Jetaketa's Ultimate Guide To Shopkeeping/Malling
Shops, we've all been to them, whether they are the shops run by Neopets or by our fellow Neopians. I'm hoping this guide will help you become a more
effective shopkeeper and hopefully will help you sell your stuff so that you can make more money.
There are a few different types of shops, and I will tell you about each one, just click below to find the shop type you need.
Restock & Snipe Shop
Stand-Alone Shop
Mall Shop
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More Help:
Joining A Mall
Marketplaces Explained
Stocking Your Shop!
Pricing
Restocking Your Shop!
Advertising Tips!
Organizing Your Shop Front
Leaving A Mall
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Restock & Snipe Shop
This type of shop is run by most people in Neopia. They only stock items that they want to sell quickly, and normally very cheaply so it doesn't sit for a
while, so the shops are empty a lot of the time. These types of shops are generally small, under size 100, but usually under size 50.
In these shops, there isn't any specific category, it's whatever the user comes across and wants to sell. There really isn't anything I can say about these
types of shops, except that if you are running one you don't really need a guide for it, just sell your items for a low price and they should be gone
quickly, and you should have money in your pocket.
Stand-Alone Shop
This type of shop is the typical shop that can be found on the Shop Ads board. A shop of any size can participate in this, whether is be size 1 or size
1,000, it's up to the user. These shops have a large range of what they do. Some stand-alone shops sells items of one specific category (such as furniture),
and some sell items of all types. The prices are generally low, but there are always items in stock, and the user goes through and restocks the items that
sold, and usually have a goal of upgrading to a larger shop.
You are not bound by a mall for this shop, so you can choose any category you like and put (almost) whatever you want in the shop description, and you don't
have to worry about stocking items of other categories either.
Please check out the mall shop section for tips on stocking & restocking, and read on further on how to advertise (since this type of shop will take more
advertising).
Mall Shop
This type of shop is generally very large, over size 250, and at best it's size is over 500 by a significant amount. It is a long-term, very expensive
investment, costing tens of millions of neopoints.
A mall is a group of large-sized shops that work together by putting a banner in each of their shops, that links to all the other shops in the mall. Each
member of the mall is assigned a category, and these categories cover all the "Faerie Quest" positions (which are the items that faeries ask for, ie: dark
faerie asks for toys, water faerie asks for books, etc), along with other categories, such as Furniture, Food, Paint Brushes, and many others. This way,
malls make it convenient for people who need a specific item, or a number of items in a specific category without having to check hundreds of shops.
There are some malls that require small shops, but I do not recommend you get into malling AT ALL before size 50. Even at size 50, you aren't getting much
exposure and you will have to rely on advertising on the shop ads board and also rely on your mallmates advertising on the shop ads board. A good idea with a
very small mall shop is to have your items very cheap. You will still make a profit, but you will have more exposure and probably get a lot of frequent
buyers, and also people will buy a lot of your items at once so they don't have to spend the time tracking down the rest of the items they need.
Marketplaces Explained
The reason shops must be a very large size is because of something called the "Marketplace", which can be found in the Haunted Woods, Mystery Island, and the
Neopian Bazaar.
Neopian Central (also known as "main market") requires a shop to be over size 526 (but this number will go up), and is the largest of all the
marketplaces and this is usually the ultimate goal of a maller. Most shoppers visit the main market for their faerie quest items and just general shopping.
Haunted Woods (known as "spooky marketplace") is the smallest of the three marketplaces, requiring size 235 and higher. The business here
isn't as great as main market, but it is definately a step up from not being in any marketplace.
Mystery Island (known as "island marketplace"), it is the middle marketplace, usually size 270 and higher. I can not
honestly say if this marketplace is better then spooky, because I just stayed in spooky until I hit main market, it's a choice that the shopkeeper must make.
In each marketplace there are many "huts", which are those little houses, tiki huts, or tombstones (depending on which marketplace you are in), and each hold
10 different shops. They display the things that are in your shop front (excluding the items), so that is where all the banners and text will appear.
This is Main Market. Each of those little buildings are home to 10 shops.
