Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Theorist
Original Poster
#1 Old 26th Sep 2016 at 7:20 PM
Default Homebusiness not working...help please?
Okay so I set up a home business for one of my sim families, selling (for now) small electronics and decorations.

Everything is market for sale, the shop is open, customers come in, look at the items...

...but they never buy. They start out with their sales bar completely empty and no matter how often I have my sims use "basic sale" or "offer cheaper" on them...they just won't buy. Their bar fills a little bit and then empties again before they just wander off...

Is there anything I'm doing wrong? I tried to look up guides but each one I found was only half-finished with only the most basic of info.

Thanks.
Advertisement
Forum Resident
#2 Old 26th Sep 2016 at 7:40 PM
Never seen that happen before. Usually most customers enter with half filled sales bars. Do you have any business related mods installed?

For my physical health, I can't eat cheesecake everyday.
For my mental health, I imagine eating cheesecake everyday.
It's a delicate balance.
Theorist
Original Poster
#3 Old 26th Sep 2016 at 8:09 PM
Quote: Originally posted by AliaD85
Never seen that happen before. Usually most customers enter with half filled sales bars. Do you have any business related mods installed?


Nope, this is the forst time in ages I even started a business. It's the UC if that helps.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 26th Sep 2016 at 8:16 PM
How expensively are things priced when you look at them?

Welcome to the Dark Side...
We lied about having cookies.
Mad Poster
#5 Old 26th Sep 2016 at 8:17 PM
Zarathustra ... good point. Try pricing an item or two ridiculously cheap, and see if you get business that way.

Let's hope it's the pricing issue. I find that Sims will pay more money once your business gets a better reputation, but pricing things high from the get-go may result in balky shoppers. That is the easiest solution!


If you're still puzzled ... it may be a CC issue. Make a copy of your game. Rename the good one. You are going to test on the new copy. DO NOT TEST ON YOUR GOOD COPY! I even make a second copy, just in case I really screw up, but I DO tend to be overcautious when testing. But however you do it, stay away from your good copy.

Take out the downloads. See if your Sim can make a sale normally. You're going to see odd stuff .. vases and the like. Ignore or move them.

If the transaction seems normal, you might have to do a 50/50. MTS elaborates better than I do. Sometimes, life does give you a free pass, and it's something recent that you downloaded. If it's a CC issue, I hope it's that!

If not, it may be a different issue ... a corrupted Sim or lot, or a download that you can't just easily remove. (In the case of the latter, you may have to go to backup copies.)

If it is a CC issue, get rid of the download, get rid of the test copy, change back your good game, go into the files, and weed out the culprit.

The only difference between the MTS tutorial and my instructions is that I learned the hard way NOT to use my good game to test for a troublesome download. And sometimes, a CC item having nothing to do with a business can cause problems.

MTS Tutorial: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?tit..._Custom_Content

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Forum Resident
#6 Old 26th Sep 2016 at 8:23 PM
Aside from changing pricing, you could try increasing the environment score of the room - either cleaning things or adding some decor. I've noticed that sims seem to loose interest faster as their own needs go down, and environment is the easiest motive to boost for the customers. Have any of the customers complained about beds or dishes? In an unmodded game, I think sims get upset about those things even when they are in a locked part of a house, so cleaning the rest of the house could help, too.
Theorist
Original Poster
#7 Old 26th Sep 2016 at 8:28 PM
Thank everyone for their help, I'm playing Pleasantview so I know there is already some in-built corruption.

Thankfully it doesn't appear to be a corruption or a custom content issue. I set everything to ridiculously cheap, closed the store, opened it again and now I have people buying stuff. (I had everything on "Average" before)

Of course that won't help my Sims earn their living, I suppose I just need to practice some sort of "sales" skill? Any other things I can do?

Quote: Originally posted by stitching
Aside from changing pricing, you could try increasing the environment score of the room - either cleaning things or adding some decor. I've noticed that sims seem to loose interest faster as their own needs go down, and environment is the easiest motive to boost for the customers. Have any of the customers complained about beds or dishes? In an unmodded game, I think sims get upset about those things even when they are in a locked part of a house, so cleaning the rest of the house could help, too.


This really helped, my Sims just barely had enough money to set up shop, so the place didn't even have wallpaper or a floor. Business is much better since they have that
Also a tip for future users: you need to close and reopen the shop for the new stuff to take effect, apparently...
Alchemist
#8 Old 26th Sep 2016 at 10:03 PM
Just keep selling things, keep the store clean, stocked and be attentive to the customers - greet them, offer help, show them items. As you business's reputation improves and the employees earn higher sales badges (the sales skill you wondered about), you'll be able to raise the prices and talk Sims into buying more expensive items. You'll also be able to get business perks that can bring in more cash.
Scholar
#9 Old 26th Sep 2016 at 11:12 PM
Also, if the items are inherently expensive (such as bowling alleys), you need Sims looking at them who have at least the amount of money it would cost to buy one. A rich neighbourhood allowed one Sim business to make a huge amount of money selling alleys on the lawn (sometimes multiple alleys in different colours to the same Sim). However, a Sim who doesn't have enough cash-in-hand to buy an item they're looking at will never accept the sale (unless it is offered at a price where it's at least possible for them). This mostly affects playable Sims. It may help to get in the habit of exiting households with a bit of money spare, simply to enable them to shop in a less annoying manner. (Unless you have a No Playable Shoppers mod. Then you can ignore this advice - most townies are relatively wealthy).

Quote:
Of course that won't help my Sims earn their living, I suppose I just need to practice some sort of "sales" skill? Any other things I can do?


Increase the Sims' charisma. I'm not sure it has a direct effect on sales effectiveness, but it does allow them to learn sales skills quicker if they have high charisma, and it means they are more effective at building relationships with jokes (which I often use to boost sales interest levels before they're high enough for me to risk using a sales interaction).
Mad Poster
#10 Old 30th Sep 2016 at 3:49 PM
You need to build the business up. Start small with only a few items for sale. Cheap items at a cheap price. Use "Basic Sale" on all customers. If it's often failing, try joking with and appreciating them first.

After you've sold a few items, you'll get a business star. This makes your business more attractive and customers will be likely to want to buy more. Keep up with the basic sale and your sales badge will increase. As your stars and/or sales skills get better, you can afford to stock more expensive items and/or raise prices.

You might want the mod (I forget what it is called) which prevents customers from complaining as soon as the slightest mess appears in the shop (e.g. the puddles from a water balloon, or a plate they just finished eating from). But do make sure to keep your business area clean and tidy, and close off non-customer areas.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Scholar
#11 Old 30th Sep 2016 at 5:48 PM
The mod that @simsfreq is referring to, could be Cyjon's Less Complaining.

I would also point out that, as you gain business levels, it makes sense to put benefit points into certain business perks. There are five types of perks to choose from, and it may depend on your individual business sim's situation which perk could be preferable.
- A sim with an extremely low funds reserve, might wish to get one of the cash perks first, because that increases the amount of inventory they can stock up on.
- But in my personal opinion, the smarter investment of perk points is to start with a "Wholesale" perk. Especially, if your shop sells stuff that you restock from the catalogue. Because whereas the "Cash" column only offers a one-time cash infusion every time, the "Wholesale" perks lower your purchase prices, thereby increasing your profit margin.
- If money is not at all your problem, but your sim has some trouble relating to his/her customers, you might perhaps benefit from one or two "Perception" perks.

Good luck.
Mad Poster
#12 Old 30th Sep 2016 at 5:50 PM
Thank you BO, I believe that is the one.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Back to top