SBTSigns

What is SBTSigns?
SBTSigns lets you turn any chest or double chest into a simple shop, trade booth, or multi-item marketplace using nothing but signs.
Place or link a sign, set the price or ratio, tap it with a Glow Ink Sac to activate it, and you're done. Players can then buy, sell, trade, or browse exchange items while the plugin handles economy, stock, linking, ownership, and protection automatically.

Features

• Instant linking
  Signs placed directly on a chest face auto-link. Wall signs and hanging signs can be linked with /sbt select by right-clicking the sign and then the chest.
• Vault economy
  Money flows correctly between buyers, sellers, and owners. Prices accept both 6000 and $6000, and are formatted automatically.
• Built-in protection
  Linked signs and chests are owned. Only the owner can break them, and non-owners cannot open protected chests.
• Activation lock
  Using a Glow Ink Sac activates the sign, locks editing, and keeps the glow. Use /sbt edit commands later to change values safely.
• Double chest support
  Works with both single chests and double chests.
• Smart sign displays
  Signs scan the linked chest and update automatically for item type, item counts, Full, Out of Stock, or Restock.
• Clean player UX
  Shift-click shortcuts make buying, selling, and trading fast and intuitive. Exchange signs use a simple GUI item picker with quantity controls.
• Multilingual sign headers
  Sign types and plugin messages support multiple languages. Sell, Buy, Trade, and Exchange headers can be localized.
• Physical item storage
  Exchange signs keep real physical vanilla stacks in storage. Matching items merge safely without fake or virtual storage.

21 languages: exactly what to type
The language is a server-wide setting. Use /sbt lang es for Spanish, or replace es with a code below. The setting is saved. Use /sbt lang to see the current language and /sbt lang reload after editing language files. Changing languages requires sbtsigns.lang (operators by default).

Type ONE bracketed header on line 1 of the sign's FRONT side. Each entry is ordered Buy | Sell | Trade | Exchange. Use the entry for your server's selected plugin language:

• English (en)
  [Buy] | [Sell] | [Trade] | [Exchange]
• Dutch (nl)
  [Koop] | [Verkoop] | [Ruil] | [Wissel]
• French (fr)
  [Achat] | [Vente] | [Échange] | [Bourse]
• Spanish (es)
  [Compra] | [Venta] | [Cambiar] | [Mercado]
• German (de)
  [Kauf] | [Verkauf] | [Tausch] | [Börse]
• Brazilian Portuguese (pt_br)
  [Compra] | [Venda] | [Troca] | [Mercado]
• Polish (pl)
  [Kupno] | [Sprzedaż] | [Wymiana] | [Giełda]
• Italian (it)
  [Acquisto] | [Vendita] | [Scambio] | [Mercato]
• Russian (ru)
  [Покупка] | [Продажа] | [Обмен] | [Биржа]
• Simplified Chinese (zh_cn)
  [购买] | [出售] | [交换] | [交易]
• Japanese (ja)
  [購入] | [販売] | [交換] | [取引]
• Turkish (tr)
  [Satın Al] | [Sat] | [Takas] | [Pazar]
• Korean (ko)
  [구매] | [판매] | [물물교환] | [상점]
• Indonesian (id)
  [Beli] | [Jual] | [Barter] | [Pasar]
• Vietnamese (vi)
  [Mua] | [Bán] | [Đổi] | [Cửa hàng]
• Ukrainian (uk)
  [Купівля] | [Продаж] | [Обмін] | [Крамниця]
• Swedish (sv)
  [Köp] | [Sälj] | [Byteshandel] | [Marknad]
• Czech (cs)
  [Nákup] | [Prodej] | [Směna] | [Obchod]
• European Portuguese (pt_pt)
  [Compra] | [Venda] | [Troca] | [Mercado]
• Traditional Chinese (zh_tw)
  [購買] | [出售] | [交換] | [交易]
• Hindi (hi)
  [खरीदें] | [बेचें] | [अदला-बदली] | [दुकान]

English headers always work: [Buy], [Sell], [Trade] and [Exchange] are accepted in every language. The sign then displays the selected language. Capitalization does not matter. Spanish uses [Cambiar] for Trade; the older [Intercambio] also remains accepted. Commands keep their English names.

What changes when you switch languages?
Sign headers, item names, stock/status text, chat messages, help, and open Exchange menus refresh. Menu pages and selected quantities are kept. Active setup and editing prompts are shown again in the selected language. Shops in unloaded chunks or worlds refresh when they load.

Quick setup

• Place a wall sign directly on a chest to auto-link it, or use /sbt select, right-click your wall/hanging sign, then right-click the chest.
• Write one header from the guide on line 1. Leave lines 2 and 3 for automatic item and stock information.
• Buy/Sell: write a positive whole-number price on line 4, such as $100. Trade: write a ratio such as 2:1 (the customer receives 2 payout items for 1 cost item). Exchange: set each item's price through the chat prompts.
• Use a Glow Ink Sac on the sign to activate and lock it. Use the editing commands below to change an activated shop.