Joining A Mall
Finding a mall is easy, finding a good mall is not.
There are several places to look, first I recommend: http://www.neopets.com/~rooislandinfo (it's the mall
chain I'm a part of, there is a mall for MANY sizes of shops and a lot of room to grow.)
Can't find an opening you like there? If you are a smaller shop size, try the Shop Ads Board. If you are a larger shop size (300+, or even better, 525+), try
the Battledome chat!
You can either make your own boards or check out a mall recruiting board.
When finding a mall to join, you should look for one with hard-working members, check out the shops and make sure they are well stocked. Also, make sure the
mall banner is well done and well coding, so the links aren't half on one spot and half on another. It's also good to make sure the mall banner is easy to
read and not too big and not too small.
Now that you found a mall you want to join, it's time to ask for the spot.
Before asking for the spot, it's a great idea to make sure it's open. Another good idea is to have your shop already stocked with items from that category.
Make sure you fit into the minimum size requirements, and always be willing to upgrade. And if the mall has a required noticeboard ad fee (read about this in
the advertising section), be willing to pay.
NEVER PAY A FEE TO BE IN A MALL. THIS IS A SCAM. The only fee you will pay is for NOTICEBOARD ADS and this is usually only for the very large
shops/malls.
Be aware that mall leaders may reject your request to join, or they may offer you another category. If they offer you another category and you'd really like
to be a member of that mall (but you can tolerate the category), I recommend joining under that category and asking the leader to be on the waiting list for
the category you want.
Remember, don't be afraid to ask your mall leader questions about the mall. When you join a mall, it should be long-term. Don't join a mall and leave three
days later, this will give you a bad reputation and other malls will find out.
Stocking Your Shop
  
This is for STOCKING your shop for the first time, read under this section to learn about restocking the things you have sold.
Pick a category!
There are many to choose from. I suggest choosing one that you like and would want to stick with. They are all profitable, and when done right can all make a
lot of money. Some take a bigger investment then others to stock, but are all well worth it.
A list of the basic categories are:
Books (water faerie quests [books])
Toys/Plushies/Usuki (dark faerie quests [toys])
Cards/Stamps/Coins (light faerie quests [cards])
Clothing/Grooming (fire faerie [clothing]/air faerie [grooming])
Magic/Potions (earth faerie quests [magic/potions])
Furniture/Garden
General Store/1001 NP Deals
Paint Brushes/Maps
Neggs
Food/Candy/Bakery
Battledome Weapons/Defense/Medicine
Petpets
Training/Scratchcards
The categories above are not going to be in every mall. Some malls only do Toys (instead of toys/plushies/usuki), but a toy shop can stock all that stuff.
Some malls will mix some of those categories, like a Paint Brushes+Neggs shop or a Battledome+Magic shop.
Most of those are obvious what they stock, but some of the unclear ones:
Training will generally stock Codestones, Dubloons, & Bottled Faeries. If the mall doesn't have a negg shop, they may stock neggs. This category is usually
paired with scratchcards, so the shop should stock them as well.
General Store is usually not found in the bigger malls, and if it is it's a 1,001 NP shop. A 1,001 NP shop is a shop that charges 1,001 NP for EVERY
item (unless paired with another category, like paint brushes or bakery/candy.)
Map shops are usually paired with paint brushes, and typically stock Spooky Treasure Maps, Secret Laboratory Maps, Treasure Maps, and Petpet Laboratory Maps.
If the category is only paint brushes and maps they can also stock the "world challenge" maps, which come in many sets.
Paint Brush shops should also stock petpet paint brushes, even if it's only a couple.
Don't be afraid to think outside the box when you stock your items. A petpet shop could stock petpetpets and petpet supplies, a food shop could stock books
about food, a training shop could stock chocolate dubloons. Have fun with your category and don't be afraid to try something new.
If you are doing a faerie quest category, http://www.neopets.com/~quest_items has a great list of items
you'll need.
I recommend looking around other malls and see what they are stocking for an idea on what you should stock.
