Lately I've been thinking about restock bans in Neopets main shops. I took a class recently on design and was introduced to the concept of feedback cycles. Just the simple idea that using an interface (website, app, whatever) is generally a cycle of input & feedback.
Neopets Restocking Strategy & Cheats. Make sure that you do not sit behind your screen and to wait while you’re refreshing. Otherwise, you will get banned from restocking and it can last from 1 hour all the way up to 2 days. That means that when you visit the Shops, they will not restock and you will not be told that you are banned. However, if you do feel the next restock is coming sooner than later, go ahead and take that risk! It may be worth it! The ban periods usually last around 30 minutes to 1 hour. To my experience, attempting to refresh while being banned does not ‘reset’ the ban time. The ban only applies to the pet who won, though–you can still enter your other pets. As of April 4th, 2008, there will be no more item or Neopoint prizes issued to species or overall winners, since the contest will be opened up to side account pets. First of all, before doing any actual restocking, we need to tweak some things up. First, we will start with Firefeox. We need to go to Options - Content - and uncheck where it says “Enable Javascript”.( what this does is when you click in a shop to buy the item, the “Are you sure you want to buy this item” popup doesn´t appear,.
How can you earn millions of neopoints and rare items in little or no time at all? well it is simple and with a few simple steps you will make millions easily!
1. Introduction
If you are reading this guide, it means you want to learn how to Restock. Restock, in the world of Neopia, is quite simple, if you know what to do.
Basically, all you have to do is buy items from the Neopian Shops and then sell them and make profit…simple huh???
This guide will show you exactly how to do that, step by step, and will be usefull if you been restocking for months or you just want to start out now.
I want to make this extremely clear… DOING THIS HAS IT´S RISKS! I have been doing this for years, and never been frozen for it, so it´s safe to say it has a very low freeze-rate. But i repeat, do everyhing at YOUR OWN RISK.
2. Programs Needed
To do all of this, you will need a few programs. You can still Restock without any of these things, but every second you can save , you gain a HUGE advantage against other restockers. So, I recommend downloading and installing all of them.
First of all, we need a Web Browser, to surf the Neopets Shops. I recomend Firefox, since, at least for me, it’s the fastest one around.
You can get the lastest version of firefox HERE.
Also, we need a pretty usefull addon, called AdBlock Plus. This nifty thing lets us block the images we dont want in the browser, making it easier later on to know what should we buy and what is junk.
You can get the latest version of AdBlock Plus HERE
Another addon we need is ReloadEvery, what it does is just that, it lets you reload a page automaticly every X seconds. You one have to right click on the browser, go to Reload Every, and set how many seconds.
You can get the latest version of ReloadEvery HERE
Ok, now that we have a browser, we need to download a macro program. What this does, is in a few words, is bind whatever you want to a key. For example, everytime you press the “y” key, it types “I Want To Give Huevoquilmes +Rep For This Kick-Ass Guide!”
I recommend using Shortkeys Lite, which you can download HERE.
Ok , now we are almost ready to go and start making some Neopoints!
3. My Own Adblock List Manager
As i said before, we have to block the images that arent profitable from the shops. This can be a really long and tiring job to do. What I used to do, is go to Jellyneo, and block one item at the time. Sure, its no hassle for Magic, because there arent a lot of images to block. But what about Food, or Books?
So, I decided to put my programming skills to work, and made this little Java application.
It’s REALLY simple to use. First, you have to go to Jellyneo’s Database, and select a shop in which you are going to be restocking later on. Select the shop name, sort by price, and check no nc items.
Now, for example if you select Food, you will see 90+ pages of items, from the lowest priced one to the highest. Now go to the page, lets say 80, where you see that all items from there on are worth 100k+. So, you should need to block all items from page 0 to 80. At 20 items per page, that’s a lot of work!
Soooo, you can get ALM HERE ,and do it in a matter of seconds!
Just select the same shop name you selected in Jellyneo, put the page number (80), and select the name of the output file you want. And, in a matter of seconds, you will have, in the same folder where you have the ALM, a txt file ready to be imported to AdBlock Plus, to block all those unwanted images
Go to AdBlockPlus, import filters, and select the file… easy as that.
