Grey's Guide to Getting the Most from Your Shop - Any Size!
 

Well, we've all seen those massive mega malls which sell things for double (sometimes even more) the price of the Wiz. So how do these things work? Why would people buy for such insane prices? Well, here's how it works.



Case one: Mega-Malls

The objective of this type of shop is to upgrade your shop to massive proportions so that your shop will appear first on the list in your particular marketplace. So, what's so good about being on the top? Well, first and foremost- Newbies. Unaware of the shop wizard's existence, they will click on the marketplace. If you're shop is first, there is a massive chance they will visit your shop and purchase goods, even though the prices are insanely high. The second reason is questers. Many people will turn to the marketplace in an attempt to find the item they need because the quest blocks the shop wizard. If you create a mall, it is often a good to carry items that each faerie needs. Better yet, you could make a link to a sub-account's shop which carries only the items needed for that particular faerie. A person will often pay over triple the normal price of an item if they need it for a quest. Malls are a very good way to make money, however, it costs millions to get your shop up to so high a level, and it takes a lot of money and time to keep it stocked.

Tips for creating a mall or making yours better:

1. Find a help site that totals the amount of money needed to get your shop to the desired amount. It will take millions, and if you can't afford that, don't bother.

2. Set a planned day of the week to stock it. If you decide to fully stock every Monday, keep to that. If you post that in your shop, people will be sure to come back on that day.

3. Make sure to post in your mall on how to use your pc's search option. (Control + F) That way, people will not be discouraged by the time it takes to find the item.

4. Remind your customers to come back by asking them to add your shop to "favorites". (Control + D) This ensures that people will continually return to your shop.

5. Forgo any images or backgrounds in your shop. Use only text. By nature malls are slow loading, and people definitely don't want to listen to music or watch a thousand dolls load. This goes for smaller shops as well, but is definitely important.

6. Stock quantity over variety. You should have at least two or three of each item you stock. This is convenience to your customers, and often will let them purchase several items at a time. Instead of 10 different items, stock 2 items with 5 apiece.

7. Make sure you carry different kinds of items. In your main shop you should include a few of the different types, like food, faeries, and weapons. Once your main shop is established, you can make sub-accounts with small shops that specialize in one or two kinds of items. Make sure you put links back in each shop, as well as the links in your main shop. If you create a table, you can easily copy and paste the coding into each shop. If you do make sub-accounts, make sure each sub-account has 2 or 3 specialties, as not to break Neopet's terms and conditions. For instance, have your main shop, then a shop that has just food and medicine, another with just stamps and grooming, and so on.

8. Check your shop's standing in the marketplace. If you drop down several slots, upgrade your shop til it is back on top. If you fall behind, you will lose business and it will be harder to catch up.



"Well, Mr. Grey... I don't have the millions required to make my shop into a super-mall!" I hear several of you say. Fear not, I don't either. To become highly successful from your shop, it doesn't need to be big. There are several ways around this problem. (However, you will probably want your shop at least level 20, so that you can hold 100 items.)



Case 2: The Smaller Shop

There are two main ways to make money from your smaller shop. These are based on:
1) How much NP you have
2) Which audience you want to target.

Here's the two ways:

#1) Bait and Switch. Target: Newbies. Cost: Under 20k.

This shop pattern is ideal for players with not a lot of NP, though you can still do this if you do have a bundle. The idea is to pick items that draw newbies in, like food, toys, and books. Price these at wiz prices. Then, take more expensive or harder to sell items like stamps and medicines and price them more expensive than the wiz. Newbies drawn by your cheap foods and such will also inadvertently purchase your more expensive items. It works, try it out! You can also pull a variation by pricing easy to sell items like foods, books, etc. then pricing the same kinds of items double. Caught up in buying your cheap foods, they will buy the other foods taking them as the same.

#2) Mass Stocking. Target: Experienced Players. Cost: Varies, but at least 50k.

This kind of stocking is better for those with mid-sized shops and a a decent amount of NP. The idea is to pick items needed by more experienced players and mass-stock them. The experienced players will then purchase masses of your items for either their personal use or for stocking their own shop or mall. In these cases, you will often see your entire stock purchased by the same person. In order to set this in to motion, you must first stock your shop. Pick an item that you will stock. If you have about 50k, I suggest starting with scratch cards. Terror Troves are the best, because they are the most often used do the relative cheapness and the good prizes. If you have a lot of money, consider codestones. You need to have enough money to purchase roughly 10 of each codestone. (Except for Lu- don't bother purchasing them.) Set a price that you want to sell for that goes according to the wizard. (900 is good for Terror Troves is good, codestones fluctuate so it is up to you to research that.) Then set a price that you will purchase for. If you say that you want to make 25np of each card, then purchase scratch cards for 875 or under. Don't ever go over that price when buying. Purchase as many of those items as you can, fill up your shop, then wait. Don't ever reduce your price, because people will find you eventually.

Tips for smaller shops:

#1.) For newbie luring, the size of the shop is inconsequential, however for Mass Stocking, you need to be able to hold at least 100 items in order to make a successful profit. This means raising your shop to at least level 20.

#2.) Though it isn't as important for a smaller shop than a mall, make sure you don't overload your shop with music and images. It's downright annoying, and can deter potential customers.

#3.) Be patient. It can take several days for your stock to sell, but it will. Often the same player will purchase all your items. These players will remember your shop and come back often.

#4.) For mass stocking, quantity over variety is supremely important. If you only have one kind of scratch card in your shop, but a hundred of them, they are guaranteed to sell faster than if you have 20 of 5 different scratch cards. The higher-up players will often pay a few more neopoints for the convenience of purchasing all they need from the same shop.

#5.) Terror Troves are the best cards to stock. Steer away from Race to Riches because no one really wants them, and from all the others because they are so expensive. Don't bother with Spooky Scratch cards, because the only decent ones are unbuyable.

#6.) Newbies are especially drawn to basic foods- Milkshakes, Hot Dogs, Ice Cream, and especially Baby Food are hit sellers. Books and the lower-end petpets also work well, and if you have enough money- Faeries and Faerie items. Most newbies are also in need of the current Wheel of Excitement disease cures- so if you can afford to stock several of them, they will sell.

#7.) Experiment! Don't be afraid to try these things, a combination of these things- or even a totally new idea! Do what fits you best, and have fun!

Well, that sums up V1.0 of this tip page. If you are in need of any help, simply neomail me (fallenist) and I will help you best I can. Good Luck!