Weird Encounters in my Jap- theme Store

[Jysudo]

My sim Sherry open a small tiny Japanese themed store, selling Japanese themed stuff and I have a few weird encounters I couldn't quite make of 

Sherry has been working really hard in her store. She put her goods as "cheap" and she had a ticket machine that charge people $20 per hour. The people are coming, alright, no problems with that. But sometimes, when I have Sherry dazzle and basic sell to the point where the stupid customer's buy bar was almost 98% filled. The customer will just walk off the lot, with the still full bar. That has happened more than 10x and is darn irritating. I mean the person shld be buying something not walking off. Other times, the customers with his bar almost filled will walk out of the shop and buy a darn ticket from the ticket machine instead 

This is seriously pissing me off. Not to mention that I have SEVERAL cases of balant shop lifting. They openly walk out of my store with the paper  bags and off the lot. I mean, WTF? If you wanna shoplift, can you do it a bit better?

And no one buys lemondae from poor Sherry's kid. The kid is just there selling "ridiculously cheap" lemonade and only his grandparents show him some support (with my prompting, of course).


And I have several good reviews but I don't have much increase in customers. And I have been working hard for Sherry for 6 days. Her store is only level 6. With the cheap stuff I sell, it should be level 10 by now! I just don't get it!


If it helps, she is in a store which used to be a residence but is a community lot now thanks to changelotzoning.

Are my problems bugs or is it me? I don't think I am that lousy of a player
And I don't think customers walking off with full bars are normal.

Any ideas?? Should I remove the damn ticketing machine?

Jeeze, I have so many problems with OFB (bugs and more bugs) that I feel like tossing my copy back and demanding a refund.

[Motoki]

Okay let me just say right now, the lemonade stand is the most pathetic thing in the entire expansion pack. Nobody buys from them (the rules for how they buy it are complicated and require certain personality types, moods and relationship with the kid), there's too many distractions on any lot even if they want to buy (unless you make an empty lot with a lemonade stand  ), the money is joke, even if they luck out and sell a couple 99% of the time they just stand there wasting time and having their needs go down, they don't get any badges for it, not even a sales badge. They gain cooking skill at a pathetic rate ONLY when making the lemonade which takes about 2 seconds.

I was really looking forward to this damned thing and they hyped it up but it sucks ass. I used it once and never will again. Maybe if someone made a hacked lemonade stand I'll look at it again but otherwise I'm not going to bother.

[Chanco]

I would try removing the ticketing machine; it works well for clubs but doesn't do justice for any other businesses. If removing the ticketing machine doesn't help then it might be some thing to do with the change in the lot zoning?

Yep, I feel the same way about the lemonade stand it is useless!

[Jysudo]

Thanks Motoki and Chanco on ur views of the stupid lemonade stand. I finally have a kid in game to use the stand and yeah I am so disappointed with it. Those pre game released pictures of the kids serving the lemonade are so cute

Does it mean that the ticketing machine is the distraction here?

And one more thing, even when i didn't call my employee in, the game keep sending him to my lot or else announcing he is too tired to come to work? I didn't call him to work and this happens.

Does changing lot zoning make the lot buggy? I am using a jap themed house for the shop and it looks cool. I would hate to lose it 

And does anyone else have problems blazing to level 10? The oh so awesome one seems to have an easy time bringing his business to level 10....

[cwieberdink]

Yep, I feel the same way about the lemonade stand it is useless!

Is this another harcoded thing, or is there a way to hack some badge skills from it?

C

[Chanco]

I have had a couple of lots that have gone buggy after I rezone them. And I have rezone quit a few lots, from residential to community and some them back to residential or community, before and after ofb.
With this game when doing anything it all comes down to a game of chance.

I have no idea if the lemonade stand is hardcoded or not, I do feel the kids should get more out of it.

[radiophonic]

Is it possible that there just isn't enough room surrounding the ticket machine and sims can't squeeze in close enough to buy a ticket?

[Motoki]

And does anyone else have problems blazing to level 10? The oh so awesome one seems to have an easy time bringing his business to level 10....

It's hard yes if you play normal gameplay. If you power game and use exploits or only look at the maximum efficiency then sure it's easy. Selling craftables will never be profitable to any significant degree with the possible exception of servos but even he takes so long to make that it offsets the selling price. Selling food or running a restaurant is not a get rick quick either. If you want money, you basically need to sell expensive electronics, statues, paintings, cars, etc or even deeds to stores. If you want customer loyalty you just make everything uber cheap and sell a bunch of low price stuff get them buying like crazy, schmooze them a lot with sales, offer a lot of vip free passes with the ticket machine etc.

But to me, where's the fun in that? I know how to get all that stuff but I want to play a semi-realistic shop and that's pretty damned hard to me.

re: Children and badges.

There's apparently a hack at MTS2 that lets you give them badges so they can get them, but I'm not sure what if any ramifications this may have.

