37 replies to this topic

[Kyouma]

Maybe this has been answered somewhere, or its so incredibly obvious and i'm just an idiot for not seeing it, but...

Why do people buy all these items?
I know there are obvious reasons, such as they want to dress their pets, decorate their neohome, gourmet foods, read all the books, faerie quests etc etc.
But then there's these (alliteration) random items, like Fresh Baguettes (worth around 1.6k right now), for example, in which I see no point in buying, other than to perhaps fill an item collection or what not.
Its not to feed their pets, as there are obviously much more cheaper ways to do that.

So what is it that is driving the neopets economy to actually buy all the useless items out there?

[Keil]

For random items like those, I'm guessing it's for Edna Quests to get the avatar or the Kitchen quests to get more stats for the BD pet. Quests like those request randomly cheap items.

[MoriNoRyu]

Because bitches be bonkers! In the case of fresh baguettes its probably a quest ingredient like kitchen quests or something.

[Georgina]

Maybe this has been answered somewhere, or its so incredibly obvious and i'm just an idiot for not seeing it, but...

Why do people buy all these items?
I know there are obvious reasons, such as they want to dress their pets, decorate their neohome, gourmet foods, read all the books, faerie quests etc etc.
But then there's these (alliteration) random items, like Fresh Baguettes (worth around 1.6k right now), for example, in which I see no point in buying, other than to perhaps fill an item collection or what not.
Its not to feed their pets, as there are obviously much more cheaper ways to do that.

So what is it that is driving the neopets economy to actually buy all the useless items out there?

You kinda answered your own question

they want to dress their pets, decorate their neohome, gourmet foods, read all the books, faerie quests etc etc.

I don't think there is many items on neo that lack some sort of use in another area, i.e. being requested from faeries, edna, kitchen quests etc. And then there's allways those people who collect meaningless crap for gallery's

[Stunnerrunner]

Hmm, good question. I know what drives the motive behind ME buying items - profit. If there's money to be made and it's ETS, I'm golden.

Edited by Stunnerrunner, 22 July 2011 - 07:37 PM.

[Kyouma]

Hmm, good question. I know what drives the motive behind ME buying items - profit. If there's money to be made and it's ETS, I'm golden.

I have the same reason for buying from the neopets shops, but in return, those items that you bought for a profit, somebody else must be buying them too.

I don't think those quest have THAT big of an impact on the whole NP economy, do they?

Btw, I do'nt know what ETS means, so i could've missed the entire point of your post

[Pilot]

For the sake of economic materialism, I of course, wouldn't choose Fresh Baguettes. Because that would just be silly.

[carrice]

E

I have the same reason for buying from the neopets shops, but in return, those items that you bought for a profit, somebody else must be buying them too.

I don't think those quest have THAT big of an impact on the whole NP economy, do they?

Btw, I do'nt know what ETS means, so i could've missed the entire point of your post

ETS items are easy to sell items

[Shampoo]

I don't think those quest have THAT big of an impact on the whole NP economy, do they?

yes, they do.

[fruityone]

I have the same reason for buying from the neopets shops, but in return, those items that you bought for a profit, somebody else must be buying them too.

I don't think those quest have THAT big of an impact on the whole NP economy, do they?

Btw, I do'nt know what ETS means, so i could've missed the entire point of your post

During that thing when everyone got faerie quests like crazy, some common quest items that used to be like 2k went up to 10k-20k. It does have a big impact.

The only other thing I can think of is for jobs at the employment agency

[Hydrange]

I as wondering the same, some items that used to ba 150-300ish are now 1-1.5k, specially those you could get as prizes on the green-yellow dice-a-roo (Hot Pancakes, the green Gaga grub, two bottles of water, sugar doughnut...). Plus those baby dolls and the teddy bear have really low rarities (5) and the sw price skyrocket for some reason... I like to do my 5 Faerieland Employment Agency jobs every day and those two are always a loss for you...

[luvsmyncis]

Many Americans I have met have become accustomed to buying things just because they want it at that moment.

[Monkeh]

I've always wondered who the fuck wants my Lutari Totems!

[Regimax]

Well...assuming neopets has a reasonable economics system in place, then it's all just a matter of supply and demand. For example, someone above asked if quests had a big impact on the game. The answer of course is yea. The reasoning is that while say only 100 people require the baguette for a quest, only 80-85 are being stocked in the main shop. Thus, total supply drops and the price goes up and vice versa. Therefore, any price changes just reflects their usability on the game

[CmndrNim]

Also, it is good to remember the target audience as well, which is children. Children see something cute, and if they have the neopoints, they'll likely buy it regardless if it can do anything for them or not. I suppose the memberbase has moved up a bit in age. The gallery option as well is nice for those who like to collect things they think are cute even useless things. xD

[Spie]

i sometimes ask myself the same question. i would obtain an item and be like what would i do with this? why is it worth so much? why do other people want it? you can't do anything with it.
but if it sells it sells.

[Maloo]

For the same reason women buy shoes: the price might inflate in the future

[Sinwin]

You really just answer your own question. Quests, collection, packrat, books, contest, stuff like that

[Mai]

It's like asking people: why do you buy things in real life, although their function is not quite clear.

Some people also buy stuff just to show off to others that they have it on Neopets. And don't forget the shadow economy, those who sell NP/items for USD.

[Shampoo]

Well...assuming neopets has a reasonable economics system in place, then it's all just a matter of supply and demand. For example, someone above asked if quests had a big impact on the game. The answer of course is yea. The reasoning is that while say only 100 people require the baguette for a quest, only 80-85 are being stocked in the main shop. Thus, total supply drops and the price goes up and vice versa. Therefore, any price changes just reflects their usability on the game

I like you.

[Kyouma]

Well...assuming neopets has a reasonable economics system in place, then it's all just a matter of supply and demand. For example, someone above asked if quests had a big impact on the game. The answer of course is yea. The reasoning is that while say only 100 people require the baguette for a quest, only 80-85 are being stocked in the main shop. Thus, total supply drops and the price goes up and vice versa. Therefore, any price changes just reflects their usability on the game

After looking at my shop history , however, i find that there are those people who buy your "cheap" items to make that extra 200np profit, or those who want to actually raise the price of said item so they buy them in bulk.
As evidence, some random guy bought 11 of my garlic bulbs, when the price was just 100np below the lowest price

[Regimax]

Well hoarding does raise prices in general. Take the stock market for example (Wall Street not Neo)...more people buy shares = higher value of the company, and so prices go up. It doesn't matter if the 2 people or 50 people buy the same number of shares.

[Hydrange]

Today I just bought 4 fresh baghettes for the faerie employment agency and this thread came to my mind. Sometimes if you stack more than 5 items people will buy from you even if there are cheaper items. As the faster you give the items the higher the reward, some people prefer to buy 4 baguettes for 1100 each from the same shop rather than clicking in 4 different shops that sell them for 995, the difference is not much and you can get 1000 extra neopoints