The Neopian Economy and You

Well, yes, yes, it is. Also, no, no, it isn’t. The truth is no matter how easy that concept is to grasp, most people do not know how to make money on a consistent basis. Some stay at the same spot for ages, and end up with a fluctuating money supply that seems to go down more than it goes up. People want to paint their pets, buy petpets, paint those petpets and buy petpetpets to accompany them. Some people want a little chunk of Neopia which they can call their own, and buy Neohomes. Even more players want to have the strongest pet, and want it to become a champion in the Battledome.

This study will not only explain how the Neopian economy functions, but how to use those functions to your own personal benefit.

The Existence of Money:

Let us say I had Jelly. I had so many Jellies that I could dominate half of Neopia with jelly constructs. Now, let us say I needed a brand new pair of shoes, and the shoemaker had a similar quantity of shoes as I do Jellies. If that shoemaker was allergic to, or did not in any way need Jellies, obtaining shoes from the shoe maker would be nearly impossible. That is why money was invented, to allow the jelly master that I am to purchase a pair of shoes. Money is what allows those of specific trade to function in society, and forms the basis of the Neopian economy.

Negative Cash Flow:

Let us follow an example. Let’s say that, on average, you must spend 200 NP a day in order to feed your Neopets, as well as give them new toys to play with and new grooming products.

Day 1: 1000 NP - 200 NP = 800 NP

Day 2: 800 NP - 200 NP = 600 NP

Day 3: 600 NP - 200 NP = 400 NP

Day 4: 400 NP - 200 NP = 200 NP

Day 5: 200 NP - 200 NP = 0 NP

Much like in real life, you have expenditures that you have to deal with in Neopia. If you do any of these daily things, then you can see how fast objects can tally up in price. Without a source of income, you can not go anywhere in Neopia.

Positive Cash Flow:

Let us follow this example. Let us say on average, you made 2000 NP a day playing games in Neopia, and have to spend the same 200 NP to cover the base costs of living for your Neopets. It would look like this.

Day 1: 1000 NP - 200 NP + 2000 NP = 2800 NP

Day 2: 2800 NP - 200 NP + 2000 NP = 4600 NP

Day 3: 4600 NP - 200 NP + 2000 NP = 6400 NP

Day 4: 6400 NP - 200 NP + 2000 NP = 8200 NP

Day 5: 8200 NP - 200 NP + 2000 NP = 10000 NP

In this example, the player earns a gross profit of 2000 NP, and spends 200 NP. That creates a total of +1800 NP a day.

Freebies:

The Giant Omelette is a freebie that many, many players in Neopia take advantage of every day. Now, let us say this freebie decreased the expenditures from 200 NP a day to 100 NP a day while following the previous example.

Day 1: 1000 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 2900 NP

Day 2: 2900 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 4800 NP

Day 3: 4800 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 6700 NP

Day 4: 6400 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 8600 NP

Day 5: 8600 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 10500 NP

As you can see, over this five day period 500 NP were saved. However, life is never like this.

The Chaos Factors:

Life has never been linear. Random events, freebies and many other factors can contribute to random fluctuations in your money supply. Finding a Codestone on the floor can add a few thousand Neopoints to your coffers. Outside uncontrollable influences, such as winning the Neopian Lottery, can cause massive once-in-a-lifetime influxes of money to appear in your hands. Let us say that you found a Codestone on Day Three worth 4000 NP, and you managed to sell it that day, this is what it may look like.

Day 1: 1000 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 2900 NP

Day 2: 2900 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 4800 NP

Day 3: 4800 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP + 3000 NP = 10700 NP

Day 4: 10700 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 12600 NP

Day 5: 12600 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 14500 NP

Now, a new example. Let us say you found the exact same codestone on Day Three, but you lost 5000 NP via random event on Day Four. This is what it may look like.

Day 1: 1000 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 2900 NP

Day 2: 2900 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 4800 NP

Day 3: 4800 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP + 3000 NP = 10700 NP

Day 4: 10700 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP - 5000 NP = 7600 NP

Day 5: 7600 NP - 100 NP + 2000 NP = 9500 NP

Your Budget is Never a Straight Line:

Let us face it, any Neopian doesn’t want to feed their pets Jellies, Fish and Omelette every day, nor does any Neopian want to use the same old toy that they could buy for 10 NP every day. Face it, people want what is cute, what is demonic, what is rare, or anything that sparks their interest. Those items cost much more money than the bare essentials.

