Appraisal in Probably Stolen is a service: inspect a customer's item, calculate its value from the relevant manual, and submit an estimate. Your earnings depend on the appraisal result, with a base fee and a value-related payment affected by accuracy. The item appearing on your counter does not make it ordinary stock you can buy and resell.
The most useful improvement is a consistent inspection order. First identify the item and its applicable guide, then check conditions that override normal pricing, record the remaining modifiers, and calculate the total. Use the appraisal slip afterward to distinguish a wrong observation from a wrong calculation.
Separate appraisal from normal trading
A customer bringing an object for valuation is asking for an estimate. That transaction is different from a seller offering merchandise. Do not plan your profit around keeping the appraised object or finding a later buyer for it.
The service rewards accurate valuation rather than an aggressive resale margin. An inflated estimate is not a higher asking price that you can negotiate down. It is a claim about the item's value, and the result measures how well that claim matches the item's actual attributes.
This distinction changes how you should use your time. Inspection and arithmetic matter more than deciding whether the object would look attractive in the display. Focus on the features named by its manual and the estimate you are about to submit.
Keep ordinary buying checks separate as well. Some tools and visual clues are useful in both activities, but discovering a counterfeit during a purchase and calculating an appraisal are different interactions. Follow the current customer's request rather than automatically using a buying routine on every inspected object.
Keep the correct manual beside the item
Different appraisal categories use different rule systems. A Ribwich has packaging, production, and edition checks. A Plasma Cartridge has condition, plasma-quality, and manufacturer checks. Rules from one category should not be carried across simply because both end with a credit value.
Open the relevant guide before calculating. Read the order of its rules, especially any sentence that specifies a flat final value or a minimum. Those rules can change how you should use the additions and deductions elsewhere in the document.
Use a Magnifying Glass when small printed details or wear marks are difficult to distinguish. The useful goal is to identify the feature accurately, not merely to enlarge the whole object and then guess from its overall appearance.
Make a short working record of the details you can actually see. For an object with a date, write the date exactly. For one with a seal, record the seal separately from the condition. Separating observation from calculation makes it easier to revisit one uncertain detail without repeating the entire appraisal.
Inspect small printed details before calculating.
Check overrides before adding bonuses
Some appraisal rules replace the normal calculation. These should be checked before spending time adding every premium feature. Otherwise you may produce a carefully calculated total that the item's invalid state makes irrelevant.
A packaged Ribwich is a clear example. Missing, torn, or counterfeit packaging makes its final value 40 credits regardless of the ordinary additions. A visually unusual sandwich does not escape that rule because it appears to have an expensive edition feature.
That is different from a minimum-value rule. The Plasma Cartridge guide lists a lowest value of 90 credits. You still identify the condition and plasma modifiers, but a calculation below the floor is raised to that minimum. A floor does not mean every damaged cartridge is worth the floor.
| Rule type | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Base value | Start the ordinary calculation here |
| Additive modifier | Add or subtract the listed amount if the feature applies |
| Conditional bonus | Apply only when every stated requirement matches |
| Flat-value override | Replace the ordinary total with the stated final value |
| Minimum value | Do not allow the final calculation below the stated floor |
These categories are a reading method for the manuals. They prevent two common errors: adding bonuses after a flat override, and treating a conditional manufacturer premium as an automatic reward for seeing a logo.
Record independent attributes independently
An item can have several relevant attributes at once. Do not let one obvious feature end the inspection before you have checked the others. A visible crack, a reinforcement, and the plasma color belong to different checks even when they appear on the same cartridge.
For a Ribwich, a valid production date and a valid facility number are separate facts. A correct date does not authenticate a missing logo, and a premium facility does not fix a counterfeit package. Inspect each rule on its own terms before combining their effects.
The same principle applies to edition features. If a special edition requires two visible details together, finding only one does not justify assigning the edition bonus. The guide's complete condition matters more than the feature that first caught your eye.
Work in a fixed order so that nothing is counted twice. For example, record the base value, identify authenticity or override conditions, list the eligible additions and deductions, and apply the final limit. That sequence is easier to audit than repeatedly changing a mental total while moving around the object.
Treat manufacturer bonuses as complete matches
For Plasma Cartridges, the manufacturer's seal identifies which set of expectations to check. It does not automatically award the manufacturer's bonus. Compare the observed condition and plasma grade with that maker's requirements.
A manufacturer that excludes cracks does not receive its bonus when a crack is present. The crack can also have its own value deduction. Those are two effects of one observed feature, so remember both without pretending they are the same rule.
A high-grade plasma color also does not independently authenticate every seal. Read the maker's required grade and permitted condition, then decide whether the complete combination qualifies. If one requirement fails, leave out that conditional bonus.
This check is particularly useful when an estimate is too high by the amount of a manufacturer premium. Before questioning every visible defect, verify whether you added a seal bonus that the rest of the item did not support.
Condition, plasma quality, and the maker are separate checks.
Use a visible calculation rather than a remembered total
Write the arithmetic in the same order as your inspection record. You do not need a complicated spreadsheet: a base value followed by clearly labelled additions and deductions is enough to expose a missing or duplicated adjustment.
The Plasma Cartridge manual includes an example with a 300-credit base, a 150-credit crack deduction, and a 60-credit reinforcement addition. With no qualifying manufacturer bonus, the result is 210 credits. The useful lesson is the separation of the physical adjustments from the failed bonus condition.
Another example reaches a subtotal of 30 credits after condition and low-grade deductions. The final value is 90 because the cartridge's minimum applies. This is why submitting the arithmetic subtotal without checking the floor can still be wrong even when every deduction was correct.
For a Ribwich, first establish that the package remains on the normal pricing path. Only then add the valid production-run, date, facility, and edition effects. The detailed item-specific rules belong to that appraisal guide; the general habit is to resolve eligibility before arithmetic.
Inspect subtle wear without borrowing old prices
Plasma wear can be difficult to read. Look at specific marks and the condition illustrations rather than judging only the broad color of the object. Players describe differences in the metal band, reflective areas, and the plasma outline, but some individual visual descriptions disagree.
When a small mark is ambiguous, compare the matching region with the guide rather than adopting a single remembered description as an absolute rule. A close view of the same part is more useful than switching between unrelated regions and trying to remember an overall impression.
Do not copy credit adjustments from an older demonstration just because its visual advice is useful. The condition observation and the price table are different pieces of information. Use the current manual's amounts for your calculation, even when a demonstration helps you find the area to inspect.
This prevents an appraisal from mixing a correct feature identification with an outdated deduction. A calculation can be consistently wrong without any arithmetic error if the numbers came from the wrong rule set.
Read the appraisal slip as feedback
The slip records the result, including accuracy and money earned. Read it after submitting so you can compare the outcome with your recorded observations and total. It is useful feedback, rather than a new appraisal item you must sell.
If the estimate was wrong, review one category at a time. First ask whether the object had an override. Then check conditional bonuses, individual modifiers, and the minimum. Finally revisit the visual detail you were least certain about.
That order makes the review efficient. A missed flat-value rule can explain a large discrepancy immediately; there is little benefit in rechecking every facility bonus before noticing that the package was counterfeit.
Packaging validity can override the normal additions.
Keep the next appraisal easier than the last
Before submitting, confirm that the manual matches the item, every recorded feature has a rule, each rule is applied once, and any final floor or override has been handled. Those checks address different kinds of error without requiring repeated inspection of everything.
After the result, retain the useful distinction: an incorrect feature, a failed bonus condition, a wrong number, or a missed final rule. That tells you what to improve on the next item. A repeatable appraisal routine turns feedback into a specific correction instead of another guess at the counter.