Read this if you bought Recettear!

[bhodi]

So, this is a pretty fun game, and it's just 2 goons so they deserve to swim in riches and so you can pat yourself on the back for supporting small studios.

There is only one major flaw, and that is the fact that the tutorial does not even mention on the most important aspect of the game - merchant level. The wiki explains it in more detail, but essentially, in the early game, it's critical to get "Near Pin" (fair price) and "Just Level" (selling first without haggling at all) on all sales to ensure the success of the later game. The tutorial doesn't talk about this At ALL, and so I was haggling erroneously for as much as I could get, ~130% or so. I only made it to the third payment.

Basically, you want to play around at selling stuff ~104% and buying at ~60-70% at the start of the game and then slowly increase it as they "trust" you. Here are the exact numbers for each of the characters (spoiler warning! http://recettear.wikia.com/wiki/Pin_Bonus_Percentages)

Read this to understand the whole system (only sort of spoilerish).   http://recettear.wikia.com/wiki/Merchant_Level

Also, be aware that if someone brings something up to the counter, they automatically have the budget for it and will be willing to pay a % based on their ideal pin (plus or minus a lot if it's red or blue.) If they ask for an item or you put it in a special order, they have a specific budget size that you can't exceed. The budget goes up as they level relationship, but what he said is untrue only if they brought it up in the first place. You have to be a little more careful when people ask for stuff because it's easy to break chains by going outside their budget. You'll know about what they can afford based on the type of stuff they normally buy.

If someone with a low heart level asks for a treasure and you try to sell them the vase, they probably won't be able to afford it. If they bring the vase to the counter, feel free to charge your regular ~106-10 depending on the customer.

Also when you get further in, people do have absolute budget caps. Louie has a really low max, and so does Elan IIRC. If you luck out and they request an armor / weapon you nearly always have to sell it at a huge loss. Arma doesn't seem to give a fuck, she'll buy anything.

Remember, blue = half, red = double prices. Vending machines ignore this. If you're stuck you can

[Segoris]

Good read, thanks. I was having problems on that 3rd payment with a merchant level of 4

[Paelos]

Same, thanks for the heads up!

[Sjofn]

I owned the shit out of the buying/selling part of the game, but I only unlocked Louie and ... the ... rogue chick? for my party. I MET some other people I assume were supposed to give me their card, but some of them basically dropped off the planet after a few cut scenes (not even coming into my store, ELAN), and the rest I had no idea what they wanted from meeeeeee. 

I didn't do a lot of dungeon diving, though, 'cause I never felt like I had much time to do it ... I'd basically go once a week.

I guess now that I'm in ENDLESS MODE I can go find everyone?

[Thrawn]

Any good tips for making the first weeks payment or so?  I went into dungeons to make my first two payments and made them no problem, but my wife likes the game and completely sucks at dungeon fighting and is struggling to make her first payment.

[Kail]

Any good tips for making the first weeks payment or so?  I went into dungeons to make my first two payments and made them no problem, but my wife likes the game and completely sucks at dungeon fighting and is struggling to make her first payment.

My biggest advantage so far has been to keep a small supply of high priced items on the counters (generally, I buy the limited supply weapons and armor from the merchant's guild until I can't afford any more) with a diverse pile of cheap junk in my pockets for people who are making special requests (food, books, etc.).  Since your profit is percent based, you want people buying the most expensive stuff you've got, so keep the most expensive stuff in the front window and it should sell fairly well.

Also, sometimes I have to stop buying new goods a day or two before payment is due.  Having ~$6,000 worth of goods on display and missing the payout by a few hundred happens a lot (to me, anyway).

[Sjofn]

Worst case, if she doesn't mind this happening, if she can't make the payment that is due, she should run out and stock up on stuff. The game will be all OH GOD GAME OVER, but then pull a "oh, phew, you were just dreaming!" And you wake up on Day Two with the same inventory (only 1k pix though), you can make a lot of money for essentially "free" that way.