Also, players also want Neohomes, Battledome equipment, gourmet foods, avatars, anything that they feel will allow them to progress and have something cool that they can call their own. These factors are impossible to plot on any budget chart. Prices of items fluctuate; you might find a paint brush; you might lose a lot of money on an item that drops severely in value. Some of these items you may only need to purchase once, such as the Secret Laboratory Map pieces.

This known, however, if you want any of these things, and still remain with money, there are some good rules that you should follow.

The Rules:

Rule #1: Never spend all that you have

An extremely important rule for any player to follow. If you end up with no money/hard to sell object, you might end up exactly from where we all started, flat broke. Once you work your way up, always have a good cache of money available to you ready to be broken into so you can work your way back on top. This even applies to the rules of merchanting which I will explain later.

Rule #2: Never buy anything “brand new”

On the day an object is released and several days later, the price of a common item might be extremely high as it is working its way into Neopia. No matter how much you desire to have it, just hold your footing until you can let the prices deflate and stabilize.

Rule #3: Research is key

Whenever I make a purchase over 4000 NP, I always make sure to check a few things. Scanning shop wizard a few times is always a good idea, to make sure that you are getting something at its best value. Checking the Trading Post for better offers might also bet a better idea as well. Make sure to know about your item before you make any decisions around it.

Rule #4: Know what people want

Some items, though valued, are extremely hard to sell or get rid of without drastically dropping their price. A general rule is that if you’ve never seen it before especially after a few days of surfing the Trading Post, it isn’t going to be the best purchase. Paint Brushes, Bottled Faeries, Books and Codestones, however, are always in extremely high demand. Be sure to check each item like I said in Rule #3 to make sure you are getting the best value. This rule goes hand in hand with merchanting.

Rule #5: Use common sense

Well, no duh! Always check everything on purchase, or you may find yourself losing money. This goes hand in hand with every other rule. Don’t go buying hundreds of snowballs if you are never going to sell them or use them.

Rule #6: Keep the cash coming

Though you may spend large amounts of money to get certain items, you always want to make sure that you keep earning enough money to meet those expenditures. If you find you are losing thousands every day, look at your spending habits and readjust what isn’t necessary. Or, you can look for additional sources of income to help counteract those costs. The combination of those two methods allows for increased revenue.

Rule #7: Never rely on a variable

Finding Codestones and living off luck and chance games is not a satisfactory way to live. Sure, you may have a lucky break or two, but chances are if you find yourself chronically losing money or relying specifically on such events to earn money, then you should change your spending habits. Spending 2000 NP every day on lottery tickets will look funny when you never win the lottery. If you do, kudos, but never rely on these random events.

Rule #8: Sell below, not above

When it comes to the shop wizard, if you want to sell an item, always sell it below the shop wizard price. 10 NP is nothing to lose when you are selling an item worth 500 NP which you bought for 50 NP. You can sell items at even a lower cost and still break a huge profit while having a much better chance of selling your items (at a faster rate too).

How to Earn Money:

There are two specific methods of earning a constant profit in Neopia which I will cover here.

Games are an outstanding way to earn Neopoints. You don’t have to be talented; heck, I’m not even that great at a lot of the games in Neopets. Playing five games three times a day while earning an average of 400 NP per play earns you 6000 NP. With a low score and a bit of time, you can earn yourself a fair amount of money with just five games every day. Games pump a lot of money into the economy and definitely should not be ignored. Besides, they’re quite fun, so why not play some of them?

Merchanting is a risky business in Neopia. It does like what Merchants did in the past; they sold things for more than they bought them for. They live on the lines of Supply and Demand. Basically, the higher the supply, the lesser the cost and the higher the demand, the higher the cost and vice versa. Let us look at an example. Bob sells Joe a Codestone he found for 3000 NP. Seeing this as an opportunity to make money Joe sells the Codestone to Billy for 4000 NP, which he uses at the training school. Bob made 3000 NP from a random event, while Joe made 1000 NP through merchanting on an event that is quite common. Billy, however, lost 4000 NP since he used the codestone to pay for one of his pets' statistics to be raised at the Training School, which was his “luxury” expenditure.

Merchanting works just like the stock market does; buy low, sell high. I myself and millions of Neopians have used this method to get ahead. Just follow the rules above, and you should find merchanting as easy as 123.

Conclusion:

Well, I hope that this study has helped you get a grasp on the Neopian economy and how it functions. Now I must go pack to my basement and construct my army of Jelly constructs to rule Neopia. Either that or drink a can of Neocola, doesn’t matter that much.