FYI: How to deal with cheapskate Customers

Zechnophobe · 04-29-2012, 02:18 PM

We've all seen it. The little girl comes in demanding a bracelet, and no matter WHAT price we sell it for, she won't pay! Or that old man who is never happy with what we suggest for him.

Worse yet, sometimes you'll see lots of customers in the store, but none actually buy anything! What the heck!

The secret, my dear friends, is that each customer has a fixed amount of money with them. They WILL NOT be able to afford anything more than that amount, no matter how smooth your haggling skills.

The time when you have the biggest problem with this, is when they ask you for a suggestion. "I want a bracelet" she'll say. But she doesn't tell you how much money she has! Let me say now, that the Little Girls start with only about 550 pix on them. So if they want candy? Don't offer them a candy apple. Don't offer them taiyaki. They can't possibly afford it.

If they aren't buying items in your store, it is often because they don't like the items you have, or simply can't afford them.

Exception: If you display an item in the store window, the customer may see if and bring in a little more money than normal to buy it. This is why you want to put your items that are a bit more expensive in there.

When do customers start bringing in more money? Easy, look for the HEART icon that pops up after you make a deal with them. The more experience you get from a given deal, the faster you get 'hearts' from the clients. More hearts means you can sell much better goods. A little girl goes from 600 pix to like 5000 after she gets the first heart! That's a huge difference!

So what to do? First, keep track of how many hearts each client has. I have a little notepad I jot it down in. Second, always have goods on display that are in the price range of different clients. That way they will actually purchase something instead of leaving without. Third, do not display items people can't afford, or that clients in the current timeslice don't like. The Vase you got from the Jade Way? Nope. No one will be able to afford that for a while, even if they ask for 'a treasure'. Keep it in the back.

Good luck, and Capitalism Ho!

Parzec · 04-29-2012, 06:18 PM

And that's one of the two reasons why it's good to offer goods for just a small markup instead of trying to squeeze every drop possible in them transactions.

It's also a good idea to keep cheap bracelets, books, candy and hats in stock just in case.

Miraglyth · 05-01-2012, 11:40 PM

I hate to be the person that shouts "Old!" but... isn't that really well-known by now? I'm wondering if I've even seen that set of paragraphs verbatim elsewhere.

After the first couple of weeks the main combo breaker is never the little girl, but Euria, and there isn't a solution for her save starting another loop and avoiding the event that makes her visit.

Zechnophobe · 05-07-2012, 05:02 PM

Well, it's definitely known by a lot of people, but I was noticing threads in here where people clearly didn't understand how it worked, so I figured I'd type it up so people with this question can get some help.

M.o.U. · 07-16-2012, 12:01 PM

I don't care what anyone says, I swear the little girls don't have ANY money. She won't even buy bread from me near the end of my loan payments! I offered bread at 78% and she yelled at me... wtf

porous_shield · 07-19-2012, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M.o.U.

I don't care what anyone says, I swear the little girls don't have ANY money. She won't even buy bread from me near the end of my loan payments! I offered bread at 78% and she yelled at me... wtf

Sell things to her she can afford. After stocking a few items specifically for her it didn't take long before I was selling her >12,000 pix presents for her brother and father for items that had their price increased.

Dragonwing · 07-19-2012, 11:39 PM

But how do u realy see the diffrent betwin when youre selling and when your buying? the first week it was easy to see for me.. but now when i play twice i bougth stuff with 120% and not 75%

can someone help me with seing a diffrense?

porous_shield · 07-20-2012, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragonwing

But how do u realy see the diffrent betwin when youre selling and when your buying? the first week it was easy to see for me.. but now when i play twice i bougth stuff with 120% and not 75%

can someone help me with seing a diffrense?

When you're buying Recette's words above the price are yellow while when you're selling they are white.

Selling: "Capitalism ho!" "What price should I..."

Buying (Yellow): "What's a good price?"

