Money in Probably Stolen comes from the gap between what you pay for an item and what a customer pays you, plus rewards, appraisal fees, store requests and Georgio’s loan. Your difficulty sets the markup on every sale; you control the rest by where you buy and what you stock.
Quick answer: Buy below base value through wholesale piles, phone-supplier couriers at 20% off, and stolen goods at a heat discount. Sell at base plus your difficulty’s Retail Markup, with contraband adding +35% to +150%. Then add a Vending Machine and, once you own the store, Wild’s Endorsements.
Volume matters less than margin early on. A single discounted scrap pile can return a quick profit the same day. Contraband and pure chemistry carry the largest markups, but they also carry the largest risks. Passive income from the Vending Machine and the bigger customer budgets from endorsements arrive later, through Wild’s Network.
Selling prices by difficulty in Probably Stolen
Every item starts with a base value; selling it applies the Retail Markup for your difficulty. Click a price entry in the buying panel to view its calculation. Under Mark Up, the line reads “Market and Merchant: Retail Markup (+15%)”.
| Difficulty | Retail Markup |
|---|---|
| Price Gouge | +20% |
| Mark Up | +15% |
| Thin Margins | None |
| Red Ink | None |
Price Gouge pays the most per sale. On Mark Up, Peat with a base value of 25 sells to a Spacer for 29, and Scrap Metal with a base value of 10 sells for 12. On Thin Margins and Red Ink, a normal sale returns only the base value, so every bit of profit has to come from buying cheap.
Customers also have limits. The bottom of the buying panel shows each customer’s budget (for example, Customer Budget 119), and each customer has interests. The Lower Level Repairman, for instance, wants Material, Tool, and Energy Cell items. Stock what the person at the counter is actually looking for. Every item’s base value is in our full items list, and the difficulty guide compares the four modes.
Buying below base value
Wholesale piles from walk-in sellers
Some sellers who walk in will discount their whole pile if you take everything. The offer appears as “Offering Wholesale 33% Discount”, and the tooltip explains it plainly:
A seller may reduce the price if you purchase their entire stock; this option is called buying “Wholesale”. You can inspect every item in the offer on its own before buying.
On Day 2, a Junker offers a scrap pile for 64 credits after a 33% discount. The following buyer, a Lower Level Repairman, purchases three Scrap Metal for 12, Electronic Parts (Common) for 38, and Wire for 18; the items total 92. With Mark Up, that pile earns 28 credits in profit. A Scavenger may also offer 6 Peat for 128 at 15% off (when to accept a wholesale offer). On Mark Up, each Peat sells for 29, making the whole lot worth 174.
Once the Mentor teaches Bargains (Day 8 in our Mark Up run), you can push a price down further with the speech-bubble button on the trade window: a -10% Demand Discount cut a 15%-off Peat pile from 169 to 153, at the cost of some faction reputation. See how to bargain.
Phone supplier couriers at 20% off
Once Wild’s Network introduces you to suppliers, their couriers sell to you at 20% off. Since you buy below base value and sell at base plus markup, you earn on both sides of the deal. Introduction costs on Mark Up include Red Imp Brewery at 200 favor, Lower Levels Chemist at 250, GP Mining Coop at 250, and Upper Level Pharmacist at 300.
Stolen goods from Thieves
Thieves sell stolen items at a discount that depends on the item’s heat. Heat is set by base value, so pricier items run hotter.
| Base value | Starting heat |
|---|---|
| Up to 17 | 0% |
| Up to 49 | 25% |
| Up to 84 | 50% |
| Up to 139 | 75% |
| 140+ | 100% |
| Heat | Thief discount |
|---|---|
| Up to 25% | 10% off |
| Up to 50% | 15% off |
| Up to 75% | 20% off |
| Above 75% | 25% off |
Heat decreases overnight. Regular items lose 18 heat each night; contraband cools more slowly: 16 a night for low-level, 14 for mid-level, 12 for high-level and 10 for critical-level contraband. An inspector’s chance to find a stolen item is equal to that item’s heat.
Hold stolen stock off display until its heat has dropped, then put it out for sale.
Contraband and chemistry markups
Contraband sells with an extra markup based on its level.
| Contraband level | Markup |
|---|---|
| Low-level | +35% |
| Mid-level | +70% |
| High-level | +100% |
| Critical-level | +150% |
For comparison, a normal sale only adds the Retail Markup: on Mark Up, a Pack of Hemingway Cigarettes bought for 100 sold for 115 to an Upper Level Visitor. The catch with contraband is Security. An inspection fines you the combined value of every illegal item it finds. You can pay a bribe instead, calculated as 100 + 2 x day – 2 x Security reputation and kept between 40 and 400. Items that are hidden or locked away are not searched; see security inspections and bribes.
