Restocking Seasonal Items At Neopets: Making A Killing Without Cutting Your Throat
Jan 07 '07 (Updated Apr 25 '08)
The Bottom Line Oh I do love it when I see Chocolate Jhudora's for 25 np!
Neopets. If there is a site that I spend more time at than Epinions, it has to be Neopets. Why? There are a ton of games to play, my shop is thriving and I am close to getting the Adam Avatar. Being an insomniac I am always looking for something to kill the nighttime hours when everyone else is sleeping. Let's face it, there are only so many constructive things you can do before you feel like you are a Stepford Wife. Some of my biggest profits have come from selling seasonal items; be it Christmas items or Valentine cards, there is a tremendous amount of NP to be made if you aren't greedy, play by the rules of the site and packrat like a fiend. When I started writing this one of the boys happened to be strolling by and started reading over my shoulder. After a few labored signs and grunts he said, "If you keep writing these things, people are going to think you are insane". Huh? They are going to think I am insane? I thought that was an established fact by now.
So, about the title. That might need a bit of explaining. It is completely possible to make a huge profit selling seasonal items without getting ripped off of left with overstock items after the holiday. Personally, I never sell all of a certain item even if it is something that I know I can buy in a shop or from the Shop Wizard at a good price. Why? Because you never know when Neopets is going to retire and item. If I said it once, I will say it a thousand times. "NeoFashion". I had more than a few copies of this book and [yes I am still kicking myself] sold them without having 20 or 30 copies in my SDB [safety deposit box]. Not even two days later it was retired and now the selling price on them is over a million NP. That is where the delicate balance comes into play; when to have enough that you can sell excess items without feeling like you are shorting yourself if something gets retired. Another thing to think about are items that are used for Avatars. The price never really goes down on them if they are one time use things [books, potions and food mainly].
My Tips On Seasonal Items
1. Buy when they are the cheapest. This is the best way to ensure yourself a nice profit on items. Books, food and one time use items [like battle muffins] are a great investment. Don't rush on to the site and buy the first thing that comes up on the Shop Wizard; eventually prices on things given out for free will drop and that is when people like me buy like crazy. I am the kind of person that just doesn't feel safe unless I have over a hundred of something but I will sell if they price goes through the roof; the Scarab Cookie is a prime example of it. When I joined the site you could buy them at the Food Stall for 120np, they were sold for about the same price. For whatever reason, I thought they were cute so I started buying them and buying them and buying them. When I had over 600 of them I started to question my sanity. I didn't pay any attention to the price of them until I went to the Food Stall about four months ago and saw them selling for over a thousand NP. Prices on the Shop Wizard confirmed it, I wasn't crazy. I stocked 100 of them at 900np and they sold within an hour. My investment of 120np made me a 780np profit on each cookie that was sold. Sure the "Scarab Cookie" isn't a seasonal item but you can see from that example how pack ratting and hoarding items can pay off.
2. Don't ignore the little things. A few years ago there was a White Kougra Plushie that was given away at the Advent Calendar; at the time it was selling for about 50np in shops but now it is selling for over 1,000np. Why? Now it is retired and uses that joined after it was given out want one. That is the beauty of retired and special items; there are always new players joining and people who have aged accounts that stopped playing but suddenly got the itch to come back to the site. Sometimes it's the things that sell the cheapest that will make you the most profit. The Starry Hair Brush is a great example of that. These could be found for just a couple of NP when the AC was up and running, even after December, they were still dirt cheap. Now they are going for over 200np because there is a demand for them. People that collect grooming items, Starry merchandise and the blue and yellow combo all want them. So the next time you are shopping and see a cheap item, buy it because you never know what it is going to sell for in a year or so.
3. You will rarely make a quick profit from seasonal items. If you are only in it for the short haul then sell what you have and enjoy your NP. If you want to packrat and hoard things then you will have to wait for things to increase in price. Things that were given away two years ago that were selling for 20 to 30np [like the "Cranberry Gummy Slorg"] are now selling for over 300np. Why? It was an Advent Calendar item, it is retired and when they are gone, they are gone. The only time you are going to make a true quick profit is if you are one of the first people to get an item from the AC and sell it to someone that checks the Shop Wizard and sees that there are only five or six of them being sold. This is completely unethical and if you scam someone like this, I hope the Tax Beast hits you and steals everything.
4. Plan ahead. Don't start stocking up on Halloween items at the beginning of October. Start in the summer or right after the holiday so you can buy the items at the lowest price. That goes for every holiday that is celebrated at the site. The exception to this is the Birthday Goodie Bags that are given out at random. I didn't get any for weeks after the sites birthday but managed to get a few here and there as random events. These are the things that users have no control over therefore the price on things like this are hard to nail. The decision to open a bag and see what's inside or sell it for a 7K profit is a tricky thing; moreover, do you sell it now or wait for it to retire and get even more from it?
5. Scout the Wiz! I usually have an extra window open when I am working on other things and I type in something that I am looking to stock up and hit the refresh button whenever I am taking a break or waiting for something to print up. This way I never have to worry about getting that dreaded, "Too Many Searches!" message and can scout the Shop Wizard for deals. I do try to dump my inventory into my SDB every ten or fifteen minutes so that if I come across a shop that has a lot of cheap or inexpensively priced items, I can grab what I want without going over the 50 item inventory limit.
