diff --git a/lib/Lacuna/Role/Trader.pm b/lib/Lacuna/Role/Trader.pm
index bae52bfb..398783e1 100644
--- a/lib/Lacuna/Role/Trader.pm
+++ b/lib/Lacuna/Role/Trader.pm
@@ -51,9 +51,13 @@ sub check_payload {
             type    => $item->{name},
             body_id => $self->body_id,
             })->single;
+        my $gquant = 0;
+        if (defined $glyph) {
+            $gquant = $glyph->quantity;
+        }
         confess [1002, "You don't have ".$item->{quantity}." glyphs of type ".
-                        $item->{name}." you only have ".$glyph->quantity]
-                      unless $glyph->quantity >= $item->{quantity};
+                        $item->{name}." you only have ".$gquant]
+                      unless $gquant >= $item->{quantity};
         push @expanded_items, $item;
         $space_used += 100 * $item->{quantity};
       }