Escape from Tarkov Scav Karma and Fence Reputation

What the number controls

Fence reputation governs three things: what loadout your scav spawns with, how hostile other scavs are to you, and access to car extracts and co-op extracts. High reputation means better starting gear and scavs that ignore you until you shoot first. Low reputation means spawning with a broken pistol into a map where the AI is already looking for you. The practical effect is that a player with good reputation can run a scav raid as a free loot delivery: walk in, take the good containers, walk out. A player with bad reputation has to fight for the same route.

What raises it

Extracting as a scav raises it. Using car extracts interacts with it in a way that can be positive if you are deliberate about it. Co-op extracting with a PMC raises it and is the fastest single gain when you can find a partner. The reliable pattern: spawn as a scav, loot, avoid fights, extract. Do that ten times and the reputation moves.

What destroys it

Killing other scavs as a scav. Killing scav bosses and their guards. Killing player scavs who have not shot at you. Each of those is a large negative, and it takes several clean raids to earn back. The mistake is treating a scav raid like a PMC raid. It is not a combat mode. You are a looter with a temporary body, and every shot you fire at an AI scav is a withdrawal from an account you will want later.

The one exception

If a player scav shoots at you first, returning fire is correct and cheap. The reputation cost is tied to aggression, not to self-defence. The same applies to a boss guard that has already engaged.

How this fits the wipe

Early wipe, scav runs are the income that funds your PMC kit — the money page covers the routes. Mid wipe, they are a low-risk way to see a map you are learning. Late wipe, they are the cheapest way to reach extracts you cannot otherwise use, because co-op and car exits both run through this reputation. Treat the number as an investment, not a scoreboard. The players with the best scav gear are the ones who never fire a shot in a scav raid they did not have to take.