10-Meat sales: Once a fun occasional giveaway idea, they are now occurring seemingly all the time. This guide tells you everything you should about this concept, from holding them, to buying from them, to not making yourself look like a damn idiot in regards to them. This will be set up in a sort of FAQ-type format.

THE BASICS:

Q: What exactly IS a 10-meat sale?

A: A 10-meat sale is fairly self-explanatory. Basically, the person holding the 10-meat sale places a bunch of items in their mall store for 10 meat each. People will rush to these sales, because most of the time, the items are worth much more than 10 meat. Think of it as a sort of "mass-giveaway," because most people able to access the mall can afford 10 meat to spend on items.

Q: When do 10-meat sales occur? I can't find any!

A: Most of the time, 10-meat sales are rather spontaneous in nature. Generally speaking, when someone wants to hold a 10-meat sale, they will announce the sale in chat channel /trade right after placing the items in their store. There are very few 10-meat sales that occur 24/7: the bulk required to have these kinds of items is accessible only by a few.

Q: Why would you want to have a 10-meat sale, anyways?

A: Depends. Some people do it to try and gain fame or respect. Others do it because they have a large quantity of meat or items they don't really need. Some people are just crazy. It depends, really. Of course, if you are doing it for any reason other than to have fun, you probably shouldn't be holding the 10-meat sale. Basically, it is just a fast and easy way to disperse items among the populous of Loathing.

HOLDING A 10-MEAT SALE:

Q: I want to have a 10-meat sale in my store. What should I do?

A: There's a lot of different things you need to keep in mind in holding a 10-meat sale. Here is a long list of things to keep in mind.

i) You will NOT profit from holding a 10-meat sale. Basic economics says that, in order to profit, you need to sell things for -more- than you payed for them. Generally speaking, you sell items for a lot less than you got them for. In other words, be prepared to lose money.

ii) And don't expect to offset your losses with donations, either. As a sub-point, do NOT explicitly ask for donations in order to hold a 10-meat sale. What I mean is, don't barge into /trade going "i will hold a 10 meat sale if i get donations". This makes you look stupid and is begging (And many people consider this to be a scam). Needless to say, you need meat or items from the start before you hold these sales. The easiest say to set up a donation system (if you wish to do so) is by placing items in your store for a lot more meat than they are worth. (But, don't ask people to buy them in /trade.) Potential donators will occasionally buy these items. Once again, don't ask for donations. And when people DO donate, make sure you thank them for their generosity.

iii) Don't forget the limits! You will be bought out very quickly if you don't: cheap items are quite popular, you know. And make sure your limits are reasonable. Don't put, say, a 1/day limit on ice-cold beers. A decent limit structure is to have 20-100 times the limit of your item in your store.

iv) /trade is the correct channel in chat to announce your sales. Just telling this to you, so you aren't shouting about it in /normal. You don't need to make threads about them in the forums, either.

v) Did I mention you shouldn't explicitly beg for donations?

Q: What kinds of items should I sell?

A: It all depends on how much meat you are willing to spend (As a rule, the value of the items in your sale should at least exceed 500,000 meat), and how long you want to have your sale. Generally:

i) Items should be consumable. These are the items that tend to sell the best, because they are in the highest demand. I also learned that if you place a large number of non-consumables in your store at once, you may accidentally lower the price on the item you've placed in your store, so be warned.

ii) Items should also have at least some value. While generosity is usually appreciated by the populous of Loathing, you may have to endure a harsh session of jackassery from ungrateful players if you attempt to sell "useless" items. Generally speaking, here are some good items to sell:

a) Most kinds of booze. Especially good are umbrella drinks (And umbrellas), salty dogs, or even bloody beers (At a higher limit on these).
b) Assorted foodstuffs. Chow miens are a popular item. As are Hell Ramen. These items can get rather expensive, just a warning. Some player like to sell Spectra Pickles; these are, as of when I wrote this, VERY expensive. A decent cheaper alternative is Bean Burritos of all spicynesses.
c) key ingredients in favorite items. I mentioned Little Paper Umbrellas. Bottles of booze (Whiskey, gin, vodka, or rum) are always good. Limes and lemons are, also. Just think of items everyone likes, think of what makes them, and sell those.
d) Important usable items. Bartender in the box (And its components) are always liked.
e) Other assorted oddities between 1,000-10,000 meat per. Dyspepsi-colas, 334 Scrolls, the possiblities are too numerous to type out here.

