I've owner several shops in the new market, and overall, I like it much better than the old one. I like the ability to have more space, and more items to be sold. That being said, I never had a Top Floor shop (rows 1 and 2), the best I had was a Mid Floor (Row 3). However, in the new market, I do record all sales, trades, and profits. I'm willing to share them, however, I won't get into specifics over pricing and what items sell in bulk, etc.

Station23: 3rd row, Blue Market:

• Average Weekly Profits: $121,743
• Average Weekly Sales: $214,550

Station22: 2nd row, Yellow Market:

• Average Weekly Profits: $223,329
• Average Weekly Sales: $388,490

Station11: Warp2, Red Market:

• Average Weekly Profits: $60,341
• Average Weekly Sales: $89,420

Station25: 3rd Row, Red Market:

• N/A
• N/A

Now, these calculations are from my logs of all my shops. Gems, Nstars, and Exp are counted as the price I sell them, subtracted by the price I buy them for (For example, I buy 1000 Exp at $1250, sell at $1450, I consider that $200). Items that I don't buy, and I gather myself, I add as full profit (10 brick blocks sells for $40, it counts as $40). I log every item I sell, every trade sign I click, and all profits I take in. I put a lot of work into my shop, and anyone who wants to run a successful one must do the same. Sometimes, I spend over a week buying NStars, without selling a single one. Many shop owners can't take that, and immediately just sell to a prime shop because they feel they'll never sell. That is one of the biggest mistakes a shop owner can, and will make. If you plan on investing in a shop, it's certainly not a bad idea. However, I encourage you to be patient and be confident if this is a road you'd like to take. Positive results will surely meet you at the end of the road.

 

I purchased my station, #16, last year when the old layout was in place, and it was one of the four largest stations. I invested 2.5 million ECD. After two months I decided to track how much I earned on a daily basis, and kept that up for several months. (As seen here.)

Lowest income day was 10/30/13 @ $198, but it is more than balanced out with a high income day, like 11/22/13 @ $49051. This is all with minimal advertising, also. In three months I cleared about 1 million ECD, and in the time I have stopped tracking, have more than recouped my initial investment.

Station #16 is now the first shop on the left in the red side of the market. None of my above tracking took place in the new market layout.

 

I used to run a fairly successful shop. I did okay back then. I really didn't put much effort into it, meaning I rarely sold anything, at all. That was a major mistake. You need to be committed, like @Iticip. The reason for his success is because of his dedication. Here's a little checklist that I would make before you even think about buying a spawnshop to save your time and money:

• Can you afford the shop? This is extremely obvious. Can you pay the $20k at the end of every month (dependent on how many weeks you buy)? Will you be able to pay for netherstars/blocks/ect. Overall, do you feel you have enough money to pay for the shop, as well as the things you buy. (I would suggest having $100k+ for a regular shop, and $500k+ for a prime shop). Although this seems like a lot. I made a killing off of netherstars. It's a huge market and there's always people buying/selling them. Make sure you have enough money, that's the #1 thing.
• Do you have enough time for the shop? Shops believe it or not require a lot of care and maintenance. You'll always need to have a supply of blocks or whatever you're doing with your shop. You need a lot of time and effort to keep it stocked. I learned that the hard way. I did everything I could to keep the shop stocked, yet, I failed. I would spend hours upon hours trying, but I always failed. Mainly because I didn't really know what I was doing at the time/didn't use what I could. Most shops sell minerals/gems. If you can get your hands on an eff7, that'll take you a long, long way. I highly suggest getting a star tool to speed up the process.
• Can you adapt to change? Although this is a little dumb, it is important. If you go into the netherstar game (which I highly suggest due to the massive profit you get from it), you'll have to learn how to master your prices. You need to be competitive, yet profitable. It's a delicate balance that you'll have to learn only through experience.
• Are you willing to research? This one is something that is a must. You have to do it. What I mean by "research" is that you have to go around and look at all the other shop owner's prices. This is important to do as it will allow you to form your prices. With a first/second/third row spawnshop, you don't really have to. Just be fairly competitive with the people in front of you, because those shops are able to make a little bit more money/profit because not as many people hunt for prices. Overall, you have to know what the average selling/buying price is to make a competitive price and you have to be sure to put time and effort into that.
• Have an attractive shop. Have you ever heard the saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover"? Well, I have, and it's not true. I think almost everyone, if not everyone judges a book by it's cover. The same is for a spawnshop. And attractive shop in my mind is very, very important. Having an ugly shop will push away buyers, because they dislike the way it looks. Of course, you can't please everyone, but for the majority of the people, having an attractive shop will give you many more customers.