Boelens259 · 07-21-2012, 08:01 AM

Little girls have bought stuff from me at 110% of base price, sometimes 2k+ items. It's not hard, just changen your store atmosphere a bit.

cyborgt · 09-01-2012, 06:47 PM

Speaking of buying stuff from people, I find it interesting that the game told me I should shoot for 50-70% value on items but when I tried for it I easily got 40%. It also suggested 130%+ value for selling items but I've yet to manage to get anyone to accept even 130% (other than the guy from the merchant's guild who always seems ridiculously happy to give me a good deal.)

I have to wonder though, why does the game sell me so many thankful statues so early? Nobody wants to buy them but by the third week i've accumulated ~7 of them from people wanting to offload them on me. I've managed to sell the 20k vase but a ~5k statue just won't move. It's getting to the point where I force the issue on their price going as low as 35% of their value (hillariously people still accept it and I keep getting more.)

JimboTCB · 09-02-2012, 03:32 AM

I do like how the in-game tutorial gives you just about the worst possible advice, ensuring that your merchant level goes up really slowly and your relationships with your customers barely increases. Pile it high and sell it cheap, keep loads of bottom-tier items in stock for the cheapskate customers, and worry more about keeping your combo going than maximising the profit on each individual sale.

cyborgt · 09-02-2012, 11:22 AM

Yeah, I quickly came to that realization after a very short time looking at information about this game here on the forums. One thing lead to another and I eventually found myself on the wiki reading that I can get up to 15x the xp I get from a haggled sale if I just go for a price they'll take quickly.

How nice of the game to never inform me of such a detail. I made more money from my early sales but I could have been making FAR more with a higher merchant level from asking for less money.

Oh well, i'm making the deadlines easy enough so I guess I can't complain too much. I don't really understand this heart advice though. Where does the heart pop up? How long can I expect it to take for them to get a heart? Is there any indication after the first appearance of a heart as to how many you have with a person? Do any of the story moments in town (like sewing up the girl's doll) affect how quickly customers get the hearts?

JimboTCB · 09-03-2012, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyborgt

I don't really understand this heart advice though. Where does the heart pop up? How long can I expect it to take for them to get a heart? Is there any indication after the first appearance of a heart as to how many you have with a person? Do any of the story moments in town (like sewing up the girl's doll) affect how quickly customers get the hearts?

I don't think events in town do anything, but after maybe half a dozen or so successful trades you should see them "level up". It's kind of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing, just a little heart in a speech bubble next to their portrait while they're saying their post-sale dialogue line, and as far as I know there's no way in game of actually seeing how many times they've levelled up and how much they like you.

cyborgt · 09-03-2012, 12:10 PM

Huh, that sounds about as convenient as figuring out how to play the game has been. Oh well, i've already beaten it and I did very little adventuring to do it. making that last 500k deadline was ridiculously easy. I just spent the last day walking around town seeing what final story moments I could get before ending it.

I've considered playing it again with a greater focus on adventuring but honestly I can't see that working much better than the heavy town trade strategy I used for this game. Grinding out merchant levels for better loot in town seems to easily make every deadline and adventuring gets pretty booring VERY quickly considering how many practically worthless items there are and how little inventory space you get to bring them back.

That being said, I can deffinately see how it could prove very profitable if you research item fushions ahead of time since you can grind out things like charred lizards for very early 14k items to sell. I just wish there was a way to simply gift items to an adventurer permanently because using up bag space to take along gear just isn't worth it and getting them to buy the best gear in shop is a huge pain since it usually sells to someone else 5 times over before they even think to ask about it.

loraen · 09-06-2012, 12:08 PM

I recently finished the game for the first time (well, "finished" as in I got to Endless mode) and I was pondering the adventurer equipping thing and the idea I'm going to try is to furnish the shop to cater to a particular adventurer's tastes, set 1 showcase table to offer the piece of equipment I want them to have, have 1 in stock too and the rest of the display space I either leave empty or fill with walnut bread or something.

