Probably Stolen Neon Signs and Display Case: How to Attract the Sellers and Buyers You Want
How the Display Case brings buyers and neon signs bring sellers, the daily odds of every sign, how many customers a day your store gets, who each sign brings, and why a sign sometimes brings nobody.
Updated 2026-11-05 · Game data v1.0.0.6
In Probably Stolen, the Display Case decides each day's extra customers the moment you open the shutter: goods on show bring buyers, and neon signs bring sellers of their category. Each sign gets one chance a day, 75% for the five everyday signs, but only while your store still has a free customer slot. A clean store has two slots, shared by sign customers and random customers. Every number on this page is real in-game data, version 1.0.0.6.
What does the Display Case do?
The Display Case is your advertising. When you open the shutter each morning, the game reads what is inside it and decides the day's extra customers:
- Goods bring buyers. The types of goods on show decide which buyers come and how much they can spend. Buyers do not use your customer slots.
- Neon signs bring sellers. Each sign calls a seller of its category, using one of your customer slots when it works.
- Only the case counts. Signs or goods on the counter or in the back room do nothing.
- Timing matters. Anything you put in the case after opening only counts from the next day.
The game's Clientele screen shows the expected customers for the next day.
How do neon signs work?
Each morning, when you open the shutter, the game goes through the special items in your Display Case in a fixed order. Each one gets one chance a day. If it works, that customer joins the day and uses one customer slot; if not, no slot is used. Once the slots are full, the rest are skipped.
| Order | In the Display Case | Daily chance | Brings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Class I / II / III Weapon Permit | 50% / 40% / 35% | A gun buyer who orders weapons |
| 2 |  Scavenger's Token | 20% each | A Scavenger with assorted goods |
| 3 |  Black Lamp | Food Thief 30%, Petty Thief 20%, Thief 10% per lamp, plus half your Black Market reputation, at most 95% | The customer the lamp calls |
| 4 |  Water Neon Sign | 75% | A water seller |
| 5 |  Food Neon Sign | 75% | A food Scavenger or Thief |
| 6 |  Material Neon Sign | 75% | A materials Scavenger or Thief |
| 7 |  Medical Neon Sign | 75% | A medical Scavenger or Thief |
| 8 |  Household Item Neon Sign | 75% | A household goods Scavenger or Thief |
| 9 | Any Appraisal Board certificate | 33% to 55%, by your appraiser rank | An appraisal customer |
| 10 |  Firearm Neon Sign | 40% | A Lower Level Citizen or Mercenary selling guns |
| 11 |  Heavy Firearm Neon Sign | 25% | An Upper Level Citizen selling heavy guns |
A Weapon Permit or certificate that brought nobody gets a better chance the next day: half its base chance more for every day without a visitor, up to 100%. A second copy of the same sign does nothing. Only Scavenger's Tokens and Black Lamps calling the same customer add up. Double-click a Black Lamp to change who it calls.
The Clientele screen lists these chances even on a day with no free slots, so check the "Expected Normal Customers" number at the top first.
How many customers does your store get a day?
Your customer slots start at zero and are capped at six:
| Condition | Slots |
|---|---|
| Store Attractiveness 200 or more | +1 |
| Store Attractiveness 250 or more | +1 |
| Store Attractiveness 500 or more | +1 |
| Referral (Lower Levels reputation perk) | +1 |
| Poor Reviews | −1 |
| Prime Real Estate / Side Street starting perk | +1 / −1 |
| Went out after hours last night, without Short Sleeper | −1 |
A store starts at 250 Store Attractiveness, so two slots. When the store is vandalized, the attractiveness slots do not count at all until the Janitorial Service cleans it.
Every night without the Janitorial Service adds two trash levels. From level 3, each level takes 5% off: 200 after two nights, 175 after three, 150 after four. Paying for the service empties the trash and clears vandalism. Each Store Renovation in Wild's Network adds 150, and a 
Mirage Projector adds 100 plus half its Quality and a quarter of its Performance bonus the day after it runs.
If you did not skip the tutorial, random customers only start on Day 14. Signs work before that and use the same slots.
In what order should you stock the Display Case?
Order matters only when you have more hits than slots. With the usual two slots:
- One or two signs: each one gets its full chance.
- Three signs: the third only gets in when one of the first two missed. Three 75% signs give the third about 33% a day.
- A Weapon Permit or tokens: they are checked first and can take a slot before any neon sign.
So keep only the signs for what you want this week. To favor a Medical Neon Sign, take the Water, Food and Material Neon Signs out of the case; the order cannot be changed, but the competition can.
Enter your store's numbers in the calculator below to see what each item in your Display Case will actually bring today.
- 1. Food Neon Sign75%75% on its own
- 2. Household Item Neon Sign75%75% on its own
Items are checked in this order and stop once the slots are full; a miss does not use a slot. A Weapon Permit or certificate that brings nobody gets a better chance the next day. Stock the case before you open the shutter.
Who does each sign bring, and what do they sell?
- Food, Material, Medical and Household Item Neon Signs bring a Scavenger or a Thief. Their weight is your Lower Levels reputation plus 25 against your Black Market reputation (negatives count as zero). With Black Market at 0 or below it is always a Scavenger; at Lower Levels 0 and Black Market 20 a Thief comes about 43% of the time.
- Scavengers sell goods from the sign's category, always at least one item, with a bulk discount of 15–25%. Better Lower Levels reputation fills their bag.
- Thieves offer 15% off, but nearly everything they carry is stolen.
- The Water Neon Sign always brings an honest seller of cheap water until you buy Water Trading. After that the seller rotates by day of the week, and one of them lies about the grade.
