You cannot sell items to a trader or to other players in Active Matter; instead you refine them, and the Agency pays you in Credits (and, for most gear, chronotraces). Back at your Shelter, open the Workshop tab and use the Refiner, or drop items into Quick Refine from your inventory.
This guide covers how the loot economy works, the steps to refine items, what pays the most, what you should keep, and the other ways to earn Credits. It covers the full release on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S as of update 0.4.0.156 (September 26, 2026), verified against official patch notes. The Workshop and Inventory menus below exist on all three platforms.
Why There Is No Sell Button
Active Matter has no vendor that buys your junk and no player market. When a player asked about a community market in October 2025, the developer said only “Possibly,” and nothing has been added since. The fiction explains the system: the Agency pays for Active Matter, the reality-bending substance that fills the zones and the items you pull out of them.
The developer put it plainly in an October 2025 Q and A: “The Agency pays for Active Matter, and values enriched items far more than common gear that it has a lot of (and sells to you).” The Steam page for the edition upgrades says the same thing from the other side: Credits are “earned during raids by completing various contracts or by processing obtained active matter and looted items,” and are spent “on purchasing weapons, ammunition, and other essential equipment.”
So “selling” in Active Matter means refining. You also have to get the loot home first: anything that dies with you in a raid, outside a safe container, is gone.
How to Refine Items for Credits
- Extract with your loot. Only items that reach the Shelter can be refined. Extracting an item also unlocks its fusion and replication recipes, per the “250 Shades of Liberty” update, so the first copy of something new is worth bringing home even if you plan to refine it.
- Open the Workshop tab. Since update 0.4.0.62, the Replicator and the Refinement Module (the Refiner) share one Workshop tab with sub-tabs. The top bar reads Missions, Monolith, Shop, Investigations, Workshop, Inventory, Profile.
- Pick the Refiner sub-tab and add items. Use its filter to find what you want to process. Since update 0.4.0.78 you can also star the rewards you care about, and favorited Refiner rewards are listed first in item tooltips.
- Or use Quick Refine from the Inventory. The patch notes describe a “Quick Refine” option in the inventory for clearing things like excess dog tags. With the Quick Refine tab open, one-click returns from your backpack, pouches or safe container go there instead of to storage.
- Send contract rewards straight in. Update 0.4.0.93 added the option to send contract rewards to Quick Refine with a single click, which is the fastest way to cash out reward weapons you do not want.
One note from update 0.4.0.78: Quick Refine “now triggers on every raid entry, including Isolated raids.” Check what is sitting in it before you deploy.
Player reports differ on exactly when the Refiner unlocks: the community wiki ties it to an early “Raid Explorer” contract, while players on the Steam forums say it appears soon after the tutorial. If the sub-tab is missing, finish the opening contracts.
What Pays the Most
The Refiner does not pay by weight. Since update 0.4.0.84, the Credits and chronotraces you get from dismantling “scale with an item’s market price rather than its volume,” and the chronotrace mix depends on the item’s material. In practice:
- Enriched items pay best. Enriched loot carries Active Matter, and the developer says the Agency values it “far more than common gear.” Update 0.4.0.50 made Turned Soldiers always drop enriched loot.
- Monster transformation artifacts got a raise. Update 0.4.0.93 increased refining rewards from deactivated monster transformation artifacts.
- Raw Active Matter converts too. A developer reply on the Steam forums in February 2026 said Active Matter “gives you credits if you refine it in the Refiner,” but also noted that fuse recipes always need some of it.
- Common gear pays little. The Agency sells that gear to you in the Shop, so it pays the least to buy it back.
What Not to Refine
Refining is how you get rid of things, so be selective:
- Chronotraces. These crafting resources (metal, composite, fiber, chemicals, energy and idea) charge your replication blueprints. Update 0.4.0.50 set salvaging an idea chronotrace to 10 percent of its original credit value and every other type to half that, so refining them for cash is a poor trade.
- Enemy dog tags. The “Legacy of the fallen” fusion recipe, added to the Monolith in April 2026, turns up to three trophy dog tags a day into Monolith Tokens, which most players will want more than a few Credits.
- Active Matter you need. Fusion now has a partial Active Matter cost (update 0.4.0.156), and reviving a squadmate costs Active Matter too.
- Contract and Investigation items. Collect-and-extract objectives want specific items; check the contract list before refining anything unusual.
Other Ways to Earn Credits
Refining is only one income stream. Contracts pay Credits directly, and the edition upgrade pages note that Prime, the special currency earned from daily contracts, can be spent on Credits. Merits from Harmonization Cycles can also be redeemed for Credits in the Fundamental Protocol once you reach Monolith access level DELTA, per the September 24 update.
Spend carefully, too. Update 0.4.0.84 made uncommon Shop gear roughly twice as expensive and rare gear two to three times as expensive, while repairs dropped to 0.7 of an item’s nominal value in 0.4.0.93, now available straight from the Refiner. Repairing good armor often beats buying new.
Still deciding on a platform or mode? See our guides on Xbox and PS5 and PvE, PvP and the price, or browse the Active Matter hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you sell items in Active Matter? Not to a trader or other players. You refine extracted items in the Refiner or Quick Refine, and the Agency pays you in Credits and, for most gear, chronotraces.
Where is the Refiner? In the Workshop tab at your Shelter, alongside the Replicator. Quick Refine is also available from the Inventory.
What items give the most Credits? Enriched items and other valuable raid finds, because refining returns scale with an item’s market price. Common gear the Shop already sells pays the least.
Is there a player market or trading? No. The developer called a community market a possibility in October 2025, but none exists at launch.
Should I refine chronotraces for Credits? Usually not. Idea chronotraces return 10 percent of their original credit value and other types half that, so they are worth more charging blueprints.