Yes, Fivey - people do get irritated and there's a learning curve - this was also mentioned earlier in this thread, too. It simply isn't that lovable.

But, I'd like you to consider the freedom this EP gives you, even if you aren't after what I'm after with it. It allows us to sell anything to anyone, unlike those Ambitions from TS3 where there's no sales to speak off. It actually isn't even comparable to OFB. So Ambitions proved to be the biggest disappointment of all to me in that game.

ETA: But if it's any indicator, this thread is *busy* (both by posts and views) - this busy-ness warms my OFB-oriented Simmer's heart, I have to admit. I am starting to hope that maybe there are more of us than I thought. I'd like to be proven wrong in this case, that is: in my belief that I'm in minority.
ETA2: That's because, deep down, I'm still hoping that TS4 will have an EP more like OFB than TS3 has. In other words, I'm still hopeful, for no apparent reason. Maybe, just maybe, I'll once again like the new Sims game.

Emabear, I was only thinking of what would be easy to run while learning how OFB works rather than profit. For pure profit I'd go for a home business stay and pay set up. I had one down the back with a bubble blower, and a hot tub left open 24/7. It's was pretty much all just to make money as the family ignored the business and I kept customers out of the house by using a fence with a locked gate.

From talking to people since it came out back on the old Boolprop and before that on the exchange, I've noticed people tend to either love or hate OFB.

I don't know if any one else here has heard of/played Fuzzy's trailer park Challenge, but in that any broken electronics, old items or crafted items get put out in the backyard and get sold at very cheap in a yard sale -even a treasure chest or fished up boots. I rather like the idea of yard (garage sales we call it) for regular families wanting to get rid of old items, as it's much more realistic then clicking delete and selling back to that invisible sim bank in the sky.

I had to lead both of my sisters by the hand in learning how to operate OFB shop - they'd have given up on it if it weren't for me. They displayed a large amount of irritation with it. I on the other hand immediately fell in love with it, and as the time went on and I learned more about the ways others use it, I loved it more and more.

All I know and use in my gameplay I've learned from others too and built upon it - but I was excited to learn it, happy to expand upon that initial sympathy.
My teachers? Jade Elliot, Simmerville, Plasticbox - mostly. And snippets here and there over the years.

So, yes, I agree: people either love it or hate it. Not a good thing in capitalism, I'm afraid.

ETA: A flea market is a business I'm starting in Everville - cheap, used stuff, and some on-the-side, hand-made "souvenirs" (I'll use some toys, some clothing - like a T-shirt with an Everville logo - which I still have to make, my first clothing recolor ever, some catalog CC items, etc.)
It will be owned by my current Arts&Crafts college students - so paintings, pottery, etc will also be sold there to the tourists.

I'm another person who started out disliking OfB, but after practise (and, I'll admit, mods -- MATY's business runs you helps me a lot as I can set a sim to do a specific job and they'll automatically make/eat food when hungry, use the bathroom etc.) and needing to use a lot with the Build A City challenge I've gotten used to how to utilize it to its maximum potential -- if I need to succeed in that challenge, I needed to put down my aversion to businesses and learn how to run them well. I'm not to the point where I'd feel comfortable making an integrated economy, but I can look at a town and think of a dozen ideas for businesses to put down -- in my last attempt at a Build A City challenge after I had the main businesses, if possible, I had all sims with a career-related LTW open up a business relating to that LTW. One sim who wanted to be a Hall of Famer opened up a basketball community lot; one sim who wanted to be a City Planner opened up a business selling doors and windows; one sim who wanted to be a professional party guest opened up a club (okay, he needed to do that to open a position in the career anyway, but...).

