= Shops

Shops let players **buy** and **sell** goods for coin. A shop is just a **mobile**
marked as a shopkeeper, so everything in **[[All about Mobiles]]** applies to it too.
Money is the usual **gold / silver / copper** — //1 gold = 100 silver, 1 silver = 100 copper//.

== What a shopkeeper does

A shopkeeper **sells** the items it holds (each at its **value**) and **buys**
sellable items from players (at a discount — its **rate**). The coins it pays out come
from its own **till**, so a shop can run short of money until it earns more.

== Making a shopkeeper

A shopkeeper is a mobile with **data shopkeeper true**. Make it **npc** as well, so it
can't be dragged into a fight:

{{{
mob create grocer
mob grocer data shopkeeper true
mob grocer data npc true
}}}

== Pricing items

An item is worth whatever its **value** says, written in coins. Anything with no value
(or a value of zero) can't be bought or sold.

* **item //ref// data value 5 copper** — five copper
* **item //ref// data value 1 silver 5 copper** — mixed coins (gold, silver, copper)

== Stocking goods to sell

To put goods on the shelves, **give** the shopkeeper items you've priced — giving is just
a plain hand-over, so the item drops straight into the shop, for sale. By default an item
is **one of a kind**: once a player buys it, it's gone. Mark an item **data stock true**
and the shop **never runs out** of it (each sale hands the buyer a fresh copy):

{{{
item create torch
item torch data value 5 copper
item torch data stock true
give torch grocer
}}}

The grocer now sells torches forever. (A shop also re-sells items players bring in — see
below — but those are finite and vanish once bought.)

== Buying from players: the till and the rate

A shop **buys** items players sell it, then re-sells them at full value. Two fields
control the buying side:

* **data rate //percent//** — how much of an item's value the shop pays, default **50**.
  //mob grocer data rate 40// pays 40%.
* **data gold / silver / copper** — the shop's **till**. Seed it so the shop has coin
  to pay with: //mob grocer data gold 20//. When the till is empty the shop can't buy
  until it earns more (players buying from it top it up).

A shop won't buy **junk**, **cursed**, **donated** or **garbage** goods (the sort that
pile up in the recycling and the dump), nor anything with no value.

== Player commands

These work whenever a shopkeeper is in the room:

* **list** — what the shop sells, with prices (an endless line reads //(in stock)//)
* **value //item//** — ask the shopkeeper what they'd give you for it (their offer)
* **buy //item//** or **buy //n// //item//** — buy at full value (//buy 5 arrows//)
* **sell //item//** or **sell //n// //item//** — sell at the shop's rate
* **sell all //[keyword]//** — offer each carried item in turn; answer **y**, **n**, or **q** to quit

== A worked example

{{{
mob create blacksmith
mob blacksmith data shopkeeper true
mob blacksmith data npc true
mob blacksmith data rate 40
mob blacksmith data gold 25
item create dagger
item dagger data value 2 silver
item dagger data stock true
give dagger blacksmith
}}}

The blacksmith now sells daggers (2 silver each, never out of stock) and buys blades
adventurers bring in at 40% of their value, paying from a 25-gold till.

== See also

* **[[All about Mobiles]]** — making and configuring the shopkeeper itself
* **[[All about Items]]** — creating, describing and pricing items
* In-game: **help item**, **help mob**