During the tutorial in Probably Stolen: Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim, the Mentor leaves notes on your counter. Each one covers a single system: trading, Heat, inspections, the Display Case, and more. Together they explain most of how the shop runs.
Quick answer: There are 18 Mentor’s Notes. To read one, right-click it and choose Read. Each note teaches one shop, market, or survival rule, and the table below summarizes all of them.
How to read Mentor’s Notes in Probably Stolen
During the tutorial, notes appear on the counter alongside the intro on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 14. On day 1, you get Mentor’s Note: Trading and Mentor’s Note: Food. On day 2, Mentor’s Note: After-Hours Activity arrives with a Fanny Pack and a bandage.
Right-click the note and choose Read to view it. You can revisit the wholesale advice during a deal by hovering over the ‘Offering Wholesale’ line, where it appears as a tooltip.
All 18 Mentor’s Notes and what they teach
| Note | What it teaches |
|---|---|
| Mentor’s Note: Trading | Negotiation Counter basics, client budgets |
| Mentor’s Note: Food | Keep Food stocked for shortages |
| Mentor’s Note: After-Hours Activity | Scavenging, backpacks, bandages |
| Mentor’s Note: Buying Wholesale | Buy-all discounts |
| Mentor’s Note: Contraband | No body text |
| Mentor’s Note: Stolen Items | Heat and Security recognition |
| Mentor’s Note: Security Inspection | Random searches, Reputation, bribes |
| Appraisal Service | Appraisal fees, precision bonus, certification |
| Mentor’s Note: Events | Events move prices; read the Newspaper |
| Mentor’s Note: Barter Offer | Item swaps can’t be negotiated |
| Mentor’s Note: Display Case | Stock it to attract clients |
| Mentor’s Note: Upgrades | Store upgrades vs. rent and cash flow |
| Mentor’s Note: Visual Inspection | Magnifying Glass and confronting clients |
| Mentor’s Note: Food Stamps | Stamp value and forgeries |
| Mentor’s Note: The Commissary | Fixed prices, Food Stamps only |
| Mentor’s Note: Item Labels | Relabeling and who spots fraud |
| Mentor’s Note: Sentinel Collapse Disorder | Regular Immunivax shots |
| Mentor’s Note: The Augmented | Spotting Augs and when to shoot |
Full Mentor’s Note text and how to use it
Mentor’s Note: Trading
1. Drag the item to the Negotiation Counter and the Negotiation Interface will appear.
2. A button will appear if you are able to buy or sell the item.
Clients only have a limited budget to spend at your Store.
You will automatically sell your items with a retail markup.
Every deal starts at the Negotiation Counter. Keep the client’s limited budget in mind, because a high asking price won’t help if they can’t cover it.
Mentor’s Note: Food
Food is the most traded commodity on the station.
Keeping Food in stock is highly recommended, as Food and water prices can rise sharply during shortages. Everyone has to eat.
Keep Food on your shelves at all times. When a shortage hits, the stock you already hold becomes much more valuable.
Mentor’s Note: After-Hours Activity
After closing the Store for the day, you should have time to visit one of the various locations around the Sector.
You can always return to the Dumping Grounds to scavenge. You won’t be able to bring much back to the Store without a backpack.
You should also bring a bandage to patch yourself up in case you get wounded while scavenging. If you are badly hurt, you won’t be able to go out for a few days.
Take a bandage every time you go to the Dumping Grounds. A bad wound costs you several days of trips, which is far more expensive than one bandage.
Mentor’s Note: Buying Wholesale
Sometimes sellers offer a discount if you buy all of their items. (This is called buying “Wholesale”.)
You can still inspect each item in the offer individually.
Check each item in a wholesale bundle before you accept. The discount covers the whole lot, including anything you wouldn’t want on its own.
Mentor’s Note: Stolen Items
It is illegal to trade in [Stolen] items. Each stolen item has Heat value, the higher the Heat, the more likely Security will recognize it on inspection. Sellers will offer a discount based on the Heat value.
Heat slowly decreases over time.
Sellers offer discounts based on an item’s Heat, and higher Heat means a higher chance Security will recognize it. Because Heat falls slowly, a hot item carries less risk the longer you hold it.
Mentor’s Note: Security Inspection
Station Security will conduct random inspections for Contraband. Your Reputation with Security will affect the severity of your punishment when Contraband is found. Events can affect how often the Store is inspected.
Additionally, different Officers will conduct inspections differently. Some may be open to a bribe; others may not search every container.
Good Reputation with Security softens the punishment if they find Contraband. Learn each Officer’s habits, since some accept bribes and some skip containers.
Appraisal Service
Some valuable items marked as [Appraisal Item] have complex price structures. Customers will visit the Store and use your appraisal service to determine the value of their item.
You will receive a base service fee for the appraisal, plus a bonus based on the precision of the appraisal.
You will be able to pass appraisal examinations and receive a certification that will improve your base service fee and unlock new item types to appraise.
The closer your estimate, the larger your bonus. Pass appraisal examinations to raise the base fee and gain access to more item types.
Mentor’s Note: Events
Certain events will effect the market price of items, temporarily causing them to rise, or fall. The Newspaper will list most ongoing events.