4. An Introduction On How To Restock
First of all, before doing any actual restocking, we need to tweak some things up. First, we will start with Firefeox. We need to go to Options -> Content -> and uncheck where it says “Enable Javascript”.( what this does is when you click in a shop to buy the item, the “Are you sure you want to buy this item” popup doesn´t appear, and it automatically takes you to the haggle page).
Also, we should open the Shortkeys Lite, and set some macros. I´ll show with some images how to do this…
Here is an example of a usefull macro (will be explained later anyways). Everytime I press the letter “z”, it types 2525.
Repeating these steps, you can set up as many macros as you can.
Ok , now to the actual restocking. First of all, you need to find a shop where you want to rs at. Just to start you guys out, I´ll just mention some of them
Beginners:
Pharmacy(#13)
Books (#7)
Chocolate (#14)
Space Weaponry(#23)
Intermediate:
Clothes(#4)
Spooky Food(#30)
Food(#1)
Expert:
Magic(#2)
Stamp(#58)
Battle Magic(#9)
Defence Magic(#10)
And also, here is a list of rarities that the accounts can see:
10 Days – R84 & Under
16 Days – R89 & Under
1 Month – R94 & Under
3 Months – R99 & Under
+4 Months – All Rarities
Anyways, like I said before, it´s up to you to look for a place where you feel confortable to rs. Don´t want to start rsing your first day at the stamp shop because you won´t be getting much profit.
Take it slow, first learn all the rsing basic, then move on to better and more profitable shops.
Lets make a pause here to explain shortkeys in more detail. You may ask yourself, why did this guy make me install Shortkeys for? Well, it can come in handy for the haggles.
For example, in a lot of shops, most of the profitable items stock with a price of 2500Nps, 5000Nps or 10000Nps.
So,my advise is, take 3 letters that are together in the keyboard (I use z, x , c) and do this in the Shortkeys program:
z -> 2525
x -> 5454
c -> 10101
So, if you ever go for an item with any of those prices, all you have to do is press 1 key instead of 4-5
The rest is pretty much straight-foward. Go to the shop, set up the ReloadEvery, and when you see an image, it means its profitable, so click away
5. Restocking Tips
- Don´t be refreshing every 2 seconds for more than 5mins. Take pauses, or you will get rs banned
- Between every couple of refreshes, do a manaul refresh yourself (so that you don´t refresh exactly every 2sec for long periods of time, to make it look like a human being is refresing instead of a program)
- Take screenies. Very important to make it look very legit!( you can disable addblock to be able to see the shopkeeper and everything in the screenie)
- Spruce up you account…don´t be rsing potions worth 5mil Nps in an account that doesn´t even have a Cheat! trophy.
- And most important of all, have fun at it….
I Would really appreciate any feedback, comments, suggestions….anything at all, to make this a better guide for everyone. I want you all to know that everything here is mine (images, words, ideas) and where not copied from anyone/anywhere…only hard work to bring these guide to you guys…so please comment away
Frequently Asked Questions
What is restocking?
Well basically it is buying items for low amounts of neopoints, and then selling them later for more neopoints, therefore getting a profit.
Defintion of profit in the dictionary:
profit
1. An advantageous gain or return; benefit.
2. The return received on a business undertaking after all operating expenses have been met.
Do you get it? Ok I’ll give you an example.
Say you bought a Neopox Pizza for 700 NP from the Pharmacy.
Then you go look at the Shop Wizard, to see what people are selling them for.
As you can see, the lowest price of a Neopox Pizza is is 7550 NP. So then you should put yours in your shop for about 7200 NP, to make a fast and easy profit.
Wow! But you on ly paid 700 NP for it, yet someone else paid YOU more than 7000 NP for it. THAT is restocking!
To find out how much profit you made, just take the amount of NP YOU sold it for, and subtract the amount of NP you BOUGHT it for. Here’s an example, using the Neopox Pizza you just bought.
7200 (NP you sold for) – 700 (NP you bought for)=6500 (profit)
Congratulations! You are now 6500 NP richer!
Why are there never any items in the shops?
Ok so usually when you go into a shop, theres nothing in it. No items. Nothing! Thats basically because all the items are sold out! As in other people playing Neopets and restocking bought them. But then you wonder, how am I supposed to buy an item when there are no items whenever I go there?
