The LEGIT Guide to Malling

Introduction
Malling is one of the fastest ways to earn neopoints.
Although it may look easy, it is definitely one of the hardest ways to make money.
You need time, money, and dedication.

What is Malling?
Malling is simply having a huge shop stocked with a lot items going with a theme.
Each shop in the mall is connected by a large mall banner.
The point is to bring customers to more shops in the mall, after they have bough something.

Am I ready to Mall?
[yes/no] I have at least 1-2 hours a day to manage my shop.
[yes/no] I have enough neopoints to upgrade my shop sizes.
[yes/no] I know that malling is an investment and can sometimes go wrong!

If you answered yes to everything, please continue :]

Thinking about Mall Categories, which one to pick?
There are so many mall categories.
It is true some are more profitable than others but which one should you pick?

These are ratings based solely on my opinion and other mallers I have talked to.
If a category yields more money, it will be harder to get that category. Remember that!
ANY shop can be successful if you work hard on it!

DO NOT STOCK UP YET! Just start considering which one you would like to do!

*=Less Profit
****=More Profit
I will also add an x if it’s an easy category.
(either pricing is easy or not much variety in stock)

Most Common Categories:
(Some of these categories can be combined or seperated, depending on the mall)

Books {****} This category is generally very profitable. It is a very popular category though so you may have competetion!
Food/Drinks {***} This category is good but be aware of all the dailies that give free food.
Plushies/Toys {**} It is generally a slow category. You may get a lot of sales from Dark Faerie Quests.
Battledome {**} Another slow category. Not recommended for those just starting out.
Neohome/Garden {***} This category is pretty good. Stock up more on the “cute” items.
Bakery/sweets {****} I’ve seen this category do better than the food category sometimes. Stock up on “cute” items.
Clothing/Grooming {****} This category can be very profitable or not profitable at all. It is a popular category.
Wearables/Backgrounds {***} This used to be a lot more profitable when wearables first came out. It is still good though!
Petpets/Petpetpets {****} One of the most profitable categories ever. Lots of competition!
Paintbrushes/Map {**x} Profits are pretty slow unless you have a high shop size.
Training/Luck/Neggs {***x} It’s a pretty good category but there is A LOT of competition.
Collectables {**} Not too many people collect cards/stamps unless it’s for one of the stamp avatars.

Less Common Categories:
Magic/Medicine {*x} Healing springs? Yeah a lot of people know about it. You may only get buisness if people want to heal their pets quickly.
1001 or 1000 deals {***x} One of the easiest to manage and still yeilds good profit.
Faeries {***} Stick with the “cute” items and you should be fine…
Seasonal {**/****} VERY PROFITABLE around Thanksgiving/Christmas. People are CRAZY about Christmas items during the Holiday Season.
School/Gifts {*} Very little profit because these items can’t really do anything. Stay away if possible.

More Thinking…
Now that you have a couple of categories in mind, consider what shop size you are willing to upgrade to.
Also consider what marketplace you want to be in.

Shop Size
Shop Size x5= Amount of Items you can hold.
The shop size ALSO determines your Marketplace spot.

Amount of Neopoints Needed To Upgrade to Shop Size XXX
Don’t worry about Marketplaces if you don’t understand them yet, I will explain later.

Shop Size 0-100– 990,000
Shop Size 0-200– 3,980,000
Shop Size 0-222– 4,906,200
(Haunted Marketplace)
Shop Size 0-227– 5,130,200
(Mystery Island Marketplace)
Shop Size 0-300– 8,970,000
Shop Size 0-400– 15,960,000
Shop Size 0-500– 24,950,000
Shop Size 0-600– 35,940,000
Shop Size 0-617-38,007,200
(Main Marketplace)

Insane amount of neopoints?
This is JUST your shop size, we didn’t even talk about your stock(items) yet.

Don’t worry though, no one expects you to jump to the Main Marketplace, some people take years.

However every maller dreams of reaching the Main Marketplace someday!

Marketplace
A marketplace is a location where all the shops with a certain size are placed.

There are three- Neopian Central, Mystery Island, and Haunted Woods.

