Future of Toys/Plushie Prices

[deboratibi]

I don't understand anything about the ~economical~ aspects of Neopets, so please help me out...

 

After the Charity Corner event, all the toys and plushies have obviously deflated, but they're still relatively expensive (if you consider their former junk status). Is this because people are still holding on to their stuff, or is it because so many toys were donated, that these items simply aren't junk anymore? If so, how long will this last?

 

I want to start hoarding items (I believe a lot of people are doing the same), but I'd have to wait for these items to be cheap again. I sometimes worry that these items will never go back to their original value, but then again, they are still being given out everyday, so I don't know.

[SillySilenia]

The prices of the toys and plushies that are given out in large amounts by the dailies, the battledome and random events will most likely be back to their normal/old prices again soon, simply because these have a much, much, much higher supply than demand. In particular those that are both given out a lot and are below rarity 90 will be likely to deflate back to original prices or close within a few days to two weeks tops. Some of those already are back below 25NP.

 

Those that are given out a lot but are rarity 90 or above will probably take a little bit longer because they both became a lot more inflated than other frequently-given-out toys and had a larger portion used up by the event. Take for example the Tyrannian Acara Plushie, a r90+ toy given out by the Tyrannian opponents in the Battledome. It peaked at around 40-42k and is now rapidly deflating. It's currently down to approximately 1k and falling. Still, it'll probably be a bit longer than the low-rarity-frequently-granted plushies/toys.

 

Low rarity toys that are either infrequently or not given out by dailies/REs/battledome may take a bit to drop back to their former levels. However, since they're currently not in the high demand they were in during the event and there is a steady supply through the main shops, they'll sooner or later drop back to original levels, especially because since they're currently worth more than usual, people can make some profit restocking them even if they normally would have ignored them. As a result, more of those that stock in the main shops get bought, supply increases, demand is low, prices drop. Since the majority of those are bought from the main shops with actual neopoints, however, they will be slower to drop since people are more invested in not making a loss on them. Otherwise, the speed at which they drop will likely be in good part determined by how many of them stock and at which price.

 

High rarity toys that are either infrequently or not given out by dailies/etc. will likely take a fair while to get back to former price-levels because they do not stock too frequently in the main shops and thus the amount of them in circulation will be slower to increase. On top of that, a lot of them were used during the event and there are a fair few people looking to replace plushies, resulting in an elevated demand compared to usual (but decreased compared to the event). If any toys don't go back to their original value, they'll almost certainly belong to this category, but those never were the "cheap" toys to start with.

[deliciouswaffles]

I figure that this event will, over time, fail to restore value to the high rarity items that are given out like candy from dailies (especially from BD drops), because they're going to be quickly replaced. More people might be inclined to hoard their prizes in anticipation of more of these events, but the prices are still going to drop in relatively short order.

 

However, an event like this actually might help to restore value to high rarity items that deflated due to being part of an event prize pool (like the things given out during the Spooky Food Contest, etc.) or being given out as a daily trivia prize. High rarity toys and plushies are really only good for collecting or quests, so I imagine the event pool prizes will eventually settle right back around their pre-event value, unless there's a big retirement coming up. It would be interesting to see how an event like this would effect the long-term prices on consumables or BD prizes that deflated due to an event.

[deboratibi]

Wow, thank you for the very detailed response!

I was mostly wondering about the r90+ toys. For now I'll just keep trying to get as many as I can from the BD. When they're really cheap again, I'll start buying.