This idea popped up from me trying to pin down the +30xp exact sale prices for various characters by displaying bread only, which seemed to lead to an increase of customers asking me for anything else but bread. (Although one old man was so senile that he came to ask me if I had any food.. sold him a walnut bread. :-p )

And on the actual topic, yeah, customers "leveling up" is really easy to miss, and without reading the wiki you won't know what their actual budget is even then.
This applies to your first playthrough anyway, as New Game Plus keeps your old customer levels.

04-29-2012, 02:18 PM	#1
Zechnophobe Join Date: Nov 2007 Reputation: 159 Posts: 952	FYI: How to deal with cheapskate Customers We've all seen it. The little girl comes in demanding a bracelet, and no matter WHAT price we sell it for, she won't pay! Or that old man who is never happy with what we suggest for him. Worse yet, sometimes you'll see lots of customers in the store, but none actually buy anything! What the heck! The secret, my dear friends, is that each customer has a fixed amount of money with them. They WILL NOT be able to afford anything more than that amount, no matter how smooth your haggling skills. The time when you have the biggest problem with this, is when they ask you for a suggestion. "I want a bracelet" she'll say. But she doesn't tell you how much money she has! Let me say now, that the Little Girls start with only about 550 pix on them. So if they want candy? Don't offer them a candy apple. Don't offer them taiyaki. They can't possibly afford it. If they aren't buying items in your store, it is often because they don't like the items you have, or simply can't afford them. Exception: If you display an item in the store window, the customer may see if and bring in a little more money than normal to buy it. This is why you want to put your items that are a bit more expensive in there. When do customers start bringing in more money? Easy, look for the HEART icon that pops up after you make a deal with them. The more experience you get from a given deal, the faster you get 'hearts' from the clients. More hearts means you can sell much better goods. A little girl goes from 600 pix to like 5000 after she gets the first heart! That's a huge difference! So what to do? First, keep track of how many hearts each client has. I have a little notepad I jot it down in. Second, always have goods on display that are in the price range of different clients. That way they will actually purchase something instead of leaving without. Third, do not display items people can't afford, or that clients in the current timeslice don't like. The Vase you got from the Jade Way? Nope. No one will be able to afford that for a while, even if they ask for 'a treasure'. Keep it in the back. Good luck, and Capitalism Ho!

09-02-2012, 11:22 AM	#12
cyborgt Join Date: Dec 2009 Reputation: 0 Posts: 17	Yeah, I quickly came to that realization after a very short time looking at information about this game here on the forums. One thing lead to another and I eventually found myself on the wiki reading that I can get up to 15x the xp I get from a haggled sale if I just go for a price they'll take quickly. How nice of the game to never inform me of such a detail. I made more money from my early sales but I could have been making FAR more with a higher merchant level from asking for less money. Oh well, i'm making the deadlines easy enough so I guess I can't complain too much. I don't really understand this heart advice though. Where does the heart pop up? How long can I expect it to take for them to get a heart? Is there any indication after the first appearance of a heart as to how many you have with a person? Do any of the story moments in town (like sewing up the girl's doll) affect how quickly customers get the hearts? Last edited by cyborgt: 09-02-2012 at 11:40 AM.

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04-29-2012, 06:18 PM	#2
Parzec Join Date: Apr 2012 Reputation: 0 Posts: 24	And that's one of the two reasons why it's good to offer goods for just a small markup instead of trying to squeeze every drop possible in them transactions. It's also a good idea to keep cheap bracelets, books, candy and hats in stock just in case.

05-01-2012, 11:40 PM	#3
Miraglyth Join Date: Jan 2008 Reputation: 90 Posts: 850	I hate to be the person that shouts "Old!" but... isn't that really well-known by now? I'm wondering if I've even seen that set of paragraphs verbatim elsewhere. After the first couple of weeks the main combo breaker is never the little girl, but Euria, and there isn't a solution for her save starting another loop and avoiding the event that makes her visit.

05-07-2012, 05:02 PM	#4
Zechnophobe Join Date: Nov 2007 Reputation: 159 Posts: 952	Well, it's definitely known by a lot of people, but I was noticing threads in here where people clearly didn't understand how it worked, so I figured I'd type it up so people with this question can get some help.

