Is malling still worth it?

33 posts / 0 new
Last post
Clotho
Clotho's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 10 months ago
Joined: 23/04/2011 - 12:54am
My thoughts on malling: The market is VERY competitive. You could end up blowing millions of NP just to stay stable at the top of a single hut. Is it worth that? Up to you. Neopets have changed the map from what it was originally; where the bigger shops got ALOT more visual space, and much better chances of a "clickthrough" on the marketplace map. Now, it's just a horrible jumble of colour, size and location. Some huts stand out more then others, but if you had paid and upgraded well before the map switchover, it's a case of being S-O-L. For those that remember, I first utilized the noticeboard way-back when, and linked a few shops in. It wasn't a 'mall' in it's current form, but when you didn't need to pay that much to get to the top of the noticeboard, it meant that you had many, many times over return. Sadly, those days are over, and that a mall can spend millions on an advert, and only be on the top slot for a few hours, or maybe a day, rather then a whole week at the top slot. One of the major benefits in malling is something that is 'always on' - meaning you can stock your shop (and I have done) and go on vacation, to come back and find there's np in the till. (2006 I went on an 80-day world cruise, came back to 14m in my till, selling petpets) You do not have to be on to swiz for 'profitables' or restock in shops. You 'earn whilst you sleep'. Are some categories more profitable then others? Yes. But it also depends on how you look at profit. For instance: Books: A pet can really only read each book once, but there are so many books (as well as benefits like int for some weapons, and a book club award) Petpets: At most an account can only have 4 petpets active, though for some reason they may wish to stock up on other petpets, or try for a petpet-based avatar. This limits the profitability significantly, but a wise maller would raise the 'sell' price from the base-price paid. Food: Buyers prefer not to see thier pet starve, and that can mean up to 4x items per day. But recognizing that some players do not have as much NP, means that for 4 pets, you need to keep prices down and in the more affordable range, which means MUCH smaller profits, then say, a single petpet would gain. There are times when malling is better, such as during christmas/easter/summer vacations, and during school time you see profits taper off significantly.. so it really is a seasonal thing. One thing that smaller malls can do is instead of just selling 'at' wiz prices, etc, is to consider being a buyer for a larger mall. For instance, I have one person that I talk to and put an 'order' in for x amount of foods (usually 50 or 100 at a time, per food item, and a good 20 items++) and let her get on with the tedium of buying the stuff. I let her set the price + a fair bonus profit for her time, I go to her shop, buy it out, and that's it. She makes a profit for her time, and I don't have to search around for staples of my shop. It's a win-win situation. Malling is a long-term, expensive-start up, but provides income over time. It is not a get-rich quick, make tons of NP overnight, but it does provide an income, and it is enjoyable. *Clo
Cherchez La Femme, Dans La nuit
saudor
saudor's picture
Offline
Last seen: 13 hours 24 min ago
Joined: 10/06/2007 - 12:30pm
Pretty much what clotho said. Except it matters alot more than now. Because we are pretty much running on 20% or so exposure in comparison to previous year, you gotta appeal more than to the "noob" market. That means creating value by pricing competitively according to the wizard (even this is starting to die out however) With that being said its not worth it for new players. There's just so much to manage (hut positioning, pricing strategies, and basically, general experience on how people react to what they do - upgrades, buying behaviour, etc) You'd be better of restocking in the neopets main shops.. that require very little initial investment. For current mallers that already spent the $$$, it's a constant flow of income, regardless of how small it is. Plus staying on top of huts is alot easier across the board. There's hardly any activity in the marketplace. For example, hut 530.. that hut has been hovering over 680 for the last few months. Normally, that hut and huts around that size need to be upgraded every few days - yikes! Hope this helps ----------------------------- [color=purple]Are you protected?[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
----------------------------- [color=purple]Protect your account[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
Supershopper
Supershopper's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 10 months ago
Joined: 02/04/2011 - 6:41am
It would be so awesome if TNT would remove the shops out of the marketplace of people who are not active. Its true that if you browse through it you see alot of empty shops.
saudor
saudor's picture
Offline
Last seen: 13 hours 24 min ago
Joined: 10/06/2007 - 12:30pm
no because the marketplace would be in a huge mess and everything will be ruined. ----------------------------- [color=purple]Are you protected?[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
----------------------------- [color=purple]Protect your account[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
zixianna
zixianna's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 months 1 week ago
Joined: 26/03/2010 - 7:44pm
I think it's a great idea ;)
raquza
raquza's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 11 months ago
Joined: 27/04/2009 - 6:26pm
How would it be messed up? The only change i can see is that the shop size to reach the marketplace goes down and people who have always wanted to get there has more will to and there is more competition and gradually it would get back to what it is now but with more visitors and active shops in it.
-------------------------- In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure~ Bill Cosby
saudor
saudor's picture
Offline
Last seen: 13 hours 24 min ago
Joined: 10/06/2007 - 12:30pm
because the deletion of shops would pull everyone who have spent upwards of 100m+ into the middle of the previous huts. plus even if all the shops were deleted, it would only bring the size down slightly. There's just so many shops in the lower end of the market to make a difference
----------------------------- [color=purple]Protect your account[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
zixianna
zixianna's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 months 1 week ago
Joined: 26/03/2010 - 7:44pm
I knew exactly why Mean Tree thought it would mess things up, and that's why I approved *lol* I'm evil like that :K
raquza
raquza's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 11 months ago
Joined: 27/04/2009 - 6:26pm
[quote=saudor]because the deletion of shops would pull everyone who have spent upwards of 100m+ into the middle of the previous huts. plus even if all the shops were deleted, it would only bring the size down slightly. There's just so many shops in the lower end of the market to make a difference[/quote] true. now i understand. It would really affect the people who are already in a hut and at the top but benefits people who have not been in a hut yet :D
-------------------------- In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure~ Bill Cosby
saudor
saudor's picture
Offline
Last seen: 13 hours 24 min ago
Joined: 10/06/2007 - 12:30pm
the 1 million NP or so that can be saved from the minimum main market size dropping from 625 to 620 isnt gonna make things that much easier.. just sayinng lol ----------------------------- [color=purple]Are you protected?[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
----------------------------- [color=purple]Protect your account[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more

Pages