Minuscule Baking Profits

[MissPlumbBob]

Hey guys! I need help. I've tried regular cooking, making cupcakes with the cupcake maker, baking with the oven, baking with the cupcake maker... Every time I need to sell some of my baked goods, they sell for very low. As in, my vanilla cupcakes sell for $4 instead of $12 and my brownies for $6 instead of $39. Has anyone run into the same disappointing problem? Can anyone offer a potential solution?

Thanks, as always. Hope you are having a happier Simming day than I am!

[dodi90]

First we need to know what quality is your food item. For max profits you need to have excellent products. And of course to bump up the sales value you need to take marketable as well.

[MissPlumbBob]

Brownies were good, sold for $6. http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/skills/gettowork/baking/ lists excellent quality as $39, but there's no way good would sell for just $6. That table doesn't include the marketable reward.

[ClayMask]

I don't know what good quality would sell for, but from your experience it sounds like it sells for a lot less.  You should be able to make excellent quality soon. 

[dodi90]

Since I almost always attempt bakery business after I have completed master chef, My baked goods are always excellent in quality. Right now I'm gonna guess that Excellent quality good provides big markup toward the price even without setting it to exorbitant value. However, I also notice that the value is not really fixed but has some randomness in it. I can provide more testing after I can re-download the sims 4 since my game suddenly failed to launch after never ending update.

[ClayMask]

However, I also notice that the value is not really fixed but has some randomness in it.

Does your Sim have the marketable trait?  This provides a randomness factor.

[dodi90]

I guess so. Haven't tried without one but I guess it was just marketable making it random. I just don't understand why is it so random since if I am not mistaken marketable only gives flat increase in value? My suspicion is food created with marketable traits make it has random values like painting but of course it always higher than the listed retail prices.

to @MissPlumbBob , have you tried raising the quality of the brownies? Getting inspired while baking helps and if you already mastered gourmet cooking you can always garnish the cookies to make it excellent.

[ClayMask]

I guess so. Haven't tried without one but I guess it was just marketable making it random. I just don't understand why is it so random since if I am not mistaken marketable only gives flat increase in value? My suspicion is food created with marketable traits make it has random values like painting but of course it always higher than the listed retail prices.

Marketable doesn't give a flat increase.  It gives a random multiplier to your product.  Carl's page on traits says this about marketable:

Marketable:  Marketable Sims get a random boost to the value of things they craft that can be sold, such as Paintings and Woodworking Sculptures. It can go anywhere from 10% to triple the usual value, but averages out at double. This is one of the single best Traits for Painters, though it doesn't affect as many things as one would hope.

I think when he writes 10%, he means 10% extra.

[Carl]

I need to have a look at Marketable and make sure that's right. Reading the game's data can sometimes be confusing, and though I haven't used that reward in a while it sounds ridiculously overpowered. Maybe I'm just tired.

As for the problem with prices, there is indeed a massive gap in the value of good to excellent. I have $6 good cookies and $39 excellent sugar cookies.

[dodi90]

Yeah but remember marketable at base game only works for painting and we all know that painting themselves have randomness in price. If marketable retail price also works on woodworking products then we can easily test the boost since they all have flat value. Of course whicever is true, marketable simply good to have if you open retail store selling created goods.

BTW, try levelling gourmet cooking first before you delve into baking. Baking themselves without boost, took longer to skill and most of the time if you try baking uninspired and make recipe at your level, it mostly ended up good. While decorating them also an option, garnish didn't cost you anything and will bump your food to excellent regardless of previous quality.

[ClayMask]

Yeah but remember marketable at base game only works for painting and we all know that painting themselves have randomness in price. If marketable retail price also works on woodworking products then we can easily test the boost since they all have flat value. Of course whicever is true, marketable simply good to have if you open retail store selling created goods.

Last time I did woodworking, it also worked on that, and caused random prices.  That was in January, so it should still work, unless they've changed it since then.  It is a powerful reward.

[MissPlumbBob]

Thanks, y'all. Carl confirms the gap in good to excellent. That was my main concern.

Although something else has happened, too. I haven't been able to sell goods from the cupcake maker to the local bakery, which I wanted to do until I could run my own shop. Are the recipes available to be sold very limited, or is it something I'm missing?

[ClayMask]

Although something else has happened, too. I haven't been able to sell goods from the cupcake maker to the local bakery, which I wanted to do until I could run my own shop. Are the recipes available to be sold very limited, or is it something I'm missing?

You haven't eaten any of the cupcakes for the batches you're trying to sell, have you?

[MissPlumbBob]

No, I haven't. All my Sim has done was take them off the machine. When I click them, I get the same options as any other food. No option to sell.

[dodi90]

You need to wait for baked good to be "served" on a surface by your sim first. By the way I also found out the cupcake machine occasionally need to be refilled.