- The Firearm Neon Sign brings a Lower Level Citizen or a Mercenary, roughly evenly.
The same customer only comes once a day, so a seller a sign brings can be lost if the same character also turns up another way.
Where do you get neon signs?
- The Mentor gives you a Food Neon Sign and a Household Item Neon Sign on Day 5. Water Merchant starts get a Water Neon Sign and Junker starts a Material Neon Sign; with the tutorial skipped they get them on Day 1. Gunsmiths start with a Firearm Neon Sign.
- Dr. Jackson always stocks every Water, Food, Material, Medical and Household Item Neon Sign you do not own yet, plus the Firearm Neon Sign once you hold a Class I Weapon Permit and the Heavy one with Class III. He also stocks a Black Lamp.
- Prices: 100 for most signs, 200 for the Medical and Heavy Firearm Neon Signs and 120 for the Black Lamp, more on harder difficulties.
- Wild's Network: Water Trading includes a Water Neon Sign, and the Weapon Permits include the gun signs.
Which buyers does the Display Case bring?
Buyers come for the goods on show and do not use your customer slots. They need Store Attractiveness 100 or more.
- Which buyers: the game ranks the goods in the case by type and total value. One type gets a buyer, plus one more each for Showcase Expansion I (200 favor), Showcase Expansion II (500 favor) and an active Buyer Referral Service.
- How rich they are: a type worth 145 or more brings a better buyer, and from Day 14 a type worth 350 or more (300 for household goods) brings the best one. Store Attractiveness 400 or more also lifts the lowest buyers a step.
- What does not count: luxury items, energy cells and the signs themselves. The water guide covers which water buyer each grade brings.
Why is a neon sign not bringing anyone?
- No free slots. Signs are checked only while there are customer slots left. Below 200 Store Attractiveness you have none. Two nights without the Janitorial Service already drops a clean store to 200, three nights to 175.
- Hung after opening. Customers are decided when you open the shutter. A sign added later only works from the next day.
- Not in the Display Case. Signs anywhere else in the store, on the counter or in the back room, do nothing.
- Crowded out. Items are checked in a fixed order, and each hit takes a slot. With one slot, a Medical Neon Sign only gets its turn when the Food Neon Sign missed: about 19% a day instead of 75%.
- Bad luck. Even a free 75% sign misses one day in four, and two misses in a row happen about one time in sixteen.
- Not recognized. The seller shows up as a plain Scavenger or Thief and may bring only one item. They always bring something from the sign's category.
- Bought information instead. The Shady Customer's 50-credit information sets up a market event; it does not bring sellers.
Can the Shady Customer's information bring sellers?
Not directly. From Day 14 (Day 1 if you skipped the tutorial), the Shady Customer comes back every four to seven days and offers information for 50 credits. Paying him schedules a market event and leaves an Intel Slip on your counter saying when it starts and how long it lasts. Nutrifruit Harvest only ever happens this way.
| Event | Starts in | Lasts | Price change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nutrifruit Harvest | 1–4 days | 2–4 days | Food −20% |
| Bad Nutrifruit Harvest | 3 days | 3 days | Food +50% |
| Medical Supplies Shortage | 1–4 days | 2–4 days | Medical +50% |
| Household Item Surplus | 1 day | 2 days | Household goods −20% |
| Material Surplus | 1–3 days | 1–2 days | Materials −25% |
| Water Supply Crisis | 3 days | 3 days | Water +50% |
| Water Supply Surplus | 2 days | 2 days | Water −25% |
Use it to time your trades: stock up on the category during a surplus and sell it during a shortage. Most of these events send their own customers each day, for example a Pharmacist during a Medical Supplies Shortage. A seller of a category only comes when its price is down 30% or more in total, which a single forecast never reaches; a buyer comes when it is up 30% or more. Word on the Street, the Lower Levels perk at +60, gives you a free Intel Slip on about one day in 25.
How do you get more of the seller you want?
- Keep the store clean. Pay the Janitorial Service every night once you have it. It is the only way to empty the trash and keep two slots.
- Stock the case before you open. Signs and goods in the Display Case are read when the shutter goes up.
- Show only the signs you need. Every sign earlier in the order can take the slot you wanted.
- Pick your sellers with reputation. Lower Levels reputation keeps the Scavengers coming; Black Market reputation brings Thieves and stronger Black Lamps.
- Raise Store Attractiveness. 500 gives a third slot. Store Renovations and a Mirage Projector get you there.
FAQ
Why is nobody selling to me after I bought a neon sign?
Usually your store has no free customer slots. Sign customers share the daily slots with random customers, and a store below 200 Store Attractiveness gets none, so no sign is even checked. Keep the Janitorial Service paid, put the sign in the Display Case before you open, and do not crowd it with signs you do not need.
Does a second copy of the same neon sign help?
No. Two Food Neon Signs count as one. Only Scavenger's Tokens (20% each) and Black Lamps calling the same customer add up.
What does the Shady Customer's secret information do?
For 50 credits he sets up a market event a few days ahead and hands you an Intel Slip saying when it starts and how long it lasts. Buying it makes the event happen. It has nothing to do with neon signs.
Do neon signs bring buyers?
No. Neon signs bring sellers. Goods on show in the Display Case bring buyers, and those buyers do not use up your customer slots.
When do Display Case changes take effect?
When you open the shutter. Anything you put in the case after opening only counts the next day.
Can a neon sign bring a Thief?
Yes. Food, Material, Medical and Household Item Neon Signs bring either a Scavenger or a Thief. The Thief's share grows with your Black Market reputation; at 0 or below it is always a Scavenger. A Thief's goods are mostly stolen.