Top 7 scam villager trades in Minecraft

Minecraft's various villagers have plenty of benefits to offer players, primarily through their ability to facilitate trades. With enough villagers who have assorted jobs and professions, one can snag more than a few quality items for a good price in emeralds or other resources. However, not every trade carried out with a villager is worth the cost, leading to some downright scammy transactions.

Although trades can differ somewhat between Java and Bedrock Editions, the trades not worth pursuing tend to be pretty consistent between the two versions. If Minecraft players are hoping to maximize their trade value when working with villagers, there are simply some transactions that are best avoided entirely.

For those curious about which trades to avoid, there are a few that come to mind immediately.

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Seven scammy Minecraft villager trades that should be avoided

7) 15 coal for one emerald (Armorer)

While the armorer villager has some great trades to offer in Minecraft, giving players one emerald for 15 coal isn't one of them. While it's true that coal is easy to source, it's relatively finite in the Overworld and is much better served as a fuel source instead of being used to get one measly emerald for 15 pieces of coal.

There are plenty of other ways to acquire a single emerald that don't involve trading away valuable fuel resources.

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6) 30 flint for one emerald (Fletcher)

Sure, flint isn't the toughest material to get in Minecraft, not by a long shot. However, acquiring 26 pieces of these and trading them away for a single emerald isn't economically wise in the slightest.

Considering how useful flint can be in crafting recipes, players are better served using that resource to make new items than tossing them to a fletcher villager for an emerald.

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5) Seven emeralds for one leather tunic (Leatherworker)

Leather armor doesn't have much utility in Minecraft aside from being fairly customizable because it simply doesn't offer particularly great damage reduction. Even more perplexing is that leatherworker villagers are willing to take seven of a player's emeralds just for a leather tunic guaranteed to be obsolete in short order.

If a player has excess emeralds, this may not be the worst trade, but they're still better off just getting leather from killing an animal mob or two instead to craft their own leather tunic.

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4) Seven emeralds for one item frame (Cartographer)

Item frames are undoubtedly incredibly helpful for decoration in Minecraft, but do players really need to pay emeralds for them? Cartographer villagers offer this service, but it's much cheaper just to combine a few sticks and a piece of leather to make one. Compared to emeralds, sticks and leather are much easier to collect in the long run.

Obviously, if players have emeralds to burn, this trade can be useful in a pitch. Otherwise, they may want to stick to crafting item frames and hold on to their emeralds.

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3) One diamond for one emerald (Toolsmith)

Diamonds are one of the most valuable resources in Minecraft, and emeralds can't claim the same utility. Why, then, would players want to trade in a diamond for an emerald? It's a baffling decision, but toolsmith villagers nonetheless offer the same trade.

Compared to diamonds, emeralds can be farmed in many different ways, making it completely unnecessary for Minecraft players to trade diamonds for them.

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2) Four scutes for one emerald (Cleric)

Scute may not be the rarest resource in Minecraft, but it takes quite a bit of time to acquire. This material is dropped when a baby turtle grows to its adult size, but the time taken to do so can take a while. Since this is the case, scute tends to have a pretty high value, and it also has applications when it comes to making turtle shell helmets.

Considering players spend a sizable chunk of time obtaining scutes, it doesn't make much sense to throw them away for a single emerald.

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1) 36 emeralds for one bell (Toolsmith)

Bells can rally villagers back to their homes when rung, making them useful for keeping villages safe from Minecraft's various hostile mobs. However, these blocks generate within most villages by default and can easily be broken and collected by a pickaxe.

Bells can also occasionally be found in loot chests near ruined Nether portals. Given this information, why would a player want to pay 36 emeralds for something as accessible as a bell? The answer may be because a toolsmith villager wants to see if they can get a few emeralds out of it.