Probably Stolen Money Guide: Margins That Beat Rent

Sources checked 2026-11-03 · Independent fan guide · Single-sourced claims are marked inline

Making money in Probably Stolen means buying under value, selling to the customer whose Interests match your stock, and never spending the rent pile. Tpose Gaming's summary of the economy is blunt: buy low, sell high, and never trust a deal that looks too good. Every number below comes from a named guide or the developer's own announcements.

The margin basics

Tpose Gaming groups the reliable stock into food, medical supplies, materials, household goods, substances and weapons — each "has its days". The Steam store page frames the same idea as risk: weapons invite inspections, chemicals bring addiction, water carries liability, contraband brings raids. The better the margin, the worse the consequences when a deal goes wrong. Chemists can turn that addiction risk into a production line — the Chemist start guide covers the bench work.

Two levers decide most of your profit:

• Demand spikes. Weapon demand, medical shortages and household relief drives all lift prices, Tpose Gaming notes. The Mentor teaches this on day seven of the scripted week: when supplies are high, prices drop — so a material surplus today means cheap stock and a poor selling day tomorrow (Into Indie Games).
• Who is buying. Upper-level citizens pay premiums; lower-level buyers are volume and less picky, per Tpose Gaming. Match the customer, not the item.

Read the receipt, not the customer

Into Indie Games' week-one walkthrough shows the habit to copy from your very first sale: open the tablet and check the receipt's Interests section before you sell. One early customer had 62 credits budgeted for food; another had 106 for materials. Selling two Peats to the first customer captured her whole budget without waste.

Buying follows the same rule. Wholesale lots come with a discount (the Mentor's day-two note explains this, per Into Indie Games), and Into Indie Games' writer bought entire wholesale lots early, then switched to inspecting single items once stock allowed it. GameSpew's counterweight: don't drain every budget dry — hold stock back for the next customer, who may pay more.

Inspect before you buy

The magnifying glass and the handbook are "your best friends", Tpose Gaming writes. Counterfeit cigarette packs, damaged injectors and mislabeled water are everywhere, and Into Indie Games' counterfeit lesson (day three) shows the method: check the logo, the seal and the color against the identification guide. One confirmed discrepancy is enough to confront the seller and force the price down; accuse wrongly and your reputation takes the hit instead.

Rare items work the same way — the store page says they "need proper appraisal to avoid overpaying", and IGN's appraisal advice covers the paid promotion that raises your fee per review. The crafting and items guide lists the named fakes and their tell-tales.

Side income streams

Guides name five income lines besides the counter, and 1.0 added a sixth:

Into Indie Games' run adds the texture: Dr. Jackson sells a battery recharger and a satchel on later visits, and the Merchant, a premium seller with expensive components, stops by every week. The rent and shop upgrades guide covers what those contacts charge.

Keep a rent buffer

Rent is the expense that ends runs. On Mark Up difficulty rent starts at 200 credits every seven days, India Times' endings guide reports, and the deed you are saving for starts at 12,000 credits on Mark Up and Price Gouge (24,000 on Thin Margins, 36,000 on Red Ink). Tpose Gaming's advice is to keep the rent money "in a separate mental pile" from machine and stock spending, and to upgrade production slowly — a machine you cannot afford to power is expensive furniture.

When the buffer holds, the buyout math in the endings guide turns profit into a win: both Buyout endings let you keep playing with the store owned outright.