If you have specific feedback, or encounter issues related to any part of the publish feel free to head on over to the TC1 forums and let us know!You can pick up trade deals from anywhere, and it's the city you deliver to that gets the gold on their stone... so as you say, you take them 'blind' and hope you get one for the city you want to support...
This is... not a clever system. At any level. Hopefully a LOT is going to get changed before it goes anywhere near a real shard.