Between the ability to sell (almost) anything and some custom content, there's tons of potential for businesses. Rosaline Marshalls has just moved back to the family home, a farm house which sells off the excess produce to various sims. Being a Fortune sim (compared to her parents being Family and Knowledge), I can see Rosaline easily looking up ways to expand and improve the business -- the main one I'm thinking is getting her father to make various cakes/pies/desserts (he's maxed all his skills) using some of the home-grown produce and sell them alongside the food. Given that it'd use the food they grow it shouldn't add any expenses, and being made with fresh food they can also sell it at a premium (and, of course, get more money from it).

(Hatchbacks, Simsica, though I like the idea of a hunchback car. That'd be those little bitty ones a tall person can't sit up straight in. And it's a flea market.)
Everybody feels like a minority; I don't know whether this is a basic part of the human condition, or of belonging to a consumer society. I've learned to stop fretting about it.

I didn't expect to like OFB because I hate, hate, hate shopping (except for books) with a pure and holy passion second only to my hatred for soul-sucking day jobs. Working retail is no fun for me and I didn't see how it could be anything but tedious to do the whole entrepreneurial deal. But I just had Polly Esther Curian spend about half of her family's excess simoleons to buy the 3-in-1 Bookstore, which will give me four active businesses; and I'm thinking of having Oliver Onions quit his job in politics and help his mom open a clothing store. Sure, it slows down my rotations even more, but what's the hurry? I get extra time with my sims, running the business is a little side of resource management challenge, it chews up money when I have too much for comfort, and I like taking my sims to patronize their friends' businesses. The idea of running Mary Munny's house as a community center, thus getting more time with her son Ernest, even gives me something to reconcile me to her upcoming death.

The easiest businesses to make money for me are bandatron businesses. This might be a good start, as you can concentrate on sales rather than having to learn restocking at the same time.

ETA: I never run home businesses, as there are some side effects that I really don't like.

I love the Trailer Park Challenge! Going to try one in my BACC hood when it gets developed enough.

How interesting, I was the other way, I was excited to get OFB and start making bakeries. I think J'dores Bakery was the first place I opened up after installing it-which seeing that place was set up by a monkey a big mistake. Glitched desert, single servings, a chef stove and a till right between the chillier cases. Ah fond memories -anyone got a fork for the eyes! I will admit that experience did put me off bakeries for awhile, but not off OFB, instead I dived into restaurants Also I never had a prima guide and still don't, and I didn't even know that cheats existed and when I first heard of them on the BBS, didn't take much notice so I learnt to play Sim 1 and then 2 cheat free. I didn't even know move objects or max motives to save the life of my sims. I think though because I was used to being challenged is one reason I liked OFB right away. I made my restaurant tutorial fairly early on I know that as I was still on the BBS and it's uploaded to the exchange and has my very first simself in it. It was set in my first medieval hood and that hood which along with that entire insulation went up in a fiery ball from outer space as I had no idea of hood corruption and the first thing I did to that hood was set it up using delete all characters. Then although I did have a backup no one told me how to use it so I pasted it in over the top and had white and blue sims-not fun times. I nixed everything, reinstalled and started fresh which was when I started my legacy- of course moving two occupied houses into it wasn't the best start... but I made my funeral parlour (hee sounds like a prophesy of doom to come) and had fun trying to sell a corpse to the various sim selves. That was also my first business to make and sell snap dragons. The downloading of simselves doesn't seem to be done much here, but on the old Boolprop downloading simselves was a popular thing to do, back in 2009. I mostly had them so they would walk around the hood and buy at the shop as simselves were usually well off. I had learnt about motherlode, maxmotives and move objects by that point. We had a whole thread devoted to uploaded simselves, someone would read your story and say "Hey do you have a simself" "Sure on the list!" Of course that hood also went up in a firey ball, but by that time I was on LJ and had friends who knew what they were doing so I did a rebuild and I still have that second rebuilt legacy hood with the families new funeral parlour and their new restaurant. I had also had flower, clothes, robot and other shops by then. But the shops really took off once I started my BACC which of course is built around OFB.
I've had too many shops to count by now. This kind of turned into a ramble about my playing history...

