Got Stuff? Sell It!

by leb388

THE NEOPIAN MARKETPLACE - Over a year ago, when I was in my first week of Neopets, my brother started telling me about the shops. "Users can open shops," he said, "and sell items." At the time, I thought this was an extreme responsibility, and he said he'd start it the next weekend. He did, and I eventually tried it myself, slowly learning the tricks of the trade. My advice is: don't be like me.

Older Neopians will think I'm going crazy, but this stuff is important. More and more these days, I notice shops that aren't adequately stocked. And since I'm not good at most computer games, I've (almost) perfected the art of shop keeping. For the experienced and the new, I've listed the process for you. If you don't have a shop yet, it's easy to get one. Go to "Shops" and click the picture next to the ice cream on the main shops bar. Click around for information on starting a shop; it's really easy when you take the time. As you'll see, the mere Neopoints you spend will be paid back greatly in the items you sell. Read on!

1. Get the stuff. If you don't have at least 2,000-4,000 NP to spend on creating your shop, get some by playing games like Meerca Chase, Destruct-O-Match, Cheat!, or Pyramids. Most likely, you'll have the Neopoints already.

To buy items from a store (for example, the book store), go to "Shops," and then click on the Book Shop. If it's not stocked yet, refresh the page every thirty seconds until it is. Click on a cheap item that has at least 10 more in stock, and click "OK," when the pop-up asks if you want to buy it. You'll be taken to what I call the Haggle Page.

Haggling is easy once you get used to it. Let's say I'm trying to buy a book that's 500 NP. In the slot, I'd enter a number like 450, and send it in. Usually, the shopkeeper will accept and give me the item right away. I don't usually haggle too much on books because they sell very quickly, but it's different if you're trying to buy other items.

In the food shop, most of the items are cheaper than books. Let's say I wanted to buy an item that sells for 30 NP. I'd click on it, and when I get to the haggle page I'd enter 20. If the shopkeeper accepts, that's great. If not, I can continue to haggle until I either get the item or it's sold out. If you think you're getting ripped off, check the Shop Wizard quickly. If you're about to pay more for an item than you can sell it for, don't buy it.

Try to get a good variety of items to stock your shop: for example, food, toys/plushies, and books are big sellers, and someone who wants to buy a certain book might also buy food or toys from you, too. And don't forget free activities: things like Coltzan's Shrine (Lost Desert), Tombola (Mystery Island), and the Healing Springs (Faerieland), can give items away.

You can also get items for half the price on, of course, Half-Price Days, so keep track of those (they're on the third of every month).

DO NOT offer more money than you have for an item. The shopkeeper will know and might kick you out of their shop temporarily!

DO NOT buy too many items for a shop; I think a good limit is 7. Other people want to buy stuff, too!

Remember to always feed and play with your pets. Don't sell food if they're hungry, and the same goes for toys!

2. Sort it. From the "Your Items" section is a link for Quick Stock (You need to click on each individual item if you plan to feed, play with, etc. your pet, or give the item to a Neofriend, but everything else is available in quick stock.). From here, you can donate, discard, stock, or deposit your items. Discard items too cheap to sell, such as Volcanic Rocks or Sandals. Donate something to the Money Tree if you're feeling generous, or deposit items you want to keep into your Safety Deposit Box. But if you want to sell them, click on the "Stock" button on each row of the items you want to put into your shop.

Some people like to do one-day "specials." For example, in tribute to Half Price Day, some people cut their prices in half. Or, they use something like the following chart:

Collectible Cards-Sunday
Rare-Monday
Food-Tuesday
Foreign Food-Wednesday
Books-Thursday
Battledome-Friday
Healing/Potions-Saturday

This means that on a certain day, like Wednesday, you sell only food from different worlds than Neopia, or on Saturday, you only sell healing items and morphing potions. This can be difficult sometimes, as you'd have to stock your shop almost every day, so I suggest not doing it until you know you can make the commitment.

3. Price it. A good price is the difference between a quick sale and an item no one wants to buy. Never price items according to their Estimated Value, which was established when the item was first created (the item has obviously either fluctuated or decreased in value since then). The only way to get a truly good price is to check the shop wizard (the little tent on the Shops menu bar).

Type or copy and paste the name of the item you want to search, and select "Identical to my phrase" from the dropdown list (unless you're looking for an item you can't remember the whole name of. Then you'd enter a keyword, but here, we aren't.). I usually don't use the Maximum/Minimum price spaces, but you can if you want. Click enter, and then, a list of shop owners, prices, and numbers in stock show up. Here's an example:

*Names not used for the sake of simplicity, and there will usually be more than 10 possible shops.

