Value

Value is the standard amount of bottle caps worth of any Fallout 3 items and Fallout: New Vegas items.

Condition
An item's value can be directly affected by lowering/increasing the item's condition. Actions that lower the item's condition varies:


 * Weapons: Firing a gun will gradually lower its condition. Melee weapons will gradually degrade with repeated contact with something. In V.A.T.S., weapons can be specifically targeted and damaged. If and when the weapon's condition reaches zero, the weapon will be broken. It cannot be equipped, and its value will become zero.


 * Armor: Sustaining damage while wearing armor will lower its condition. This type of condition degradation is area sensitive: Head damage will lower the condition of hats and helmets, while torso or limb damage will degrade the condition of body armor and clothing. If broken, the piece of armor or clothing cannot be equipped (or re-equipped if it became broken while the player was wearing it), and its value becomes zero.

Barter
An item's value can be indirectly affected by increasing one's Barter skill. In-game terms, what Barter does is not to increase/decrease value, but instead to influence price levels by lowering purchase price percentage, as well as increased selling price percentage. The following formula may be used to decipher selling percentage:

Initial Level (Fallout 3): 2 + (Charisma x 2) + (Luck/2).

Item Sell Value Percent (Fallout 3): 45 + (Barter x 0.45).

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Statistic: Charisma
 * Note: %Price rounded to the nearest whole number