

Items the Wandering Trader sells (normal):

• 1 Emerald: Flowers (various), Sugar Cane, Vines, Dyes (various), Pumpkins, Seeds (various), Moss/Pale Moss, Mushrooms, Sand/Red Sand, Small Dripleaf, Lily Pad, Pointed Dripstone, Rooted Dirt
• 2 Emeralds: Sea Pickle, Glowstone
• 3 Emeralds: Bucket of Tropical Fish/Pufferfish, Cactus, Coral Block (various), Kelp
• 4 Emeralds: Slimeball
• 5 Emeralds: Saplings (various), Nautilus Shell

Special offers:

• 1 Emerald: Packed Ice, 4x Gunpowder, 8x Logs (random type)
• 3 Emeralds: 3x Podzol
• 5 Emeralds: Potion of Invisibility
• 6 Emeralds: Blue Ice
• 6–20 Emeralds: Enchanted Iron Pickaxe

Per appearance, the Wandering Trader typically has five normal and two special offers—chosen at random. That can make it tricky to wait for the perfect deal. For challenge runs, however, many of these are worth their weight in gold!

Practical tips for profitable trades:

• Secure a Nautilus Shell early if you want to craft a Conduit quickly.
• Cactus and Corals are ideal if you spawn far from a desert or warm ocean.
• A Slimeball speeds up early access to leads, sticky pistons, and honey block mechanics.
• Saplings help you get rare wood types without long trips.

Extra tips: llamas, leads, invisibility, and drops

There are a few tricks and secrets to discover! You can detach the trader llamas’ leads and pick up the two Leads. The llamas themselves—with their unique carpets—can also be tamed and kept. After that, you can swap out their Carpets as usual or breed the llamas. If you kill the llamas, they only drop Leather.

A funny mechanic: at night, the trader turns invisible. So you can not only buy a Potion of Invisibility from him—you can even obtain one if he transforms at sunset. If you kill him at that moment, he may drop such a potion. The same can happen when he drinks milk in the morning. A bit mean—but possible!

AFK farm for the Wandering Trader: step-by-step build

Because the Wandering Trader keeps appearing, you can incorporate him into an AFK farm. While you’re AFK, all traders are collected and transported into the Nether. That way, they don’t despawn after 40 minutes.

Instructions to build a Wandering Trader farm:

1. Find an ocean with no spawnable land nearby. Build upward and create a large platform (about 100x100 blocks). Light it up well so no monsters spawn.
2. In the center, build a collection basin with a water stream leading into a Nether portal. The hole should be about 9x9 blocks, with a separate platform, a bell, and transparent blocks beneath. Around it, between the large and small platforms, place two rings of trapdoors.
3. In the Nether, build a safe area around the portal and make sure the coordinates line up correctly.

Note: Due to the spawn mechanics, the farm isn’t inherently super efficient, but it can be very useful in Superflat worlds or other challenges. Use it while you’re not actively playing to collect traders in the Nether; later, you can calmly go through their offers. A detailed Superflat guide: (Surviving in a Minecraft Superflat World: The Ultimate Guide) .

Conclusion: is the Wandering Trader worth it?

Although some players dislike the Wandering Trader, he’s a valuable source of rare items. He roams the world and visits you only every few in-game hours, but he always brings new offers—often from other biomes or dimensions. He also spawns on servers; a nearby player is chosen at random as the target. If you want, you can rent a Minecraft server from us right away. The AFK farm described also works on servers.