Couple of questions about OFB

[Regina]

Okay, guys, for whatever reason I am just not quite getting this whole business thing so have a couple of questions.

First off, does your sim absolutely have to start out with hiring an employee, or can they try to get their business started with just themselves?

And secondly, how on earth do you get the 'customers' to buy anything?  The visiting sims do everything they possibly can to avoid the entire store area!  This is a home business (I decided with the community lot bugs maybe this would be safer) and they all want to come in and sit on the couch or hang out in the living room or kitchen.  There's absolutely nothing in this house they can use for entertainment purposes.  For fun, they go kick the flamingos that are for sale.

[Motoki]

You can definitely run it by yourself, once it gets busier it gets harder and if you don't have any register badges have fun with the cash register.  If you are starting a business that requires a a cash register I'd strongly reccomend hiring an employee who has a register badge and if you don't want to do that get Pescado's register hack.

As for customers, lock your doors (we can do that now) and don't put anything that may distract them in the store area.

[Li'l Brudder]

1. Nope, you can go it alone if you wish.

2. Click an item that is for sale and select "Show item to..." and select the name of the sim you want to sell it to.  THey should get the rotten carrot meter above their head and then start using your sales skills to sell it to them.

[Regina]

Hmmm.  So far I've not seen a 'show item to' option when clicking one of the items for sale.  They are tagged for sale.  I'll have to double-check on that.

Woah!  I just thought of something!  On this computer I can actually run my game AND the internet at the same time! 

[Regina]

You can definitely run it by yourself, once it gets busier it gets harder and if you don't have any register badges have fun with the cash register.  If you are starting a business that requires a a cash register I'd strongly reccomend hiring an employee who has a register badge and if you don't want to do that get Pescado's register hack.

As for customers, lock your doors (we can do that now) and don't put anything that may distract them in the store area.

Okay, I already downloaded JM's cash register mod yesterday.  I know I had read someone saying to lock the doors but I didn't realize they were in-game lockable as we've always had to rely on mods for this in the past!

[angelyne]

Right as mentioned, make sure all your doors are locked to household and employee only.  Make sure there are no fun objects around, for as opposed to real life, sim people would rather do anything but shop (obviously the game designers are mostly male). 

If those conditions are met, your simscustomers should start "browsing", which basically consists in standing beside an object looking hypnotized.  A little green bubble will appear over their head.  That bubble represents their interest and will slowly fill up. If it reaches the top, the sim will make a swipe gesture and something will disappear from your shelf to be replaced with an out-of-stock sign.  Sales interaction will make the bubble fill up more.  But the interest bar can go up or down.  Once the sim has bought something, he might browse some more or head to the cash.

If you see none of that behavior, double-check that your items are correctly up for sale.

I play mostly without employees.  Child labor is the way to go ! (well teens anyway).  Keep in mind that the cashier plays a critical role.  As your business rise in ranks, the volume will increase.  You will need a cashier that's silver or more to handle the volume.  Putting a newbie cashier in a busy store is asking for trouble.

[Regina]

I didn't get back on here yesterday because I was just entirely too mesmerized by the whole business thing!

Oh my--this has to be the absolute best concept for an x-pack Maxis ever developed!

My sim had started a little front-yard nursery-type business, and I know I had marked everything for sale but when I double-checked NOTHING was for sale!  No wonder people weren't buying!

Anyway, she got an excellent review with that business, sales were brisk and she was running her feet off.  I decided after a while to close that business and move my sims into a different house that I figured would be better for a home business.

This time, instead of pricing everything 'cheap' I decided to price lower priced items 'average' and the spendier items 'cheap'.  The day the review person came along, I had sold out of a bunch of items and hadn't had time to restock and ended up with a bad review.  Please note, I am not complaining over this--it's a learning experience.

In the meantime, while this whole home business thing is running, it looks like my house does with a home business!  Dirty dishes stack up in the kitchen.  The toilets and tubs need cleaning, and it pretty much gets to be a disaster!  Seeing that in my game is one of the coolest things I've seen yet!

There were a couple of sim days after they moved before she could open her new business because they were pretty strapped for cash.  On about the third day I said 'phooey on this!' and pulled her cash register out of her inventory and put her to work!  The first day they started out with $300 worth of merchandise.  By the end of the day after re-stocking she'd managed to make $175.

