An announcement playing regarding metal items.
Announcements are changes in the popularity and prices of items. They are displayed in a news ticker at the start of a new day in Recettear, and are accompanied by a chime. Further announcements may come in randomly throughout the day.
There are three news items at a time, unless there is a price crash or pre-crash (in which case there will be four). The first two each announce a boom, a price increase, a price decrease, or a normalized price. There will only be three active effects at a time (not including a crash/pre-crash).
The last news item will always be a random side-note, such as alerting someone they forgot their change in the market. These are just for flavor, and can be ignored.
If you've forgotten what the current news items are, you can ask Tear; choose "News Summary," and she will list all the news items that are still active.
Note: Announcements begin on Day 10, regardless of if the game is a New Game+ or not.
Price Increase[]
When an announcement is made that a particular kind of item's price has increased, its worth is roughly doubled. The names of affected items are displayed in red. This can affect a category, like metal items, a type of item, like hats, or one specific item, like Focus Staves.
When item prices are up, it's a good time to sell those items.
In cases where 'Metal Items' increase in price, this applies to the Battle Sweater but not to the Sailor Suit. It would apply to the Longsword, but not the Laundry Pole.
The duration of a Price Increase is random, as is the duration of any other news announcement.
At this point, it is highly recommended to sell as many red items as possible during the duration of the announcement, especially if you already have them in stock. To ensure they're picked over other items, place them in your showcase.
Going to the Merchant's Guild or the Market to stock up on red items is still recommended. Though they will be priced a little higher, they can be sold for so much more and your profit will remain significantly higher than usual. Buying large amounts of items that are Priced Up is not a good idea, however, because if you cannot sell all of them before the Price Up ends, selling them at normal prices would severely lower profit margin.
When purchasing red items from customers, they will generally accept values as high as 75-93%.
Red items from Venders are always sold at their base price, and Recette can easily sell them for over 200% if they're on the floor. However if you have more red items than you could sell on the floor anyway, no harm is done by leaving them in vending machines.
If a customer requests a certain kind of item, and a qualifying item is red, it can be sold to them at the hiked rate, but be careful not to suggest an item that, at its increased price, is above the customer's budget, or they won't be able to afford it.
If an item belongs to two Priced Up categories, the effects do not stack. For example, if food is Priced Up and so are Sweets, that does not mean you can sell Candy for quadruple the price, just the normal Price Up amount.
Price Decrease[]
When an announcement is made that a particular kind of item's price has decreased, its worth is roughly halved. The names of affected items are displayed in blue. This functions exactly the same as a Price Increase, only in reverse.
When item prices are down, it's a good time to buy those items.
This is an ideal time to stock up on these items, as they are sold from the Merchant's Guild and Market at a reduced rate. However, this is also a time when Recette should remove such items from display, as customer will expect to buy them at a heavily discounted price. Such items will usually sell for 80% or less.
In the case that a customer requests an item type that is priced down, it may be best to offer up the lowest price item to minimize your losses while maintaining your Just Combo bonus.
When purchasing blue items from customers, they will generally accept values as low as 25-33%.
Blue items placed in a Vender will still be sold at their base price, but customers are likely to avoid purchasing them, since the machine is trying to sell them for more than they're currently worth.
Items notated as priced down that also fall into a category that is currently priced up will show up as worth the normal amount. For instance, if metal items are priced up, but longswords are priced down, both effects are canceled out and longswords can be sold at the normal rate.
Boom[]
A group of men coming in during a Longsword boom.
Announcements may come in warning people of cold weather, talking about items popularly used for fortune-telling or perhaps plainly state that certain people are going crazy for a certain item. This is called a boom. Taking advantage of this news can generate a lot of experience and money very quickly.
Purchase nine items that qualify for the boom. For example, if cold weather is imminent, you can buy cold-weather items like scarves or Warm Hats. Fill your showcase only with these items, then open the store. This will cause a swarm of one particular customer to enter, all asking for the "boom" item(s) you're offering.
During a boom session, you can get a much larger number of sales done in one time period than usual, but customers will only buy the "boom" item(s). Each time a boom is triggered, between seven and nine customers will attempt to purchase related items. Therefore, along with Just Combo, it's possible to gain a great deal of Merchant XP during a boom session, not to mention a lot of money.