For example, if you have a shop size 222+ and you choose to have your shop placed in the Haunted Woods.
(Your Shop>Create/Edit Shop>World)

Your shop would show up in the Haunted Woods Marketplace, under a “hut” or tomb in this case.

Hut
Each “hut” has 9 shops in it.
The shops are arranged from highest to lowest size order.
It is your job to stay on top of a hut.
Why? Cause if someone clicks on that hut, they will most likely click on you first.

Pretend this is the hut:

So if Illusen decides to upgrade her shop to 229, you will be bumped to a new hut and you start all the way at the bottom again 

You understand now? Easy, right? Well here’s a tough sitiuation:

If you upgrade to 234, Meepit’s shop will be bumped to another hut.
Another shop comes.

You still have two shops in front of you with your shop size.
What should you do? Nothing.

That is the best you can do if you have limited neopoints.
Going to 235 would bump you into another hut and you wouldn’t want that to happen.

Usually someone will upgrade and the order will mix. If not, stay there until you have enough neopoints to dominate the next hut.

This is not too important until you get to the Main Marketplace. Serious mallers will always try to be in the top spot of their hut.

What now?
Well you understand the importance of shop size and the marketplace and you also know about categories.
If you are truly ready, let the journey begin!

Finding a Mall:
Neomallers.com
(best place to look because a lot of mallers come here and shop)
Shop Ads
(2nd best place to look because malls do advertise here sometimes)
Notice Board
(Go around each page and see if they have a link to a mall’s petpage. Sometimes they will post categories that are open!)

Once you found one that you want to work with, look at the categories that are open. If you have one that you like, good.

If not, try looking some more or consider doing another category. You can always switch over later (explained later on.)

Remember, look for one with a shop size you can afford. Malls will often say requires Shop Size XXX+

Also remember to keep at least half of your money to stock up on items for the shop.

When you are ready, upgrade 
(Tip, if you are going from 0-300 or whatever, Take out just enough money for size XXX, then hold down control and – till the neopets screen gets really small. Then spam click on the upgrade button!)

Prestock or No?
Some malls require that your shop is stocked before contacting them. Some malls do not and will give you a couple of days to stock.
Whether or not, you should contact them and explain your situation.
Tell them you love their mall and want to join, and that you will stock during the next couple of days.

Stocking and Pricing-The Pain In The ASS!
Stocking can be easy if you are doing an easy category like training but with something like Books, it can be a real pain.

First thing you need to do is go to items.jellyneo.net/.

Change the settings so it looks like this;


Except change books to your category.
*Don’t forget that Books only includes Books from the shop in Neopian Central, not Booktastic Books.
This applies to all other categories.


Now here comes a little math…
How many should you buy?
Well some malls require X pages of items stocked.
Each page can have 80 different items.

So for example, you are in a mall where you are required to have 4 different pages of items.

4 x 80 = 320 different items, right?
And your shop size is 300 for example. 300 x 5 = 1500 items total.
So basically you can have about 3-5 of each item stocked.
Even when you get to bigger sizes, it’s best not to have more than 3-5 stocked at a time.
Variety is good, remember!

Items that are “popular, cute, or cool!”
Everyone knows that most people who buy from mall stores are beginners… Otherwise, you would use the shop wizard, right!
And what do beginners like to buy? Items that catch their eye.

So stock up on more items that you think are popular, cute, or look cool.
Stock less on the items that nobody would really want/hideous.

This rule applies to most categories, petpets definitely.

Also, you notice an item that sells a lot? Stock more of those items!

Okay so now you start from page 1 of jelly neo items.
Buy a couple of each item, depending on how much your shop can hold.
Jot down what items you buy and what the price you pay.
I like to use Microsoft Spreadsheet.

Yes, you will probably jot down over 300 items or so. Yes it is tiring and yes you should take a break from time to time.

When you find that your inventory is full from buying, quick stock all the items into your shop.

Keep going until you stocked up your shop to the max.
Now time to price.

Pricing?!
Okay, here’s my pricing guideline although a lot of people have different ones.