Another thing I am loving about this is that at least for now, there's some challenge financially!  My sims were getting to the point with money coming in so fast and furiously the game was getting completely dull.  This particular pair of sims started out with $60,000 between them.  They both went to college, lived in the dorm the whole time, and spent all their grant money on paintings (about $20,000) which I stuck in their inventories for the move back to Wibbleton.  That's quite a bit of money for a couple just starting out to have to spend on their house and furnishings.  However, if they're going to start a business IN a building instead of out on the lawn, it's great!

(The house I moved these simmies into ended up being way too big so after they got the money I divided the front part of the house from the back and that's now where the store is.  It worked out pretty well.  They could still use a bigger store, though, but for now they're making do.  They definitely need more money to go where I want.)

[Jelenedra]

Something I like about the Bluewater Village premade houses, they all seem to have a nice big area for shops and the like. =)

[Assmitten]

THey should get the rotten carrot meter above their head and then start using your sales skills to sell it to them.

Ha! Rotten carrot meter? Did you coin that phase, LB? Now I will only see it as a rotten carrot.

[wishy-washy]

A good way to get rich quick is to put a ticket booth on you lot. You can start out with inexpensive tickets and build up your sales skills and loyalty stars. (A Best of the Best Award can't hurt either) Once your shopowner learns how to dazzle you can charge $700 or more per hour. I was really surprised that Sims didn't seem to mind paying that much after seeing a best of the best award and then being dazzled into buying admission. It's the best way I've learned to make money. It doesn't cost me anything to have Sims hanging around my lot for $700 per hour. You can still sell stuff on the lot, too. So you can make money for them being on your lot and for buying merchandise. (I mark much of the merchandise for cheap to build up customer loyalty)

[Regina]

A good way to get rich quick is to put a ticket booth on you lot. You can start out with inexpensive tickets and build up your sales skills and loyalty stars. (A Best of the Best Award can't hurt either) Once your shopowner learns how to dazzle you can charge $700 or more per hour. I was really surprised that Sims didn't seem to mind paying that much after seeing a best of the best award and then being dazzled into buying admission. It's the best way I've learned to make money. It doesn't cost me anything to have Sims hanging around my lot for $700 per hour. You can still sell stuff on the lot, too. So you can make money for them being on your lot and for buying merchandise. (I mark much of the merchandise for cheap to build up customer loyalty)

I sort of have my shop going in a bit of a different direction now and it's doing quite well.

I hired a gal to help--ended up going in the hole big time.  I haven't laid her off or fired her, just haven't had her come back to work.

The hubby is a college-educated knowledge sim in the Natural Biologist career track.  I took a couple of days off from the shop so I could get his skill levels up to where he's nearly ready for the big promotion.  Top notch of that one means they work one day a week, earning over $10,000 for that day.  Wife runs the shop and on hubby's time off he helps her out a bit.  He also builds the occasional cleanbot and such to sell in the shop.  Their oldest daughter has maxxed creativity (she just turned into a teen) and has been selling her paintings in the store.  I'm hoping now she's a teen she can start to do a few chores in the store.  (My biggest complaint is that it takes so long for skills to get passed from one sim to another!)

One thing I found super helpful was to concentrate my perks on wholesaling.  Since I actually started two businesses, I still had all the perks from the first one to put toward the second.  The store is currently at a 5-rating which is getting to be a handful for one sim to manage.  Everything except the robots is priced 'cheap' and the robots are priced 'average' (they sell quickly).  Within a few sim hours she'll make a couple thousand in profit.  There's plenty of bric-a-brac in the shop for those who don't have much money.

I also use TwoJeff's pregnancy mod which allows triplets and quadruplets--not so much for that but because it allows either parent to take leave after the baby's born, so Dad's been the one taking the leave since Mom is self-employed.  This has given him some time to concentrate on skilling.  He now just needs to make a friend for his next promotion, and since the next day is Sunday I think I'll forgo opening the store and let him concentrate on that.

I'm also still hoping he'll eventually get enough skill with making robots they won't need to hire anymore help!

One perk I have yet to see mentioned, but then again I haven't taken the time to read as much as I do sometimes, is the fact that the household no longer needs to pay full price for any of their furnishings.  I decided to upgrade their fridge so I got that for wholesale price, then stuck their smaller fridge out on the front lawn and sold it the next day for over $500 (vs. regular catalog refund price of $260).

[Motoki]

The servos definitely help, as do teens and elders and that natural science career track is a good one for working a business.