Crimes also build a Security case, and its total decides the outcome.
- Crime value up to 299: a fine, or arrest if you cannot pay
- Crime value 300 to 1,499: arrest
- Crime value 1,500 or more: execution
A chemistry product’s sale price is determined by the grade on its label; that grade can push the price above double or bring it close to nothing. Certain customers use a Chem Scanner to read the label.
| Label grade | Change to base value |
|---|---|
| Pure Grade (99%+) | +135% |
| Pharma | +85% |
| Near Pharma | +40% |
| Street Standard | None |
| Cut Product | -45% |
 Junk | -75% |
| Starch | -95% |
Overheating a chemistry batch destroys the extract. The Dream Dust guide shows the whole chemistry chain.
Overnight sales and station events
The Vending Machine sells overnight at the item’s value plus Retail Markup plus an extra 10%, and it ignores event price changes. You can get it from the Vending Machine starting perk or the Vending Machine network upgrade (Store, 1200 favor). It needs 2 energy a night.
Low-cost food sells the fastest. A food item worth 20 credits sells at 20.5% per night with 15 attractiveness, and at 136.4% with 100 attractiveness. At 100 attractiveness, an item worth 300 credits sells at only 10% per night. For water, the equivalent service is the Vending Fountain, also available for 1200 favor.
Station events change prices across categories, and the Calendar lists upcoming events with their effects. Who Turned Out The Lights? adds +50% to Energy Cell, +25% to Weapon, and +25% to Ammunition. Lower Levels Riot adds +30% to Food, +50% to Weapon, and +50% to Ammunition. Stock up before the event, then sell during it, at the counter rather than through the Vending Machine.
Bounties, appraisals, requests, and loans
When a criminal from the Wanted List is at the counter, hold the teal Call Security button to report them. The Model Citizen perk raises each reward by +50%. More in how to call security and the wanted list.
| Wanted criminal | Reward |
|---|---|
 Lou | 1,500 |
 The Butcher | 450 |
 Li Bei Wen | 400 |
 James Bailey | 300 |
 Odin Haraldsson | 300 |
 Leroy | 300 |
 Juan | 125 |
 John Smith | 125 |
 Arthur Lafleur | 100 |
The Appraisal Guild sends customers with items to value, and your estimate earns a grade. Perfect means within 5%, Excellent within 10%, Good within 15%, Mediocre within 25%, and anything further off is Awful. The fee grows with rank, from a base fee of 20 as Junior Appraiser to 100 as Master Appraiser, and a Perfect grade pays 15% to 25%.
For 250 favor, the Marketplace Requests service adds store requests that generally pay above market value. For example, Medical Supply For Upper Levels General Hospital pays 100 credits if you deliver 3 Medical Supplies (Common) within 3 days.
On Day 43, the scavenger Georgio asks for a loan of a quarter or half of your cash. He repays four times the amount, either on a rent day when you are short (more than 5 days after the loan) or 25 days after the loan at the latest.
Wild’s Network upgrades that raise income
| Upgrade | Tab | Favor (Mark Up) | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
 Buyer Referral Service | Referral | 200 | Nightly-fee buyer referrals, more display traffic |
 Power Line Hijack | Service | 300 | Free nightly Power Service |
 Marketplace Requests | Service | 250 | Store requests |
 Vending Machine | Store | 1200 | Overnight sales |
 Vending Fountain | Store | 1200 | Overnight water sales |
 Showcase Expansion I/II | Store | 200/500 | Bigger showcase |
 Jackson Investment I/II | Supplier | 400/650 | Dr. Jackson’s budget and stock rise |
| Monday’s Special Stock | Supplier | 1250 | Special stock |
 Wild’s Endorsement I/II/III | Endorsement | 2500/5000/10000 | +25% customer budget each |
 Hypertech Smuggler | Referral | 2500 | Nightly Hypertech items |
Wild’s Endorsement sits in the ADVANCED tab and unlocks only after you own the store, as does Hypertech Smuggler. Each endorsement level gives visiting customers 25% more budget to spend, which directly lifts what a single customer can buy at the counter.
Costs that eat into profit
- Rent comes due once every 7 days, beginning at 200; the amount increases with each rent day.
- A power bill arrives every night until Power Line Hijack makes it free.
- Inspection fines equal the value of every illegal item found.
- Items left on the outside counter can be stolen.
- An overheated chemistry batch loses its extract.
The Mentor puts the counter rule bluntly: “don’t leave anything on the outside counter unless you want it to get stolen”. Keep stock inside, keep hot goods hidden, and save enough cash for each rent day before you chase the bigger margins.
Related guides: the Vending Machine, station events, the Appraisal Guild, all Wild’s Network upgrades and the complete Probably Stolen guide.
