Hope its not in an absolutely terrible location. On my world, my trader is in a black forest that is completely surrounded on all sides by a few Km worth of Plains... I know because I sailed around the entire island lol...

It's best to get a boat and sail around the coasts of black forest biomes. That said, it's not guaranteed. I've looked at a bunch of random generations on the valheim map site, and generally it seems like there's 4 closer to the centre, though more commonly in the centre ring, and 6 closer to the outer edge. You can try and find him without assistance, though if frustrated, you can always use https://valheim-map.world/ . If you don't want any major biome spoilers, you can turn off terrain so the map is covered by fog of war, and select the trader marker.

No, don't go to valheim map generator page. You can do it without cheating.
Do something useful while exploring. Bring portal materials and set portals around the world for later use. For example, leave portals near big swamp areas, huge mountains, maybe plains too. Just find a safe location nearby, drop a portal, name it, mark it on the map and continue. I will be useful later.

or...

...if you want, you can share your seed here and we will look it up for you and give you some hints.

Keep in mind that he has 10 possible spawn locations, but the trader will only be in the first possible location that you visit. Once discovered, it will be marked on your in-game map with a big bag icon, so be sure to double-check you haven't already "found" him.

I had a playthrough a few months ago where I was pulling my hair out trying to find him, and it turned out I walked right by him just a few hours into the game. If you're not paying attention (or are distracted by, say, fighting a dozen graydwarves in the middle of the night), he's not exactly hard to miss.

The only thing you can count on is him always spawning in a black forest and he barely spawns on the same island or continent that's your starting point

But apart from this he can spawn everywhere.
I read some stuff claiming he'd spawning in the south east somewhere but I also found him in the far west already, close to the end of the world.

A good time to look for him is once you beat moder and as soon as you have a decent boat.

Take lots of food with you and start an expedition.
Sail close to the coast around every island and check the map for a cash bag that will appear as soon as you get close to him.

Don't forget taking a portal with you.

Originally posted by stvlepore:

There are mods that show you where he is on Nexus.

you want to use a mod just for that?
If you're that desperate to find him I'd rather use the console command to spawn him.
As long as the game is still in EA I would only use mods that don't intervene to the game that much and those that are really necessary.
Otherwise there's a good chance of getting screwed after an update and using a mod that's discontinued like it happened to Valheim Plus.

Originally posted by Maviba:

If you're that desperate to find him I'd rather use the console command to spawn him.

Ew... that's so ugly, though. He spawns floating in air, and can't be removed. See the bright red text on https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Item_IDs

Originally posted by i have 2024 vision fear me:

It's best to get a boat and sail around the coasts of black forest biomes. That said, it's not guaranteed. ...

Agree. This is my approach ... usually before taking on the Elder, I start sailing the coastlines looking for (a) Haldor and (b) potential swamp locations. I usually find Haldor before I find a good swamp location. Often I find Haldor somewhere near the Elder.

That said, occasionally have resorted to looking at the map generator and found it was one of those maps where all of his spawn locations were near the edge of the world.

Originally posted by Padgey:

Is there literally anyway to have some help to find the trader in the game or is it literally just a case of roaming for hours without any hints of where he may be? New to the game so far apart from the main starter island got about 4 surrounding islands unlocked and haven’t found him yet and travelling on boat takes for ever to then survey an island and not find him again, i went the belt that gives you more carry ability

I got boned - I found mine almost near the freaking south pole. Still....... worth it for the belt. As it turns out he was very near a Mistlands biome so I used his location to build a little shack from which to sally forth into the mist (and die horribly and often).

Originally posted by HangarPilot:

Originally posted by i have 2024 vision fear me:

It's best to get a boat and sail around the coasts of black forest biomes. That said, it's not guaranteed. ...

Agree. This is my approach ... usually before taking on the Elder, I start sailing the coastlines looking for (a) Haldor and (b) potential swamp locations. I usually find Haldor before I find a good swamp location. Often I find Haldor somewhere near the Elder.

That said, occasionally have resorted to looking at the map generator and found it was one of those maps where all of his spawn locations were near the edge of the world.

A while ago I was curious about the trader spawn locations so I went to that map site and generated a bunch of random worlds to try and see a pattern. In every single one there was a potential spawn within at most a short boat ride from the spawn. Was I lucky, or you unlucky?

No need to Mod. goto https://valheim-map.world/ and feed in your seed. It will reveal the traders possible locations he only spawns whene you visit the first one however. You can leave the map shouded in mist if you want to so you don't see too much thats up to you.

You can be unlucky though, i once had a seed where all the trader locations were at the edge of the world for some reason, i left quickly after that and started a new seed cause screw that.

Originally posted by Zathabar:

No need to Mod. goto https://valheim-map.world/ and feed in your seed. It will reveal the traders possible locations he only spawns whene you visit the first one however. You can leave the map shouded in mist if you want to so you don't see too much thats up to you.

this. with how terrible the randomness in this game can be, you shouldn't feel bad at all looking it up. if thats not for you then just keep looking

He shows up at any of 10 random locations around the world, always in the Black Forest. Once found, he stays there forever.

There are mods that show you where he is on Nexus. I have never had to get out of the boat to find him. Sail near the shore, watching for rocks. Circle you starting landmass, explore any black forest land mass you may find. Just sail the coast, watch your mini map and open the large map now and then