[J. M. Pescado]

It's hard yes if you play normal gameplay. If you power game and use exploits or only look at the maximum efficiency then sure it's easy. Selling craftables will never be profitable to any significant degree with the possible exception of servos but even he takes so long to make that it offsets the selling price.

Actually, I make a killing off of selling craftables. You just need to jack up prices to make it worthwhile. At, oh, say, about $50K a Servo, you can make a decent killing off of them. And $50K is certainly what I consider a fair price for one!

[Motoki]

So you are setting your prices with a custom price? I haven't tried that yet. I know with the little stuff even if you chose "ridiculously expensive" you don't get all that much for them.

I agree about the servo being 50k btw. It's a REALLY powerful item, I don't think it should cost less than a big screen TV.

[Jysudo]

It's hard yes if you play normal gameplay. If you power game and use exploits or only look at the maximum efficiency then sure it's easy. Selling craftables will never be profitable to any significant degree with the possible exception of servos but even he takes so long to make that it offsets the selling price.

Actually, I make a killing off of selling craftables. You just need to jack up prices to make it worthwhile. At, oh, say, about $50K a Servo, you can make a decent killing off of them. And $50K is certainly what I consider a fair price for one!

Since you are here, oh so awesome one, can you tell us how you get the sim to buy  a $50k Servo (WITHOUT cheating). I mean, I am having difficulty getting them to buy a $145 (cheap) Japanese Fan or fotune cat! 

And yeah my morale is all time low now.

[Motoki]

Where the heck did you get a fortune cat?

Anyway, Dazzle works wonders. I can get sims to buy pretty much anything with it. I sold a 50k deed to some townie teen without much difficulty thanks to dazzle.

[LordHellscream]

ticket machine is no good for retail store. just remove it and your business should be fine.

[Jysudo]

You are right. Based on earlier advice from here, I remove the blasted ticketing machine. And the customers have stopped walking off the lot with the purchases.

But I have new issues

Stock sighs keep 'flying' everywhere else on the lot. It shouldn't happen when I am using Numenor's "Less" hack for putting cc objects on shelves but it did. I had to use boolprop several times yesterday

And I present a super rare handmade 100% silk Kimono to a townie. It costs $20k. Guess what the townie said! She doesn't have enough money! Several other townies said the same thing ! I am shocked. Why can't I sell a $20k Kimono when JM sells $50k Servos?

The dough is finally coming in now so much so that the manager got so busy he quitted on me

Lastly, why the ticketing machine is no good for retails and only good for clubs?

[Motoki]

Well generally people don't pay to go to a retail store. Anyway, when deciding whether to buy a ticket, they look to see if things inside the building will satisfy their needs and get them skills (supposedly). You could put objects in there that would give fun or skills or whatever but then good luck getting them to shop.

re: broke townie

You sure it was a townie and not an npc? I had an npc maid tell me she was broke. Some of the npcs wear uniforms, but some (like the reporter) pretty much wear normal clothes.

[Jysudo]

I give them free food and music so I thought I shld charge them lol.
Anyway, I replace the ticketing machine with Igne's pay loos and  buffet table. I wish I could charge them $100 for using the loos not $10, sighs!

But I don't understand why my townies don't ahve bottomless pits of $$$ like you mentioned in another thread, Motoki. My townies don't have $20k to buy my super rare kimono 

[Regina]

Jysudo, I'm wondering why you need buffet tables and the like for money making in the store.  My store is currently at a level 5 and considering the profit margin and customer traffic it's time to hire some help, at least one cashier, and the hubby who's going to quit his job before he goes to work again, can help fill in if needed with sales.

My sim's home store is stocked with a wide variety of items priced anywhere from $10 to $4,000.  Priced at cheap she makes a 27% profit margin and if I have her actually try to encourage sims to buy anything at all it's nothing for them to rake in $5,000 to $10,000 a day after expenses.  I never use Dazzle because it wears my sim out too much.  When I do use sales techniques I go for the basic and it works almost every time.  I think even her kids could talk someone into buying the Brooklyn Bridge! LOL

Here are a few things I've learned:

1.  When you see a sim looking around like they can't find something, click on them and choose sales>May I help you?
2.  When a sim has paid for their purchase and looking around further, you're better off to bid them goodbye because likely as not they'll end up with a lower opinion of your store after having looked the second time.  I'm not sure why this is.
3.  Once in a while it's okay to show a customer something.  Often it backfires.  If you do show them something, make sure it's a lower dollar item.  If they're looking at a higher dollar item, then it's usually okay to use a sales tactic.
4.  Expensive items usually pretty much sell themselves.  Occaisionally I use the sales>Basic option.
5.  Create customer loyalty by offering inexpensive items at lower prices.

I know there are more, but those are the ones I can think of right offhand.  If you do those things your store should be making a whopping profit in no time flat.

[Motoki]

2.  When a sim has paid for their purchase and looking around further, you're better off to bid them goodbye because likely as not they'll end up with a lower opinion of your store after having looked the second time.  I'm not sure why this is.

