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[krenshala]

Don't forget, they carvans are selling what they consider tourist crap to you in exchange for what you consider tourist crap.  If you are getting something you consider useful, so are they (as they pawn it off to whoever it is on their next stop, after all).  Thats why I don't consider it unbalanced.

Now, once prices start to vary based on supply and demand things will get interesting.  Supplied too many solid gold, gem encrusted doors to all the caravans?  Gold door prices will probably tank.  Never sold a sock in the life of the fort?  You might actually get a good price for them.   And no, I have no idea how long until that gets implemented, but Toady has all but outright said it will get there eventually (based on my recollection of updates).

[GreatWyrmGold]

You can melt metal crap down, so buy steel crafts and anvils!

[Kibstable]

I see the merchants as rubbish collectors, my main mission is to get them to leave the map with more items than they came with, so I sell them the lowest value items I have so I can trade up 10 for 1 at least maybe even giving them a decent margin too.  I also try to buy things that I will consume so that all the best quality items in the fort are home made.
I never seem to run out of total rubbish to sell them in exchange for 1 almost useful thing. And its a lot less hauling from the depot afterwards than to the depot before trading.

[QuantumMenace]

Here's another broken trade good: Dwar-vian bottled minecarted water. A stack of 833 water is worth 833 dwarfbucks. Magma should be worth the same, but you probably need nether-cap carts if you don't want to use up your iron.

[Iosyn]

Stonecrafts, stonecrafts everywhere. i've never sold roasts since most of my forts tend to buy out entire caravans with a liberal supply of mugs and assorted crafts.

That said, minecarts and wheelbarrows should make good money.

[Mimodo]

Ok, I'm not sure if it's just my civ, but the humans pay double for silver bolts, which is my main export... A stack of 25 masterwork, normally 3000 will sell to humans for 6000

I also find gems are a good export. If you get lucky enough to get large gems of masterwork quality, they sell for a good few bucks. The low quality gems (under 100) I use for training my encruster, the gems worth about 100 I sell of, and generally have a ton of them... Only the highest quality gets used for encrusting only the highest quality furniture. Low quality gems in large quantities (after encrusting gets to legendary) are good to get the basics

[wuphonsreach]

I like buying metals and stuff off of caravans. It helps me to have all of the metals available, just in case a mood strikes a dwarf and he needs lay pewter, now!

You should be careful with this.  Currently, when dwarves "mood" they will only mood for items available at the time when the mood strikes.  If you only have 1 of something and they need 2 or 3, you could be in trouble.

[Particleman]

I like the wax and cloth crafts idea... My legendary clothier (given the custom job of Bagmaker) and planters are kind of sitting on their hands lately ever since I got everybody outfitted in bone and leather armor and have something like 12,000 prepared meals... CLOTH CRAFTS FOR EVERYONE! I don't even give a shit what I get in return, I'll hurl pig tail amulets at your head until you go away!

[hiroshi42]

I like buying metals and stuff off of caravans. It helps me to have all of the metals available, just in case a mood strikes a dwarf and he needs lay pewter, now!

You should be careful with this.  Currently, when dwarves "mood" they will only mood for items available at the time when the mood strikes.  If you only have 1 of something and they need 2 or 3, you could be in trouble.

Since when did moody dwarves demand things in stock?  I have had them demand cloth that I did no have any of and metals that they should not know exist (ie slade)

On the subject of trade stuff I am sure someone has already mentioned it, but you can mod the values of things and I am fairly sure it does not require a regen.

[Sutremaine]

You can melt metal crap down, so buy steel crafts and anvils!

Anvils aren't that bad a buy. Even though they're high-value items, they return a nice chunk of steel, and they never come above base quality or with decorations.

[GoombaGeek]

I've modded in Doom Bees, which have lethal stings but give wax and honey 4x more valuable than normal bees. It makes wax working pretty great.

[wuphonsreach]

The materials don't have to be "in stock", but they do have to exist somewhere on the map.  Demands can be further down the reaction chain (such as wanting cut gems, as long as you have some raw gems, or wanting metal bars if you have metal ore available).

Strange moods are simply a lot easier in 34.11 then they were in 31.25.  The dwarves are far less picky about what type of material they want.

(DFHack "showmood" is enlightening.)