Red Dead Online Guide: How to Buy the Butcher Table to Become a Trader

So you want to become a Trader in Red Dead Online, do you? Honestly, I think that’s a pretty good choice. Trader is possibly my favorite role in Red Dead Online, and it’s a fantastic way to make tons of money, once you truly master it.

But before you do any Trader-based activities, you’re going to need to add the Butcher Table to your camp.

To kick off this entire process, you’ll need to open your satchel (by holding right on the D-pad if you’re on PlayStation or Xbox, or holding B if you’re on PC), then navigate to the Documents tab.

Here, there should be a section titled “Letters,” and in that section should be a letter titled “Letter from Cripps.” Select that and read it, and a new quest marker should appear on your map (if you don’t already have the letter, pay a visit to the post office to collect it). Cripps wants you to meet him at the General Store.

Go to the location marked on your map and meet Cripps. He’ll tell you all about his new business plan, and then he’ll ask you for 15 gold bars. If you’re short on gold, check out my gold farming guide (which is up to date as of 2021).

Give Cripps the gold, and he’ll send you on an errand to fetch a supply wagon. This is a timed mission in which you must find the Small Delivery Wagon and return it to your camp.

Now, if you happen to fail this mission (or if you’re unlucky, like me, and you suffer the misfortune of having your game crash in the middle of this quest), don’t worry too much about it. There’s no real penalty except that you’ll have to start this mission over again. Even after my game crashed, I was able to continue setting up my trading post.

Once this mission is done, you’ll need to go to your camp and locate the Butcher Table, which is now set up there. It’s this icon on your minimap:

Here, you’ll manage all the goings on of your trading business. If you failed the wagon quest (or if your game crashed during the mission), you’ll need to start a Resupply Mission, which you can access from the menu at the Butcher Table (it should be listed under Supplies). This will get everything up and running for you, though you’ll now have to manage your supplies and materials to continue the operation. This is a hands-on role, so you’ll spend a fair amount of time working on this before you start making money at it.

However, you’ve successfully gotten your Butcher Table set up at this point. If you want to really learn how to master the Trader role in Red Dead Online, I’ve created a separate — and exhaustive — guide to doing that. So head over to Half-Glass sister site Lightgun Galaxy to check that out.

Happy trading!