Sign Types & Format
Sell – players sell items to the owner.

• Chest may contain only one item type for a Sell sign.
• Right-click: sell 1 item.
• Shift-right-click: sell the entire stack in your hand.
• Shift-left-click: sell all matching items in your inventory.
• If the chest is full or cannot receive more, selling is blocked.
• The owner must have enough balance or the sale is denied.

Buy – players buy items from the owner.

• Chest may contain only one item type for a Buy sign.
• Right-click: buy 1 item.
• Shift-right-click: buy 10 items.
• Shift-left-click: buy up to one full stack, limited by stock, funds and inventory space.
• Prevents purchases if the chest is empty.
• Prevents purchases if the player inventory has no room.

Trade – item-for-item trades with ratios and chest partitions.

• The chest is split into two halves.
• First half = payout item (what the customer receives).
• Second half = cost item (what the customer pays).
• Only one item type is allowed in each partition.
• The payout side keeps 1 sample item.
• Shows Restock until enough payout stock exists to complete the trade ratio.
• Shows Full when the cost side is full.
• Hold the cost item in your hand to trade.
• Right-click: trade 1 set.
• Shift-right-click: trade as many full sets as possible.
• Prevents trades if the player cannot receive the payout.

Exchange – multi-item marketplace with GUI.

• Store multiple item types in one chest.
• When new items are added and the chest is closed, the owner is prompted in chat to price unpriced items.
• Players right-click the sign to open a GUI, choose an item, then choose quantity with + and - buttons.
• Identical items merge safely up to vanilla stack limits.
• No virtual storage is used.
• Breaking the sign or chest safely returns stored contents, with overflow dropped neatly.

Commands

• /sbt select – Enter link mode, then right-click a sign and right-click a chest.
• /sbt cancel – Leave link mode.
• /sbt edit price – While looking at your [Sell] or [Buy] sign, change the price through chat.
• /sbt edit ratio – While looking at your [Trade] sign, change the A:B ratio through chat.
• /sbt edit exchange – While looking at your [Exchange] sign, open the repricing GUI and update item prices through chat.
• /sbt lang <code> – Change the plugin language and save it.
• /sbt lang reload – Reload language settings from config.

Ownership & Protection

• When a sign is linked, both the sign and chest store the owner’s UUID.
• Only the owner can break the linked sign or chest.
• Breaking either side safely handles the linked pair.
• Non-owners cannot open protected chests.
• Activated signs cannot be edited directly after Glow Ink Sac activation.
• Use /sbt edit commands for safe updates.

Requirements & compatibility

• SBTSigns version: 26.3.0
• Target server: Paper for Minecraft Java 26.3 (API version 26.3)
• Java: 25
• Economy: Vault plus a Vault-compatible economy provider

This build targets 26.3. Older Minecraft releases require an older compatible SBTSigns download. The build compiles against the Paper 26.3 API and passes 69 automated tests; live multiplayer server testing has not been completed.

Installation & upgrading

1. Stop the server and back up your worlds and the SBTSigns plugin folder.
2. Install the required server, Java, Vault and economy provider. Replace the old plugin JAR with SBTSigns.jar in the plugins folder; keep only one SBTSigns JAR.
3. Keep your existing config.yml, owner.yml and language files, then restart the server.
4. Choose your language with /sbt lang <code> using the guide above.

Existing ownership, shop links, prices, ratios and command names are retained. Missing language keys are added while custom text is preserved. To adopt every refreshed bundled translation, first back up the relevant lang/messages_<code>.yml file, remove that backed-up original from the lang folder while the server is stopped, and restart to regenerate it; then reapply your custom text. Do not delete owner.yml.

Files

• owner.yml – Stores ownership and chest/sign link data.
• Language files are stored in the plugin lang folder.
• No large config setup needed. The plugin is sign-driven and command-driven.

FAQ
“It says ‘This sign is not linked to a chest.’”
Place the sign directly on the chest face for auto-linking, or use /sbt select, then right-click the sign and right-click the chest.
“How do I change the plugin language?”
Use /sbt lang <code>. To reload from config, use /sbt lang reload.
“The text won’t change after I edit the sign.”
Activate the sign with a Glow Ink Sac to lock the type, then use /sbt edit to update the price or ratio later. Sign lines also refresh automatically whenever chest contents change.
“Players can’t place a sign in spawn.”
Check spawn-protection settings or region flags. SBTSigns respects existing server protection rules.
“Why won’t my Sell or Buy sign accept multiple item types?”
Sell and Buy signs are designed for single-item chest storage. Use [Exchange] for multi-item selling.

Permissions

• sbtsigns.use – basic plugin command usage
• sbtsigns.lang – change plugin language in game

Support
Found a bug or have an idea? Post in the discussion with your server version, economy plugin, and any console logs.
Built for simple, reliable player shop signs.