I don't think I've seen a guide to this already, apologies if I've missed it.
Short version: If you're at a 7* or above clothing store, then pricing items at 7% (assuming 3% fees) above what you paid for them means you'll make a profit from people buy-mugging you.
Longer Version
Buy-mugging is fun, and tempting, especially if you've acquired a plunder weapon. Most/many buy-muggers are pretty casual, and either don't check or are unaware of the "Secret pockets" perk you get at a Clothing Store. (obviously there’s a huge selection bias at work here, because those who are/do aren’t the people who mug me and I talk to about it)
The max someone can buy-mug you for is 15%. With "Secret pockets" that's 3.75%. Add in market fees of (currently) 3%, and if you get buy-mugged on an item you've listed for 7% more than you paid for it you'll -- at worst -- break even, and normally turn a nice little profit.
If you're paying attention (and equip a smoke grenade or similar) there's also a percentage of people you'll catch in the act (or will just fail to mug you) and be able to save all your profit from. And very occasionally the market gods will work in your favour and you'll just sell an item because of a temporary price surge.
Thoughts
- Is it worth joining a clothing store to specifically do this? Eh, probably not, but combined with the "Nine to five" and "Tailoring" perks, it's not a bad deal. The profits aren't huge (I'd probably be making a little more running Xanax from SA), but it's also pretty low effort; you just need to remember to replenish stock from time to time
- 50% of buy-muggers are pretty apologetic about doing it, and also don't check the numbers, so you don't piss off too many people; maybe 5% actually return the money they've mugged (?!); starting a non-confrontational conversation with them post-mug is a nice way to meet new people, they're normally pretty cool
- Your items won't sell if you're flying or in hospital
- Leaving items up overnight is risky; your mug protection will go down over time, so if someone buy-mugs you as you've just fallen asleep, and someone buy-mugs you just as you're about to wake up, you might lose more money
- Donator Packs sell best, because that's where people look for people to mug, and they also have a price-floor, which is the maximum you can lose if you liquidate; Qfiffle is usually selling them cheap in her bazaar
- Get a bazaar search script so that what you paid is already cheaper than whatever's the lowest item market price
- Xanax and eDVDs are too liquid as markets; this doesn't work if a 7% over-market price doesn't have you near the top of the seller list anyway
- Arms Caches are risky for price fluctuations, and I've had them sit forever without selling
- Poison Mistletoe has been good to me recently, but I think that's mostly just one player. Also they have no supply until Xmas, so prices do just go up
- There was a Clothing Store named "Hiring - (Candle Shop)" for a while which I assume was just full of people doing this
- I think I'd be making a lot more money if I had even lower stats and was an easier target for newer players
- Shout out to Pimmetje who's always has a massively over-priced DP for sale, and who I can't be the first person to have run my first buy-mug on, lost a bunch of money, and realized you need to do the maths on these things
Conclusion
Do I recommend it? It's not amazing money, but it's honest work with spare cash that doesn't quite qualify for a whole stock block, especially if you already find yourself at a Clothing Store.
Mentions: Pimmetje [3286235]