The answer is simple. You have to sit and wait in the shop, and wait for items to appear. But here’s the tricky part. You have NO idea when the items will appear in the shop. Nobody knows. That’s when the luck factor comes in. Basically, if you want to catch a restock, you would have to sit at a shop and refresh, nonstop. MOST people get tired of this very quickly, so they alternate. They refresh for a couple minutes, then browse the site and have fun for a little bit, then go back to refreshing.
There are people however, who have the patience to sit at a single shop and just refresh, refresh, refresh. Although this is the best way to catch a restock, it is also the best way to get yourself restock banned (explained later in the guide.)
What items do I buy?
So you caught a restock, and the shop is full of items. What do you do? No, you don’t go buying every item you see. You must only go after the items that you KNOW will bring you profit.
Again, I am basing my examples on the Pharmacy.
In this picture, the shop is freshly restocked and full of items.
Note! This is not a full picture. Its just the top half of all the items.
As you can see, I have indicated the profitable items with a red rectangle around them. THESE are the items that you should go for first. I don’t know if the other items in the picture are profitable. If they are, I’m sure its on ly a few hundred NP. The ones I’ve indicated are a few thousand NP, and are the ones you should go for first.
CAUTION: THIS IS AN OLD GUIDE, AND THESE ITEMS MAY OR MAY NOT STILL BE PROFITABLE. PLEASE RESEARCH THE WORTH OF THESE ITEMS USING THE SHOP WIZARD BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO RESTOCK THEM
There are other items you should buy in Pharm, but you will have to explore for yourself. Go for items that you don’t see often. These are usually rare and sell for more. But the thing is, a lot of other players are gonna want to buy that item too, so you’re gonna have to be fast. Usually the rarer items stock in 1-3, so you’ll have to go faster than normal if you expect to get it.
After a while of restocking in a certain shop, you’ll start to know and memorize which items are good to get and which aren’t. For example, I restock in Main Petpet a lot, and I can name the good and bad items off the top of my head.
If you are trying a new shop, such as Toy or Food, I would suggest going for items that stock in 1-2, and the items that stock for either exactly 2500 NP, 5000 NP or 10000 NP. These items are all moderately to very rare, and are usually a good buy. However like I said, not all of those items are good. You just have to explore for yourself.
How do I buy an item?
Ok, so you found the item you want and you clicked on it and confirmed it. You should now be at the haggling page, which should look something like this.
Now for the haggling part. You see that little next to where it says “Your Offer”? Thats where you’re supposed to haggle.
Like most new restockers, you probably think you should put the exact amount of NP that they ask for. WRONG! Your goal is to put an amount of NP that is AROUND the asking price, and is easy and fast to type on your keyboard.
Lets take this Neopox Pizza for example. His asking price 614 NP. So a few good prices to haggle would be:
666
676
677
777
656
599
As you can see, most of these numbers are OVER the asking price. The shopkeeper is sure to accept these. However, don’t go TOO over the asking price, or it might not be accepted, as the shopkepper will say that you are paying too much. I’d say anything over 1500 NP wouldn’t be accepted, and you’d have to haggle again. Of course don’t try to UNDER haggle either. Then you will be asked to haggle again. If the item price is 3 digits, I suggest haggle within 200 NP of it below or above, 2000 NP for 4 digit numbers, and for five digit maybe up to 5000. When the prices go up to 6 digits, I’d say you might be able to haggle within a 10,000 – 20,000 NP range.
Remember! The higher the price of the item, the more you can haggle.
Try to haggle as fast as you can. The faster you haggle, the faster you can get the item. I think the fastest way of haggling is by alternating numbers. For example, if the price of an item is 21,478 NP, then instead of putting 22222 or 21111, as a lot of people would do, I would rather do 21212, or 23232. This is alternating, and in my opinion is much faster.
Some people also may use the countdown haggle. For example, if the price of an item is 121,499 NP, then you could do a countdown, and haggle a number such as 123123. This is also a fast haggling skill.
Ok, after you have haggled your item, you should see some writing under the haggling box. It should say something like:
Enter the amount you wish to pay,
then click on the Mynci to continue.
