Buying & Selling
Wholesale vs. Retail
- Wholesale (selling to other businesses) is done with the market or by sending the goods directly with an invoice. The buyer is another player running their own business.
- Retail (selling to the public) is done in a Retail building that you own. The buyer is the public, represented by the game itself.
- Any product can be sold wholesale. Only certain products can be sold retail. The others are industrial goods, and the public doesn't buy them.
Wholesale (business to business)
- There are three ways that companies sell to each other: Market, Invoice, or Auction
Buying from the Market
- Each city has a separate market. You must have a warehouse in a city before you can make purchase there, although you can browse the markets at any time.
- Clicking the Market button will default to opening a new window. This allows you to make purchases while working on something else. If you prefer a tab, or to open in place, most browsers will permit that if you right click.
- The default view of the market shows the latest listings in whatever city you were already working in. The market has it's own city selection for advanced players who multi-task across multiple cities. This selection will NOT affect other pages you are working on. (So you can give instructions to Bellerive cities while browsing the Canjara market.) Be careful that purchases are for the correct city.
- The market is also easy to filter. Clicking on any product name will show just that product, and on any company name will show just the sales by that company. Or you can use the more complex filters to select one or more products or categories. You can even show multiple cities worth of listings simultaneously (though you must change to the appropriate city to purchase).
- To remove a filter and see all listings again, click the small X in the upper right of that icon. (Or create another filter.)
- Lastly, you can sort your search by Quantity, Price, or Quality Appeal to find just what you want.
- Simunomics has several automated companies that are run by the system. They all have SSC in their name, which stands for "Simunomics System Company".
- The most well-known of these is Allmart, SSC which sells every good in the game. However, Allmart will only sell up to β3 million worth of products to anyone. That makes them a good supplier for unexpected needs but not a good long-term partner.
Selling on the Market
- Placing some products on the market removes them from your warehouse and makes them available for purchase by any other players in the city.
- To sell a product to another player, go to your Warehouse. In the column titled "Action" is a drop-down box with several selections there. One of the choices is "Sell." The next page will ask you how many you want to sell and at what price.
- On the sales screen the Stats button will show you recent sales graphed by price vs quality appeal. This can help you figure out a good price to stay competitive.
- If you change your mind after listing a product, just find it in the market. Instead of a "Buy" link, it will say "Modify." Click that to take your products back or change your selling price.
Selling directly (sending an invoice)
- Eventually you'll find people with whom you want to do business directly. Maybe they bought from you on the market. Or perhaps you saw their ad in the B2B listings.
- To sell directly, start the same way you would to sell on the market, by find that product in your warehouse and choosing "Sell." On the next page, enter the name of your buyer along with the quantity and price.
- An invoice that has been sent, but not accepted, can be cancelled by either party at any time.
- You can only send goods to someone who already has a warehouse in that city. For inter-city moves, use the train system.
- The number off outgoing invoices is listed in on the right side of your Status Box (the top of the screen) so you can quickly see if your shipment has been accepted or not.
Buying directly
- If another player sends you an invoice, you will have the chance to look over the details before accepting. The invoice total is listed at the right of your Status Box. If something is wrong, cancel the invoice and the seller will receive the goods back.
Tracking your sales
- On the office toolbar is a button for Accounting. In that section are Transaction lists that let you see any sales or purchases that you have made, including invoices that were cancelled.
Auctions
- Simunomics has a basic Auction system built in, available from the left side Navigation box.
- An Auction can be run either Automatic which immediately makes the sale to the highest bidder, or Honor System which requires players to follow through on completion.
- Auctions become usable at Speculator Level (2). Additionally the auctioning of certain items may require higher levels.
Selling Statistics
Wholesale Statistics
- All transactions on the market are tracked. You can view a graph of all trades for the last week, averaged by hour, showing price and volume. This graph can be reached in several ways:
- In your Office is a button called "Other Functions." Click that, and "Market Trades" will be one of the options.
- The PHIL section of the Help Center can give a direct link for any product.
- Retail Statistics also give a link to Market statistics
- The graph may be delayed up to two hours, depending on when you are viewing. Also note that several trades are necessary before a graph can be drawn, so new or infrequently-sold products won't be graphed yet.
- Direct sales (invoices) are private, and are not included on the graph.
Retail Statistics
- Part of the statistics gathered for each city include what company is the top seller and what brand is selling the most. The list of the top ten for each product is available for viewing, along with a pie chart graph showing proportions. This graph can be reached in several ways:
- Select the Ranks & Stats page. Among the buttons is a drop-down list with every retail product. Select that and click "Look Up."
- From the Market Statistics page, click this button . (Note that it only exists for retail products, because Industrial goods don't have retail statistics).
- Included on that page along with the top 10 companies are some totals:
- City-Wide demand (how many the public want to buy).
- How many Allmart and the other System Companies (SSCs) are selling. (SSCs will always provide for any sales not covered by players).
- The average quality appeal of products the city, including SSC sales.
- The average price for the city, including SSC sales.
- All of this information is also available for product categories.