Daily Trading and Keeping Cash for Rent
A jug of good water sits unsold while the next visitor wants to sell you more stock. Your shelves look rich. Your wallet disagrees. In Probably Stolen - Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim, keep rent money out of your buying budget before chasing the next deal. The landlord does not accept a promising jug.
Your starting scenario and difficulty shape what you can afford. Use the payment amounts and deadlines displayed in your current save to set your reserve. Do not build a shopping plan around another run's starting cash or expected sales.
Give every Credit a job
Keep these three figures in a quick note. This is a budgeting habit, not a separate bank account in the game.
| Money category | How to count it |
|---|---|
| Rent reserve | Cash held back for the upcoming rent shown in your save. Also allow for other essential payments due before you expect to rebuild your cash. |
| Spendable cash | Your cash balance minus that reserve and any essential costs you have already planned. If nothing remains, pause optional purchases. |
| Money tied up in stock | What you spent on unsold goods, unfinished water batches and their supplies. Track it separately; an item's listed value is not cash you can spend. |
Run this loop each trading day
- Check upcoming payments. Confirm what is due and when. Update your reserve before considering new stock.
- Inspect each offer. Check the goods, their condition and the asking price. For water, check the liquid volume and test its purity before treating the label as proof of value.
- Buy within your spendable budget. Include the cost of getting the item ready to sell. A cheap batch may still need containers, testing or treatment.
- Prepare a small amount of saleable stock. For water, test the batch, choose treatment suited to its contaminants if needed, then retest. Check the measured quality against the displayed grade before offering it.
- Read each customer's request. Compare the requested product, grade, quantity and restrictions with what you actually have. Do this before spending more to improve a batch.
- Recount cash before closing. Subtract any planned overnight costs, check the reserve again and note which goods remain unsold. Base tomorrow's purchases on completed sales, not hoped-for ones.
Make equipment earn its counter space
Before buying a machine or treatment tool, answer four questions:
- What problem does it solve? Name the current limit: water quality, supply, storage or something else. If usable water is simply waiting for a suitable buyer, more production may only add to the pile.
- Can you supply it? Check its description and instructions for required inputs, containers, consumables and modules.
- Can you keep it running? Budget for applicable power, replacement supplies and wear. Include the next batch's costs alongside the purchase price.
- What cash remains? Keep enough for essential payments without assuming the new equipment will pay for itself immediately.
Attracting a buyer, meeting their request and improving water quality are separate jobs. A visitor at the counter does not guarantee a sale. Cleaner water still needs to match the requested product, grade and volume. Changing a label does not clean the contents. Identify which job is failing before buying a tool.
Recover when water stops moving
If water sits unsold or an expensive purchase drains your wallet, pause expansion and cut spending on new batches. Inspect the stock you already own against incoming requests before processing more. When suitable ordinary goods and buyers appear, consider a modest resale trade you can assess and afford. You do not need to fund every deal offered across the counter.
Build back toward a covered rent payment, then expand from cash left over. Spotting value in a dubious little shop is the fun part; keeping enough money to act on the next good offer is what lets your empire grow.
Comments will load when you reach this part of the walkthrough.