Underneath those words, you will see a picture of a Neopian world, with one or more pictures of Neopets in it. Your goal is to click on the boldest Neopet.
Some codes will be easy, like this one:
But some will be harder, like this one:
After you have clicked on the neopet, you will be brought to one of two pages.
If you were fast enough and got the item, you will be brought to something like this:
But if you weren’t successful, and missed the item, you will be brought to something like this:
If you accidentally missed the pet and clicked another part of the picture, then you will just be brought back to the same page and will have to haggle again.
Remember! Even if you haggle the number perfectly and click on the right Neopet, it isn’t guaranteed that you’ll get the item. There are MANY other players going for the same item as you, so you’re just going to have to be faster than them all.
What shops should I restock in?
Click here to find a list of shops, recommendations, and lists of what items to buy.
Here are my own recommendations from my own personal experiences.
Beginner: Food, Pharmacy, Books, Snow Foods
Intermediate: Toy, Chocolate Factory, Most Petpet Shops
Advanced: Magic, Stamp, Coin
Can I restock in more than one shop at a time?
Yes, of course you can. However, there are advantages as well as disadvantages that you have to be aware of.
If you choose to be in a single shop, you can dedicate all of your refreshing time to that single shop, giving you a much higher chance to catch a restock and potentially restock better items.
If you choose to restock in multiple shops, you would have to divide your refreshing time between the shops, giving you less of a chance to catch a restock in each shop, but also giving you more shops to catch a restock in.
Neither way is better than the other, it is just a preference.
One very good tip for Mozilla Firefox users if restocking in multiple shops is to use the bookmarks toolbar. It makes going to and refreshing each shop a much easier ordeal.
First I’ll show you what it looks like:
Unless you missed it, it is below the Location Bar. Here you can see the names of 5 shops that I am currently restocking in: Magic, Snow, Merifood, Stamp and Plushie
Now, when I click on each shop name, it will automatically transport me to that shop, all while refreshing the page for you. An easy way to check all your shops is just to click through all your bookmarks, looking at the shops as you go through them.
Now, if you want to do this, first make sure you’re using Mozilla Firefox. If you don’t have it, just google it and you can download it for free.
Next, go to View, then Toolbars, and make sure that there is a checkmark next to Bookmarks Toolbar. If there isn’t, just click it, and there should be one. Now you should see an “empty” toolbar beneath the Location Bar.
Right click anywhere on that empty space, and click on “New Bookmark”. You should see this box:
Do what it says in the image, and voila, you should have a brand new button to use at your disposal. Do this for as many shops as you want, or even use it for various places in the site that you want quick access to.
Improving Your Technique
This section of my guide will help you improve on restocking and haggling items faster.
Hand Positioning
One of the most important aspects of restocking is the way you position your hands on the keyboard. The more convenient and comfortable your position, the faster and more efficient you are.
A lot of restockers like to have their pinky on F5 (refresh) and their thumbs on Enter. I personally don’t use this method. They would refresh with their pinky and confirm the item with their thumb, then haggle with either the Number Pad or the Numbr Row (I will elaborate later). I personally used to use this method, but found out it is slower than the following position.
Some restockers, like to have their middle finger on F5, and have either the ball of their hand or their thumb on space. The space bar will also confirm the item, just like Enter. However, I think this one is easier, because you barely have to move your hand at all. You refresh with your middle finger, confirm with thumb or hand, and then use the number row to haggle. That whole motion, and your hand has barely moved. This, in my opinion, is a very good hand position.
Some people, not many though, like to use Ctrlâ� R to refresh, then make a smooth movement across the keyboard from Ctrlâ� R, to Enter, then to the number pad. I have never used this method and don’t know whether it is good or not.
A lot of restockers also use on ly the right side of the keyboard. They click on the Shopkeeper to refresh (yes you can do that) and use the number pad’s enter to confirm, and haggle with the number pad. I have never used this either, so I don’t know if its good or not.
If you’re a left handed person, I suggest using the number pad to haggle and confirm items, and use the Shopkeeper to refresh. This way you don’t have to keep stretching across the keyboard to press F5
Try to make your own positions and experiment with others. Find one that suits you best. This is just a guideline.