I neither love nor hate OFB. I've just never been interested in that aspect of the game.

The Trailer Park Challenge ignited a bit of a spark recently, though. Yard sales are fun! I can see myself doing a Prosperity or BACC someday, and learning to do the OFB thing more. I imagine I'll be consulting this thread a lot when I do.

What exacly are those 'side effects' ?

My favourite business out of OFB would have to be the Electronics Store. I only played the Sims 2 once before I bought it and the Electronics Store was the best for me. I can't wait till my copy of OFB from eBay comes in the mail.
Damn you Australia Post, why not have mail on Saturdays

Yup for me and you, Electronic business seems profitable. I started a business with the catalog electronics items. then later upgraded the business section wise, TV in a different section, Computers in a different and likewise.

Walkbys won't behave normally (and this is a problem in a neighborhood where you have no phones, as I do in the early stages of a BACC hood), and the incessant complaining by guests (when the business is not open). I think those are the principal ones that bug me.

To stop the complaints- Customer No More Complaining. http://www.insimenator.org/index.php/topic,7026.0.html Some other handy ones for home businesses http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=7875.0

I'm with Simsica and joandsarah77 on OFB being my favorite EP by far. Not even close. I love the versatility it brings to the table. All of the added time spent on business or community lots , and the interactions between playable and non playable sims on those lots, really helps flesh out the characters in my hoods for me. In the real world , on work days , I'm up at 6 AM to be at work by 7:45 and return home about 6:30 PM to tend to pets, eat food, fart around for a few hours and go back to sleep. Next day , rinse and repeat. I can't change that for myself , but I sure as heck can for my sims.

After the initial cash influx that my sims need , the main purpose for me of running businesses is just the enjoyment of it. I couldn't care less about the rank or reviews , or the income generated. I run a really seedy hood and the businesses involved reflect that. I'm way too lazy , at least for now , to set up a sustainable enclosed economy as other players do. Again , the versatility in player options that OFB gives is what makes it so awesome in my book. My sim businesses sell absolutely nothing that any sim needs , they pander to my sims basest natures. Brothels , casinos , liquor stores , fast food joints , massage parlors , cigarette shops , strip clubs, sleazy hotels , rip off loan companies , adult movie theatre's , head shops , gun shops , convenience stores , adult toy stores , bars , lingerie shops , adult art galleries, numbers rackets , pool halls , fetish clubs, tattoo and piercing parlors , speed dating places , greasy spoons , adult bookstores and escort services provide my sims with plenty of options for divesting themselves of any income they once had.

As far as my favorites go , and I'm kinda limited here ( by my business choices ) in my ability to discuss some of those , I'll go with the numbers rackets. The numbers rackets work like this , when a customer sim enters the business , I take control of them , if they have more than 2,000 simoleans worth of inventory , they "buy" a number for 2,000. I deplete 2,000 simoleans worth of items from their inventory and give that to the owner , and yes , my miscreant owners do give them change in items of value to be placed back into their inventories. They get a number , which I write down , of 1-10. Follow the same process until I have ten "players" then spin a random number generator to determine the winner. Winner gets 15,000 , house gets 5,000. In the meantime the customers play Myshuno ( which seems appropriate ) gotta get some use out of that annoying thing. The winner gets made selectable again, and has 15,000 simoleans of items placed in their inventory. The owner , if he doesn't already know them , tells the winner a bad joke and what a stud/studette they are (entertain/joke , appreciate/admire) and closes the shop to send everyone home. Depending on their street cred and their rep ( not EA rep , my own system) they may be allowed to run their scam up to five times a session.

I play with buku hacks and mods , and if it weren't for the talented people making and sharing those I wouldn't be able to do half the things I do with my businesses , so thanks to all the gifted and generous creators out there.

I always liked to make a spa, as hot tubs, saunas and swimming pools seem to keep the sims happy enough to have a high price on the ticket machine. Add a massage table and you can charge for that, too!

simsample, I have exactly that in Simville - to the letter, with the added massage table. It's called Hot Spot Day Spa.

