Barb's
Shop Guide

Every girl's fave past time can now be profitable and even more fun than ever. You got it; this is my guide to everything to do with SHOPS and SHOPPING in and around Neopia. If you already have a shop skip the next section and move right on to the ~*~*~GOOD STUFF~*~*~.

Creating a Shop

I don't have a shop" I hear you say, well that's as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Step 1 - Roll over "Shops" on the main menu bar
Step 2 - Click "Your Shop"
Step 3 - Click "Create A Shop"

A small fee (150np's) is all it costs to get the door open Now you'll start with a very small floor space (Holds 5 items) and you'll want to grow that quickly but don't jump the gun, you need to make sure you have enough stock to fill it and keep it that way and we'll go into that in much better detail a little later.

To get more shop space you'll need to go to the "Create/Edit your shop" link at the top of the screen (just under the main menu bar) Once there you can customize a few things e.g.:- Shop name, Shop Location, Shop Keeper Etc...
Remember you will earn The Emo Usuki Avatar if you View your own Shop Front while the shopkeeper is switched to Usul - Gothic. You will lose the avatar if you view your shop front again with a different shopkeeper.

Go about setting it up anyway you like, after your finished fiddling with all the little play bits, roll right to the bottom where there is a button "Cost To Upgrade" now this little beauty goes up 200 NP's every time you click it, you get 5 more spaces but it does get costly, e.g. my shop is currently Size 118 it holds 590 items WOW I hear you say, but my next upgrade will cost me 23600 Np's and to get it there I've already spent 1,380,750 NP's. There is purely no point having a massive shop if you don't restock it regularly and that's where the next section begins.

Stocking Your Shop

Ok so you have a shop now what? Start small... not tiny, again there is no point putting 1 NP items in your shop (well not just yet) Have a lookie through you SDB (Safety Deposit Box) and look for Items that you have at least 2 of (If you plan to be a collector then you won't want to part with anything you can't replace easily) It's a good idea to add a PIN to you SDB, SHOP and other places where items are kept (Just to keep the bad guys at bay).

Back to the matter at hand, select items that appeal aesthetically (look pretty) to you, chances are if you like the look of something the next person into your shop might too. Enter the number of items you wish to remove and enter your pin to remove them (don't worry they don't disappear into the eather never to be seen again) they are right in your inventory. Moving items from your inventory 1 at a time can be painful in a number of ways e.g.:- takes ages, gives you clickers fingers and that infamous "Pant Devil" might just pop in to say hi and steal your goodies. The easiest and quickest way is to use "Quick stock" this allows you to move up to 70 items (yes I know you can only hold 50 but it does let you, if you move things in bulk) to your gallery, you SDB or better yet, Your Shop!

Once you've sent those items go to your shop. You can chose to list items by "ID" or "Cost" Cost is the most effective especially once your shop starts to grow in size, as you'll quickly find all the items yet to be priced.

Pricing Your Items

If you're fortunate enough to already be a "Paying" member great you can go to your portal and launch the Super Shop Wizard (SSW) for everybody else you'll have to use the regular guy. He's just as good at finding items he's just not real bright (he can only search 1 part of the shops available at a time). I urge you to check current values of your items every time! You just never know when that worthless sand snowball will jackpot from 1NP to almost 300!! (Which it did recently).

Gauge your items according to what other prices you find to begin with, you don't want to be the dead cheapest on the Wizard and here's a couple of reasons why, 1stly other people will simply buy you out and 2ndly you'll have to restock constantly (which is fine if you have all day to do so) So my recommendation is to go just below the average e.g.- sausage omelette (you got 1 of those right?) you search the Shop Wizard and you'll see varying prices (20 or so at a time) they range from 5NP's at the top maybe 11, 15, 18 in the middle and 20-25 at the bottom of the list. You want to list that sausage omelette at about 16, this way it doesn't go for a song and dance because let's face it you only get 1 piece per day and those little pets get hungry! But you don't want to list it at 100NP's because no-one will EVER buy it! Try to aim for the middle that way everyone gets a fair go.