I only have two servos in my game though, one male and one female. I feel like if I had any more I wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

[windy_moon]

One perk I have yet to see mentioned, but then again I haven't taken the time to read as much as I do sometimes, is the fact that the household no longer needs to pay full price for any of their furnishings.  I decided to upgrade their fridge so I got that for wholesale price, then stuck their smaller fridge out on the front lawn and sold it the next day for over $500 (vs. regular catalog refund price of $260).

OH LORD, how great is that. Yard sale!  I love it!

I love it!

Now all I need is for them each to have a room where they save the crap they want to sell until they getaroundtuit. 

Nothing like duplicating real life, for me.  See my spare bedroom full of stuff I'm really going to put on eBay eventually.

[speedreader]

One perk I have yet to see mentioned, but then again I haven't taken the time to read as much as I do sometimes, is the fact that the household no longer needs to pay full price for any of their furnishings.  I decided to upgrade their fridge so I got that for wholesale price, then stuck their smaller fridge out on the front lawn and sold it the next day for over $500 (vs. regular catalog refund price of $260).

Very, very cool!  I hate to sell anything back to the catalogue because of the depreciation loss and have collected furniture in attics and basements all over my Sims towns. 

What a great idea!!!

[J. M. Pescado]

I didn't get back on here yesterday because I was just entirely too mesmerized by the whole business thing!

Oh my--this has to be the absolute best concept for an x-pack Maxis ever developed!

Best concept? Maybe. Worst implementation? ABSOLUTELY!

Another thing I am loving about this is that at least for now, there's some challenge financially!

You're kidding me, right? $100K in less than a day, which can potentially be compressed to zero time because of non-unified community lot time, is hard? The challenge model is as fundamentally broken and nonexistent as before, unless you're trying to run a rather esoteric business. Just take any item, jack up the price so far past ridiculously expensive it isn't funny, and then sell it.

[windy_moon]

You're kidding me, right? $100K in less than a day, which can potentially be compressed to zero time because of non-unified community lot time, is hard? The challenge model is as fundamentally broken and nonexistent as before, unless you're trying to run a rather esoteric business. Just take any item, jack up the price so far past ridiculously expensive it isn't funny, and then sell it.

Honestly, if you play for the stories, it doesn't have to work out like that.  My Sims are running around working their little butts off, building little businesses, nobody is raking it in. I don't let them buy and sell a community lot in one day to a townie who just fell of the turnip truck (at an absurd profit.)

Not disagreeing that the challenge model is broken, now go fix it. 

[Motoki]

I agree, if you run the little mom and pop shops and do any business on just craftables, it's frigging hard! If you on the other hand sell expensive electronics, statues, paintings, cars etc, it's a breeze. So much for balance.  I've learned to deal with it and that I have to augment any business with some expensive retail items.

BTW, those of you who think you are getting away with getting stuff for your home at wholesale, you aren't. The game knows and as soon as you make the thing unsellable it takes back the difference. Conversely, if you buy something at retail and then mark it for sale, it refunds you the difference. Of course I guess you could buy something with just enough money to buy it at wholesale, then it won't be able to take any money you don't have.

[Regina]

I run my in-game business the same way I ran my online auction sales (which part of is STILL sitting here in this office needing cleaned out!).  I have quite a bit of low priced items, because almost everyone can afford those, and a few high priced items with odds and ends (kids' paintings, hubby's robots, etc.) thrown in.  Between it all my sim is now earning quite a bit of money--usually between $2,000 and $4,000 a day, which is more than sufficient.  One thing I love about the whole business thing is if it gets to where there's too much money, then I'll start marking everything for a clearance sale to lose some of it! LOL

It seems I was mistaken on the buying usable goods at wholesale.  When I change them to not sellable, part of their price is charged my balance, although I haven't taken the time to figure out whether it's the full difference or not.  I didn't notice that last night.

However, yes, indeed, that whole yard sale thing is great!  I majorly fixed up my sims' house this evening--built their living quarters on the second floor, bottom floor all store.  I decided to get rid of their old doors and windows, so turned moveobjects on and stuck them all in the back room of the shop with the less than cheap price tag on them.  By the end of the day they were almost all gone, at just a little bit lower than what they'd paid for them originally.

I was telling my kids about the yard sale aspect and they got a huge kick out of it.  One suggested 'reliving' in her game the year it took us to clean out my dad's place after he died.  I politely declined.   Once was bad enough!