I love visiting that place - and have tons of Pleasure and Romance Sims there that love to go too - in the sense that they really always have wants to fulfill there, even the important, large ones. I have one as a part of the hotel in Everville, too. But no tables there. It's great as a business - it pays well, since you usually do have a lot of expensive equipment there, and that raises the lot price, i.e. the ticket price. A fireplace in the coffee shop/restaurant, plus some plush seating. Perfect for relaxation. I set the customer controller to that function, so they arrive wanting to sit down and relax.

There's even a garden with the tea from BV. The Sims love it there. All stay the entire time the shop is open. I think it's at level 2 atm.

The real beauty is that you don't really need to do much at a business like this one, but can have a lot of fun with your Sims instead - if you like social situations. I usually just observe them interact, when visiting.

Sorry for replying to a post from so far back in the thread, but here's an idea. Rebecah at Affinity Sims has a ball of yarn that lets your sims make a pile of clothing in a relatively short amount of time. It's different from the FT clothing pile and only sells for $100, but it seems like it might be helpful in a clothing store. (Haven't tried it out yet, but I plan to.)

Something I'm working on right now is a big Victorian house that's been converted to a senior center/thrift store. (I'm going to use TwoJeffs' visitor controller to allow elders only.) It's going to have a game room, a little cafeteria with SimWardrobe's mini-buffets, a music room, golf outside, a library, and coffee. Hopefully I'll be able to fit in upstairs a couple rooms with massage tables, and a couple saunas. The thrift store is in the basement, and the stuff for sale is (storywise, anyway) donated by the seniors. It's got clothes, old electronics and appliances, records, dishes, etc. This is the first time I've ever tried something like this. Hopefully it'll go well!

Even though they're not very profitable, I like running custom bookstores so sims can buy the novels other sims write. There's a couple different hacks that allow you to do this. This is the one I use (at the bottom of the page). I use the cloning trick to duplicate novels:
... then teleport the bookstore owner onto the lot and make him/her selectable. Then I transfer the extra copy to the owner, deselect him/her, then send 'em off the lot. Once I'm back at the bookstore owner's store, I put the novel on one of these empty bookshelves and mark it for sale. Now your sims can have more reading options!

I gotta be honest, I'm not good at figuring out how to get good profit from businesses. I've got a big giant department store and I've got a pretty good feeling that it's going to be a money sink. Buuuut the family that owns it is loaded already, and what I really want is for my sims to be able to visit and shop there.

Fun thread!

In my megahood(built with cleaned templates of Pleasantview, Strangetown and Riverblossom Hills), I'm playing the Newson family, and Gavin is running a Far East restaurant business. It started out with just the Nutritious Noodles stand, and then after getting some money perks and profit, I put in another room(actually the same room partitioned off) with a tea table, a world music stereo and a Simwardrobe's Mr. Do arcade game. I'm getting some money from that, and I'm using Simwardrobe's hungernator to get the customers to buy food. The food stands are priced at cheap, which still gives a profit since it costs thirty simoleons to make the food. Right now I'm making probably eighteen simoleons profit for each meal served. Plus, these businesses are a great way to meet potential mates. Gavin seems to like Jade Smith(long chin and all), Sophie Miguel and Jules O'Mackey. I'd have him flirt with Sandra Roth, but I don't need him making enemies with any of his customers.

Is anyone using the Simwardrobe's employee items? I was just over there and decided to download a few. Thought I would try out the Employee Car Restoration Controller at my 'Fill and Go Mechanical' which is kind of turning into a car dealership so I might have to move that part as it was really intended to be a petrol station (gas station for the American's) and a car mechanics. Such a shame sim cars don't need to go fill up, but it looks good.

Macaroodle, I like your bookshop idea, but boy that sounds like a lot of work just for different books!
I like the idea of a centre just for the ederly too.