But that point their needs have gone down and their mood with it. They'll be harder to sell to and expect more. Sometimes their buy bar will actually go down and then they'll get mad (presumably that no one helped them). Snapdragons help keep their mood up, as does perk up (which they can reject if your relationship with them is low) and rally forth (which works better to have a servo do it since it doesn't drain their power).

3.  Once in a while it's okay to show a customer something.  Often it backfires.  If you do show them something, make sure it's a lower dollar item.  If they're looking at a higher dollar item, then it's usually okay to use a sales tactic.

I think it depends on experience. One of my sims who has a gold sales badge, is perma-plat (so always in a good mood) and the Convincing Personality perk that makes sales 30% more effective never fails when showing an item no matter how expensive. Early on before he earned all that stuff he did fail though. If you have asses desire you can figure out what they want and show it to them and that should always work. You can also watch their bubbles and see what items they are thinking about and show them those.

4.  Expensive items usually pretty much sell themselves.  Occaisionally I use the sales>Basic option.

I depends how expensive. REALLY expensive stuff basic sell won't work on, but I am talking expensive paintings, statues, cars etc price ridiculously expensive or set to a very high custom price. Those you pretty much have to dazzle, but some of the lower price stuff that you make a bit more expensive will be fine with basic sales.

Basic sales is always the safest, when in doubt use that one. It seems to work pretty good for me even for family members with no sales at all as long as they are in a good mood and hit a customer as soon as they walk through the door (and thus motives and mood are still high).

[cwykes]

"May I help you?" is always good for a loyalty star in my experience.  I agree Basic sales is usually safe, but other sales actions can backfire depending on seller skills and buyer mood.  I think the relationship score matters too, but am I right? 

I always have negative results with assess desire though - maybe I'm trying it on tired sims.  Hmmm.

I end up with rafts of broke sims hanging around my shop. Anyone else have that problem?  I think it becomes a problem when you run a shop for 72 hours straight rather than closing and opening again.  They just don't go home when they are done shopping.  You can get customer loyalty from them, but no sales.  I did get one customer loyalty point from a guy using the loo!  Realistic, but unexpected!  It's hard to decide whether to say goodbye to them before they get in a fight or start flirting with someone inappropriate or concentrate on selling to the ones who do have money.  You can lose loyalty by asking them to leave as well.   When I moaned about this on another thread (deleted?) Pescado said he'd think about a "no broke sims" hack.  I would like "broke sims go home" which is a bit different.  Some of them weren't broke before you sold them that flatscreen tv!

[J. M. Pescado]

Pescado said he'd think about a "no broke sims" hack.  I would like "broke sims go home" which is a bit different.  Some of them weren't broke before you sold them that flatscreen tv!

That is currently a part of Business Runs You!, an upcoming object: Bums will be quietly told to sod off, and will quickly depart after paying for whatever they purchased, perhaps prior to becoming broke. Assuming you even still HAVE playable visitors.

[Jysudo]

I am now really looking forward to this new awesome shiny mod by JM. I noticed that he has been going around several threads to do promotion for this new mod 

[gali]

Jysudo, to put the electronic machine, you have to keep on your lot MANY entertaiment objects, and 2 coffee baristas.

In OFB (don't know why), the sims are obssessed with the coffee. I never saw such an obbssession, and it annoys me a lot.

10$ is cheap venue charge - I put 150$... - if they want to play, at least they have to pay for it.

And, you have to socialize with all your customers - that is really difficult.

[buddha pest]

Jysudo, to put the electronic machine, you have to keep on your lot MANY entertaiment objects, and 2 coffee baristas.

I bought the Lost In Love Hedge Maze downtown, and all it has is a few chess tables and I think a barbeque which no one ever uses, and I charge $2000 a head.

I keep an expresso machine for my sims only. Dazzle a few times per customer, then caffeinate. Well, and I also have the Manipulate option for one of my sims.

[Entgleichen]

For some reason, on my business lots, customers never go for the coffee. I played the same lots before OfB, and the coffee bar was of some use, but now... assigning a hireling to the coffee bar is a waste.

[MissDoh]

This is seriously pissing me off. Not to mention that I have SEVERAL cases of balant shop lifting. They openly walk out of my store with the paper  bags and off the lot. I mean, WTF? If you wanna shoplift, can you do it a bit better?

Squinge made a hack to fix this at modthesims2 called "no more bag throwing", it works great!  He did other useful (an unuseful for me) mods regarding businesses and non-business related you may want to take a look at like for example:  customers use showers and beds on community lots, no duplicate memories, Npcs makeovers, customers use grills, and a lot of no autonomous mods applying to either business only or all over.  You can also fiind his hacks/mods at the insimenator site.

In OFB (don't know why), the sims are obssessed with the coffee. I never saw such an obbssession, and it annoys me a lot.

Eddief66 did a mod that applies to the expresso cart that will reduce the attraction to it by 50% and he also added hacked of the expresso machine and small coffee machine.  It works fine in my game.  You can find them at modthesims2.