I find I must beg to differ on the hint you have posted for buying and selling in Neopia. The method listed is Not only terribly wrong but whom ever wrote it and everyone who follows it are destroying the balance of the economy in Neopia. So instead of griping I will let everyone in on the true secret of Making money in Neopia. And I hope dissuade people from using your current method. What right do I have, I have been on for 3 months, I personally have 2 million neopoints, and everyday hand out fists full to my clan members. I earn about 80 to 100 thousand NP each day in my shop. No I’m not better than anyone BUT my way is better a lot.
First understand the laws of supply and demand. Which states If the supply is greater than demand the price will raise.
Now into neopia. Buying and selling is far more complex than looking in the shop wizard for the lowest price and marking your item there. #1 What is your item and what is it used for? #2 forget the rarity index it is most ALWAYS wrong. #3 your not the only one trying to make money.
Deciding on how much to price an object depends on these three factors. So begin by searching the Shop wizard for like items. Permanent and unbreakable items are most always less valuable that one use items. Motes, Fairies, codestones , dubloons ect. are examples of one use items. Now when you have the shop wizard up and your items pricing listed examine the curve of the price list. For example at most any time a plain omlete will have about 50 people selling at or about the same price, were as a morphing potion may have 15 listed above 100k but 5 or six ranging as low as 8 to 10 thousand. If you follow the previous suggestion and price lower that 8 your losing money. Then if an item has 2 or 3 listed all above 100k and none actually for sale to sell for 99k is again losing you money. So what do you do.
If the item is very common, eg. omelettes, price at near or slightly below the going rate. it is hard to sell common items since everyone has one and is just trying to sell it to make money. So if the going rate is 40np pricing between 35 and 50 is a good idea
If the item is not so common or in moderate demand its usually easy to tell when you see it in the shop wizard. There will be a scattering of prices. This is were you draw the line between getting rid of an item and making serious profit. For this I will use the moderate item. if you see listed paintbrushes, Motes ect. look at the lowest and highest price. if there is a great gap price in between. for instance. If the low price is 3k and the high price on the list is 40k to mark your item at 2k just to sell it is losing enormous amounts of money. If there is a great distance between the lowest and the second above it, you may want to buy it and sell both yours and the new one at a higher price. I suggest pricing about 1/4 the way between the lowest and highest. so between 40k and 5k around 10 to 15k.
Item the item comes up and you can see the entire list meaning even those priced not for sale, consider pricing in the 80k to 99k range. Nerkmids are a good example of this. How silly is it to sell an item that has 10 listings for only 10k because 4 people have marked exceptionally low. If one or two are priced below buy them and proceed to the next step
And the last and most profitable When you search for an item and it has no listings actually for sale. DO NOT … I repeat DO NOT sell it in your shop. Use the auction block or the trading post. I believe the top price for auctioned items is 99 million neopoints. and although you will be hard pressed to find ANY item someone will pay that much for but, I have more than once sold ultra rare plushies to collectors for as much as 1,000,000 NP. This price could be higher, and more frequent if more people auctioned instead of trying to sell an item in their shop.
Important things to remember… 1 Never price for more than 5000 less than a listed item, unless your dumping the item. you can always adjust your price later if the price changes. if you price to low you invite the less conscious to price below you thus unbalancing the economy …. 2 NEVER EVER EVER have more than 2 of the same item in your shop at a time. Why? because by having 45 codestones you ensure ALL items will be priced less than yours. Instead put 2 or 3 in your shop at a time giving others the sense that yours may sell away. – Zathrus350