I'm sure the mechanics could be made, villagers will buy your spare hardware at a real discount so that they can mark it up on their next city trip. Should be ways to deplete your money, like 'expensive mercenaries' or some real collector items, 'masterwork' hardware that you can equip your companions.
Was late to warband, only started playing it in 2014 and it was like crack. Some weekends I was sleeping 2 hours a day, and that was just vanilla warband. These days I cut corners and refuse villager quests.