Also, if you are stocking a faerie quest category, don't JUST stock what the faerie asks for. Add other types of items, maybe something that collectors will
want, or just fun or cute things. Cute things, rainbow things, and pink things all sell very well.
Items should be well-stocked also, a good rule to follow is that a quest item should be stocked 3-5 (or more if your shop is big enough), big sellers should
be stocked 3+ (depending on shop size, once again), items under 7k you should have 3 of, under 15-20k you should have two of, and items over 20k have one of.
This can all change depending on your shop size and budget. The category that breaks this rule would be training & scratchcards, which you should stock 15+
of the codestones, dubloons, and faeries, and 20+ of the cheaper scratchcards, and maybe 5 of the more expensive ones.
Pricing Your Shop
BEING IN A MALL DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO PRICE A 100 NP ITEM AT 10,000 NP! JUST DO NOT DO IT.
The people who say you can charge whatever you want in a mall are liars! If you are a small shop, you won't get anyone coming in to even see the item, if you
are a big shop you will turn off a lot of buyers and not sell much (you may sell a couple of the item, but when people find out that you gouged your prices
and took your NP, they will not be happy.)
As mentioned before, the smaller shops should be priced very low to maximize customers. As your shop grows in size, you can price a little higher, but
probably not more then a couple hundred neopoints. It's important to be fair to your shoppers, the lower your prices the more you will sell, and the higher
the chance that your shoppers will come back.
Restocking Your Shop
Restocking goes for both the mall shop and the stand-alone shop. There are a few ways you can restock your shop.
There is the "Sales History" strategy, which involves going right into your sales history and going straight down the list, buying what you sold and putting
it back in your shop. To make this faster, keep the page search open (CTRL+F) and use that to find if multiple of a certain item sold.
As your shop gets bigger, you will sell more things, and you can use other programs to organize your shop till. I use a website called "NeoWishlists", but a
lot of people will use a program that most windows computers come with called "Microsoft Excel" and then download the add-on for it (which I believe can be
found on the "NeoDaq" website).
There is also another program, called NeoMallers Portal (google it), that you copy and paste your shop front into and it will tally what is missing from your
shop. I recommend this if you have a lot of items that cost under 1,000 neopoints that you want to keep track of, as they will not show up in your sales
history. I used to use this program but do not anymore and as far as I know, it is safe.
A last strategy (that I am aware of), is to stock a consistant amount of each item (maybe 3 or 5, or any number you want really), then just browse through
your shop front and see what is missing. I do not recommend this UNLESS you have a few items under 1,000 neopoints. If you decide to do this with items under
1,000 neopoints, I recommend stocking 5-10 of these items so they won't sell out.
While you are searching for the items you stock, you may find a shop that has multiple items you need. If you are happy with the prices, you can save time by
buying from this shop. You may even find a smaller mall shop or stand-alone shop that stocks a lot of one category for a low price, and you can bookmark the
shop and keep coming back to it to restock your own shop. You may lose out a little on profits, maybe lose 50-100 NP per item, but it's well worth the
convenience and time-saved.
Organizing Your Shop Front
Deciding what should go on your shop front can be a difficult decision. If you are in a mall, you should obviously have your mall banner up. When in a mall,
you should also have brief text describing your stock, and maybe a banner or two that links to your shop
When you are a stand-alone shop, a small banner is nice and it should link to your shop, and a small amount of text that describes what you stock.
Here is a quick list of DO'S & DON'TS of a shop front.
Do:
-Include a brief description of your shop.
-Include a banner (if your shop is in the marketplace, include 2-3 banners.)
-Link text & banners to your shop.
-Advertise a special weekly deal, or something that is on sale.
-Link to a reference page that deals with your stock (http://www.neopets.com/~number_2848 is my guide from
when I used to run a card/stamps/coin shop, feel free to link to it.)
Don't:
-Include 400 banners.
-Forget to link a banner to your shop!
-Include dozens of laggy moving images (one or two can be nice, 30 is not.)
-Include music, heavy backgrounds, or other things that take a while to load.
-Include anything against Neopets rules.
