These items allow agents and traders to get access to a pretty nice special piece of headwear that is unique to their profession.

Salesman Chip

The trader hat is an Advanced Salesman's Hat and is aimed at levels 20-75. It is a leveling item that can be upgraded at each level up until its maximum level of 75. It gives a nice range of AC's as well as some nice bonuses, the very nice thing about it is the massive boost to energy AC that can more then compensate for the lack of energy AC in the popular Carbonum Armor.

At level 75 it also adds 5 to Computer Literacy and 20 each to your max nano and nano init skills.

So how do you get one?

To make the advanced hat you first need to head out to the outpost of Hope in Mort and buy yourself a standard Salesman Hat from Zoftlig Blimp. One word of warning is that the hat is rather expensive for a level 20 player unless you have access to a rich friend or main character. The normal hat should cost you around 450,000 credits.

Once you have your normal hat you then need to find a Salesman Chip and this is the sticking point. Its a random drop from any trader mob in the quality levels that the advanced hat appears in. (Note: It may also drop off higher level mobs, but I have yet to see one). It's really just a matter of luck whether you find one or not. On the plus side the item is not no drop so you can buy them from other players.

Once you have the chip its just a case of combining the chip with the hat requiring 125 in Electrical Engineering (remember that as a trader you can learn your apprentice nano line to add 40 to that skill)

There you have it, one nice shiny new Advanced Salesman Hat that will level up with you all the way to 75.

Sharpshooters Chip

This helmet is made in a similar manner to the advanced salesman hat, but uses the agent balaclava instead as it's base. In this case the item levels between 100 and 200 making it much more valuable.

At level 200 it adds better AC's then a QL 200 Balaclava and also adds an additional 10 to chemistry making it +20, other then those differences it shares the same bonuses as the Balaclava. It does have the bonus though of looking much, much better!

To find the balaclava you will have to find a friendly Fixer to buy you one from the Fixer shop in Borealis as that is the only location on Rubi-Ka that you can find them. The item you need to ask for is the Agent Gear: Kevlar Wool Balaclava

This item when right clicked becomes the leveling Balaclava.

Then you will need to find yourself a sharpshooter's chip, again it's pot luck, dropping off any sharpshooter mob. It would seem that this item can drop off Sharpshooters lower then the QL 100 needed for the helmet so keep your eyes peeled. It may drop off other agent type mobs, but I have only had it reported dropping off mobs actually named sharpshooters so far.

As with the Trader version its just a case of combining the two items once your balaclava is over level 100. It takes a token amount of the Chemistry skill to complete (260ish)

Again, just like the Trader version these chips are not NoDrop and as such can be traded, they also seem to be much rarer then the Trader version so if you choose to try and buy it you might need to pay a hefty price.

So there you go! Get out there looking for those chips!