The Junk Yard has closed

Total profit at the close of The Junk Yard: $5,343,832,656

It is true, I am retiring The Junk Yard. I still have a couple stores open with the remnants of what I believe people would still want (mostly equips and we all know how slow those move). They can be found in my original FM home on Channel 7 FM19. It’s been over two years since I put my stores there. I will not be selling any items that can be bought from NPCs (Rocks and Pots), only equips and whatever etc drops I think might sell as I venture forward to Tier 10 rings. There are a couple reasons for why I’m closing. First and foremost, I’ve made my share of mesos and I think it only fair to step aside and let others have a chance. Second, the competition for the items I’m selling has been increasing over the last year to a point where managing the stores has become more of a chore than a joy. When you no longer enjoy what you’re doing, it’s time for a change. I greatly appreciate all the business I got and more importantly the appreciation shown to me throughout this time.

One of the visions I had for the Free Market on MapleLegends is for players to tap into its potential. The random and chaotic struggle to set-up shops for what people believe is prime real estate to have a better chance to sell more stuff and/or justify higher prices has always confounded me, even back when I played on GMS. While I understand the old creed of business that one of the most important aspects of starting any business is location, location, location - it’s not the only thing that matters. On top of that, I noticed that no one was opening specialized markets for Rocks and Cures – and good server should have at least one or two people heading up that market. I thought about complaining on the forum that no one was doing it until I quickly realized the retort would be – “Why don’t you do it?” So…I did – hoping that others would eventually do the same and create a better economy for MapleLegends.

I firmly believe that the best way to approach any capitalistic venture is to always serve your community. When the people are given the products and services they want/need, then you never have to worry about making money. With 22 rooms on 6 channels, any player could theoretically set up a shop or two in 132 locations. If you’re just someone who wants to sell a few high ticket items to make money fast, it makes sense for you to set up a store on channel 1. But if you wanted to start a business, picking out a location, advertising it, setting up shops in that location every day (especially right after a server check), can make you THE place to shop for all often-needed items.

What follows is what I have learned about Free Market economics on MapleLegends and why I made the decisions about which items to sell and in what quantity.

Cash Crops:

Spoiler

Half my fortune was made selling Return to the Dead Mine scrolls. I’ll post a guaranteed method of completing the first Zakum pre-quest solo soon. The only thing really holding me back on this was the maximum of three runs per day. Nevertheless, I spent an average of 1 hour and 15 minutes to create 90 scrolls that I sold at 300k each. They would take anywhere between one to two weeks to sell. At the peak of new players coming in, there were a couple of times that I sold 90 in four days. They’re not easy items to make without some serious work put into it (6 level 50+ characters all effectively trapped in the Dead Mines).

When someone asked me to stock NLC Pots (Honsters, Mana Bulls, Ginseng, Ginger Ale), I thought this might not be such a great idea, but since this was a request of a customer, I was willing to oblige. You never know what might happen. The worst thing that could happen is they don’t sell and I now have a small stockpile for personal use later. I did not expect these items to constitute a 30% of my fortune. I could have continued making tons of mesos selling these items had I kept my mouth shut about how much money I was making. The overall consensus I was hearing was that I’m a nice guy willing to sell stuff that won’t make much money. I only had two stores devoted to NLC pots on purpose. If I made the mistake (as some of my competitors have done mimicking my store model – which I’m flattered they did, but you still made a mistake here) of making a lot of mules and opening a bunch of stores filled to the brim with these pots, then people would begin to realize I wouldn’t do this unless I was on to something. I did not begin to see any competition selling NLC pots until I was at the 2.5 billion mark and someone made a comment about how silly I was being and I let them know one thing…and that opened the floodgates to competition. I was glad, though, because the demand was so heavy and I wanted to meet the demands of the community and I just couldn’t do it without expanding the number of stores.

Which brings me to why I had only two stores, why my competitors made a mistake, and what that piece of information was that opened the floodgates to competition. Harman (ign HittingStuff) thought I was only setting up those stores for him and a few others and expressed his pity every time he saw my stores fully stocked. His thinking was, “Poor guy, nobody is buying this stuff but me.” What he didn’t know is that I constantly kept my stores restocked as often as possible in order to maximize sales, but also to give the appearance that the items aren’t moving. If they aren’t moving, why would anyone want to compete with me in a market that appears dead? This is why I chose to keep two stores and remain extra vigilant about keeping the stores stocked. My mistake was opening my big mouth to Harman and telling him that after he had recently made his daily purchase, I told him that this would be the fifth or sixth time I restocked the store that day. A little math showed I was making about $1 million mesos per restock on Honsters/Mana Bulls. It was quite lucrative. I don’t regret it, though. My mission from the beginning was to eventually step aside and let others take the reins of this market.

