Probably Stolen Appraisal Guide: Appraiser Board Ranks, Fees and Every Item Value

In Probably Stolen, appraisals pay a base fee plus a percentage of your estimate, and the best grade, Perfect, covers anything from 95% to 105% of the item's true value. So the estimate that earns the most is the true value times 1.05, rounded down. Join the Appraiser Board when it visits on Day 8, put the certificate in your Display Case, and work out each item's true value from the rules below or with the appraisal calculator.

How do you join the Appraiser Board?

You can't apply to the Board; it comes to you:

1. Wait for the Appraiser Board Member. They visit on Day 8, or on Day 5 if you skipped the tutorial, and offer membership. You need the joining fee in cash, or the join option does not appear.
2. Choose [Join the board]. It costs 85 credits on Price Gouge and Mark Up, 170 on Thin Margins and 255 on Red Ink. [Ask them to come back later] brings them back 7 days later, as often as you like. [Don't join] closes the Board for the rest of the run.
3. Put the certificate in the Display Case. You get the Appraisal Board Junior Certificate and the Cybernetic Hand Appraisal Guide. Appraisal customers only come while the certificate is in the Display Case.

How do you get appraisal customers?

With the certificate on display, an appraisal customer may come each day. The chance grows with your rank, and every day without one raises it by half the base chance again until one shows up. Each customer brings two to four items of the same kind, chosen from the items your rank can appraise:

Your rank	Customer chance per day	Items customers bring	Progress to next rank
Junior Appraiser	33%	Cybernetic Hand	100
Appraiser	42%	Cybernetic Hand, Ribwich	150
Senior Appraiser	48%	Cybernetic Hand, Ribwich, Plasma Cartridge	250
Master Appraiser	55%	Cybernetic Hand, Ribwich, Plasma Cartridge	—

From Appraiser up, you can activate the certificate to stop customers bringing older item types. The newest item type at your rank cannot be turned off.

Why aren't appraisal customers coming?

The certificate's chance only counts when your store still has a free customer slot, and the certificate is checked late. Each morning the game goes through the Display Case in a fixed order: Weapon Permits, Scavenger's Tokens and the Black Lamp first, then the Water, Food, Material, Medical and Household Neon Signs, then the certificate. Every hit before it takes a slot.

• No free slots. A clean store has two customer slots, and below 200 Store Attractiveness it has none. Keep the Janitorial Service paid. Going out at night also costs a slot the next day.
• Crowded out by signs. With two everyday neon signs at 75% each, both slots are usually gone before the certificate's turn. Take out the signs you don't need this week.
• Certificate not on display. It has to sit in the Display Case, not in your storage.

Display Case and neon signs has the full order and the daily slot rules.

How are appraisals graded and paid?

Each estimate gets one of five grades, depending on how far it is from the true value. The fee is the base fee for your rank plus a percentage of the estimate you sent:

Grade	Your estimate, % of true value	Fee: % of your estimate
		Junior Appraiser	Appraiser	Senior Appraiser	Master Appraiser
Perfect	95–105%	15%	18%	21%	25%
Excellent	90–95%105–110%	12%	15%	18%	21%
Good	85–90%110–115%	10%	12%	15%	Refused
Mediocre	75–85%115–125%	8%	10%	Refused	Refused
Awful	50–75%125–150%	5%	Refused	Refused	Refused
Plus a base fee per item		20	40	60	100

Each accepted estimate also leaves an Appraisal Slip with the grade, your estimate and the true value. It is a receipt: you can throw it away, and promotions don't need it.

Higher ranks pay more but refuse the poor grades. A refused grade works like an estimate that is way off: the customer hands the item back and you can try again. The third time a customer turns down an estimate, they leave with their items.

What estimate should you send?

Send the true value times 1.05, rounded down. It is the top of the Perfect range, and since the fee is a share of your estimate, it pays more than any other estimate, including an Excellent one further up. On a 210-credit item, for example, a Junior Appraiser gets 20 + 15% of 220 = 53 credits.

