Creating a shop is the number one way to make NPs. Games can at best give you a couple of NPs here and there, but they are hardly a substitute for a good shop. To open a shop requires very little up front capital, and you don’t need a huge shop to turn a profit. There are however, several things to keep in mind.
It is ideal to focus your shop on a theme. For example, shops that sell books and foods are very successful, for the most the Neopian Grocery and Bookstore run out of stock in a heartbeat, making the secondary markets very profitable. It is to your advantage to also focus in on a commodity such as books, or food, or whatever you please in order to gain a good working knowledge of what you sell. When I go to buy books (which my shop primarily deals in) I know by glancing what books will sell. Books that involve Lennys, Shoyrus, Myncis turn a heavy profit, and Pteri books are cheap and go for a moderate price . You will gain the same knowledge about what you choose to deal in. At the beginning I learned to record booktitles, I kept track of how much I paid for the book and what I resold it for, it helped me to visualize what books brought me the best profit margines and to understand the market itself.
It isn’t as time consuming as it sounds. If I purchased “Jubjub Know How” for 110 NP and resold it for 400 NP, I would simply notate it as 110/400. Knowing where to buy is also very important. In selling clothing and toiletries better prices can be found from the Shop Wizard, stores may sell a lipstick at 20 NP but through the Shop Wizard you can pick one up for 5 NPs. Another difficult market is Cards for your Neodeck.
Investigate completely cards that you buy for Shop Wizard prices. Whereas many cards purchased from the Neopian Shop have higher resale values, other cards will be disappointing. As a general rule defense and attack items enjoy a moderate resale.
If you find it difficult getting in before others with regard to Neopian Shops begin timing yourself to respond to the “every 8 minutes” rule for restocking. You’ll tune your body’s internal clock into it. You can also use guide shops. For example I know that my bookstore will run out of books almost immediately, but the Toy Shop does less business. If I don’t know where in the 8 minute cycle Neopian shops are running I check in on the Toy Shop to see how much they’ve sold or have left. The refresh button or (F5) are lifesavers, you can get in before everyone else and maybe pick up some nice prizes.
Another thing to think of with regard to timing is that you have a better chance of picking up choice items as it gets later. Most people (Ok, so I’m an insomniac, and I have an advantage- I’m not in school) have gone to bed, and at 2am the stores are practically deserted. A general night for me finds myself investing about 2,000 to 6,000 NPs into materials and afternoon profits reach 14,000 to 20,000 NPs. The side effect of purchasing at night means that the deals that are to be had from the Shop Wizard have been picked over and only expensive stuff is left. And as nobody except for myself is restocking at 3am they won’t improve until 8am or later. This may not be an option for you, most players are school age, but technically those in Pacific Time Zone do have an advantage that everyone else is asleep.
See where your name falls in the Shop Wizard. You may post an object at 30 NPs and you may show up at the top of a page that is all 60 NP and above, go ahead and adjust for a higher take. There are people out there who don’t want to shop around so much and will take what looks to be a good deal. If you are posted at the bottom of a Shop Wizard page, try reposting you may end up at a better page.
All of your products don’t necessarily have to be the best deal out there, try to stay competitive, but if it doesn’t sell right then and there, don’t freak, it will eventually.
As much as it is fun to do, keep the designs on your shop site to a minimum. Adding music, dolls, items that float across your page, wallpapers that move add lag to your site coming up, you don’t know how much business you may be losing because someone may not want to spend their time loading the site if their computer sucks. I have a brief introduction, I’ve added a Neopets banner and left it on a white background. It loads quickly, and of all things 3 people have signed up for Neopets through my banner. (of all things?)
If you collect and make your shop your gallery make sure you’ve loaded your gallery correctly so that your items that you are selling are on top. Nothing is so annoying as having to scroll around and find something.
People are more likely to buy in bulk if your prices are competitive and are similar. Someone who goes to buy furniture from you may not buy anything else if everything else you have is perfume and clothing. However someone looking for a good book may pick a bunch of books in one place thinking they are as reasonable as everything you post.
If you have a sale that you think is really awesome, don’t be afraid to advertise. Go to the chat message boards, make a small statement and paste it into every category. Keep up with frequent buyers. If someone has bought a lot from you, email them a thank you, offer to make them a Neofriend, to let them know when you’re going to have your next big sale. Communication is the key to creating repeat business.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these gems of advice. Go ahead and Neomail me if you have any specific questions.
Or better, Come check out the Great Deals at my shop; Neopet Pretties from Lunachikgk!
