Have you ever wondered why paint brushes can cost so much? Or why some items seem to skyrocket in price overnight, going from 1,000 NPs one day to 10,000 the next? If you’ve found yourself asking these questions, you’re in the right place! In this guide, we’ll dive into the world of Neopets economics to help you understand the market, trends, and the factors that influence the value of your favorite items. Keep reading to unlock the secrets of Neopia’s ever-changing economy!
Supply and Demand
Economics deals with the production and use of items in the real world. On Neopets, it explains the prices of items. This guide is tailored to Neopets, of course! But before we dive into that there are a couple of words that you should know.
Supply
Supply is the amount of items that are for sale, either by Neopets shops, or trades, auctions, or user shops. Normally, supply can be represented as a horizontal line.
Demand
Demand is the number of people who want a certain item, at a certain price. When you put the all the people who want an item at each price together you get a line.
When you put supply and demand together, then you get a graph. It looks like this:
Supply is vertical because there is roughly the same amount of items released each day.
Demand slopes downward, because as the price of an item goes up, the amount of people willing to buy the item goes down.
The price of an item is where supply and demand meet. This will be the price that you would be able to buy the item at in user shops, trades or auctions. NOT from neopets shops.
Okay, so lets pretend that the graph above is for a make believe item called the “Spaky Plushie” that is available in a very small version of neopets. Neopets releases 20 of them a day. With that number released, the price in user shops will be around 15nps. (Nobody wants a plushie of me, hehe!)
Each item in neopets can be represented in a graph like the one above.
Shifts
Supply and demand can change. When either of these (or both!) change, then the price of the items change as well.
Shift in Supply
Lets say that Neopets decides to give “Spaky Plushies” as a prize on the Wheel of Excitement. That means that more people will have the plushie. Supply has increased.
Now the new price of the “Spaky Plushie” is less than 10 nps.
Shift in Demand
Say, for example, that the “Spaky Plushie” now got you an avatar. Neopets, however, does not release any more plushies than they did before. So, now more people want a plushie today than yesterday. This causes an increase in demand. That looks like this:
More people want the plushie, but there is the same amount. Now the going price for a plushie is 25 nps.
Neopet Examples
Now that you have all this new knowledge, you can relate it to real neopets items.
Cheap Items
Items that are cheap in Neopets are low-priced because there are lots and lots of them. Tombola items are a good example of them. Many items that are won from Tombola can not be used, so the supply is constantly growing, and demand stays the same. This makes most of the items 5nps or less.
Expensive Items
Items that cost a lot are ones that have a low supply. Paint brushes are a great example. Basically everyone wants a paint brush. If you hang out on the Help Chat board, you will see “Plz Gimme a Paint Brush” boards all the time. However, there are not as many paint brushes as there are people who want them. They have a high demand, and a low supply, making them more expensive than a lot of Neopians would like.
Avatar Items
As in the “Spaky Plushie” example, when an item is needed for an avatar, demand rises quickly. This causes a sudden increase in price. This can be very profitable for those who own the item, and costly for those who don’t.
However, after lots of people have the avvie, demand decreases, and therefore, the item becomes cheaper. It may never return to its original price, but if you want an avvie, and you are on a budget, just wait a couple of weeks.