Christmas
The Advent Calendar gives out some of the best items; the kicker here is that it is free to all Neopians. Now, like some of the daily events, you may have to be a member for 48 to 72 hours to collect from the calendar but that is done so people won't create twenty accounts solely to grab the freebies. A few years ago it gave away Snowy Paint Brushes that have seen a steady increase in price. This past Christmas they were selling for a solid 20K, not a bad profit if you buy them for 13K in the off season. Retired items that are worth stocking up on: "Seasonal Pudding", "A Faerie Christmas", "Seasonal Stamp", "Christmas Uni Plushie", "Seasonal Battle Duck", "Seasonal Faerie Tales", "Seasonal Evil Coconut", "Christmas Brucicle", "Merry Christmas Card". I have no idea where the "Christmas Nova" came from but it is listed as a special item; I bought a massive amount of these at 500np and sold them this past Christmas for 1,800np and higher.
Other great Christmas items to stock up on in the off season include candy canes of any variety. This past year I had over 300 of them that I bought for under 200np each; I didn't get greedy and charge 800 to 900np for them, my price was 775 each and when I would stock them, they would be gone in a matter of minutes. Why? It is a food item so once you feed it to your pet it disappears from your inventory. Any of the seasonal stained glass windows that feature trees, candy canes, snow or other Christmassy themes will sell well but the trick is knowing when to sell them and when to start dropping the price when the market flood with them. Stockings sell well but the red ones seem to always go for more; you can find these in the Toy Shop but they aren't stocked all that often. The prices in the Toy Shop are about 1,500np and while that sounds like a lot, when you are reselling them for about 4 to 5K, you are making a nice profit on them. Most of the stockings can be played with and once your pet does, it disappears from your inventory but you are given a few smaller toys to play with. These are items that are listed as 'special' when you view them; meaning that they aren't sold in a shop.
Advent Calendar items that have seen a steady increase include the following items: "Bumper Prize Stocking", "Morguss Spell Book", "Mint Chocolate Tree", "Walking Book", "Seasonal Stamp", "Turkey Packed Lunch", "Plastic Fir", "Super Happy Icy Fun Snow Shop Card", "Cranberry Gummy Slorg" [yeah, I have almost a thousand of them!], "Roaring Log Fire", "Beautifully Wrapped Present" and any of the crackers [toys] that were given out like the "Blue Nimmo Cracker", "Starry Xweetok Cracker" and "Red Hissi Cracker". No doubt the books given out with the 2006 Advent Calendar will go up in price over the coming year: A Ruki Christmas, "My Neighbour The Zombie" and "Anger Management for Navigators". But one of my favorite items to collect from the 2006 calendar is the Chocolate Jhudora. My prediction for food items that will increase over time: "Mint Swirl Cookie", "Snot-Covered Cookies" [think Halloween!] and "Shell-Topped Cupcakes".
Valentine's Day
Nothing makes Neopians go crazier than trying to find that special gift for a NeoFriend; thankfully the site has a lot of cool gifts that you can send them. The cheaper items are the "Red Plastic Ring", "Plastic Gem Ring", "Plastic Ring" and all of the 'cheap' battle rings [Cheap Fire Ring, Cheap Water Ring etc]. Now, the "Pink Codestone Earrings" were selling for about 200np but these days, if you find them under 300 you better grab them quick because as soon as February rolls around, the prices are going to go up. The Gift Shop sells some of the best items for this holiday but cute toys, plushies and food items also make great gifts. I have been sitting on 45 "Valentine's Muffins" since last year; people sold them right after the holiday and the prices dropped significantly but as usual, they have gone up in price so now they are going to sell for about 15K or more when I ended up paying under 3K for them. "Heart Shaped Sand Sculptures" were selling for 5 or 10np, now they are over 75 and climbing. Go figure. Likewise, "Heart Shaped Sunglasses" are over 350 at the moment. Muahahaha, I stocked up when they were selling for 150.
Even the Pretty Bouquet that usually sells at 20 – 30np is going up with Valentine's Day approaching. Things that I have already stocked up on include: "Pop-Up Valentine's Day Card", "Pink Codestone Earrings", various battle rings, "Plastic Ring of Sloth", all the Valentine's plushies, Mysterious Valentine's Day Card [this may still get you the avatar if you send it to someone] and other red, pink and purple items that seem to sell like crazy. When is the best time to sell items? That is a tricky question to answer. You don't want to wait until the last minute because then the market will be flooded with people selling but you don't want to sell too early of you won't make a huge profit. Sure, I don't like charging huge prices for something that, at other times, sell for a low price but it is supply and demand baby and I am in it to make a profit.
What am I going to cash in on this Valentine's Day? "Valentines Day T-Shirt", "Valentines Earrings", "Valentines Negg", "Valentines Bouquet", "Valentines Cookies", "Valentines Chocolate Selection", "Valentines Heart Shaped Chocolate Box", "Silver Valentines Ring", "Valentines Kadoatie Plushie" [these will be hot this year] and the coveted "Valentines Day Ring". I plan on ripping down my shop about a week for Valentine's day and stocking all the items that I have packratted; if I don't have the Adam Avatar by then, I will surely have it after the 14th of February.