Number Pad or the Number Row
Basically when you haggle, you have 2 choices. Either you can use the Number Pad to haggle, or the Number Row. None is better than the other. You just have to experiment yourself.
The Number Pad is the little square of numbers on the side of your keyboard. Many restockers, including myself use this method of haggling. I don’t think laptops have it. It is activated by pressing the Num Lock button.
The Number Row is the row of numbers above the letters.
A lot of people argue that the Number Pad is better because the numbers are so close together. I will argue against this saying there is no difference.
A lot of people will say: “What if the price of an item was like 19,674 NP? You’d have to haggle 19999, and those numbers are really far away on the Number Row!”
But if the price is 19,674 NP, wouldn’t you be able to use the Number Row and haggle 21212 and still be accepted? Yes you would.
I find that the Number Pad is better for hard haggles like around 15k-16k, because of the shorter stretch, while the Number Row has advantages in fast haggles such as 23434 and 678678
So I said it once, and I’ll say it again. EXPERIMENT! Its the only way you’ll adapt and learn new things.
Clicking and Confirming
If you are in a shop that stocks a lot of items at a time, then you should read this. It will help you scroll the shop and click the right items.
In most shops, the rarer items wil stock near the bottom of the shop. Thats why I always have my screen scrolled to the very bottom of the shop, so when I refresh I don’t have to scroll all the way down.
Remember, always have your thumb or anything on either Enter or the Space Bar. This way, you can IMMEDIATELY confirm the item that you clicked on.
While the haggle page is loading, position your mouse over where you think the haggle box will be. This way you can immediately click in it and haggle. Also, while you’re haggling, try to move your mouse to the neopet in the picture so you can click on it as soon as you finish haggling.
Quick Haggling
One of the hardest part of learning to restock is learning how to haggle quickly and efficiently. Hopefully this section will help you become a better overall haggler.
Ok first things first. Choose if you want to use either the Number Pad or the Number Row (I already explained this). If you think you have enough hand-eye coordination and can move across the keyboard quickly, then you should try the Number Pad.
Now come the different techniques. I already gave a brief explanation of this, but now I’m gonna elaborate. Basically the key word in the haggling arts is “smooth”. Try to be as smooth as you can on your haggles. You DON’T want to have to reach back and forth across the keyboard, or bending your fingers in weird ways to reach some numbers. Soon, after you restock for while, you will just get a haggling instinct.
For example, if an item stocks for around 19,000 NP, you’re not gonna try and haggle 19191. You’re gonna try and haggle 21212, because that is a close and acceptable number, and is easier to haggle. This is a good method because it can be done on either the Numer Pad or the Number Row.
There are basically four methods of haggling:
Repetition – Continually pressing one or two numbers without alternating (ex: 12222, 4444)
Alternation – Alternating 2-3 numbers (ex: 23232, 123123)
Countdown – A countdown up or down the numbers (ex: 7657, 32123)
Random – Just basically a random bunch of numbers (ex: 7385, 12946)
Most people when they start restocking tend to use repetition, as it easier to adapt to. But sooner or later, you’re gonna notice that some of the best restockers either alternate their numbers or use a smooth countdown. The alternating and countdown haggles are just faster because you are using different fingers and don’t have to keep lifting up your one finger and pressing it down again. Its just logic.
The random haggle is rarely used. Usually it is on ly used when you get nervous and accidentally push random numbers. It has happened to me a few times, and I have actually gotten some items using it.
You can practice haggling in the Tiki Shop. Just be careful not to buy the item, as they are usually all over-priced. Just haggle, but don’t click on the neopet. I try to go as fast as I can when I’m practicing my haggle, as it will help later on when I need it.
One big problem with new restockers and hagglers, is that they mess up. Yeah, they see a rare item, they get nervous, and they mess up. What do I mean when I say mess up? Well I mean overhaggling, like putting 12222 instead of 1222. This can really lower your chances of getting the item. Thats why you should always practice haggling as much as you can. Try to find a bunch of numbers that you like to haggle and know you won’t mess up. For example, whenever I see an item for 2500 NP, I will ALWAYS put 2323 or 2424. Its just a habit that I have, and I never mess that up because I used it so much. on ce you find you have found a haggling habit, you will notice you will get the items more often. And remember items=profit.