When In A Mall:
-Do place the mall banner as high up as possible.
-Don't put a guild banner in your shop (this is ok for a stand-alone shop, or when you are in a guild mall though.)
-Don't link to anyones shop outside of the mall.
Some gray areas do occur, and if there is something you aren't sure if your mall would be ok with, neomail your mall leader.
Advertising Your Shop
 
The most important factor of all shopkeeping. Getting your name and shop out there.
There are so many strategies that you can use to advertise your shop:
The Marketplaces- When your shop is a large enough size to be in the marketplace, your shop banners and text are displayed around the clock, every day of the
week, for people to see. That is the huge benefit for having such a large shop size.
The Shop Ads Board- Post a topic advertising your shop and everything in it and keep bumping your board. This will help you generate business and sales, and
if you are in a mall it'll help your mall mates.
Notice Board- The noticeboard is a big billboard filled with advertisements. It costs money to put an ad up, anywhere from 1 NP to 4,000,000 NP. Putting a
few 2,000 NP ads up will help sales, and you should put a banner up that describes your shop and links to your shop when clicked.
Some malls will organize a noticeboard regularly, and will collect NP and then post the mall banner up in an ad, so everyone gets exposure. The bigger malls
will post the 4,000,000 NP ads and will usually collect between 250,000-400,000 neopoints from each person. IT DOES HELP AND IT IS WORTH IT! When my
malls noticeboard ad hits the top of the chart, I can make over 1,000,000 NP in profits.
If you are joining in a large noticeboard ad (over 2,000,000), your shop should be over size 250, so that you actually have enough stock to pay back what you
paid and then make profit.
Your Neoboard Signature- Displaying a shop link and a brief description of what you stock in your neoboard signature will help advertise your shop any time
you post without spamming or being off topic.
Some lesser known techniques are:
High Score Charts- When you get a high score at a game, your name goes on a high score chart, usually for a long amount of time, maybe a month or more.
People will be impressed with your score and click your name, from there they can visit your shop.
Contests- Winning a contest, like a spotlight contest or having an article published in the Neopian Times, will immortalize your username on Neopets and
generate a lot of hits to your lookup and shop.
Kad Feeding- When you feed a kad, your name is displayed for 24 minutes, or longer, and people are able to click it and visit your shop.
Leaving A Mall
If you are unhappy with your mall, you have to make the decision to stay or leave.
Neomail your mall leader, discuss the issues you are having, and if the issues can't be worked out, then it might be time for you to leave your mall and find
a new one, or become a stand-alone shop.
When leaving a mall, make sure you notify your mall leader and give them 3-7 days to find a replacement for you. This will help your mall leader out, and
will also help you to sell out your item stock.
Don't get comfortable leaving malls, as most malls know what goes on in other malls, and it will harm your reputation if you leave malls frequently. It's
usually understood if you upgrade out of a mall and would like to join a bigger one.
Also, don't fight with your mall about it. Leave on good terms, and if you can't, then don't hold a grudge against the mall and don't flame their recruitment
boards or their members. Doing this will only hurt you and you may not be able to find another mall, or you may even be kicked out of the new mall you
joined.
Link To My Guide
Here you can add a link to this guide!
Please put one of these in your shop or user lookup!
Thank you.
Credits
This entire guide was written by me, Jetaketa.
I would like to thank auntadria for everything she has done for me, including reminding me to write this guide, and for making a few banners for my shop (visit my shop to see them.) She does not do banner requests, sorry guys!
I would also like to thank franklinnc1980 for getting me into my first mall, back when I was only size 52, and working with me and helping me grow within the Roo Island Mall chain. I'm now main market and in the top branch of the mall.
Both of them have helped me so much throughout the time I've known them and been in the mall. Thanks guys.
I also need to thank gothsunprincess, ayperialthea, & shadow717 for their support.
And thanks to xfzunx for fixing this pages layout when I broke it, and for some of the buttons/banners!
And last but not least, thank you to all the members of Upgraders Anonymous (premium charter chat group for mallers), and all the members of the charter premium boards!
 
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