07-16-2012, 12:01 PM	#5
M.o.U. Join Date: Oct 2008 Reputation: 0 Posts: 121	I don't care what anyone says, I swear the little girls don't have ANY money. She won't even buy bread from me near the end of my loan payments! I offered bread at 78% and she yelled at me... wtf

07-19-2012, 11:39 PM	#7
Dragonwing Join Date: Jul 2012 Reputation: 0 Posts: 1	But how do u realy see the diffrent betwin when youre selling and when your buying? the first week it was easy to see for me.. but now when i play twice i bougth stuff with 120% and not 75% can someone help me with seing a diffrense?

07-21-2012, 08:01 AM	#9
Boelens259 Join Date: Dec 2011 Reputation: 15 Posts: 157	Little girls have bought stuff from me at 110% of base price, sometimes 2k+ items. It's not hard, just changen your store atmosphere a bit.

09-01-2012, 06:47 PM	#10
cyborgt Join Date: Dec 2009 Reputation: 0 Posts: 17	Speaking of buying stuff from people, I find it interesting that the game told me I should shoot for 50-70% value on items but when I tried for it I easily got 40%. It also suggested 130%+ value for selling items but I've yet to manage to get anyone to accept even 130% (other than the guy from the merchant's guild who always seems ridiculously happy to give me a good deal.) I have to wonder though, why does the game sell me so many thankful statues so early? Nobody wants to buy them but by the third week i've accumulated ~7 of them from people wanting to offload them on me. I've managed to sell the 20k vase but a ~5k statue just won't move. It's getting to the point where I force the issue on their price going as low as 35% of their value (hillariously people still accept it and I keep getting more.)

09-02-2012, 03:32 AM	#11
JimboTCB Join Date: Jul 2010 Reputation: 0 Posts: 7	I do like how the in-game tutorial gives you just about the worst possible advice, ensuring that your merchant level goes up really slowly and your relationships with your customers barely increases. Pile it high and sell it cheap, keep loads of bottom-tier items in stock for the cheapskate customers, and worry more about keeping your combo going than maximising the profit on each individual sale.

09-03-2012, 12:10 PM	#14
cyborgt Join Date: Dec 2009 Reputation: 0 Posts: 17	Huh, that sounds about as convenient as figuring out how to play the game has been. Oh well, i've already beaten it and I did very little adventuring to do it. making that last 500k deadline was ridiculously easy. I just spent the last day walking around town seeing what final story moments I could get before ending it. I've considered playing it again with a greater focus on adventuring but honestly I can't see that working much better than the heavy town trade strategy I used for this game. Grinding out merchant levels for better loot in town seems to easily make every deadline and adventuring gets pretty booring VERY quickly considering how many practically worthless items there are and how little inventory space you get to bring them back. That being said, I can deffinately see how it could prove very profitable if you research item fushions ahead of time since you can grind out things like charred lizards for very early 14k items to sell. I just wish there was a way to simply gift items to an adventurer permanently because using up bag space to take along gear just isn't worth it and getting them to buy the best gear in shop is a huge pain since it usually sells to someone else 5 times over before they even think to ask about it.

09-06-2012, 12:08 PM	#15
loraen Join Date: Oct 2008 Reputation: 0 Posts: 73	I recently finished the game for the first time (well, "finished" as in I got to Endless mode) and I was pondering the adventurer equipping thing and the idea I'm going to try is to furnish the shop to cater to a particular adventurer's tastes, set 1 showcase table to offer the piece of equipment I want them to have, have 1 in stock too and the rest of the display space I either leave empty or fill with walnut bread or something. This idea popped up from me trying to pin down the +30xp exact sale prices for various characters by displaying bread only, which seemed to lead to an increase of customers asking me for anything else but bread. (Although one old man was so senile that he came to ask me if I had any food.. sold him a walnut bread. :-p ) And on the actual topic, yeah, customers "leveling up" is really easy to miss, and without reading the wiki you won't know what their actual budget is even then. This applies to your first playthrough anyway, as New Game Plus keeps your old customer levels.