@ joandsarah77 , I have all of them , but the only ones I've ever used are the musician controller , which works great , and the employee masseuse/masseur one which I have problems with. I have about 4-5 massage mods counting that one , so most likely the problem is me ( and load order) regarding that one.

I tried the one that is supposed to alter the pay rate for employees as I don't want the son to earn anything as that's adding to the household money from nowhere. I told it to set ones, tens and hundreds to 0 and it didn't do anything. I do have a conflicting mod which I think could be the sim manipulator as I only just put that on a few days ago so it could be that. Half my pie menu between sims is gone too. I'd use the hack conflict detector but 9 times out of 10 it simply 'stops responding' I did get the pay buffet to serve deserts in my coffee shop as I've been wracking my brains on how to make it more coffee shop like and that works. Wish it looked more like a nice cake servery but you can't have everything I guess.

Simwardrobe's Massage Controller throws an error. It was so long ago when I dealt with this so I don't even remember what error it was.

Something I added yesterday is not playing happy as my sims have lost the ability to date or sell stock among other things. Now I'm going to have to pull and figure out which hack it was. Maybe it was the added explanations to whitch spells (added words like 'make fat') because I thought all of Sim wardrobes employee items should play nicely together and I don't see any of those affecting sim pie menus. Managed to get the hack conflict program to run for once and it put up a bunch of stuff that I know is fine! Baby dangle master, Monique’s computer ack. Maybe I'll just pull the spell one and see how it runs. Such a pain when I wanted to test out the mechanic shop.

I downloaded the disease gun, and a shooter there some years back and they never worked, but other items have worked perfectly. Since then I wondered if things from there were a bit hit or miss.

From the read me on the HCDU ..." Sims 2 Hack Conflict Detection Utility

This small program will look for multiple packages in your Sims 2 Downloads folder that modify the same global procedure. If two packages modify the same global procedure, they might very well conflict with each other, causing one or both to break.

I wrote this program for my own use after having several hack conflicts. It is a very simple program. It only finds the possible conflicts. It is up to you to resolve any conflicts detected."

Lots of things show up as conflicts on HCDU , that actually work fine together , half of Inteen conflicts with itself as do most XXXSims mods. The ones you mention( baby dangle master , Monique's comp) may work fine with your previous mods , but not with your newly added ones. The key part of the HCDU quote to me is the "might very well conflict with each other" , not an absolute by any stretch. Mods/hacks ( and I love 'em , I have 373 folders, 1249 files and 336 megs of them) are kind of like a house of cards , the more you have the harder it is to keep them all in place and doing what you want. Load order , is a pain in the rear , but of vital importance also. Something might work fine in your game , but not in mine due to other mods present and the load order of those. The assault rifle from SW has always done it's job for me , never a problem. Haven't used the ray gun looking things ( although I have them).

There are several levels of hack conflict/ function problems , something minor like " crap, my sims still autonomously turn off the tv" and then major , like half the pie menu options gone as you are having.Been there and i know it's no fun, good luck on getting it fixed.

Yeah, I know I will- I'm just grumbling. I've had to do it before, it's just annoying. Bit like when I tried the 'No More Toddler Annoyance' hack and my toddlers kept resetting. Lots of people use that mod, but I can't. I'm going to assume first up it's the added explanations to the witch spells only because that does deal with pie menus. Maybe it clashes with hiring family for businesses or something as the hire option is also gone along with all the free time interactions. Yes I've changed load order before by adding zz. One time after pulling all cc and doing the 50/50 for something, another problem got mysteriously solved along with what I was doing the 50/50 for, I think from being put back in another place. Mods, love em and sometimes hate em.

Removing the witch spell script fixed things, so there is another mod I can't use. Oh well it was only to help with remembering which spells did what, not something I need very often. I'm going to test out the employee car mechanic and employee coffee pot on my petrol station/mechanical shop and see how that runs.