Roadside Shop

Придорожный магазин The roadside shop is a feature which lets players sell items to other players, and buy items from them in their own shops.

It is unlocked at experience level 7. Unlike most other buildings in the game, it does not need to be repaired or bought.

Selling
Players can sell crops, animal goods, products (except lures, nets and traps) and supplies in their shop. Decorations, vouchers, and diamonds cannot be sold.

Players can set a maximum of ten units of the same item in a box. When doing so, they can set its selling price, from one coin to the maximum value allowed by the game (which is 3.6 times the default value, rounded to the nearest unit).

Items put on sale cannot be taken back but players can trash a box by spending one diamond.

Non-Player Characters (NPC) can also buy items from the Roadside Shop:
 * Greg generally buys items which have remained unsold for a couple days.
 * Tom is sent by other players to look for items at a discounted price but may occasionally buy unsold items at full price.

Advertising
Advertising an item puts it in the Daily Dirt (newspaper) where it is visible to any player to buy.

Players can advertise a box every 5 minutes, or skip the waiting time by spending one diamond. The ad stops appearing on newly refreshed newspapers when the advertised item is sold or no one buys the advertised item after 3 hours.

Unlocking more boxes
Players have five boxes initially. Unlocking additional ones costs diamonds or requires friends:


 * Players can unlock another box by spending five diamonds, then a second one by spending seven diamonds . The cost then increases by two diamonds every time of purchase (the next one cost 7 diamonds, then 9 diamonds , and so on).


 * Players can unlock two or three(?) boxes by following 10 farms (not counting Greg's).


 * Players can unlock about a dozen more boxes by adding Facebook and Game Center friends. The number of friends required to unlock a new box increases for each box.

Purchasing
Once you reach or exceed 80 expansion or upgrade materials, you can no longer purchase additional materials until the next day. This limit was introduced as part of the October 2019 update. A counter and countdown clock are accessible by tapping your blue experience level star at the top of the main screen and then viewing the center statistics tab. If you attempt exceed this limit you'll receive this banner.

It is possible to purchase a total of 89 tools by first bringing your total to 79 and then purchasing a single bin of 10 materials.

Customization


Players who have reached experience level 31 and have completed 20 achievements can customize their roadside shops to their liking, by picking custom styles for their awnings, crates and bases in Maggie's shop.

Strategy tips

 * All products but wheat and sometimes corn sell quickly at maximum price.
 * You can search the newspaper for cheap items, buy them, and sell them for maximum price.
 * Ending your prices in 9s makes them appear to cost less (see psychological pricing).
 * You can add many "friends" once, and get up to 18 free slots, then unfriend them, and you still retain all the 18 slots. The exact number is unknown, somewhere between 8 friends and 2000 friends.
 * When your silo or barn runs out of room, you can sell things to get more room.
 * There are forums where you can arrange trades. Once it has been negotiated, etiquette usually calls for the player who initiated the trade to put his item up for sale first. Many players communicate within the game by "wheating". The initiating player should first put 1 wheat crop up for sale for 1 coin, unadvertised, in the slot farthest to the right in his shop. The other player will purchase this crop to tell the trader "I'm here". Then, the trader can put up his item for trade. After this exchange, the other player will follow this same process to give the first player his item in exchange. The maximum number of items the player can put on the roadside shop is 10. Forums generally outline their conventions and expectations in detail in Stickies and it is recommended that new traders research the rules prior to arranging trades.
 * Trades can also be arranged between neighbors through the chat. It is generally a good way to sell the supplies you have in excess while getting the one the game will not give you.
 * Need help with truck, boat, or town orders? Putting a common item at max price with an advertisement is a good way to get help. An exclamation mark will show up next to your product showing that you're looking for help, and the customer can fill out your orders. This also applies to fruit trees or bushes if they aren't getting revived.
 * Attracting and retaining Followers is a key aspect of the game. Followers will routinely purchase a vast number from your Roadside Shop. So, if you want to sell your crops and products quickly and for the maximum number of coins, you will want more Followers. The best way to attract Followers is to always keep your Roadside Shop full. It doesn’t matter if the bin has sold or not as long as it’s not empty. This way potential Followers will see that you have an active shop. Next, you’ll want to put ads on rare or unique items. These include any tools that you sell (even if it’s just a trade) as well as any crops and products that do not normally appear in the Daily Dirt. Followers will notice that you’re selling items that they value and follow your farm. Without a sufficient number of followers, you cannot successfully employ the Wheating Strategy.

Did you know?

 * Players used to receive 500,000 coins when buying a new slot with 5 diamonds and then selling 5 planks for any price. This glitch has been fixed, of course!
 * From April 14 to April 24, 2016 players with iOS devices could buy a World Wildlife Fund bag of diamonds for $4.99. Doing so gave their shop a special green awning with the WWF logo on it.


 * From December 1 to December 6, 2016 players with iOS devices could buy a (RED) bag of diamonds for $4.99. Doing so gave their shop a special red awning with the (RED) logo on it.