There's obviously a lot of points I probably missed, but, I think I gave you a good idea of what you need to have in order to run a successful shop :). Good luck!

 

My station is 83 and I am in the yellow road, I sell over 165 different items in my shop. I have two types of incomes from it:
1. When I bother to advertise I can make around 10k more per day then when I don't.
2. Non-advertised.

I get enough traffic to make about 10-60k a day. The biggest issue with those #'s is whether or not I am in stock on items, usually if I have certain unnamed items in stock I can make the 60k a day range but if I don't I only get 10-20k. I also have my low days however were I don't make more than $500 but that is more a rarity than common occurrence.

Oh one more thing of notice I don't always sell nstars or exp on purpose and because of that I do not rake in those profits like other spawn shops do.

 

Nice checklist however for the attactiveness of a shop I have to disagree at least for myself. If I need items I check every shop regardless of how they look, but I suppose for the average connoisseur this could apply.

 

Having it attractive is nice no matter if it brings in more customers or not :p.

 

Yes I would agree with that.

 

@HCPillarofFire and @knears2000

I think the best thing to make of that is not as much the design, but the set up. The placement of the signs, and how easy they are to find can bring a user coming back again and again. I usually find having a corresponding block behind the item sold is very useful, and can bring customers back. It's less about the exterior, and more about the interior. That being said, a night exterior couldn't hurt.

 

Oh if you have seen my shop I have the corresponding aesthetics.

 

Well, I really do not track how much I make....

Ok, here's my desperate attempt >:3

• Everytime I wake up... My nstars are sold
• I can rake in up to 5k-10k in gem profits per day.
• Keeping it advertised is important.

 

You must hate mine then. The shop itself is 3 warm colors of stained glass, but I do not have all my items on stained glass with signs, just the colors that I sell in the back of the shop.

 

this is actually quite helpful :pompus:
now i would like to ask some questions:
Do i have a chance with around 40k at budget?
What is the cheapest, yet profitable spawnshop to get?
Who sells a cheap spawnshop?
And lastly, can i do it?

 

40k is kinda low, as you need to pay 5k per week, with a minimum of four weeks. This adds up to 20k minimum, if you don't buy a spawnshop from another user. I would wait.
Any spawnshop can be profitable, as long as you sell the right items/advertise it. Those closer to the entrance are generally more profitable, but very expensive, such as in the millions of ECD.
Anybody can sell a cheap spawn shop, many of the spawn shops or simply unused. Ask around the far away spawn shops, or simply buy one of the non-owned ones in the application section.
Of course you can do it!

 

What's the best thing for you to do is what I started with. Just pick any open shop. Don't worry about the location, just the rent. You won't buy materials in this shop, just gather and sell (What most people should do unless they have a prime. You'll make loads, and anyone can do it!

 

A spawnshop is not just a piece of real estate you can buy, make quick money off of, then sell.

The best way to get a shop for just the rent (5k/week, min 4 weeks = 20k), would be to wait for one to expire, then apply for it before anyone else can. Those who sell their shops will want well more than 40k for a decent location.

If you want to ensure your shop is profitable, then you will need to ensure you have stock in items that are most often used, or traded. Food, ores, nstars, exp, etc. Or, you can try to find something no one else sells and be the only place one can go to and get that. This will either take an investment of time, to gather it all yourself, or will take more capital in order to buy the stock you want, in order to resell for higher prices.

Anyone the rank of Resident or higher can do it, it just takes a little effort, and being willing to advertise and be patient in order to see greater return on your stock.

 

i have never seen a non-owned spawn-shop :pompus:. so i sh0uld only sell in far spawnshops? Also macro mod makes advertising easy heh. Someone should really make this all into a spawnshop FAQ. P.S. On holiday currently, thats why i am so much on the forums :p wont be able to do anything right now till the 13th!