Some insiders can sell you tips for events before they happen.
Read the Newspaper before you set prices. Insider tips can tell you about an event before it starts moving prices.
Mentor’s Note: Barter Offer
Sometimes customers will arrive and offer to exchange items, rather than Credits.
Barter offers cannot be negotiated unlike regular buy and sell offers.
They are also not impacted by ongoing events.
A barter offer is take-it-or-leave-it. Judge it as it stands, since ongoing events don’t change its terms.
Mentor’s Note: Display Case
On the left side of the Shutter Door, you’ll find the Display Case, one of the key features of your Store.
Depending on the type of items you place inside, you can attract one client per day looking to buy that type of item.
For example, if you put many [Food] items and one low-value [Medical] item, a food-buying client will visit the store the next day.
The total value of the items stored will impact the social class of the attracted client.
Upgrading your Display Case will allow you to attract more clients.
Make sure to stock the Display Case before opening the Store each day.
Do not keep Contraband inside the Display Case or you will be arrested.
Stock the case before you open each day. The mix of items decides which kind of buyer comes the next day, and the total value decides their social class. Never put Contraband in the case, because it gets you arrested.
Mentor’s Note: Upgrades
As the days go by, you will meet various persons of interest who will offer to upgrade your Store for a price.
These upgrades can be useful, but you must be careful when managing your cash flow and keep an eye out for the next rent payment.
Check that your Credits will cover the upcoming rent before spending on an upgrade.
Mentor’s Note: Visual Inspection
Certain items will be marked as inspectable using a Magnifying Glass.
Use the Magnifying Glass on an inspectable item to open the Inspection Tray.
If there’s an issue with the item, you can select a reason at the bottom of the Inspection Tray UI to confront the client about it.
If the item is counterfeit, one issue is enough to confront the client.
If you are right, the client will adjust the price. If you are wrong, you will lose Reputation and the client may take their business elsewhere.
Only confront a client when you’ve found a real issue in the Inspection Tray. A correct call makes the client adjust the price, but a wrong one costs you Reputation and the client may take their business elsewhere.
Mentor’s Note: Food Stamps
Food Stamps are part of a social program to help eligible Lower Level citizens and prevent civil unrest.
Food Stamps can be redeemed and are used at the Commissary to buy Food.
Food Stamps can carry various values. Since they can only be used to buy Food, they are often traded at a lower value for Credits.
The Stamps are sometimes forged and sold to unsuspecting victims, who only find out after failing to redeem the Stamp.
Expect to pay less than face value when you buy Food Stamps for Credits. Be wary of forgeries, which only reveal themselves when the Stamp fails to redeem.
Mentor’s Note: The Commissary
The Commissary is run by the Republic. The prices of all items sold here are fixed, and unaffected by the market.
Nevertheless, while the price of goods is fixed, the availability of items is very much affected by the market.
Only Food Stamps can be used to purchase goods at the Commissary.
Visit the Commissary after closing the Store to purchase goods.
Bring Food Stamps and go after closing time. Prices stay fixed, but stock levels can change when the market shifts.
Mentor’s Note: Item Labels
Certain items can be relabeled. For example, you can label a counterfeit box of cigarettes as genuine to raise its price.
Beware — most workers, Security Officers, and Lower Level citizens are familiar with common item fraud. Scam attempts will fail and result in a penalty to your Reputation.
While Scavengers are also familiar with item fraud, they often don’t carry the equipment required to test for authenticity, if any is needed.
Tourists and Upper Level citizens, however, are generally less aware.
But sooner or later, people will find out.
Workers know when goods have been relabeled, as do Security Officers and Lower Level citizens; a failed scam costs you Reputation. Tourists and Upper Level citizens are less likely to spot the change, but the note warns that the truth will emerge eventually.
Mentor’s Note: Sentinel Collapse Disorder
I am sorry to hear that you have SCD… It’s a serious health condition that you will live with for the rest of your life.
You will need to take regular Immunivax shots or your health will deteriorate and suffer permanent damage. You can afford to miss a few days at the start, but the damage adds up over time.
Plan your budget around regular Immunivax shots. Skipping a few days early on is survivable, but the permanent damage builds up over time.
Mentor’s Note: The Augmented
The Augs are humans overtaken by a rogue AI inside a brain implant. Their bodies are no longer their own, and there is currently no safe way to remove the implant without killing the host. Augs are hostile and extremely dangerous, actively seeking to kidnap people and install more Augmentation implants. Shopkeepers are the first line of defense, since Augs rely on raw materials to fabricate new implants and medical supplies to surgically implant more victims. They haven’t fully mastered normal human behavior and may also use overly formal phrasing or robotic vocabulary. Shoot only if you are absolutely certain. Do not try to call Security, the Augs have hacked their comms and will flee before Security arrives.
Watch for stiffly formal or robotic speech, particularly from customers seeking raw materials or medical supplies. Fire only when you’re sure, and do not call Security: Augs will escape before officers arrive.
The notes point to fuller guides: wholesale buying, the Dumping Ground, Security inspections, spotting fakes, appraisal and the beginner guide. The complete Probably Stolen guide links everything else.
