Restocking 101: Setting a "Buy Limit" at Neopets

What is a "buy limit"? It is when you set a maximum price you will send on an item. If you know that something is selling extremely cheap you can use the Search Wizard to look for bargains. Here is an example: If "Red Apple" normally sells for 300 NP or higher but is currently in the low 100's you can set your buy rate at 150 NP so when the price rebounds after the Haunted Faire you will have a good stock of them and will be able to turn a nice, easy profit. People panic and start selling things because they fail to realize that the prices will go back to normal on them.

The current market situation is good for hoarders, bad for restockers. Why? With the temporary closure of the Faerieland Employment Agency, lack of Faerie quests through random events and site events that are giving away a lot of free things - well, most people are getting frustrated that their shops are not being cleared. For me, a hoarder, it is a most glorious time. I can stock up on hundreds of cheap items that will sell for ten to fifty times what I paid for them. This involves patience. If you want a quick return then hoarding is not for you.

What makes hoarding pay off? Look at the current price of "Spooky Doughnut", "Pumpkin Cookies" and "Pumpkin Pie". Notice anything out of the ordinary? The prices have skyrocketed since they were items that were asked for as part the "Gnorbu" quest during the Haunted Faire. The items are taken to "Culinary Concoctions" and mixed to make "Freaky Pumpkin Bites" - an item that you need to complete the quest.

So if you hoarded hundreds of these items and sold them when the price started to rise you may be kicking yourself. Why? Selling them for 200 - 300 NP is a nice profit but considering the "Pumpkin Cookies" are now selling for at least 7K you can see how much more you could have made. If you set a 'buy limit' of 100 NP on them to start with, do the math on the profit margin. The only trick is knowing when to sell, what to price them at and when to anticipate the market doing a downward spiral. Since this is an event that runs through the end of the month you can expect the prices to stay high for at least another four or five days or until the market gets flooded with people who are low-balling their selling price to get rid of stock that they overpaid for because they did not hoard.

It is impossible to know what to stock up on. It is a shot in the dark. I always buy Spooky Food when it is cheap because even the inexpensive items will turn a profit around Halloween. Likewise, the week after Halloween is a critical time to hoard - people get things as gifts and from treat bags and they want to get rid of them. That's fine. That means more for me. So what am I hoarding? Here is a sample of my list with some other information:

"Almost Gummy Rat (Lime)": My buy limit is 100 NP on these; they will rebound over the next six months and sell for at least 800 - 900 NP. These are sometimes asked for items at the Faerieland Employment Agency and for Edna's recipes.

"Ichor Ghost Toast" Most Ghost Toast are strong sellers; they are items that are asked for by Edna from time to time and people love them for galleries.

"Bleeding Heart Jelly Sundae" Buying all that are 300 NP or less; not only is this a nice item for Halloween but it will also sell fast for Valentine's Day.

Other items that I am hoarding include " Clockwork Halloween Flizzardo", "Undead Cheese Wedge", "Hunted Snowglobe", "Knuckle Sandwich", all of the super cheap Halloween costumes and "Scorchio Halloween Wand".