Pick the item and its features below to get the true value, the estimate to send and the range for every grade:

How do you value a Cybernetic Hand?

A Cybernetic Hand starts at 100 credits and never goes below 50. Add or subtract each feature:

Two combinations add a Set Bonus on top:

• Tactical (+100): Carbon Composite, EMG+ or Neural Interface, no wear or damage, and both Armored and Blade.
• Deluxe (+200): Gold Plated, Neural Interface, no wear or damage. Add-ons don't matter.

A Gold Plated hand with a Neural Interface, both add-ons and no damage is the most valuable: 750 credits.

How do you value a Ribwich?

The Packaged Rib Sandwich becomes appraisable at the Appraiser rank. It starts at 150 credits and never goes below 40. If the packaging is missing or torn open, or the sandwich is counterfeit, it is worth exactly 40 no matter what else it has.

It is counterfeit if the production date falls outside both runs (the second run is January 432 to December 438), the Packing Facility is not 1 to 35, the Davre Logo is missing or wrong, a second-run sandwich lacks the Ribwich Logo sticker (first-run ones never have it), or only one of the two Deluxe Edition features is there. The real and fake logos side by side:

Davre logo

Genuine

Incorrect

Incorrect

Incorrect

Ribwich logo

Genuine

Incorrect

Incorrect

How do you value a Plasma Cartridge?

The Plasma Cartridge becomes appraisable at the Senior Appraiser rank. It starts at 300 credits and never goes below 90:

Then add the Cartridge Manufacturer bonus, but only if the cartridge meets all of that maker's conditions:

A flawless Ignition Lab cartridge is worth 300 + 150 + 750 = 1,200 credits, the most valuable appraisal in the game. A cracked, reinforced RNR cartridge gets no maker bonus and is worth 210.

Older community spreadsheets still list a 100-credit base for this item, with modifiers about a third of the ones above. Those numbers are out of date; the table here is version 1.0.0.6.

How do you get promoted?

Each estimate the customer accepts adds promotion progress, shown on your certificate. A Perfect adds 10 points, Excellent 7 and Good 5. As a Junior Appraiser even Mediocre and Awful add a little, but from Appraiser up the poor grades, refused estimates and customers who walk out take progress away. Price Gouge adds 25% more progress and Red Ink 25% less, and harder difficulties take away more.

When the bar is full, an Appraiser Board Member visits the next day with the next certificate. If you can't pay, they come back a week later; [Decline for good] keeps your current certificate for the rest of the run.

Difficulty	Join	Certificate fee to reach
		Appraiser	Senior Appraiser	Master Appraiser
Price Gouge	85	106after 8 Perfect	128after 12 Perfect	149after 20 Perfect
Mark Up	85	106after 10 Perfect	128after 15 Perfect	149after 25 Perfect
Thin Margins	170	212after 10 Perfect	255after 15 Perfect	298after 25 Perfect
Red Ink	255	319after 14 Perfect	382after 20 Perfect	446after 34 Perfect

Each promotion also hands you the guide for the new item: the Ribwich Appraisal Guide at Appraiser and the Plasma Cartridge Appraisal Guide at Senior Appraiser.

Is appraising worth it?

Yes, especially early. It costs nothing to stock, so it earns money even on days when your shelves are empty. Appraising only Cybernetic Hands at the best estimate, a Junior Appraiser makes about 73 credits a day on average, rising to about 300 a day as a Master Appraiser. The money guide compares it with water, chemistry and the other income sources.

How do you get An Eye for Value?

The An Eye for Value achievement needs 10 Perfect appraisals. It is a Steam stat, so Perfects from earlier runs count toward it. Join the Board on your first run, send the true value times 1.05 every time, and it comes in the background on the way to the first promotion. The achievements guide lists the rest.