Haunted+Mystery Marketplace
These are pretty much the “practice” marketplaces. It’s not too serious.
I would go 500-1000 higher than shop wizard prices, but no more!
You can always increase the price for popular items later.

Main Marketplace
Here is when it gets serious, some people go 3-4k+ above.
I reccomend 1-2k above shop wiz price and see how it goes from there. Remember, it will get random because you will adjust item prices to how well they sell.

Some Important Tips;
Always have some items in your shop AT Shop Wizard price.
That way, people who use the Shop Wizard will also come to your shop.
Stock up on these items and always have them at shop wizard price. 
Some people like to make 10-20 items like this.

Restocking Your Shop!
What I like to use are the Sales History. I never price items under 1000, so I can
catch everything that sells.
After I buy back my stock and record down how many of each item was sold, I clear it so I don’t get it mixed up.

Some people like the program available on [neomallers.com] I’ve never used it but I heard it’s great!


Advertising!
So your shop is stocked, your in the mall, and your mall banner is up! Now it’s time to advertise!

Notice Board:
A lot of malls will require payment for one of these.
The notice board is a place where people can put advertisements.
The cost of these advertisements ranges from a few neopoints to 4 Million Neopoints.
Of course, the 4mil ads are the first you see when you go to the notice board. Don’t worry though, the 4 million fee is split among mall members.
You will probably be required to pay 200k-300k weekly though.

Independent Notice Board:
If your mall’s ad not enough for you, there are independent notice ads where people still contribute a portion of the money to put up a large 4m ad. These people are usually from random malls looking for more advertisement.

Shop Ads:
This is where you can advertise your shop.
Only do this if you have free time cause its get very boring if its just you bumping a board.

Siggie:
On the neoboards, you have a siggie 
It is the perfect spot to put your shop link!
Doing this will attract a few more customers.

SOTM:
Some malls have a SOTM or SOTW (Shop of the Month/Week) for people who show improvement/good work.
Remember to always be nice and to strive for this since it will definetely boost your sales!

Directories:
Some malls share directories with other malls/shops. I don’t really do this but I guess every little bit helps!

Making Your Shop Appealing!
Layout:
Remember, you need the mall banner AT ALL TIMES.
Some people like shop backgrounds and layouts, some people don’t. Remember that no matter what you do, make sure it loads fairly easy.
Make it decorative but simple! NO MUSIC OR CURSORS!

Weekly Sale:
People love weekly sales!
Always have one or more items on sale.
Stock up on them!
Remember you should still make profit.
Around special holidays, its nice to put those items sale.
(For example, if its Christmas and you are the food category, put candy canes up for sale.)

Catalog:
This is OPTIONAL because it takes A LOT of HARD WORK.
Basically, you put all the items you have for sale on petpages, like a catalog in real life.
I’ve seen very successful ones that generated a lot of profit!

Category Switching:
This is when one switches categories.
It is one of the hardest things you have to do as a maller.
Not only do you have to sell all your old items, but you also have to add new ones in.

PRICE EVERYTHING AT SHOP WIZARD PRICE!~

Another thing you can do is contact people who currently have your category and tell them to help you out.
Tell them you will go lower than the Shop Wiz on each item if they help buy out the shop.

Don’t wait till everything is cleared from the shop, start buying items right away and putting them in.
Category switching is stressful but sometimes its worth it to get a category you truly desire.

Leaving a mall…
Don’t like your mall? Give it another chance…
You should stay in a mall for at least 1 month before leaving.
Mall owners hate Mall-Hoppers and will often talk to one another about you. You will find it very hard to join a mall again when your rep has been soiled.
Always tell your mall leader in advance.
Some malls require one day, one week, or even one month.

Going Independent!
Most people leave malls because it becomes too stressful for them!
Well if that’s the case, then stop malling.
But if you still want to make profit, you should contact an indepedent ad on the notice boards and pay them 200-300k so you can be apart of their ad. This will help you sell your items.

Independent Malling
Too cool for a mall?
You can still have a huge shop and make profit without all the demands of a mall. 
Be apart of an independent ad!

THANK YOU FOR READING!
Please leave comments/suggestions!