Check your stock as often as you like and keep filling empty spaces, No Items = No NP's

Once a day (I suggest as close to Midnight NST as you can bear) Go to your shop till and empty it, go to the bank and deposit it (that way you'll earn interest from it too) Once you've collected your interest, take out a portion of the shop till's earnings and re-invest it in your shop. This can be done 2 ways, either making your shop bigger or buying stock.

As I've already explained the shop expansion thing I'll go onto the buying stock thing - YAY

~~~HERES THE GOOD STUFF~~~

Decide what you'd like to "SPECIALISE" in, this could be "Quest Items" or "Wearable's", "Album Items" (Though they can get expensive) or just stock stuff you like or find in your daily play, the choice is yours.

Restocking can be easy and fun, you "could" sit around all day refreshing in a toy or food shop but it will get boring...

I like to do this, When I'm at the shop wizard or SSW (as it may be) pricing my shop items I keep my eyes "Peeled" for goodies that are under priced. You have to be quick though; hot to sell doesn't last long as there are 1000's of other Neopians hunting at the same time as you for the same items.

If you're stocking an item what better way to get your next item to sell, be picky though, there is no point to buying 100 sausage omelettes @ 5NP's yes you'll make some profit if you sit on them long enough but we're here to make NP's.

Say you're looking at prices for "sand snowball" (previously described as selling for around 300 NP's) and some goose has 10 of them listed for 1 NP, well jackpot that's a bargain! Get in there quick, Buy everything you can get your hands on, and have a good look in the shop before you leave, Chances are that the person selling so low has no idea of the value and has marked other stock at crazy prices too, if this is the case buy everything you can afford as quickly as you can and hightail it outta there!!!
Store these extra bargains in your SDB for later sale*.

*Later Sale - I say this because there is another little thing I think you should know about stocking and here it is,

Only put 1 of each item that you have for sale in your shop at a time... why? I hear you ask,
Because 1 - you don't use up your 20 spaces with 20 of the same item (that's boring)
2 - You don't set a benchmark for other people to undercut you (which they will)
3 – People will generally buy from the "little guy" that only has 1 instead of 144 of an item
And 4 - once you have an ENORMOUS shop and can be found in the mall as a top 10 shop, you will want to be listing at 1000+NP's for each item so you know what you've sold and can restock it.

You want your shop to be a pleasant place for all those who enter it, you can spend a lot of time CSS'ing (customizing) but it just means it takes longer to load people get frustrated and don't come back, Keep it simple or if you do customize, keep it clean – the less gif's and stuff the quicker the loading time.

Pick a shop keeper that's appealing to you, something seasonal is always good or something cute or funny; change it every so often to keep it fresh. List or advertise that you have Auctions or Items in the Trading Post (generally your "Really Good Stuff") as this will generate more buying. Pick a number any number well two actually, I find that when things are listed @ 99 that it gets boring, as does 50… go for 47 or 23 or a number that you like, this is your shop and it should please you

Never be rude or offensive in your descriptions or welcome's this will just cause you to be reported and shut down, which no-one wants to see happen to you. So to wrap it up in "Brightly Colored Paper" here's the list;

~~~Barb's TOP 12 Shop Tip's~~~

1) Select your items for sale carefully
2) Price reasonably, not cheaply
3) Price junk LOW! (this will attract buyers to the shop and impulse purchasing increases)
4) Restock often (never leave your shop empty)
5) Get to know the current prices for items you stock regularly
6) Bargain hunt (items less than ½ of your sale price is generally a good start)
7) Re-Invest! (Active players make more NP's)
8) Don't overstock on 1 item (Variety is the spice of life)
9) Never sell for less than you paid (Eventually everything retires and appreciates in value)
10) Advertise your Auctions and TP's
11) Pick a random number or two to end your prices in (I find its more appealing to buyers)
12) And Most Of All Have Fun! (This is what Neopet's is all about)

Happy shopping everyone I hope you turn a few ideas into a lot of NP's

Barb's Shop Guide