Most people have only one or two of the items in their shop, but often times they have more. Since we're pricing, not buying, pay no attention to the usernames or how many of the items are in stock, but concentrate on the prices.

If you're like most Neopians, based on the chart you'd price your item at around 200 NP. But think about that for a moment. Two other people would have an item cheaper than you, and your name might appear after the four other people selling the same item for 200 NP. So, even if no one else stocks that item for awhile, six of the same item might have to be purchased before your name was on the top of the list. To increase the odds, you might price the item for 170 or 175 Neopoints. That way, you won't mess up the whole price list or lose a lot of NP, but you'll get the item sold. Do this for every item: copying the name, clicking "Shop Wizard" (or, if you just came back from that page, click "forward" at the top of your screen) and pasting the name, figuring out a price, and hitting the "back" key--no matter how many items you have. When you're done, click "Update Shop," or all your hard work will have been for nothing.

It seems like a waste to sell something 5-30 NP less than someone else, but it really isn't. If you bought that item for, say, 124 NP, and sold it for 175, that's 51 Neopoints in profit. And if you have more than one item in stock, you'll get more Neopoints. Just as likely, you'll have bought an item for, say, 5,000 NP, only to find a week later that it decreased in value to 3,000. So be careful.

DO NOT include too many pictures in your shop, and if you have scams or inappropriate language, your shop's description can be wiped and even your account deleted. If you spot someone else doing this, report them immediately!

4. Advertise it. No, not in the Noticeboard. The single most important thing you can do for free to make your shop known is to place an ad in the chat section.

You know how aggravated you get when you see a guild ad in the "Help!" section of the chats? Remember that, and apply it to shopkeeping. The ONLY place for shop ads is--pay attention now--the chat named Shop Ads. Repeat after me: Shop Ads. It seems like no one goes there, but believe me: lots of Neopians do, and just enough so it isn't flooded. Once you get there, you'll be tempted to look at other people's ads. Think about what makes them catchy, and try to use that for yours. For a basic example, your title can be "Just Restocked, Lots of Items: Books, Food, etc..." and you can give a bit more information in the summary, and always include your shop's link (you can get this by going to "Shop Front" when you stock your shop) or else people might not bother to go to your user lookup to see your shop. Try to make your title stand out in the ads page; for example, *star* makes a star appear, and *kau* makes a tiny picture of a Kau appear.

Report people who are breaking the chat rules immediately; and be sure to view the Wall of Shame regularly to review the rules if you need to find out what is and what isn't responsible behaviour on Neopets.

DO NOT place an ad repeatedly, such as every minute. This is flooding and you can be reported if you do it too much. Give other people a chance to post, too! 2-3 times per restock is a good amount, each about every three minutes or so.

5. Check it. A common error is that every day an item doesn't sell, you should drop 10-100 Neopoints from the price. Not true. Check the shop wizard every time you restock your shop for the items that aren't sold, or at least once a week. For example, if you priced an item for 1,700 NP, dropping it 10 NP won't get it sold if the main price is now 1,500. Prices fluctuate every day; that's Neopia. Be flexible.

Again and again, people asked the same question on the chat boards: "I sold an item, but I didn't get any Neopoints!" Always check your Shop Till, because that's where the Neopoints go. It won't go directly to your "pocket," but you can take it out. In fact, it's good to get into the habit of taking it all out, putting half in the bank, and using the other half to restock your shop, but I usually put it all in the bank to save up for something and play a few games for the 3,000 I need to restock my shop every day.

Awhile back, Neopets was having problems because people didn't clear their Shop History enough. About every two weeks or so I go and delete everything, but if someone bought three or more of my items I usually go to their shop to see what they have, and maybe buy something. I've even had people give me a quick Neomail saying "Thanks for coming to my shop!" Whatever you do, if anything, don't let the list sit forever. If you really want to keep a record of it, copy and paste it into a program like Word or Wordpad and save it.

The more items you sell at a time, the more you'll want to update your shop. Go to the items in your shop and select "Edit Shop Information." You can change your shopkeeper, shop description, name, and more, and at the bottom you can purchase an upgrade for your shop. A good shop should be about size 10-15, but more space isn't really needed, unless you're starting a gallery, and then all the above information is useless to you, isn't it?

Oh well, I hope you have fun using these tips and, more importantly, making Neopoints. Happy selling!

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