When do merchants start paying the actual value of items without bonus effects and perks?

The value in your inventory is the worth of the item. Vendors will give you a percentage of that value based on your speechcraft skill and other factors. Likewise they will sell it for a multiple of that value.

Specifically the price is:

Sell price = [ value of item ] / [ 3.3 - (1.3 * [speech skill]/100) ] 
           * [(1 + Haggling %) * (1 + Allure %) * (1 + Fortify Barter from potion) 
           * (1 + the sum of Fortify Barter from equipment + Fortify Barter from Blessing of Zenithar)

From the UESP Wiki.

Are you using your perks on speech at all? You need to pick the basic speech improvement perk at the bottom of the tree. It'll get the vendors to sell at a much better rate. Simply ramping up to 100 will help a bit, but not nearly as much as the perks.

You can easily get the true value without the speech perks ( accounting for 100 speech skill). Some ways:

• Mask of Clavicus Vile, a deadric (daedric?) artifact -> 20% better prices (also known as Fortify Barter - FB)
• Thieves guild helmets
  • 10% nooby ones
  • 15% better set (I think)
• Cicero breast piece -> 20% better prices
• Amulet of Zenitar -> 10% better prices
• An necklace of another deity (which I don't remember) - 10%. I found it with my first character ever
• Sometimes you can find necklaces in general stores with FB up to 20%

With all the best items above you can get 60%+50% from 100 speech, that gets you 110%. I'm not sure if you can actually get more than the true value for items but you could always try.

I'm fairly sure I didn't listed all FB equipment in the game.

Now say can't get all the equipment listed abover or, for RP reasons chose not to, then there are FB potions; which would be "random of haggling" and the higest I've seen was either 30 or 40% in the game.

Then there's the fact that many skills can be used to make large amount of cash such as:

• Normal Enchanting
• Alchemy (easiest I think)
• Blacksmith ( after the first 60 levels it starts paying off itself I think)

For those shadey characters, you can pickpocket everyone in Riften. If you get caught - and you're in the Thieves Guild - you only have to pay half of the bounty normally is.

And guys if you're having trouble with money try doing a bunch of petty quests or some factions Quest line. Faction Quest lines are always very rewarding.

Get speech perks maxed out so you can get up to 100k or 500k gold. 5/5 perks to start req 80 speech, then there's up to allure/merchant/invest/fence/master trader = 9

Hi guys just to let you know it is possible to get the full value of an item by wearing amulet of Zenithar which you can get if you follow a dirt trail east of Riftens towers. Cicero's clothes gotten by doing the dark brotherhood quest the cure for madness if you kill Cicero masque of Clavicus vile which you get by doing a daedras best which starts in Falkreath at the blacksmiths you must not kill Barbas to get it you must also have theses talents in speech as well as 100 speech to start with haggling 5 of 5 and allure and that's all people anymore enchantments or armour will not effect the price you get but don't forget to sell your items to the opposite sex P.S to get your speech to 100 quickly go to Riften then go black briar meadery speak to the guy behind the bar ask him about maven then bribe then persuade then bribe again then persuade then keep on persuading until you get 100 speech also if you chose to get the investors perk invest in the Riverwood trader so he then has 10000g to buy your items and if you are a female character you can kill the man so his sister takes over the shop and has over 10000g to buy your stuff. Hope this helps.

I have gotten at least 61% confirmed sale value out of my x360 legendary edition of skyrim with all expansions and patches that were given for consoles. My speech is only about 69 or 70 right now, I have only one rank of haggling, another 35% of fortify barter from equipment, and no bonus from allure. I did not calculate buy value just now but the 2/1 ration should roughly hold so I should be buying items at around 125-135% of actual value depending just how specifically the math works out. I'm not sure what that last 30% of speech penalty does to affect the other math without sitting down and doing it all longhand.