General How Duty Free Shop Works

[kelvint23]

I'm extremely clueless with this duty free shop's mechanic. Upgraded to level 2 or 3 (can't remember exactly) and it seems like it does trade only once. What's its real purpose besides looking nice? And what does "remaining gold" (80/600/200/1000) even mean? remaining of...?

 

[Agent_L]

What's its real purpose besides looking nice?

It's purpose is to waste your land and great deal of effort in return of few coins.
"Remaining" is a label for the empty space, where a times is shown. It doesn't refer to the coins.
The "trade" means turning a set of items into coins over specified time. To start another "trade" you need another set of items. Getting those items is possible through either tapping specific neighbor buildings or receiving via gifts. Both ways mean ridiculous sacrifice, as taps are better spent a Planetariums and gifts at something actually useful.

Just don't bother, nobody does.

 

[kelvint23]

It's purpose is to waste your land and great deal of effort in return of few coins.
"Remaining" is a label for the empty space, where a times is shown. It doesn't refer to the coins.
The "trade" means turning a set of items into coins over specified time. To start another "trade" you need another set of items. Getting those items is possible through either tapping specific neighbor buildings or receiving via gifts. Both ways mean ridiculous sacrifice, as taps are better spent a Planetariums and gifts at something actually useful.

Just don't bother, nobody does.

thanks for clarifying now i feel depressed for spending a good 12 greens on upgrade items...

 

[Wasted Eagle]

thanks for clarifying now i feel depressed for spending a good 12 greens on upgrade items...

...and you should. It's two land expansions down the drain!
Buuut, you could do worse: @Harcourt once accidently bought a useless Super Mystery Building for 99 greens and @Phil G just bought a QL for 350 greens thinking it was an 8k coins Mystery Bonus.
Sorry guys, just letting Kelvin know it happens to the BEST of us...

 

[Kesh]

...and you should. It's two land expansions down the drain!
Buuut, you could do worse: @Harcourt once accidently bought a useless Super Mystery Building for 99 greens and @Phil G just bought a QL for 350 greens thinking it was an 8k coins Mystery Bonus.
Sorry guys, just letting Kelvin know it happens to the BEST of us...

I bought 2 for 99 each - happens to all of us

 

[kelvint23]

...and you should. It's two land expansions down the drain!
Buuut, you could do worse: @Harcourt once accidently bought a useless Super Mystery Building for 99 greens and @Phil G just bought a QL for 350 greens thinking it was an 8k coins Mystery Bonus.
Sorry guys, just letting Kelvin know it happens to the BEST of us...

and now I can't sell it because "the building is unique and can't be removed", incredible!

 

[Lon T]

I am so glad that I looked this up.

 

[Robbie Laker]

I am so glad that I looked this up.

Note that the posts you have read are years old. The Duty Free Shop has been changed since then and is now profitable.

 

[Lon T]

Note that the posts you have read are years old. The Duty Free Shop has been changed since then and is now profitable.

Ok, thanks.

 

[LX Air - Teresa]

Note that the posts you have read are years old. The Duty Free Shop has been changed since then and is now profitable.

It’s the same. No changes in there. It doesn’t deserve the coins you spend on it

 

[Robbie Laker]

It’s the same. No changes in there. It doesn’t deserve the coins you spend on it

The issues relating to Duty Free have changed eg. the drop rate for Lost and Found collection, frequency of items available for sale. My DF pays $600 every day or $1000 every 2 days depending on which contract I take. It is profitable.

 

[Madge59230]

It’s the same. No changes in there. It doesn’t deserve the coins you spend on it

Same here. It’s profitable. Money for free. Never bought a single item to use.

 

[Lon T]

The issues relating to Duty Free have changed eg. the drop rate for Lost and Found collection, frequency of items available for sale. My DF pays $600 every day or $1000 every 2 days depending on which contract I take. It is profitable.

Same here. It’s profitable. Money for free. Never bought a single item to use.

It’s the same. No changes in there. It doesn’t deserve the coins you spend on it

Looks like this one is a matter of opinion.. lol

 

[LX Air - Teresa]

Looks like this one is a matter of opinion.. lol

Sort of.
i DO have one, as I wanted to clear all side missions
i had a lot of df items and have been using them whenever it can work.
never, but really never ever, spent a single neighbor visit trying to get a DF item
never asked neighbors for df items
if I have them I use it, when I don’t, it stays idle
to sum up
I don’t see it as a source of income. Its something that’s just there and sometimes give me a few coins.

so my advice is: as long as you don’t waste neighbors visiting or gifting with DF items, as long as you don’t rely on it to obtain all the coins you need for developing your city, as long as the space it occupies isn’t vital to you, go for it... but don’t forget it can’t be removed

 

[Madge59230]

Sort of.
i DO have one, as I wanted to clear all side missions
i had a lot of df items and have been using them whenever it can work.
never, but really never ever, spent a single neighbor visit trying to get a DF item
never asked neighbors for df items
if I have them I use it, when I don’t, it stays idle
to sum up
I don’t see it as a source of income. Its something that’s just there and sometimes give me a few coins.

so my advice is: as long as you don’t waste neighbors visiting or gifting with DF items, as long as you don’t rely on it to obtain all the coins you need for developing your city, as long as the space it occupies isn’t vital to you, go for it... but don’t forget it can’t be removed

Exactly. It sits in a corner. When items drop from collections or wherever, use it. I see it as Free Money. Only look every couple of weeks to see if the infamous Cognac has dropped!

 

[Robbie Laker]

With the high frequency that my own game now completes Lost and Found, I never have any shortage of items. I would never waste neighbour clicks or gift requests to obtain DF items under any circumstances.

I spend about 15 seconds a day (or two) to set another contract, and average $800 return for that minor effort (or $533/day). At $150k (excluding land and electricity costs) to fully develop to Lvl 3, it will take the user 281 days to pay off, after that is pure profit.

The decision as to whether this is worth it is a personal one. If there is one building that I regret buying it would have to be the Meteorological Lab.

Note : numbers above have been edited.

 

[LX Air - Teresa]

With the high frequency that my own game now completes Lost and Found, I never have any shortage of items. I would never waste neighbour clicks or gift requests to obtain DF items under any circumstances.

I spend about 15 seconds a day (or two) to set another contract, and average $800 return for that minor effort. At $150k (excluding land costs) to fully develop to Lvl 3, it will take the user 150 days to pay off, after that is pure profit.

The decision as to whether this is worth it is a personal one. If there is one building that I regret buying it would have to be the Meteorological Lab.

Meteo lab is quite useful for smaller games. I have it on all my supports. Together with a resource base I never depend on neighbors if I get caught by some bad weather . It takes less time to produce the Required item than to wait for the bad weather condition to disappear.
on my main on the other hand, it has been pretty much useless, mainly because I still have well above 100 of any weather item, pre V7.

regarding lost and found collections, I seldom pick the collections as I end up with losing so many items due to the 100 limit

 

[Stephen Hudson]

I agree with Robbie Laker.
If you are a newer,less experienced player,then try and get hold of Spy Glass,Golden Dice and/or Dice.Do not necessarily need Sky Captain every time,although can also improve drop rate.
Then land as many guest planes as you can.
You will find that items for Duty Free and repair items drop regularly.
Do this as often as you can,and over a period of time you will gain a regular supply of items needed.Then you can open contracts worth 600 coins daily or 1000 coins every 2 days.
A very useful source of income.