Shopping
Palworld Black Marketeer Locations & How to Buy Rare Pals
Somewhere out past the tourist-friendly Wandering Merchants, Palworld keeps a guy who does not want to make eye contact and absolutely does not want you asking where his stock comes from. That's the Black Marketeer, and despite the shifty vibe, he's the single most direct way to add a specific Pal to your roster without a single hour of breeding math or a single ambush from a Predator base.
What the Black Marketeer Actually Is
The Black Marketeer is a hidden NPC — not a shop sitting in a settlement, but a guy tucked into a cliffside or canyon you have to go find. Talk to him and open Buy Contraband, and you'll see a fixed list of Pals for sale, priced in Gold Coin. No catching, no taming, no watching an egg for twenty minutes — you pay, he hands over the Pal Sphere, done. He'll also buy Pals off you for gold if you're looking to offload duplicates instead.
The catch, and the reason he's worth a dedicated guide instead of a footnote: each Black Marketeer is locked to a level tier, and the Pals he's willing to sell are locked right along with it. A low-level Marketeer isn't going to hand you an endgame Dragon Pal for pocket change, and that's actually useful information once you know how to read it.
Black Marketeer vs. Pal Merchant: Same Idea, Very Different Guy
Palworld actually has two NPCs that sell you Pals directly, and it's easy to conflate them. The Pal Merchant is the friendly version — he sets up shop in a fixed, known location (a settlement, a base town) and sells cheaper, lower-level Pals meant to get new bases running fast. The Black Marketeer is the black-market version of the same idea: hidden locations, a rougher-looking roster, and Pals that skew rarer and pricier the higher his level tier goes. Same currency (Gold Coin), same basic transaction — very different clientele.
The Four Black Marketeer Tiers
This site tracks four Black Marketeer tiers, each with its own fixed Pal roster tied to a level range. Rather than retype every name here, each tier has its own page with the full roster and direct links to every Pal — worth bookmarking if you're hunting something specific.
Black Marketeer (Lv.20-30) is the earliest tier, and also the only one with documented map pins on this site so far — three known spawn points, near Eastern Wild Island, near Desolate Church, and near the Deep Bamboo Thicket. The standout here is Katress, a Rare Dark-type that's a genuinely strong early mount and attacker, plus Mammorest as a big Epic Grass-type workhorse if you want a mount that can also flatten a base.
Black Marketeer (Lv.35-40) steps up into meatier territory. The one worth crossing the map for is Relaxaurus — an Epic Dragon/Water Pal that's a staple of the breeding meta for a reason, and normally a real project to hunt down or hatch. Blazehowl and Incineram round out a solid Fire-leaning lineup.
Black Marketeer (Lv.42-48) is where things get properly rare. Beakon, a Rare Electric flier that's one of the more sought-after mid-to-late Pals in the game, shows up here alongside Relaxaurus Lux (Relaxaurus's Electric-flavored evolution-adjacent cousin, also Epic) and Lovander for anyone chasing a full Neutral lineup.
Black Marketeer (Lv.50-55) is the top tier this site has documented, and the roster shows it — Cryolinx (an Epic Ice-type known for being fast and mean, which makes catching one in the wild a genuine chore), Quivern (an Epic Dragon-type flying mount), and Dualith round out a legitimately endgame-caliber lineup.
A word on locations for tiers two through four: this site doesn't have documented map pins for them yet, unlike tier one's three known spawn points. If you see a guide elsewhere claiming exact coordinates for every tier, treat it with the same suspicion you'd treat the Marketeer himself — we'd rather tell you what we don't know than make up a pin.
The Pal Merchant: The Cheaper, Friendlier Option
If the Black Marketeer's prices make your Gold Coin stash flinch, the Pal Merchant is the lower-stakes alternative — fixed locations, no shifty backstory, and a roster aimed at earlier-game needs. This site has three documented tiers.
Pal Merchant (Lv.10-15) sits at the Small Settlement and is about as beginner-friendly as it gets — Chikipi, Cattiva, and Lamball for base work, plus Lifmunk if you want a Capture Power passive skill donor early. Handy for filling out a starting roster without hunting every species by hand.
Pal Merchant (Lv.30-35) is at Fisherman's Point and leans Fire and Water, with Arsox and Vanwyrm as the two worth a second look for a mid-game combat or work lineup.
Pal Merchant (Lv.40-45) sets up at Duneshelter and skews toward desert-adapted and Terra-variant Pals — Dinossom Lux and Surfent Terra are the two names most players will recognize.
Which One Should You Actually Use?
If you know exactly which Pal you want and it happens to be sitting on a Black Marketeer's shelf, buy it — that's the entire value proposition, skipping hours of hunting or breeding for one purchase. If you're just trying to round out a base with serviceable early Pals and don't have gold to burn, the Pal Merchant is the better use of your coin. Neither replaces catching and breeding as your main strategy; think of both as a shortcut for the one or two specific Pals that are otherwise a pain to get.
For the full shop list, including the material and item vendors this guide didn't cover, see the Shops directory.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Black Marketeer's Pal stock change over time?
The roster is tied to that Marketeer's level tier rather than being random — what's documented on this site reflects the fixed set of Pals available to buy at each tier (Lv.20-30 through Lv.50-55). Other guides report that leaving and returning can refresh an individual Marketeer's specific offers within that tier, so don't be surprised if the exact lineup shifts slightly between visits.
Is the Black Marketeer the same as the Pal Merchant?
No. The Pal Merchant is a friendly, fixed-location NPC selling cheaper, lower-level Pals in known settlements. The Black Marketeer is a hidden NPC in out-of-the-way spots selling rarer, pricier Pals tied to higher level tiers. Both take Gold Coin.
Where can I find the Black Marketeer?
It depends on the tier. The Lv.20-30 Black Marketeer (Dark_01) has three documented spawn points on this site's map — near Eastern Wild Island, near Desolate Church, and near the Deep Bamboo Thicket. Locations for the Lv.35-40, Lv.42-48, and Lv.50-55 tiers aren't documented on this site yet.
Can I sell Pals to the Black Marketeer instead of buying?
Yes — the same NPC that sells you contraband Pals will also buy your duplicates or unwanted Pals off you for Gold Coin, which is a fast way to fund your next purchase from him.