Is Running A Shop Profitable?

[Jawnson]

I've not much experience in the marketplace, and I'd like to hear from a few people to know if you can actually make a substantial sum from running a shop.

 

[krios41]

if you sell the right things: yes

 

[Hiddenmonkey10]

There are a few people, many of which no-life in darkrooms in order to gain chests full of enchantment books... Otherwise, to my knowledge, not many people CAN make a substantial sum.. In fact, the best way to make money is to sell to some stalls and kill mobs for their 1r money drop..

 

[DrFong]

Yes, yes it is. You just have to have the right products and the right angle.

Merchandising! Merchandising!

MassiveCraft the lunchbox, MassiveCraft the coloring book!
MassiveCraft the FLAMETHROWER!

 

[Shawn]

MassiveCraft the FLAMETHROWER!

Click to shrink...

Dr. Fong is going places people. I'd advise listening to him.

 

[Loewe2011]

Hey there,
just as Hiddenmonkey10 said, you have to spend a lot of time on massivecraft if you want to make profit out of the marketplace.
But you need proper facts. For example: Which products are needed, are they easy and fast to obtain and you have to sell them cheaper than the business competition on the market in Regalia. To be honest, i don't have a clue about the economysystem on this server, but i know for sure, enchanted books (e.g. Unbreaking III, really hard to obtain if you don't spend 24/7 on the server), diamonds (those are the easiest one to obtain but not the fastest, wasting hours of mining to get a decent amount) and rare valuable items (enderpearls, ghast tears, etc.) are the best way to make money in a shop.

So if you want to set up a successful shop in Regalias marketplace, prepare your real life for it, because you won't have one.

 

[Omnomivore]

In order to be successful with a shop the following things must be taken into account:

• Items in demand (what items do you know /will/ be bought, as they are often sought after)
  
• Inventory (be sure you have plenty of the items you want to sell so you can constantly keep your shop stocked)
• Competition (How many other people are selling the same item as you? You need to keep a competitive price, especially if your shop is not in a prime location)
• Location (How much traffic will your shop get due to where it is located? Rich shops have the best location, but they are the most expensive. If you cannot earn back your rent on the shop and make a profit, it's not worth it. If you purchase a cheap shop back in the corner, it may be cheap but unless you can really advertise it, you might have very few people that will find it.)

I have kept a shop a couple of times, and both times I managed to earn back my rent and make a small profit, even though I wasn't in a prime location. That being said, I prefer to just stock up then auction off in bulk on trade. I find it easier and I don't have to fret about keeping shops stocked.

 

[schmemeking]

It would also help to post threads here when doing big sales, using the forums is probably the biggest advantage you can ever have as more people are able to look at it and thus there's more people will be interested.

 

[leversandpulleys]

Jawnson,

They certainly can be. Right now I have a shop with extremely high visibility, and that helps, but I'm using the same model that made me money at my old location, one that I don't think there's enough of in the marketplace. I like using chests to buy and sell, expecting only a small profit (mostly) per transaction. And, (with some exceptions) I don't stock the store -- I let others do it for me. If a chest doesn't refill itself, I adjust the Sell price (price I buy the item at from players) accordingly. I sell items to players at fair market, and I buy from them just slightly higher than the average. As long as I make something off a hands-free transaction, I'm happy.

In my old, low visibility location I did this with enchantments, because they supported a higher profit per transaction and that suited the location (ex. B100:S60). Now, I can do so using basic blocks/building materials (ex. B12:S8). That's fun, because not only do I not have to stock the store, I can use the place as my own self-stocking storage closet. I'm only refilling chests now and then when I'm feeling impatient, when I have extra from my personal stock, or when there seems to be a run on an item across the market.

Bear in mind, that I'm likely only able to do this using lower priced items because of my location, but I made back rent and then some without restocking even when I was in a low visibility stall. I just had to do so using enchantments. In particular, efficiency and knockback did very well. I suppose they are just valuable enough for people to search them out in the market, but not so coveted that players with extra won't sell them to a shop-chest.

Anyhow, I'm mentioning all this just to note that there are models out there that might not involve you signing your life over to the shop. Also, everything Omnomivore said should be taken to heart.

levers

 

[Mecharic]

I need to restock my shop... that said, I *think* I made like 4-5k on it, because I ended up with a lot more money after my inactivity period than before it xD

 

[Jawnson]

Ah, this all very good advice! It's certainly not the get-rich-quick scheme that most players think of when envisioning a store.

 

[Zero_00]

Ah, this all very good advice! It's certainly not the get-rich-quick scheme that most players think of when envisioning a store.

Click to shrink...

Honestly I'd sell local to your faction and such until you have a big inventory. It's not really worth the rent on the stalls otherwise.