Shop Law

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Otherwise known as the player commerce handbook. Where players learn how shopkeepers and the auction market work in Nilgiri the Forgotten World — listing, bidding, buying, identifying, fees, timers, and how won or returned goods are delivered.

Nilgiri shops are an auction-style market backed by the Banking Guild, not a classic sticker-price-only storefront. A bank account is required for commerce (SoftHelp auction). Immortal builders configure keepers under Creation Law — Shops; this page is the player-facing flow.

Related walkthroughs: Shopkeepers · Banking Guild · Postal Guild · Game Law (Economy)

Commands that only work in a shop room against a keeper with Acts.SHOPKEEPER (elsewhere they print the “not here” style refusal from Command → Communication.cmdNotHere):

list — auctions and sales at this keeper
value — listing / postage quote for an item you carry
auction — hand an item to the keeper to list it
offer — bid on an item still in its auction window
buy — purchase an item that is for sale (not mid-auction)
identify — examine a listed item's stats
balance — ask the keeper for your bank balance (same guild funds)

Keepers only trade certain item types (armor, weapon, and so on). If the keeper refuses what you bring, try another specialist. Shop rows also store open/close hours for builders; player trade commands do not gate on those hours in the current runtime path.

Payment is from your Banking Guild account (carry a merchant note / have funds). SoftHelp example transcripts often end lines with with note.

list shows each stocked or consigned item with a short list index, hex item id, price in gc, name, and — while still in the auction window — time left and offer count. Produced shop stock (keeper inventory copies) may appear without an auction timer.

> list
The armorer informs you of its auctions and sales:
1) #01A3EEB9 500gc : 'the golden eagle breast plate' (6 days offers:0)
2) #01A3F46D 123gc : 'a great golden eagle shield' (6 days offers:0)
3) #01A513D2 61gc : 'a pair of armored golden eagle leggings'
>

You may address items by list number (#1) or by the hex id (#01A513D2).

Before you list, value <item> asks the keeper what listing will cost and what refundable shipping/handling deposit applies if you set a minimum selling price (so unsold goods can be mailed back). SoftHelp example-snippet:

> value the plate
The armorer whispers to you, "I can list your plate for 6 gold coins. If you
require a minimum selling price then you will also be charged a refundable 101 gold
coins to cover shipping and handling fees for returned items."
>

The whisper formula is live from code (listing fee + shopMailCost(weight) for a minimum). SoftHelp auction and current Constant.COST_AUCTION_LISTING = 0 mean the base listing is tax-covered (see Fees); sample SoftHelp snippets may still show an older non-zero listing line. Always trust value on your item.

Hand goods to the keeper with auction. SoftHelp:

auction <item> <start-price>
or auction <item> for <n> gold
with return postage: auction <item> <start-price> minimum <min-price>

The start price must be greater than zero. A minimum, if set, must be ≥ 0 and ≤ the start price. The item leaves your inventory into shop storage and appears on list.

> auction headress for 10 gold
You hand a pontiff's headress to the armorer.
Account #0000-10A9 debited 0gc for auction service #00F31DC3 'a pontiff's headress' by Quenyarhun
Okay.
The armorer whispers to you, "Taxes cover the cost of your listing."
>

With a minimum (SoftHelp example-snippet shape; fees follow weight × mail multiplier):

> auction the plate for 500 gold coins at a minimum of 200 with note
You hand the golden eagle breast plate to the armorer.
Account #0000-1000 debited 106gc for auction service #01A3EEB9 by Quenyarhun
Okay.
The armorer whispers to you, "That'll be 106 coins, please."
>

SoftHelp: if you list without a minimum and the item never sells, the shopkeeper may dump it free of charge. If you need the item back, set a minimum and pay the postage deposit.

While an item is still in its auction window (owner-listed, time remaining), buy it with offer, not buy. Bids below the next allowed price are refused; a successful bid debits your account. If you are outbid, the prior bid is credited back.

> offer 125 gold for #01a513cb with note
Account #0000-1001 debited 125gc for auction #01A513CB by Silk
Okay.
The armorer whispers to you, "Thanks for your offer! Your account will be
deducted. Should you be outbid, your offer will be refunded."
> offer 1 gold coin for item #01a51392 with note
The armorer whispers to you, "Your offer is too low. Try 500 gold coins."
>

The next bid must be at least 110% of the current high bid (or one coin higher when that percentage would not raise the price) — Auction.PRICE_INCREASE_PERCENT.

buy works only when the listing is for sale: either keeper-produced stock, or a player listing whose auction window has ended (and any bids have already resolved). Mid-auction items refuse buy with the auction-not-sale message.

> buy item #01a513d2 with note
Account #0000-1001 debited 61gc for purchase #01A513D2 by Silk
Okay.
The armorer whispers to you, "That will be 61 coins, please."
You now have a pair of armored golden eagle leggings.
>

Charisma can nudge the buy price slightly (code thresholds on Stat.CHARISMA): high CHA may shave a few percent; very low CHA may hike it. The keeper whispers the adjusted figure when it applies.

identify on a listed item (by list #n or hex id) prints type, AC, flags, wear slots, and modifiers. SoftHelp-style demo:

> identify item #01a513d2 with note
For the Banking Guild merchant note, the armorer informs you:
ARMOR
"a pair of armored golden eagle leggings"
AC apply: 8
ItemFlags    :
GLOW            MAGIC
Wear         :
TAKE            LEGS
Modifiers:
(0) STRENGTH +3
(1) HITROLL +2
--- Affects Modifiers ---
>

From Auction / AuctionEvent / SoftHelp auction:

List — auction stores the item under the keeper; auction clock starts (TIME_TO_AUCTION = 2 real weeks).
Bid — offer while time remains and offers are open. List lines show remaining time and offers:N.
Win (bids) — when the auction clock expires with at least one offer, the high bidder is mailed the item (Mailer.send, collect via Postal Guild); the seller's bank account is credited the final bid (Bank.creditAuction).
Expire, no bids — after the auction window, the listing enters a sale period (TIME_TO_SELL = 1 real month of countdown shown as … sale)). Asking price drops each real day to 70% of the prior price (PRICE_DECREASE_PERCENT / PRICE_DECREASE_PERIOD), never below your minimum. Players may buy at the current sale price.
Return — if a minimum was set and the sale period also runs out with no buyer, the item is mailed back to the owner.
Dump — SoftHelp: without a minimum, unsold goods may be dumped free; code also purges listings whose discounted price reaches 0.
Cancel — no player cancel command was found in SoftHelp or the shopkeeper command set; omitted.

Auction resolution is polled about every 30 real minutes per keeper (AuctionEvent.PULSE).

Base listing — SoftHelp: free / covered by taxes when the listing debit is 0 (COST_AUCTION_LISTING = 0; whisper Taxes cover the cost of your listing.).
Minimum / return postage — when minimum > 0, debit adds COST_MAIL_MULTIPLIER × item weight (multiplier 2). value quotes shopMailCost = 1 + that product as the refundable shipping figure.
Identify — COST_IDENTIFY = 2 gold (announced on the identify path).
Bids / buys — full offer or sale price debited from your account; outbid amounts credited back.

Ask value on your item for the live quote rather than memorizing sample numbers from old SoftHelp snippets.

Builders create and save shop rows with @shop / @save shop under Creation Law — Shops. Players never use those commands — only the room commands above against a placed keeper.