How to perform the “ghost dupe” glitch and buy every item a merchant has in Fallout: New Vegas

Back to the main game Fallout: New Vegas

Mr_gun_CZ

The ghost dupe glitch is a bug in Fallout: New Vegas that allows you to get infinite store credit with any merchant in the game, allowing you to completely clear out their inventory while getting all of their caps.

Quick tips before you do the ghost dupe glitch:

It may take some time. While this glitch is rather easy to execute once you get the hang of it, it may take some time to perform at first.
Only works on PC. Due to the way the keys are mapped on the console versions of the game, this only works on the PC version of the game.

Performing the glitch

To perform the ghost dupe glitch, enter the inventory of any merchant in the wasteland. I will be using the Gun Runners Vendotron as an example, as he has the most valuable inventory in the game.

Merchant screen | Fallout: New Vegas — *Merchant screen*

Next, buy a stack of at least 6 items, but the more, the better. I’ve chosen a stack of 20 .308 rounds as an example.

A stack of 20 items, not yet purchased, but in your inventory, ready to be sold back | Fallout: New Vegas — *A stack of 20 items, not yet purchased, but in your inventory, ready to be sold back*

Next, pick out an expensive item that is alphabetically below the stack of items you’ve chosen before. I’m using the Bozar as an example, as it is the most expensive weapon in the merchant’s inventory.

An expensive item, alphabetically below the stack of items | Fallout: New Vegas — *An expensive item, alphabetically below the stack of items*

Next, hover your cursor over the stack of items. Lastly, click on the item and press A as quickly as you can after you click. You know that the glitch has succeeded if the number of caps you’re giving back to the merchant is far greater than it should be.

Unsuccessful attempt | Fallout: New Vegas — *Unsuccessful attempt*

Successful attempt. In this case, my courier will get 439 700 caps in store credit | Fallout: New Vegas — *Successful attempt. In this case, my courier will get 439 700 caps in store credit*

Once you succeed, confirm that you want to “sell back” all of the items, even though those items don’t technically exist, by pressing A again.

Now, while it looks like nothing happened, if you try to buy an item, you’ll see that the merchant is “giving you” all their caps, but the item also gets added to your inventory, meaning that you have an almost infinite amount of store credit. Using this, you can buy out the entire inventory of every single merchant in the Mojave wasteland. You can also do this every time their merchant inventory restocks.

Do be careful, however, as it appears that opening the pause menu (by pressing ESC) will cause the glitch to stop working and you’ll have to re-do it. This doesn’t seem to happen every time, but it’s good to remember.

The Gun Runner’s Vendotron completely bought out, despite my courier only having 2861 caps | Fallout: New Vegas — *The Gun Runner’s Vendotron completely bought out, despite my courier only having 2861 caps*

Back to the main game Fallout: New Vegas