Adventurers may come in during a boom if they fit the requirements. For example, during a sword boom for men, both Louie and Elan may come in looking for swords.
Booms do not affect item price one way or another, they merely attract many customers looking for that item. It's therefore strategic to try to wait out a boom until a qualifying item has its price hiked. Don't wait too long, though, or the boom might end without you capitalizing on it.
A boom can be taken advantage of a maximum of once per day, and twice total, even if it lasts for 3 days. Note that only one boom may be activated per day; if a boom is activated in the morning, it ends, and another boom begins later, the second boom won't be able to be activated until the following day.
Events like customers looking for their orders to be filled and NPCs paying a visit will still occur during a boom session, and fulfilling orders during a boom does not count against the normal maximum transaction count for booms, allowing for more maximum XP transactions than would normally be possible. To ensure orders and booms line up, a boom should be exploited during the first cycle the store is open that day.
Because of the large number of customers during a boom, there may be a higher chance of selling vending machine goods.
If, during a boom for a specific item, the store runs out of stock on its shelves, the customers will ask Recette for the category of the item instead, and accept anything from that category. For example, in the case of non-Sword weapons, they will ask for "Weapon", and any weapon sold will qualify. This can be abused to sell higher-priced items to people looking for a low-priced item.
List of Boom Announcements[]
("Will ask for": the item category that customers will request, if it is different from the boom category.)
- Lots of sunshine in the forecast - beware of sunstroke!
- The chilly season is here - those sensitive to cold should bundle up.
- Display: Cold Weather Clothes and Something Warm
- Customer: Woman
- (Name of weapon) are currently "in" with pensioners!
- Men of character are currently seeking out (name of weapon).
- Display: named weapon
- Customer: Old Man/Man
- Will ask for: weapon
- Recommended item: Drill Arm (once stock runs out)
- There are signs of a boom in longswords among men who know quality.
- Reading is reaching an all-time high in popularity among young women!
- The new diet centered on (name of food) has taken off with housewives!
- Display: named food
- Customer: Woman
- Will ask for: none (will not ask for a category when table stock runs out)
- (Food-type) is increasing in popularity with homemakers!
- Fortune-telling using (ingredient) is the big new fad with girls!
- Display: named ingredient
- Customer: Girl
- Will ask for: an ingredient
- Housewives with new money management skills are on a precious metals bender!
- Display: Valuable things (gold/silver/platinum/crystal/gem/jade/pearl/etc.)
- Customer: Woman
- Senior citizens are showing an increased interest in holy objects.
- Display: Holy objects
- Customer: Old Man
- Recommended item: Checkered Floor
- Sinister objects are increasingly in popularity with men
- Display: Sinister objects
- Customer: Man
Note: Unconfirmed entries in italics
Crash[]
Selling huge quantities of a single type of item over a short period of time may lead to a crash. This will be formally announced in the news. The item will be priced down severely (even worse than a regular Price Decrease), and will be marked Out Of Stock at the Merchant's Guild or Market until the crash is announced to be over. Names of affected items can be seen to be a slightly darker blue. Before the actual crash you may first see a price reduction in the item, usually with an announcement like "Prices of xxx are falling rapidly!". At this point, the item is still trading.
A crash is typically caused by stocking a vending machine with only one item. To avoid a crash, it's advisable you stock vending machines with a variety of items, even if they're of the same category.
Other Notes on Prices[]
- Same-price-direction effects do not stack. For example, if precious metals are up, and spears are up too, a Platinum Halberd (which is a spear made of platinum, which qualifies as a precious metal) will still only sell for double.
- Opposite-price-direction effects do stack. For example, if metal things are up, but accessories are down, the effects would cancel each other out for a Magnet Necklace (which is an accessory made of non-precious metal), and that item would sell at normal price.
- Three or more overlapping effects can occur. For example, the price of armor could be down while the price of heavy armor is up and the price of metal items is up, causing an overall increase in the price of heavy armor items that are made of metal.
- "Precious Metals" refers to any non-generic/non-iron metal, such as silver, gold and platinum, and some other rare materials such as crystal, whereas "Metal Things" refers to items made of generic metals or iron.