...Or not. But welcome to Cae's amazing guide to new Pound Chatters who want a brief summary of what's going on or old pound chatters who are confused on some finer pet-trading details. Here you'll learn about the transfer system, adopting out, acronyms, unconverted pets, the lab ray, pound chat etiquette, and more.

Wait -- you don't even know what pet trading is? Maybe I'd better introduce the basics to you first:

BASICS OF PET TRADING
I want a pet. You have a pet that I want. Let's trade.

There we go. That sounds about right :D

If you ever have any questions, spot something that's wrong, or have additional input, please contact Cae and she'll be happy to modify the page.

Well, that was fun. Now that we've got the basics covered, close your eyes and pick the red pill to begin.

Aff Requests: Open
Send requests to skgurlzguild!

<a href="http://www.neopets.com/~PCGuide"><img src="http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq202/captainhook/btn.gif" style="border: none;"></a><p> </p>

He is the reason of "Boochi Shields" -- pets that are made active pets, just to protect the other pets on an account from the possibility of getting hit by Boochi. Boochi Shields are generally Krawks and Lutaris (because they can neither get hit by the Invisiray -- see PC Slang -- or by Boochi, as they cannot be painted Baby or Invisible), Baby Pets, or Neopets with a low paint.¹

No baby pet or unconverted pet can get hit by boochi, making them popular boochi shields. Additionally, no UC pet can be hit by the Invisiray (see PC Slang), either, making them the ideal shield.

Sometimes, Boochi will fire his ray gun and miss -- and your pet will remain normal. But when he hits your neopet...

^{1. Krawks & Lutaris were often used as Boochi Sheilds because they could not be painted neither Invisible (Invisiray) or Baby (Boochi); however, a January 2010 news article declared that both Krawks and Lutaris can now be painted Baby and they are no longer effective Boochi shields.}

What to do? Well, you do have a rather amazing neopet rotting on your side. You can trade that neopet for a custom -- In which another player puts up their moneybags up for trade.

You know what I'm talking about. You've seen those threads with flashy titles. Let me translate them for you:

2kk custom uft!
This person is willing to create a pet that costs up to 2kk (2mil) in exchange for another neopet

ROYAL CUSTOM UFT NOW
This person is willing to create a pet and paint him/her with a Royal Paint Brush in exchange for another neopet. This is a 1.75mil custom.

Why won't anyone offer on my FFQ custom?
This person is a whiny kid who wants people to offer on their FFQ custom, essentially able to create a neopet and paint it up to pirate, with some exceptions (See FFQ)

Draik + custom up to darigan uft!
This person has a pre-created Draik and is willing to paint the Draik any color up to Darigan (any color worth 0 nps to 1.4mil), in exchange for a neopet.

unlimted custom up for trade seeking ucs
This person is filthy rich and can create any neopet you want (with the normal exceptions of lab-only colors) and is seeking only UCs in exchange.

ROBOT CUSTOM UFT -----
This person has a One-Use Robotification Zappermajig and can create any Robot Pet.

You kinda getting the hang of it? Note that people who have customs up for trade generally hate it when someone offers a neopet of lesser value -- offering a baby neopet on a darigan custom, for instance (Baby PB = 600k; Darigan PB = 1.4mil)

It's also rude to back out on a custom offer when the other person's already created the pet or bought the paint brush. Legally you can still back out, but the rest of the PC will hate you forever. ♥

Or they come to a scrreching halt with a soundtrack of a little baby crying in the background. And anyways, not all of your dreams would come true at all. Maybe just one.

Flasking, as PC'ers call it, would make your Neopet turn any random color available to that species -- from Yellow to Pirate. In some cases, it'll change your neopet into the same color it already was -- from Silver to Silver, for instance!

Well no, not really. I can't make it happen. But I can tell you one way to achieve it, based on pure luck: Get a new, young account, and be lucky enough to get a FFQ, or a Fountain Faerie Quest. (*Note that account age has nothing to do with getting FFQs. This is just so that all the old accounts will be uberly jealous.)

Now, how do you get this ah-mazing quest, and what is so special about it? First question: You get it like any other faerie quest. It's completely random. That's why you've gotta have that lucky rabbits foot, and that's why you'll be the envy of eight-year-old accounts that haven't ever gotten one.

Second question: Nothing at all. It's just like any other quest: can't use the Shop Wizard, etc. The price of the item can range anywhere from a couple thousand to a couple hundred thousand neopoints. Holy cow, not worth it, right? Well, I forgot one small detail: once you complete this quest, you can go visit her pool and get your pet painted almost any color you want, ranging from green to pirate!

There are some colors that can't be painted with an FFQ, including Msp, Magma, Royal, Sponge, Ice, Usuki, Quiguki and Robot.¹ Albeit the FFQs used to let you paint your pet some of these colors a long time ago -- not anymore. Sorry!

