SHop Keeping Guide

Whether you choose to open up a shop or a stall, their are many things you will need to know.

First off, the difference between a shoppe and a stall is huge. Stalls are basically store fronts at the Bazzar's on some islands where as shoppes have individual store fronts accessible to view by island view. If you have enough PoE, say, 1.2mil or above, do not buy a stall, go straight to shoppe.

Why's that? The shoppes advantage over the stall surpasses by far. For one thing, a shoppe can hold much more stock. Stalls struggle to compete with shoppes. In fact most of the time, stalls are a losing cause. Most people do not profit from stalls because they don't know how to manage them properly. At least with a shoppe, you have a deed.

Why is having a shoppe deed so much better? It's like in the real world. If your leasing a car or renting a house, you don't gain back some of the money you invested once your tired of it and you want to move on. You lose everything! Stalls are pieces of trash that you rent out and they keep you always on edge to pay the next weeks rent. Shoppes come with deeds, and with deeds, you can sell like a sloop, or a warfrig.

If your having problems obtaining the money for a shoppe, simply, the answer sadly to your problems is to learn poker, or find your niche in puzzle pirates where you can make lots of money...say million or two.

Anyways, back on topic, you need to identify where the profit is comming from your shoppe. This means, looking at all the commodities available to your particular shoppe and determing the surrounding competition and prices to pay for that particular commodity. You must break out the calculator. Basics state that you in order to make profit, you must pay less than what you are selling. Too many times I see people selling stuff cheaper than what they are paying to produce items.

Just because you have a shoppe with alot of available items to sell, this does not mean you have to sell every single item. In fact, it's better not to sell every single item because it puts you at a constant strain to be the best of your competitors. Pick a few items you'd like to focus on and master that market field.

Choosing you manager is very important. This can be the downfall of your shoppe if you do not pick right. A general rule of thumb is to pick someone who is trustworthy, is not to crazy of a gambler, and comes with some dough. Yes, PoE. A manager is granted access to the coffers and has the ability to sell any of the stock from store. Make sure you have a manager that knows what he is doing or else things could get a little rough. Do tell the manager the rules of your shoppe before allowing him in.

Labor prices? How do the best do it? They create armies of alts. Alts are characters that you own. Basicly you buy the labor badges for your alts. You get them all employed at 3 of your shoppes, and they all simultaneously work at your shoppes, free of charge. Of course, not everyone has the PoE to do this. So you can also go the slightly more costly way, but is also a bit easier since you don't have to do all the work. Advertise for workers, pay the price for some competitions at the inns and as well attracting workers by inflating the prices of expert labor. Make sure you pay the basic workers fair prices as well.

Now that you have some good basics on running shoppes and stalls, this is another great way to earn PoE. I've heard of people raking in 200-700k per month working on shoppes.