Alchemy Factory Shop Recognition: Licences Explained

The 1.0 rule in one paragraph

The patch notes say: “Reworked the Reputation system into the Shop Recognition system. Customer feedback when making purchases no longer affects Reputation. Players can obtain various Shop Recognitions to increase their shop’s reputation and profits.” The shop sales upgrades and purchase-contract upgrades that used to sit in the skill list were removed and folded into the same system.

What that looks like in play, from the players who worked it out on launch day: “You need to go to the shop guy (the one in the middle), and buy recognition.” And in more detail: “reputation is now quest based… visit the shopkeeper in the middle shop (he has a recognition board over his head) and talk to him, he will tell you the next quest, complete the quest, pay the fee, and the reputation is yours.”

The first recognition quests a streamer read out on launch night were sell a total of 30 mortars and sell a total of 100 Healing Potions, and the board describes each licence as increasing shop reputation.

”My reputation is zero and nobody buys diamonds”

That was the most common launch-day post, and it is the intended state of an updated save until you buy licences. One player wrote: “My reputation is now zero and I am losing money in a big way, no one is buying diamonds for example.” Another: “Nobody is buying relics.” Both were answered with the shopkeeper instructions above.

Two things follow. High-value customers (the robed alchemists and red-hatted buyers who take relics) are gated behind recognition, so a shop that sold Venus relics happily in Early Access will sit on them after the update until the licence is bought. And because feedback no longer moves the rating, an empty shelf no longer punishes you the way it did; the old advice to keep every unlocked item in stock is now about mailbox quests and sales rather than reputation.

How it worked before 1.0

For anyone reading Early Access guides, the old system was a 0 to 100 meter shown between the day counter and the clock. Each customer spawned with a shopping list drawn from everything you had unlocked; each item they found was +1, each item missing was -1. The official FAQ put it this way: “Meeting their needs increases shop Reputation, which brings more customers. If insufficient stock prevents meeting NPC needs, Reputation decreases. You can close the shop to prevent further Reputation loss.” A March 2026 skill guide added that shop satisfaction between 0 and 100 decided whether advanced customers came at all, and that the Sales Ability skill at 12 points raised profit to 170% and customer purchase quantity to 400%.

The achievement Word of Mouth (“Reach the maximum reputation level”, 29.6% of players) was written for that meter. How it triggers under Shop Recognition is not yet confirmed; the achievements page flags it.

Still true in 1.0

• Customers only buy what is on their list, and the list is drawn from your unlocked tiers.
• Shelves have to be reachable. Before 1.0 that meant the wooden ground floor connected to the main gate; since 1.0 customers can climb to upper floors and you can build extra gates, but a blocked path still gets the ”!” marker.
• The Open/Close sign above the mailbox still controls whether customers enter, and the launch hotfix fixed customers getting stuck on it.
• Items sell at the price they have when picked up, a 1.0 change that matters if prices move while a customer is browsing.

Sources: 1.0 Patch Notes (8 September 2026); Alchemy Factory FAQ (13 December 2025), questions 7 and 13; Steam Discussions “Shop Recognition System: What is it”, “Store Rating Problem After Latest Update”, “No Relic Sales” (8 September 2026); Uglarvisk, “Mastering the Alchemy Factory Skill Tree” (17 March 2026, transcript); Timm Plays Games 1.0 stream (8 September 2026, transcript).