Adventures in Trading by blackjewelledqueen |  |
For me, this was a pretty big deal. I don't have a good Internet connection,
and I'm too busy with school and work to be on more than an hour or two at the
most per day. But when I bragged about my accomplishment on the chat boards
(I know 2 million NP is nothing to the most serious NeoPets players, but like
I said it was to me), a fellow Neopian kindly shared his NP-making strategy
to me. Two words: Trading Post.
I decided to try it his way. I had visions of myself with a shop gallery filled
with Hidden Tower items. I invested a little less than half my savings and bought
what seemed to me the hottest item in Neopia at the time at a bargain of 800k
NP--an Elephante Stunray. I put it in the Post, and continued about my daily
activities. In less than a day, I got my first really good offer: A Dai-scimitar.
When I saw that others had priced this at 3 million NP, I was ecstatic! But
then I discovered an important role in using the Post: Rare but useless items
are hard to get rid of. The scimitar didn't do many icons, so it was only good
for collectors. I felt lucky to trade it for a Wand of Flamebolt (worth 1.3
million) after 4 days. Then I traded this for a Hypno Helmet, a WAF, and another
Elephante Stunray!
A gain of 300k seemed great for my first effort, and I was hooked on trading.
But here's where it fell apart!
Although I sold the HH and WAF easily enough, the Stunray's price had gone
down drastically. I sold it for to the first good offer I got--600k NP. I played
it safe for a few days, but noticed the Stunray's value had gone up again! Hoping
to cash in on it, I bought when for 750k NP. Unfortunately, that was where the
price peaked for the last time. I'm still trying to get rid of the Stunray.
This time I refuse to go lower than what I paid for it, but that means that
I have a long time to wait!
About this time Ummagine weapons started to appear. Actually, I'd received
three in an earlier minor trade, but sold them for their worth at that time--20k
NP each. When I saw the price has risen to 300k, I jumped on this wagon too.
I emptied my bank account and bought four Ummagine Muffins at 300k NP each.
Just my luck, the muffins' prices stopped rising.
So now you see my financial status right now. I have 30,000 NP available to
me, four Ummagine Muffins, which prices have fallen to 275k NP, and an Elephante
Stunray whose current price is 450k NP, a blue Scorchstone and a Grand Lightning
Beam (both of which I bought before I tried the Trading Post). In total, about
1.73 million--200k NP less than I started out with three weeks ago.
To summarise, I would like to tell you to stay far away from the Trading Post
unless you know what you're doing! I learned my lesson: I should stick to earning
30k NP a day through restocks in the toy shop and book shop! I may never have
that Hidden Tower gallery, but I don't want to lose any NP either. |