Vocabulary
This section of my guide will help you understand the language and abbreviations that restockers like myself use.
Abbreviations
RS – Restock
RSing – Restocking
Stock – To move or come into a shop. Usually said with items.
R – Rarity of the item (example: r99, r87, r96) The higher the rarity, the rarer it is to appear in a shop.
GJ – Good Job (usually said when someone does a good restock).
UB – Unbuyable (an item worth more than 100,000 NP)
AB/ABer – @ut0 buyer (TNT censors it, I will explain later)
K – Thousand (example: 5k=5000 NP, 200k=200,000 NP)
MH/MHed – Mishaggle/Mishaggled (to enter a wrong haggling price and having to haggle again)
RF/RFed – Refresh/Refreshed
Multing – Multi-Account Restocking (I will explain later)
PP – Petpet (usually used in a shop name. Ex: Tyrannian PP is Tyrannian Petpet)
Other
1337 – Elite, l33t (in other words, very good)
Restock Machine – Imaginary machine used to associate with the restocks and supposedly makes them happen.
Partial – The shop on ly shows about half the items the first time you refresh, and shows the second half after you refresh a second time. This can be used to your advantage, as a partial is basically a 1 second head start on an item.
Junk – A restock with no good or worthwhile items.
Lag – When your internet goes considerably slow and usually decreases your chances of getting an item.
Extras
This section of my guide just covers anything I didn’t yet cover in the rest of my guide.
The Bad Stuff
Ok basically there are 2 things that you want to AVOID when you restock:
1. @ut0 Buyers
2. Multing
I’ll start with @ut0 buying. I’m gonna use the abbreviation (abing) since TNT censors it.
Abing is a VERY bad thing and CAN get your account frozen. An aber is basically a program that someone wrote that automatically detects when a restock happens and automatically buys the rare items, faster than any human can even click on it. It is basically the bane of restockers. There are usually abers in big profit shops like Toy, Stamp and Magic. People get really annoyed by these, since they take away all the items before you even get a chance to haggle. Usually you can tell when there is an aber in your shop if you click on an item RIGHT AWAY and get the SOLD OUT page. If TNT has any suspicion that you’re using an aber, you’ll be frozen.
Neopets Restock Ban Check
The second bad thing you could do is multing, or multi-account restocking. This means that you restock on more than one account and can get more items. Again, if TNT gets any suspicion that you’re multing, they’ll freeze all your accounts.
Restock Bans
After you restock for while, you will notice that sometimes the people you are talking to who are also restockers will talk about a restock, but you didn’t see one happen. Chances are that you are banned from your shopS. If you refresh too much in a shop, you will be banned from all shops, meaning you won’t see any restocks happen. They will always just be empty. Bans usually last maybe ten minutes minimum to sometimes up to two days. Thats why you should try hard NOT to get banned. Don’t refresh if you don’t need to. If you have been restocking for a couple hours straight, I suggest stopping, maybe playing games, get off the computer, or do something else. That will decrease your chances of getting banned.
To check if you’re banned, just look at the Tiki Shop. If it is stocked, then you’re not banned. If there are no items, then you’re definately banned, because the Tiki Shop is basically never empty because of the overpriced and junky items.
Random Tips and Facts
-If an item is r90-r100, it will always stock for at least 5000 NP. So usually if you see an item for 5000 NP, its probably a good item (not always though).
Neopets Restock Ban
-Only items up to r100 can stock in a shop. Anything r101 and above will NOT ever stock in a shop.
Neopets Restock Ban
-On the 3rd of every month, it is Half-Price Day. That means that all the regular prices of items are cut in half. You can use this to your advantage, because now more items are profitable. But remember, the shops will be more crowded, so you’ll have to be faster.
-It helps to chat on a restock board while you’re restocking, as not to get bored, and maybe pick up a few pointers. You can usually find these boards in the Help Chat or the Battledome Chat. They are 24/7 boards filled with restockers who just love to help and chat with other restockers. Also, I suggest finding a restocking guild. You can usually find one if you ask some of the restockers.
-Remember, the faster and better your internet connection, the faster you will go, and the faster you will get the item.