Interesting shop wiz observation

[Morningstar]

OK, I have just noticed something interesting about a rarity 90 plushie that was released about 2 days ago. So far, it appears that approximately 37 have been released. Out of the 37, one person has 12 of them. Twelve of them! That's one-third of them! And, most likely she got all of them within the last few hours--since I did not see her name on the shop wiz this morning.

One theory is that 12 other people could have priced them so low that they had to be bought up by her and resold at a higher price. I've been watching the shop wiz closely for this particular plushie (because I have one for sale) and it seems that only 12 or so were released today. So I find it hard to believe that everyone who got one today priced it so low that it had to be bought up by her--yet she didn't buy all of the plushies that were lower than her price (there are about 3). And I also find it hard to believe that she would be able to get all 12 that were mispriced.

Another theory is that she used an autobuyer.

I am not a restocker but even I smell something fishy here. So, I ask my fellow PPTers who are avid restockers this question: is it possible to get 12 of the same rarity 90 plushie in one day--essentially every one that was released at the time-- without using an autobuyer?

Last edited by Morningstar on Tue Jul 27, 2004 10:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[TheClone]

Well, of course it's possible that she could. If it restocked that plushie and she had been restocking all day.

However, just because it 's possible, doesn't mean it's probable.

Edit: What plushie is it?

[hyperflutterby]

I'm not a very good restocker. I make enough that it pleases me, but I'm nothing like certain somebodies who can make a cool million in a week. In my opinion it is nearly impossible without an autobuyer. I say nearly because it could be possible if that one person just happens to be a really awesome restocker who staked out the shop for the entire day and got really really lucky that no one was faster than them, and also chose not to buy anything else. So it is possible in theory, but in reality, I can't imagine that.

[malaman]

Even if you are a great RSer, glitches/errors could happen, as the 'could not insert into blahblah' one and it's cousins, and with such a great variety of plushies, it would be hard for one plushie to RS twelve times. it could surely happen (personally I think I'm being haunted by a certain r91 item), but a bit unlikely.

if 12+ plushies did stock, an autobuyer probably got some/all of them, but I think that she could have liked that particular plushie and mass bought them, maybe in order to inflate?

[Morningstar]

Edit: What plushie is it?

White tuskaninny plushie--she has 11 on shop wiz and 1 in auctions.

if 12+ plushies did stock, an autobuyer probably got some/all of them, but I think that she could have liked that particular plushie and mass bought them, maybe in order to inflate?

I don't think it was done to inflate the price because she could have easily made more by pricing them at 95,000 instead of choosing 79,000. Almost all are either unbuyable or 99999--there were only about 3 or 4 out there in the 70,000's before she put hers on the shop wiz.

[shapu]

I like to think of myself as a fairly good restocker, and I can with almost perfect certainty give the answer:

No. Not possible. Can't be done.

Now, there is a chance that it's the work of human hands. If you pick out one item that you absolutely must have, set that in your "find" field, disable active X, and take a couple of other steps, yes, it's possible.

But if this certain plushie restocked 12 times, and she has all of them, a fishy odor is not surprising.

I'm 98% sure that this person couldn't get all of them. That 2%, though, holds me back from automatically labelling this person a cheater.

EDIT: There is another possibility that I completely ignored.

This person could have been buying three or four a day - certainly not unlikely - and just not pricing them. She might have been putting them in her shop as she got them, and just waited until today to set a price. Thus, 12 plushies (that it looks like she got all at once) appearing at the same time. Perfectly innocuous.

[TheClone]

Aww, Morningstar, it looks like she named one of her pets after you.

[Morningstar]

EDIT: There is another possibility that I completely ignored.

This person could have been buying three or four a day - certainly not unlikely - and just not pricing them. She might have been putting them in her shop as she got them, and just waited until today to set a price. Thus, 12 plushies (that it looks like she got all at once) appearing at the same time. Perfectly innocuous.

I thought of that one too--but being the avid plushie collector that I am, I have noticed a pattern with plushies when they are first released. I will see 10 or so come out on the wiz and trades and then not any more for a certain number of days. Then another set number released all in one day, then no more of them for another length of time--the higher the rarity, the longer time between days. So, I could be wrong, but it appears that the plushies are released periodically in batches rather than a few of them released every day.

I have noticed this also with older high rarity plushies (97-99). There will be none on the trading post for weeks and then all at once, 8 pop up for sale on the trading post--as if, they were all bought on the same day.

Aww, Morningstar, it looks like she named one of her pets after you.

Yes, I saw that and got a bit freaked out by it--like it was a sign from God for thinking bad thoughts. But she named the pet way before I started playing.

[Shoyru_Lover]

Hmm, but without concrete proof, it's not fair to accuse a person of such. I think this is best left to the neopets team. After all, they can detect the use of autobuyers.

[Keith]

I think this is best left to the neopets team. After all, they can detect the use of autobuyers.

They can't very successfully, as my test account hasn't been frozen (But that may be because I only risked testing the AB once) and I have seen very few people who have been frozen for using the current AB that is out there... Or at least the people who get frozen don't talk about it...'

But actually the AB's wouldnt work if they changed back to that near impossible picture thing where you choose the pet... Sure it'd be heck to read but it'd stop the ABs for a lil while...

[Morningstar]

Hmm, but without concrete proof, it's not fair to accuse a person of such. I think this is best left to the neopets team. After all, they can detect the use of autobuyers.

Oh, I am not reporting her to Neopets or anything even close. Everything could definitely be on the up and up and legit--as I pointed out in the first theory of my original post. I just found it somewhat amazing that someone could have gotten such a large percentage of a just released item in what appeared to be only a few hours time.

[Mystique]

i agree with shapu that it's most probably an accumulation of stocks rather than getting all 12 in a day...the illogical thing is hoarding a new r90 (not so high rarity) when its price could have easily plummeted.

i restocked a white tuskaninny plushie not long ago and immediately sold it for 99k...can't imagine taking a definite potential loss by hoarding them.