Essential Items:

Spoiler

When you’re only thinking of your own bottom line, you can make all the projections you want about how much money you’ll make in any market, but if you don’t have the customers’ needs in mind, you’ll find yourself struggling and frustrated. While these items never made a whole lot of profit on their own, they were very essential in establishing customer loyalty. If you show you care about your fellow players, they will make the effort to care about you in return. These items were invaluable to sell and I made sure they were stocked in my stores whenever possible.

Pet Food: How many times have you been stuck somewhere training, you run out of Pet Food, and you don’t want to travel back to town? Or worse, what if the nearest town doesn’t sell Pet Food? The guild DeathSoul used to set-up shop alongside me and they sold Pet Food, Nearest-Town Scrolls, and an assortment of other things. I chose not to sell any of those at the time because I didn’t want to compete with people who were setting their stores up next to mine – the last thing I want is a turf war. Eventually, DeathSoul stopped setting up their stores so I started selling Pet Food. You’re not going to make a lot of mesos on the items themselves, but the business they attract makes them invaluable to have in your store.

All-Cures: So many players need them, you’re going to want to have one store devoted to selling them. They make a decent amount of money, but nothing outrageous. If people know where you set-up, they know where they can go to get them every day, the more likely you are to attract business.

Summon Rocks / Magic Rocks: Not everyone needs these, but those that do very much appreciate knowing where they can get them. They’re not going to make you a ton of mesos, but they make a decent amount to justify themselves on their own. Even still, Alcaster’s long quest line is not something Assassins really look forward to doing, so if they can skip that quest line altogether and get their Summoning Rocks from an FM store, they are likely to do it. Mages, likewise, with Magic Rocks run into the same situation. Having what certain classes need creates two things: customer loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising.

Quest items: Particular etc drops are worth having in your store because while they won’t sell fast to make you any real money, players who look at a quest they need to do will thank you greatly for having them because the quest line is just being a dick. For instance, Blocktopus Key Rings. You just came out of Eos Tower only to find an NPC that wants – how many? ONE! JUST ONE! And you didn’t pick any up did you? Or did you NPC them all? Yeah…ONE…this NPC mocks you, unless you happen to have someone who sells them for 1k each in your local FM store. Speaking of Omega Sector quests, Alarm Clocks are also good to have because the Mesoranger quest lines will send you back to Ludibrium twice to pick up those damn clocks. Also, Pure Waters and Salads are good to carry, too. Unless a player is willing to travel all the way to the 24-Hour Store in the Anthill, or take a trip to Florina Beach, you won’t find Pure Waters or Salads anywhere else on Victoria Island.

Etc. Stores:

Spoiler

If you’re hunting for Monster Cards and would like to make a little bit of extra mesos on the side, there are certain etc drops you absolutely should pick up to sell in the FM. Obviously, the items necessary to make the Ellin Ring need little highlights. The issue with having an etc store, however, is you are only serving the questing population for the most part. Once they are done, they don’t need any more. You’ll be relying on new players or old players creating new characters. Even then, it’s even money if they’ll capitalize on trading mesos for experience on the quests. In a sense, this is a form of leeching, but with a much less, and rather chaotic, demand. But there are some etc drops that I’ve found never seem to quench the demands of the player base. And for all those noobs out there complaining they can’t make mesos, I’ve got news for you. You don’t have mesos because you’re not selling the cash cow that lowbies get in the form of etc drops and selling them. The following items have a high rate of sale for a decent chunk of cash that should jump start any new player’s character (players may not even care about the quests attached to these, they may just want to try their luck with the exchange quest in Orbis or Showa):

For 500 to 1000 mesos each:
Victoria Island: Pig Ribbons, Firewood, Evil Eye Tails, Curse Eye Tails, Zombie Lupin Dolls, Horny Mushroom Caps, Charms of the Undead, and Cold Eye Tails
Ludi: Cheap Battery, Rat Trap, Cogs

For 750 to 2000 mesos each:
Orbis: Solid Horns, Star Pieces, Lunar Pieces, Luster Pieces, Nependeath Seeds, Dark Nependeath Seeds, Jr. Pepe Fish
Aqua Road: Pepe Eggs, Poison Needles, Toy Seal, Seal Meat
Omega: Mateon Tentacles, Plateon Helmets, Space Food

For 400 to 600 mesos each
Victoria Island: Lupin Banana, Tablecloth
Ludibrium: Teddy’s Cotton, Toy Sword, Rat Trap

If you have any particular questions regarding the day to day operations or economic theories I created/used during this two year experiment, feel free to ask. I'll be working on a thread for an order of which of the 12 classes I liked most to least, as well as a plan for any 3rd Job interested in getting to a Tier 5 Ring (it might not be the most efficient way, but I found it worked to coincide with selling etcs in the FM).

 

Oh, I forgot to post this - eavesdropping on conversations about my stores a lot of times left me feeling appreciated. Thank you, ThiefNL! =o)