Easter
Without a doubt, my favorite things to stock up on for Easter are the "Easter Negg Cookies", "Easter Neggs" and "Kacheeps". The "Kacheeps" were special items given away at the site in Halloween gift bags and when they were first introduced, no one really paid any attention to them and they were selling for 20 to 25np. Now the price has steadily increased and the last time I checked, they were over 150np. These look a lot like the Easter marshmallow Peeps so people like to feed them to their pets for the holiday. Since it is a food item, once you feed it to your pet, it vanishes from your inventory. Anything that is Cybunny related goes up a little in price; books and toys usually see the biggest push but the chocolate Cybunnies do fetch a nice price.
Items to keep your eyes peeled for in the shops and on the Wizard: "Pink Easter Negg Cookie", "Pink Snowbunny Easter Negg", "Starflower Patterned Easter Negg" and the "Pink Easter Negg Cookie". Cybunny items that sell well for me at Easter time: "Chocolate Chip Cybunny Cookie", "Blue Cybunny Balloon", "Cybunny Chocolate Egg" and the "Cybunny Colouring Book". I am sure that this Easter there will be new items added to the site so be sure to read the News page and check the message boards for the latest scoop.
Halloween
Ahhh, one of my favorite times at the site. So much so that my entire gallery is filled with Halloween related items. I do have to thank the people in my guild though, they sent me more than a few things for it and I don't mind saying that I blew well over 2 million NP on getting the rarer items. Every Halloween there are gift bags around the site; usually someone posts a list of where they can be found on the message boards but sometimes it's fun to see how many you can find on your own. The gift bags do not all contain the same items; you may open on to find Snotty Ghost Toast and a Spooky Paint Brush and another to find some common spooky food items like an Almost Gummy Rat. The beauty of this is that you aren't paying anything to get the bag but if you are smart you will grab extras that you can sell the following year. The bags from 2005 were moved to retired status when the 2006 bags were listed at the site. That doesn't mean that the items in the bags were retired too so don't believe people that tell you that.
This year the Halloween Ixi Plushie must have been in the goodie bags or on Tarla's giveaway bar because they flooded the site and were selling for a couple hundred NP; the price on these usually goes up before Halloween so those who packratted them will see a nice profit on them. Costumes like the Meuka Halloween Costume, Count Von Roo Halloween Costume and Vira Halloween Costume sell almost dirt cheap in the off months but rise before the holiday. The Halloween Decorative Banner is a nice thing to clean up on it you can get it while it is in the shops on half price day [the third of every month]. I was disappointed that the price of "Spooky Doughnuts" dropped but that didn't stop me from buying as many as I could when they were selling for 10np. Even scarier, I have over 700 of them in my SDB. Spooky Stickers are always great sellers and because they are a 'special' item; they can't be bought in shops. You can thank pack ratters like myself for buying tons of them and keeping the prices high so that when people do decide to sell, they can make a profit.
My strategy for keeping a good stock of common spooky food is pretty simple. Everyday I have a list of things that I buy; I buy five or more of them so when Halloween rolls around I can sell them under Wiz price but still make a really nice profit on them. They include: "Spooky Shake", "Eyeballberry", "Chilled Eyeball Custard", "Spooky Raspberry Pie", "Spooky Gooplecream", "Eye Candy", "Eyeball Slurpy", "Glaring Eye Wrap", all the Gummy Rat flavors and "Eye of Mortog Soup". I don't have the time to search for every one of those but I do have a list taped up on the side of the computer that I work from. The best books to stock up on for Halloween include: "Book of Bones", "No Bones About It", "Watch Out!", "My Neighbour The Zombie", "The Legend of Count von Roo", "Kikos Darkside", "Trick or Treat Tips", "Mystery Of Halloween", any of the spell books, "Dark Faerie Magic", "Spooky Stories", "One Scary Night" and "Spooky Korbat Stories". There are more titles but frankly, I doubt anyone has made it this far through the editorial.
The Bottom Line
A friend of mine asked me why I loved Neopets so much. He didn't have a reply when I asked him a month later why he got so addicted to it after I coaxed him into joining. My kids are the ones that got me started on the site and they still play from time to time but mostly log in to collect their NP, grab the dailies and play games. The site has taught them a lot of money [in the form of neopoints but still currency], responsibility and having common sense when they are at the Trading Post or bidding on auctions. They didn't really pay any attention to the seasonal items until I explained it to them [buy low, sell modest], that's when they started buying massive amounts of things that were selling dirt cheap and turning around when the season would arrive and making a killing. They never got greedy or charged too much for them so their shops were never stocked for too long. That's basically the way I operate. 90% of the stuff I sell makes me a nice profit but I don't go with the 'mall prices' and charge 5K for a jar of baby food. Maybe that's why I am less than 500,000K away from the Adam Avatar. Yes Adam, I am coming for you!
As always, thanks for the visit…
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2007 Freak369
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