JM, I didn't say the thing is well executed.  Per usual, Maxis screws up.  But honestly, this is the most interesting expansion I've ever played and that includes all TS1 with the exception of SuperStar, and NL and *yawns* Uni.  Yes, I'm enjoying it. 

Ironically, I never ever thought I'd enjoy the whole 'take your sims to work' thing because I never conceptualized it like this.  But when I think about it, that's for sure what they've done with this x-pack.  You 'follow' your sims to work.

[Motoki]

I agree, the yardsale aspect is really nice. I always hated having to sell back my old stuff for 40% of the original price when I upgraded. Now I can get back what I paid for it. I also noticed if you buy an item that fulfills a want and then sell it back through a business they don't lose aspiration. Very handy.

[J. M. Pescado]

I agree, if you run the little mom and pop shops and do any business on just craftables, it's frigging hard!

Not true. I have a business of pure craftables, no retail statues, no expensive electronics. Just craftables. And it's easy. I sell craftable robots, like Servos, now $50K a pop. And that's a fair price, too. If they were that much in the catalog, I'd buy them at that price.

I agree, the yardsale aspect is really nice. I always hated having to sell back my old stuff for 40% of the original price when I upgraded. Now I can get back what I paid for it. I also noticed if you buy an item that fulfills a want and then sell it back through a business they don't lose aspiration. Very handy.

Actually, it's even easier. If you buy something, then stuff it into your inventory, go back to live mode, and then take it back out of your inventory and sell it, you still don't lose aspiration.

[Motoki]

I guess my problem then is I just never mess with the custom price setting and use the Maxis defaults.

Still, at that high of a price Seems like you'd have to dazzle them every time to get the sale. I rather like having some items that they'll be able to buy on their own without my intervention but I suppose stuff like that would have to be priced very low and I wouldn't make much on it. More like just there to get me customer loyalty without having to micromanage each sims browsing session and sell to them all.

[windy_moon]

I rather like having some items that they'll be able to buy on their own without my intervention but I suppose stuff like that would have to be priced very low and I wouldn't make much on it. More like just there to get me customer loyalty without having to micromanage each sims browsing session and sell to them all.

Oh geeze, I refuse to "sell" every customer who comes into a store....and rarely use "dazzle".   Too much work and I'm too busy having fun. (I love this expansion pack!)

I don't have a problem with lots of customers and products making their own match without intervention.  Some stores are priced "average" and some (like Ramierez' Fine Furniture) are "expensive". 

I suspect that my play style is influenced by the day job.  I was in straight commission sales for many years and am currently in marketing.  No need to work every customer...and plenty of people don't want to be "worked". 

The most fun I have with OFB is setting up the stores and deciding on the merchandise.  Selling isn't that interesting....although I like showing customers around.

[Sagana]

Now that I've sort of got the hang of it, I'm beginning to look into what more interesting businesses I can set up. I got bored with the robots before I'd really even played much with them, so for my knowledge sims, one was paranormal and one mad scientist, I've decided to buy a haunted house and give tours with a gift shop at the end. I'm thinking I'll lock the doors and collect the customers in the first room until there's a little group and go through room by room. And hire vampires and zombies and the like as employees and leave them around and put the mad scientist set-up in the basement. Using the ticket booth this time which I haven't done yet.

And my chef who loves doing breakfast wants something special to do on the weekends, so he's going to open a Society for Creative Anachronisms shire. He's saving to buy a park area and talking his brothers and their families into working at events, selling garb (costumes) and the like. He'll sell snacks during the day and serve the feast in the evening. Maybe once a month or so there'll be an event like that.

I'm having tons of fun just planning :) By the time they buy all the stuff they need and set-up, they'll probably have spent up most of the profits they've made so far too.

[windy_moon]

By the time they buy all the stuff they need and set-up, they'll probably have spent up most of the profits they've made so far too.

Sounds like the business plan of every RL Bed & Breakfast I know.   

[J. M. Pescado]

Still, at that high of a price Seems like you'd have to dazzle them every time to get the sale. I rather like having some items that they'll be able to buy on their own without my intervention but I suppose stuff like that would have to be priced very low and I wouldn't make much on it. More like just there to get me customer loyalty without having to micromanage each sims browsing session and sell to them all.

Hey, I don't want everyone and their dog buying Servos. Those things are hard to make! They're for a certain exclusive clientele, not just anyone!

The cheaper stuff I peddle at a price tailored to work in one dazzle, then just mash my handy macrodazzle button which does all the clickwork for me, since I already algorithmically plotted out who should be dazzled.