If you use your FFQ to paint a Buzz, you can get the Buzzin avatar. Many people also put their FFQs up for trade as a custom, often in exchange for UCs; sometimes, to get the avatar, they put up a "Custom Buzz FFQ" for trade, and these normally go for converted pets or royal customs (and often used with a Mysterious Swirly Potion). Or they just create a dreamie pet of their own ^^

This is known to happen to some infuriatingly lucky people. Grrrr. You'd better use that old FFQ up before you complete your newer FFQ. Otherwise, the old one'll just disappear.

^{1. This information was referenced from the SN article on Fountain Faerie Quests.}

The Pound
The first rule in the Pound is that it's fair game.
The second rule in the Pound is that it's fair game.
That means if you lose a pet in the Pound while halfway through a transfer, it's your fault and there's nothing you can really do about it.
Of course, it would be nice if the other person returned the pet. Some do. But it's not required.

Trading: A
You have Pet A, trading with another person for Pet B. If you get Pet B, via pound or transfers, you must give the other person Pet A. To do so otherwise is reportable.

Trading: B
You cannot trade a pet for neopoints, items, or more than one neopet. You can trade one neopet for one neopet only. To do so otherwise is a reportable.

Customs
After you've agreed upon a trade and the other person has spent money for the trade (bought the paint brush/ morphing potion and/or painted the pet), to back out is now reportable.

NEW --- according to The Neopian Times' Editorial #432, you can supposedly back out of a trade now, even after a pet has been painted in a custom. However, this directly contradicts statements made by TNT even mere days prior to the release of this editorial; there will hopefully be some clarification to this later. In any case, if you do back out after a pet has been painted for your custom, whether or not it's reportable, you will manage to become the PC's most hated person.

Agreements
After you've been selected to adopt a pet or you and another person agree upon a trade but nothing else has been done, to back out is rude but is not reportable.

Harrassment
To "harrass" another player is reportable. If someone's backed out of a trade and you feel the need to vent, leave their username out of it. But think twice before posting about it; most PCers won't be sympathetic.

False Reporting
Reporting someone when they didn't do anything illegal is reportable itself. Make sure you know what you're doing. And even so, no one likes report happies.

False Topics
Creating a thread with a name that is completely uncorrellated to your thread is reportable.

Scamming
Is reportable also. Um, yeah.

The Lab Ray Scientist has a weapon that can change your pet's gender. Note that it may take more than one battle in order to get this gender change, though it often shouldn't take too long. I often get the gender change within the first two or three hits.

If your pet is, for instance, a Royalboy, then changing the gender through battling will not affect the paint itself. Your new female neopet will still be a royalboy. Just with the eyelashes.
But, say, if you were to be lucky enough to garner a gender change through zapping, your Royalgirl will become a Royalboy entirely.

Note that this still remains true regardless of your Neopet's gender--

I placed this scenario for the PC before and asked for responses, not knowing it myself: Say you've got a RG Uni, unclothed in this case. You change the gender to male through battling; then you get a lab zap changing the gender. What would happen?

I received various answers, none of them completely certain. They were all wrong.
Ironically, I received the correct answer the following day. My male RG Uni was zapped into a female RB Uni. Apparently the change in clothes is based on the pet's current paint, and not the gender.

Success! Notice especially the awesome eyelashes she's got here (: Note that this also applies to Usukis -- I even tested it myself and managed a Female Usukiboy to a Male Usukigirl zap.

Note that the Lab Ray cannot change your neopet into the following colors:
Baby, Royal, Usuki, Quiguki, Plushie, Pirate

Though the Lab Ray can change your neopet into the following lab-only colors:
Robot, Jelly, Snot, Ice, Alien, Clay, Coconut, Custard, Garlic and MSP.

The lab ray can also change your neopet into nearly any species, including LEs and Lutaris. There have been a lucky few who have been able to zap their pets into Draiks or Krawks in the past, but whether or not the lab ray is still capable of this is unknown.

Increase 2-5 hit points or increase/decrease 2-3 strength, defense, or movement at a time. Because it cannot decrease hit points and tends to decrease defense more than any other stat, "lab rats" often have high hit points and low defense. This trait is useful in 1-player BD, however.

You buy all nine pieces of the Secret Laboratory Map, which at the moment (January 2010) costs roughly 1.1mil to buy as a set. You can generally get it cheaper by buying individual pieces, and this price is always changing with inflation and deflation. Each map piece costs a different amount, ranging from 15k to 250k. If you're lucky, you can win map pieces from KeyQuest or from a rare Random Event.
Once you buy all nine pieces, head on over here, and you should now be able to access it forever and ever (: Note that once you get the lab ray, all nine pieces will disappear.

