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We know that "modern" necrons do engage in *some* trade. In the Twice Dead King books, we find out that an overlord infected with the flayer virus has been trading away his house's wealth (not sure if they specify what that "wealth" consists of) in exchange for living creatures so he and his flayed one pals have fresh meat. So bare minimum, 'crons are familiar with the concept of trade and apparently have resources they're willing to trade for.

Additionally, and I could be misremembering here, I could have sworn that the main character in the second book of that series mentions having some vessels that were formerly used as bulk cargo vessels back in the day.

My Speculation and Head Canon:
While currency may have existed for use among the non-nobility once upon a time, the 'crons that still have intelligence today would have been insulated from a conventional economy if it ever existed. We know that the Necontyr were very hands-on with their control of their people, so I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that people were simply told where to go, what to grow, and where to build things, with their "payment" being the distribution of resources per policies set by the nobility.

Necrons seem to be able to create most (if not all) materials out of thin air using essentially Star Trek replicators. The impression I get is that the only real source of material scarcity for them is the rate at which they can generate/capture usable energy.

That is, a cryptek with infinite time and a working power generator can probably create just about anything. But if he wants to create something significant in a timely manner, he'll need more generators and maybe a battery to stockpile a bunch of energy before he uses it.

So with that in mind, I suspect that the major things 'crons would be interested in trading would be:
A.) Energy.
B.) The rights to energy generators.
C.) Manufactured goods. Ex: Maybe you'd rather pay a little more for a pre-built monolith rather than accumulating the necessary energy to build one and then tasking your crypteks with the job of actually building it.

 Wyldhunt wrote:

So with that in mind, I suspect that the major things 'crons would be interested in trading would be:
A.) Energy.
B.) The rights to energy generators.
C.) Manufactured goods. Ex: Maybe you'd rather pay a little more for a pre-built monolith rather than accumulating the necessary energy to build one and then tasking your crypteks with the job of actually building it.

You mean slaves. Lots and lots of slaves. Like it's pyramid building again on crack. And since most Necrons other than the noble class are mindless and in permanent bondage now, this wouldn't be much of an issue.

If you can't take slaves through conquest, then maybe trading seems fair.

Also test subjects. Remember that Necrons want to reverse bio-transference now, so having a steady supply of test subjects would be a tempting offer for them.
I can imagine some overlords subjugating some human worlds and having their tribute be in the form of shipments of captives rather than gold, equipment or resources.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Also test subjects. Remember that Necrons want to reverse bio-transference now, so having a steady supply of test subjects would be a tempting offer for them.
I can imagine some overlords subjugating some human worlds and having their tribute be in the form of shipments of captives rather than gold, equipment or resources.

I thought that not all necrons wanted this- some prefer the power that being a necron brings

You're right.

While captivs could be turned into a marchandise, I suspect considering the power of necrons in generals that raiding and getting away with slaves via teleportation should be fairly easy to them.

 Wyldhunt wrote:
We know that "modern" necrons do engage in *some* trade. In the Twice Dead King books, we find out that an overlord infected with the flayer virus has been trading away his house's wealth (not sure if they specify what that "wealth" consists of) in exchange for living creatures so he and his flayed one pals have fresh meat. So bare minimum, 'crons are familiar with the concept of trade and apparently have resources they're willing to trade for.

Additionally, and I could be misremembering here, I could have sworn that the main character in the second book of that series mentions having some vessels that were formerly used as bulk cargo vessels back in the day.

The wealth traded away was in the form of various Necron superscience metals/materials. It is unclear whether the Necrons can still manufacture these materials or whether there is now a finite supply. Given the fallen state of that particular dynasty, it is likely it was no longer making any more and was draining its reserves. We don't know the details of the exchange but it seemed to be a direct exchange of material for "meat" to be shipped in via ships.