"NearPin" or something appears when selling?

[TwistedKestrel]

Sometimes when selling, usually to Louie or the little girl, a blue message appears that looks like "NearPin" but I can't quite read it (it will be followed by the Just combo and experience messages in the same location.) Does anybody have any idea what this message means?

[MithranArkanere]

That's the Just combo system.

The Merchant exp given for each successful deal is 10.
There are two separate bonuses that can ad up to that base.

When you get close to the price the client wants, you get a blue "Near Pin".
That gives you +5 Merchant Exp, for a total of +15.
When you are VERY close or JUST in the exact price, you get a Just Bonus.
That gives you +20 Merchant Exp, for a total of +30.

When the client accepts the deal in the first try without haggling, you get x2 to the Just Combo.
That multiplies the current just combo by 2.

The red and blue bonuses are the same bonus. It's red when you hit the price the client expected, blue when you are close, but not close enough, and orange the rest of the time.

Although both are added to the Merchant exp gained from the deal, Blue/red and green are independent other and calculated separately.
* For the red/blue, it doesn't matter if the client haggles, if you get the price the client expected, you get a red Just Bonus, a Near Pin if you ware close, but not close enough, and just 10 exp if you were too far from the price the client expected.
* For the green bonus, it doesn't matter if you got the expected price or not, if the client accepts the offer right away without haggling, you get a x2 to the Just Combo bonus.

The red and blue bonuses are acquired in a single deal, but the green accumulates.
By getting several of those bonuses in a row, you can stack the Just Combo.
The Just combo stacks geometrically:
2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128.
After the 7th time you pull the combo, it doesn't increase anymore. You can't get more than 128.

The max exp you can get in a single deal of a single item is like this:
* Just Bonus: 30
* Just Combo: 128.

For a total Total: 158 Merchant exp every time you make a single deal. Of course, keeping that up is almost impossible. I only managed to do that twice, once with a "Housewife sugar craze", and once again in a "Young girl book craze", because I had a lot of people buying in a row.

Anytime a client haggles or refuses a deal, the c-c-c-c-c-ombo breaks, and you have to start over again.
This balances levels and gains.
If you aim low (101..105%) you'll get lots of exp because of the Just combo, but get much less pix.
If you aim high (110%..130%) you'll get much more pix, but will get clients haggling all the time, and no just combo, thus getting much less exp.
You have to decide what you want.
I go for the exp, personally, since the cash I get comes from the dungeons.

Here's a practical example:
- You get a warning: There a fad amon little girls with books. That's the sign of a craze. You go to the window counters, and fill them all with the same book.
- Ding, you get a craze. The background music changes to a salsa beat, and the shop gets filled with little girls that wants books. It doesn't matter which ones, they want books. Now it's your opportunity to build up exp, as the girls aproeach the counter one after another:
- Girl #1: You manage to get a near pin without haggle.
> 15 + 2^1 = 15 + 2 = 17 exp.
- Girl #2: You don't get an expected price bonus, but the girl buys right away without haggling:
> 10 + 2^2 = 10 + 4 = 14 exp.
- Girl #3: You are lucky enough to pull a Just Bonus, you hit the exact price!
> 30 + 2^3 = 30 + 8 = 38 exp.
- Girl #4: You are on a roll! Again, no just price bonus, but no haggle either, so you keep the just combo:
> 10 + 2^4 = 10 + 16 = 26 exp.
- Girl #5: A Near Pin in this one!
> 15 + 2^5 = 15 + 32 = 47 exp.
- Girl #6: Using the same book was a good idea. Although the price each girl expect is different, keeping the green bonus is much easier, just 105% all the time, and the little girls always accept the price without haggling. And just price bonues are more likely! You just got another Near Pin!
> 15 + 2^6 = 15 + 64 = 79 exp. Yay.
- Girl #7: Finally! From here on, the remaining deals in this slice of time will have the full Just Combo bonus: 128. And to top it, you got a Just Bonus!
> 30 + 2^7 = 30 + 128 = 148 exp. Yay-o! Yayíssimo!
- Girl #8: The thing with these crazes is that they last for a long time, and you get a lot of people buying, so you can get to the max bonus! But... wait.... Euria!
Euria sneaked between the little girls, and now wants o sell you some random crap for 500K. Of course, you don't accept, and se expected at least 150K, so she refuses your offer of 66% of the base price, and thuse, the combo breaks. Fortunately, it was the last deal of the craze.
And here ends the slice.

Euria made you lose at least 138 exp, but it could have been worse. If she was Girl 4, you'll lose the bonus there, and start again with little girl 5: and get only +8 exp with girl 8. Lucky you, you managed to get... I think it adds up to 335 exp.
But it would have been more than 500 if you could sell to 8 crazed clients!

[TwistedKestrel]

Perfect, very clear explanation. I didn't realize there was a wiki!

[Kyun]

Sticky this, very helpful although I'm sure the majority know how the system works.

[purplesparrow]

Thanks, I was also wondering what the heck that meant.:cool:

[KDR_11k]

When the client accepts the deal in the first try without haggling, you get x2 to the Just Combo.
That multiplies the current just combo by 2.

Pretty sure it's based on being reasonably close to the right price, not getting a sale on the first offer (I almost always get a rejection on the first try but still build up the combo).

[Grug]

In my experience (day 12) a customer not accepting the initial price breaks the combo.

[AsheMan]

In my experience (day 12) a customer not accepting the initial price breaks the combo.

I concur. Mithran's explanation seems quite accurate.

[MithranArkanere]

Pretty sure it's based on being reasonably close to the right price, not getting a sale on the first offer (I almost always get a rejection on the first try but still build up the combo).

Near Pin(blue) and Just Bonus(red) are two versions of the same thing. You can get either or none, but not both, because the red is just getting much closer to the price the client expected.

Just combo(green) works separately. It doesn't matter if you get close to the expected price or not. All that matters is that the client accepts your first price.

- Red/Blue -> Getting the prize the client expected.
- Green -> Getting a price the client accepts without haggling several times in a row.

You can try it with a very simple way: sell 8 products in a row for 1 pix. ALL clients accept that price right away ALWAYS, but NO client expects that price, not even when the prices sink (The name of items get a darker tone of blue than the one when the prices just get low). You'll get 128 Just Combo, but in no way will get red or blue exp messages in the bottom left corner doing that. Just green ones, because you will never be close the the expected price.