6.12.2 Shopkeeping
In order to purchase a shop, you must find someone willing to sell you one. In order to do this, you could either go to various player-owned shops in the major cities or Esterport, and then type WARES. If the shop is closed, then contact the city government about buying it from them. In the case of Esterport, shops are usually resold through an auction. If the shop is open, then you must contact the owner of the shop to purchase it from them.
Once you own a shop, there are a number of things you can do with your shop. Most commands are all grouped under the SHOP command, however there are some that are outside of it.
Commands
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SHOP PRICE:
Pricing up an item is the method in which you place something up for sale. There are three kinds of goods that can be sold from your stockroom. The first is items, the most common kind of good. Secondly is items from the shop cache, such as herbs, pills, commodities, and other goods that can fit into a cache. And thirdly is crafting designs that will be automatically crafted when bought, providing the shop cache and/or stockroom has the required commodities.
For items, if you specify a name type like SHOP PRICE ITEM CUP 50, then it'll price all cups with the same WARES description together. You can further refine the item grouping you want by using CUP1234, which will group all items together similar to that cup. If you want to price a single item by itself, then refer to it by its item ID number -only-.
To price an item for free, simply set the price to 0: SHOP PRICE ITEM CUP 0 SHELF <#>
To price a design for free, just leave the price blank: SHOP PRICE DESIGN <#> SHELF <#>
Please note that priced items are considered separate from unpriced items and won't be grouped together, so you may need to unprice any existing items if want to group them.
SHOP UNPRICE:
This is the command to unprice goods from your shop. You can additionally pick up existing items in the stockroom to unprice them if you so wish.
SHOP SHELF:
Shop shelves are a method of organising your goods into sections. Once a good is placed upon a shelf, it can become subject to a shop policy, such as providing a discount to certain members of a guild.
SHOP CACHE:
The shop cache is a place to store goods that can fit into a cache, such as commodities. These commands will allow you to manage your cache.
SHOP POLICY:
Shop policies can govern how a customer can interact with your shop. You can refuse items, supply discounts, or even have your items cost a premium depending on what you prefer.
SHOP SORT:
This command lets you sort your goods in specific ways per your desire. This will alter how goods are displayed upon WARES. This only affects items for now.
SHOP ALLY:
This is how you can grant access to additional keepers that can help with stock maintenance and pricing.
READLOG SHOP:
This command will let you view a log of purchases within your shop.
WRITELOG SHOP:
You can write a note within the logs of your shop for yourself or others.
SHOPLIST:
This command will help you keep track of any shops you own, along with owed taxes.
SHOPWORK:
This command will allow you to modify the locks upon your shop. You can add locks, remove locks, or simply add a new key to a lock. You will need to speak with a locksmith in order to obtain blank keys.
Taxes
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In order to maintain your shop and keep it safe from thieves, the city it belongs within may require shop keepers to pay a tax. If you fail to pay your taxes, it may result in your shop being closed or repossessed, depending on the city law. Only the shop owner may pay taxes.
CITY SHOP INFO - This will allow you to view outstanding taxes.
CITY PAY SHOP TAXES - This will allow you pay your taxes.
In Esterport, if you fail to pay your taxes for a season, then your shop will be closed. If another season passes by without the taxes being paid, then your shop will be repossessed and placed up for auction.
Selling
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If you grow tired of the shop keeping life, then you can sell your shop to another player. The following command will allow you to do so:
SELL SHOP TO <person> FOR <x> GOLD
The player will be asked for confirmation, and if he has the gold, the gold will be transferred to your inventory. Note that both you and the person you are selling the shop to need to be in the shop.
Security
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It should come as no surprise that shop keeping incurs the risk of theft. In order to keep your shop safe, it is highly recommended that you obtain the following.
* A monolith sigil in your stockroom to prevent magical teleportation.
* A key sigil in your stockroom to automatically close and lock the door.
* Throw an eye sigil in your stockroom to reveal any incorporeal visitors.
* A bell tattoo upon your body to reveal well-hidden thieves.
* New locks on your doors should you have recently purchased the shop.
This will provide the basics of protection, although this list is not definite. Speak with your city or an experienced shop keeper for further advice if you feel the need.
See also: SHOPS, SHELVING, KEYS, SIGILS, SHOPPOLICY
