Choosing the Best Shop to Restock At

Number One: The amount of profit you want to aim for and level of difficulty

This is definitely the most important factor when choosing your ideal shop which you wish to restock at. If you're aiming for high profit when restocking, you're also likely to get a lot of competition; therefore, the speed at which the items are sold is likely to be much quicker than those sold at a medium or low profit shop. For example, the Magic Shop is one of the shops with the highest profit available. However, it is also one of the fastest shops to sell out. This can be countered with other shops, such as the Bakery or the Chocolate Factory. These shops have medium profit available; however, they are comparatively slow to sell out in contrast to the Magic shop.

Choosing your desired profit and therefore level of difficulty is vital when restocking. Beginners must firstly choose some lower profit shops and work their way up to the higher profit shops. Also, losing valuable items time after time can be quite hard on your self-esteem; you can end up feeling sad and can end up willing to give up if your restocking doesn't return a profit. Remember: you can only get better with restocking.

Number Two: The number of people online at the one time

This is a very important consideration to be made when choosing the right shop for restocking. Put simply, if there are many people online at the time you want to go restocking, you should choose the shops that are usually filled when there're not many people online-- for example, Tropical Food. During peak times, this shop would usually have the bottom row empty; however, during off-peak times the shop would be constantly filled.

During peak times, Neopians usually buy items just to clear a shop and this helps a lot when trying to make a profit from the shop; there are more spaces, and therefore a better chance a rare item will restock. During off-peak times, however, your best choice is to choose the shops that are almost always restocking. An example for this is the Neopian Fresh Food store. This store almost constantly has at least one row of empty items available, and this allows a good number of items to restock. As well as this, petpet shops are also an alternative when restocking during off peak times. Most of these shops don't get filled, except for a handful. Restocking during peak times is usually very fast as more people are likely to be at the shop, since more people are online. However, choosing the best shop should not interfere with your daily routine.

Number Three: Your level of patience and wanted restocking experience

This rule is vital when looking for a good or happy restocking experience. Your patience is often tested when restocking; some shops can have a good restock perhaps only once every hour or so. To insure the insanity does not take hold over you, choosing the right shop in comparison to your patience is essential. For example, if you had a large amount of patience, then a slow to restock shop would be best for you. There are many shops for these people around, namely petpet shops and Battledome item shops.

In addition, your desired restocking experience is important when choosing the right shop for you. If you wanted to restock just for an item in your gallery, then choosing a shop which restocks that item is simply the best option. But if you wanted to get the most money, then you must think about this: plenty of items with medium profit, or minimal items with high profit. You must also be comfortable when choosing the right shop, as your patience may be tested when restocking. This can end up making you feel uncomfortable when restocking, or just plain annoyed.

Number Four: The estimated amount of time to yield a profit

What also can be frustrating about restocking is that you have to sell the item that you just restocked to actually get a profit. Although the item in itself is worth a lot, selling the item for the cold, hard neopoints can be irritating. This leads to the hard to sell and easy to sell shops. The salability of items plays an important role when restocking. Hard to sell items are spread across the entire range of shops, from food to magic to petpets. You can end up just wanting to get rid of an item after restocking it because it's been so hard to sell.

But patience comes into the equation again. If you have a high level of patience, then shops with hard to sell items can be better for you; they can also be quite slow to sell in the shops which is another plus. With easy to sell items, well, the name says it all. They are relatively easy to sell, and not much patience is needed to sell them. These range from the Draik and Krawk morphing potions, to various foods and books throughout Neopia. These shops are for those with a relatively low level of patience. However, these shops tend to be faster to sell out in shops. Overall, hard to sell items and easy to sell items all come down to one thing: your amount of patience and time for a profit.

In conclusion, there are many factors which can alter and affect your restocking experience. Simply choosing the right shops can turn restocking from an F5 mashing contest to fun anticipation for the next restock.