Profits made from Seeds and Accessories in Harvest Moon

In the second half of my Items and Shipping List Guide for Sunshine Islands, you will find lists of items that cannot be shipped. In some cases, these can be a source of valuable income for your Character.

The sale of Seeds and Accessories to a special merchant for profit is not a new strategy in Harvest Moon. In More Friends of Mineral Town, Van’s Wednesday visits provided a golden opportunity to sell certain rare items for a tidy profit to the merchant from Forget-Me-Not Valley. With the sale of multiple 'TV Changers', my character was able to afford to buy her second home next to Saibara's forge.

In HM DS and Cute DS, Van’s orange box stall on the 2nd floor of the Inn is a venue for the sale of Seeds and Accessories, some of which realise huge prices from the same entrepreneur. In HM DS/Cute DS, the sale of upgraded Seeds in particular provided a source of great profit.

In Sunshine Islands, the opportunity to make a profit selling items that cannot be shipped is available as well but the merchant who buys these is none other than Chen.
For example, although Seeds cannot be shipped, they can be sold to Chen. In the case of Crops that are worth very little when shipped, such as Strawberries, you will obtain a larger profit from these if you convert them into Seeds to sell to Chen. Bananas are another Crop that, when converted to Seed and sold to Chen, result in a far larger profit than the actual Fruit when shipped. Note that Seeds have no Rank, Quality, Size or Freshness and therefore a Crop of low quality can be transformed in Seeds that will be bought at the same price as a Crop of S Rank when converted to Seeds.

In the Crops section of my Items and Shipping List Guide, I have added the price that Chen will pay for each variety of Seed. For each Crop entry, therefore, you now will find the Shipping Value of each Crop, its Energy Value in SR and FL, the price of Seeds when purchased from Chen, the price he will pay for the same seeds, whether those seeds would yield a single or multiple harvests and finally, the method, if any, by which the Seeds initially are unlocked at his Market. Players therefore can compare the average shipping value of the Crop with the profit, if any, they would make if they converted the same Crop into Seeds to sell to Chen instead.

Multiple Harvest Crops tend to be more valuable as Seeds. For example, if you look at the information that is given for Spring Crops, you will see that it is Strawberries and Cucumbers, the two Multiple Harvest Crops, that yield the best profits when converted into Seeds.

The difference between the shipping value of Turnips at 60G and the price that Chen will pay for Turnip Seeds is only 12G. The difference between the shipping value of a Potato and the price that Chen will pay for Potato Seeds is 10G. If you look at Cucumbers, however, you will see that Cucumber Seeds bring DOUBLE the amount that a Cucumber would bring if shipped. A strawberry, shipping for only 30G, when converted into Seeds and sold to Chen, yields 90G, triple the shipping value of the orignal Crop. A Cabbage, another Single Harvest Crop, actually will gain a better price when shipped than when sold as Seeds. You lose 50G if you convert the Crop into Seeds and sell it to Chen.

Remember that the shipping value of any Crop is an estimated value. The actual value will depend on Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness. If your Crops are S Rank, you would do better probably to ship them or use them as ingredients in Cooked Dishes, even if they are Strawberries. The prices that Chen pays either for Crops or for Seeds, on the other hand, do not vary.

Turnip: 60G
Energy Value: 3SR, 2FL
Turnip Seeds: 120G
Selling Price: 72G
Single Harvest Crop
Seeds available in Spring at the start

Potato: 80G
Energy Value: 3SR 2FL
Potato Seeds: 150G
Selling Price: 90G
Single Harvest Crop
Seeds available in Spring at the start

Cucumber: 60G
Energy Value: 3SR 2FL
Cucumber Seeds: 200G
Selling Price: 120G
Multiple Harvest Crop
Seeds unlocked at Farming Level 5, available in Spring

Strawberry: 30G
Energy Value: 5SR 2FL
Seeds: 150G
Selling Price: 90G
Multiple Harvest Crop
Seeds unlocked at Farming Level 7, available in Spring

Cabbage: 350G
Energy Value: 3SR 2FL
Cabbage Seeds: 500G
Selling Price: 300G
Single Harvest Crop
Seeds unlocked at Farming Level 10 with Shipment of 100 Wheat


Chen will pay only 18G for Orichalcum but when this Ore is used to create Accessories, you can sell the Accessories to Chen for fairly handsome sums. Accessories that you no longer need or use can be stored in your Beauty Box or sold to Chen. Once you have made all possible Accessories, you can order duplicates from Charlie to sell to Chen for an added source of income.

The prices that Chen will pay for each Accessory have been added to the section on Accessories in the Sunshine Islands Items and Shipping List Guide.

Note that Cooked Dishes are a category of item that can be shipped but cannot be sold to Chen. In the case of Crops, Ranch Products and other 'raw ingredients', you will obtain a far better price if you ship them. Chen does not recognise Rank or Quality where Ranch Products are concerned and will offer only 30G for either a C Rank Egg or an S Rank Egg.

In many cases, as I have explained in previous posts, the greatest profit you can made from certain items are when you use them to create Cooked Dishes. The same Strawberry that ships for about 30G can be made into Strawberry Jam which may ship for over 100G.


Desperate Measures

You do have the option of selling items to Chen rather than shipping them. This should be done only in the direst circumstances as he pays less than the item’s shipping value. Any items purchased from Chen can be sold back to him as well but he will pay only 60% of the item’s original price. Furthermore, as shipping items is the method by which many new items are unlocked, it is a poor policy generally to sell Crops to Chen.

As previously indicated, there are exceptions to this, however, in the form of items that cannot be shipped. Accessories created by Charlie can be sold to Chen. Tools that you purchased from Gannon but no longer need can be sold. Likewise, Seeds that you create in your own Seed Maker, although they cannot be shipped, can be sold to Chen.
The prices you will receive for these items are as follows:

Any Tool apart from Fishing Rod: 600G

Fishing Rod: 3000G
Selling your precious Fishing Rod at a loss is a desperate measure at best, but it is good to know that you CAN sell it and when you do, another will appear at Gannon’s shop for the price of 5000G. If you are desperate for quick cash, therefore, you can sell your Fishing Rod and buy a replacement when you can afford to do so.

Teleport Stone: 60000G
Like the Fishing Rod, this is an item that can be sold to Chen in desperate circumstances, if you must have 60,000G instantly for some reason… As soon as it is sold, another will appear in his Menu for a price of 100,000G