iii) You should have enough items for at least a good percent of the people in /trade. If you put up, say, 5 items of a kind, they will sell out VERY quickly. Just a warning.

Q: How should I approach donations?

A: Most sellers who request donations usually do so by selling overpriced items in their store. For example, in my store, you will find assorted amounts of pixels, selling for assorted prices. Make sure you specify in your store text which items are to be used for donations. Now, the other important thing is to recognize those people kind enough to donate to your cause. What I have done is set up a list of donations on a website. This is the easiest way to do thank all your supporters. Make sure you include the name of the donator (spelled correctly) and the amount of meat or items donated. When first starting with sales, you should also directly thank your supporters via in-game PM.

And once again, don't beg.

Q: Ack! I messed something up? Now what?

A: Well, it depends on how badly you messed up. If you, say, forgot a limit on those Hell Ramens and someone went and bought them with one fell swoop, you may or may not get them back, depending on the personality of the one who bought them all. You can always send a polite PM to the person who bought them, although they really aren't obligated to return them. Of course, if you get an indignant flame as a reply, then you might want to do something.

If, say, someone goes and accidentally buys an overpriced item in your store during the rush (Hey, it happens), and asks for their meat back, it is proper etiquette to refund the meat. Not much else to say about this.

PARTICIPATING IN THESE SALES:

Q: Are there any 10-meat sales going on?

A: DON'T ASK THIS IN /TRADE. It is impolite, and is the equivalent of begging for donations to hold a 10-meat sale yourself. And it makes you look stupid if, say, you barge into /trade with this question and 3 seconds before you got there, someone announced a 10-meat sale. Besides, they are occurring so frequently now that you won't have much time to wait for one.

Besides, there's usually people selling 10-meat ice-cold beers and meat pastes in the mall. So, yes, there's always a 10-meat sale going on.

Q: How do I get to a 10-meat sale?

A: The easiest way is to link the name of the player in /trade who announced the sale, and their store link should be in their profile. And, you're there.

Q: I don't see anything.

A: Then you got beat to the item. Should've payed attention.

Q: Ok, so I bought something for 10 meat. Now what?

A: Well, you should probably thank the host for their generosity. A simple "Thanks" in chat will suffice. If you feel supportive of the sale, you can give a donation. Don't ask for anything else, though.

Q: Wait. All the items in the sale are useless crap!

A: People aren't perfect, you know. And not all people are rich in-game, either. Would you should definitely NOT do in this instance is insult the sale holder. It makes you look like an ungrateful bastard, especially considering that the player was merely attempting to be generous, and you look especially bad if you haven't done anything particularly nice for the game. You should probably just stay quiet. You don't have to buy from a sale, you know.

Q: I want to donate to a 10-meat seller. How do I do this?

A: First, go back to the person's store and see if there are any items that are specifically set up for donations. If there are, buy those: The seller can see that you supported them merely by checking the store log. If the overpriced items are NOT noted as donation items, do not buy them. In the case, or if there is no donation system in the store, or if you are donating items, do so via KoL's private message system. If you want to donate, though, make sure your seller is trustworthy, and will actually use the donations for sales.

Now that you know about 10-meat sales, you can approach them without making yourself look stupid. Good luck, happy buying (or selling), and have fun!

~Insane Steve

Questions? Comments? Invectives? All are welcomed and appreciated.
Message me in-game at "Insane Steve" (#52874), or on the asymmetric.net forums at "Insane Steve".