The Consignment Shop in General and its Relation to Experience

[Jonna]

This really is the buggiest expansion EA has ever produced [and we've been there through TS1 and TS2 and TS3 with all the expansions.

I agree.  I've never had major bug problems with any other EP and I too have been playing since the beginning.

My problems with the consignment shop started when my sculptor unloaded an ice sim that was, for some reason, valued at $0.  I thought that was strange but didn't realize it could ruin my game.       At the same time, my inventor unloaded maybe around 50 widgets, which I also didn't realize could ruin my game.  So I'm not sure which did my game in, because nothing would sell afterwards.  After waiting a few days, I tried to remove all of my consigned items (the ice sculpture no longer had an image), but that didn't do any good.  I then tried to restart the game (completely, not just going to the main menu) but when I tried to load them up, there was some error message that told me I could try to load them up again but strange things might happen.  So I started playing a different game file -- oops!  Should have restarted the game.  When I went back to the main menu, the first game had reverted back to an earlier time, before the sculptor caught on fire and died, and before their Past offspring made his debut.  So I just deleted them and hoped that my next games wouldn't be as buggy.  And it hasn't but I've also tried not to use the consignment shop as much.

[LlamaMama]

I had an ice sculpture disappear on consignment (no picture). I assumed it had melted, and it didn't affect gameplay in any buggy way for me.

[Metropolis Man]

Well, I sure hope EA releases a patch soon. The da Vinci event starts in 3 weeks and given the way the rule set is now structured it's going to be to everyone's advantage to try and get the most money possible out of their Inventions, Paintings, and Sculptures.

[LlamaMama]

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this particular twist, but I think I should caution players who might try playing legacy or other challenges using the consignment shop for self-employed sales.

I started my very first Founder for a legacy and since she was an artist and gardener, she registered as a self-employed painter in Sunset Valley. Cornelia Goth was her consignment clerk and everything worked out well. Then I realized that a normal span would not be enough time for my style of playing, so I extended it to long span. My guess is that the town continued at normal span, because Cornelia retired and was replaced by a Langerak. Ever since he took the till, the shop has been bugged. I have the option to buy, but it vanishes until I remove consignments, then seems to work and let me consign new stuff. Unfortunately, my brilliant paintings don't sell anymore. I remove them and wait a day, put them back, no sales.

I could sell the work outright, but I've adapted my play to the higher sales. I clearly learned that townies live normal span, and now I understand why normal spans are the limit for legacies. I guess I'm trying to raise too many skills for the shorter life span for the founder.

I wonder if others have found that the retirement or change of clerk affects the consignment shop.

[Pam]

Townies are supposed to age at the same rate as your Sims.  It might be that the consignment shop is so bugged that it's messing up other things, as well.  Legacies are played on normal life setting because it's more challenging to reach the milestones that give you points and allow the family line to continue.

[LlamaMama]

Thanks, that helps me understand. I guess Cordelia was adult to mature while my sim was young adult. By the way, I waited a few days, and put a few of the items back on consignment and they sold successfully. Now I'm afraid to try selling a dozen at a time in case that was the source of the problem.

[Pam]

Yeah, Cornelia isn't far from elderhood when the game starts.  Her husband, Gunther, ages to elder within just a few days and I hate that because I love his adult look. 

[Delgar]

Yes in my brand new sunset valley game, I cannot interact with the consignment store whatsoever. Regardless of the type of item.

Rather annoying, hopefully it get's fixed soon.

[LlamaMama]

Yes in my brand new sunset valley game, I cannot interact with the consignment store whatsoever. Regardless of the type of item.

Rather annoying, hopefully it get's fixed soon.

From what I've read, it sometimes takes several game days before the consignment store is "seeded" with a clerk, etc. Let us know if it opens up soon.

[Delgar]

Well it's been a week game time. Clerk has been there the whole time, whenever I click on the register I get nothing.

Whenever I try to Buy items from the clerk, a few moments pass and then the action is cancelled.

[Carl]

Well it's been a week game time. Clerk has been there the whole time, whenever I click on the register I get nothing.

Whenever I try to Buy items from the clerk, a few moments pass and then the action is cancelled.

You hadn't consigned anything before? Canceling usually works for fixing that for me. I haven't encountered a situation where I couldn't consign anything from the outset.

[Delgar]

Nope, I haven't been able to consign anything period.

[Carl]

Cash registers had problems when World Adventures first came out. Deleting them and putting in a new one fixed it (with the buydebug testingcheat). I wonder if you save your game then try that it'll work.

Struck this out as it seems hard to get a working new cash register in the game. Sorry Delgar!

[Amanda23a]

Today while I was playing the consignment store wasn't working...What I mean is I would click on the register and then pressed buy...The sim would talk to the consignment store guy but then when it was time for the buy and sell window to come up nothing would happen...So I decided to save and quit my game for awhile to see if it would work again...An hour later I came back to play the Sims again and it turns out I quit my game but never saved   oops! Good news was it went back 2 days before (sims time) so I tried the consignment store again and the same thing happened...Any ideas of what I could do?

[Asleep]

There is already a large thread about things like that. http://www.carls-sims-3-forum.com/index.php/topic,1165.0.html