If you know you want a Faerie Uni, for instance, you're better off saving up for that Faerie Paint Brush, considering the lab ray is completely random. If you just want something for fun and are willing to put up with the number of times you'll get "...and he doesn't change at all!" or a "...and he changes into a Blue Buzz!" as a result, get the lab ray (= It's loads of fun. It's also great for pet trading & adopting pets out, though again -- if there's one dreamie you're dying to have, it would be a whole lot less painful and a whole lot faster just to save up for the brush itself.

Well, there are two solutions: give both the pet and the money to Cae, who will gladly accept the donation, or you can maximize your profits by buying a Mysterious Swirly Potion.

What are these things? Let's say you follow my advice and use it on your Plushie Buzz. He/she will turn into a random Limited Edition species while maintaining its current color -- if possible.

Let's look at the key words again: Random -- there is no garauntee which pet you're going to get, and inevitably, some LEs are more popular than others.
Limited Edition -- no Draiks, Lutaris, or Krawks, sorry. They're restricted. You can only get a Kiko, Jetsam, Cybunny, Poogle, Tonu, Chomby, Koi, or Hissi.
If possible -- that means if the species your pet turns into can't maintain its current color, then it will revert to basic. For instance:

Some good colors to MSP are Plushie and Pirate, because all LEs have Plushie & Pirate forms so you don't need to risk getting a lousy basic Neopet.

You can get it by buying it through the Trading Post or Auctions, or you can be lucky enough to fish it up. (Note that your pet's fishing level has to be at least 80; and again this is totally random. The chance of fishing up a MSP is rather low. See here for a fishing guide.)

If your pet is an unpopular Pirate or Plushie, I'd say yes. Granted, Kois and Tonus, for instance, aren't the rage either, but your LE pet will be easier to trade. However, if you're MSPing a Baby pet -- why spend 2mil when the Baby Paint Brush iteself is 600k? Also note that a MSP is a one-use item and disappears after you use it on your Neopet.

Okay. Nice. I have no idea why you have this here. I mean, it's pretty obvious from the title -- "Not UFT Banners?" Really.

Well, see, I used to create Not UFT Banners for people, but I stopped, and I thought I'd post a couple of them up here for you to use for free (: There's only a handful here, and unfortunately, I haven't got time to make anymore. All I have to ask is that you don't remove the linkback/credit/watermark or claim you own them; other than that, feel free to edit and paste your pet's name on it, if you'd like.

Here is a view of the customization page of a Usul -- and all the clothes that a Usul can wear in my closet is shown alongside it. You'll notice several sets of PB clothing. There's a Green Usul set, a Christmas Usul set, and a Purple Usul Headband.

All right. Now that we've got that straight, how do we get rid of it? You can't pound your Christmas Usul to get rid of it. Paint brush clothing do not follow pets into the pound; it'll stay in your closet.

The only way to get rid of it is through transfers. Transfer your Christmas Usul to anybody else -- and the clothes will be sure to follow, whether or not the clothes are on the neopet itself at that time.

Note that only the Christmas Usul clothes will go with -- if your Usul is Christmas but is cross-painted with Purple, the Purple clothes will not go with.

Wait. Cross-painted? What's that?

It's when you take a Neopet, paint it once to get some clothes, and paint it again for either more clothes or a different base color. For instance:

This Usukiboy Usul has been cross-painted Purple and Usukiboy. Purple, for the Purple bow; Usukiboy, for the Usuki clothing and the base color. (Ignore the Woodland Archer's Bow; that's a NC Mall item xD) If I were to transfer him, then the Usuki boy clothes would go with him, but the Purple Bow would not; if I were to pound him, neither Usuki clothing nor Purple clothing would go with him.

Neopets can be twice-painted, thrice-painted, or painted an infinite number of times.

Yes, actually. Some people are actually nice enough to use up their transfers just for this purpose. There are entire databases of extra paintbrush clothing that people have got and are willing to donate, such as Extra PB Clothes, Secondhand Closet, and iCloset.

For a more extensive list, check this one out.

FAQ

After neomailing someone an offer and they say no thanks (but good lucktrading), should you neomail them back with a "All right, good luck to you too" or should you omit the spam?
Everyone's different, and everyone had different opinions when I posed this question on the PC. Some respond with a courteous "Good luck trading to you too" when they get an equally courteous "No thank you, but good luck!" message. When they're met with a "NTY GLT," they generally forgo the succeeding compliments.
Others dislike it altogether because it clogs inboxes.
What some do is attach something along the lines of "And if none of these interest you, good luck trading!" to the end of their offer, thereby skipping the dilemma altoghether.

Conclusion: A slight majority prefers receiving responses of "Good luck to you too!" though many also noted that they didn't mind not receiving the message. Just do what you're comfortable with and feels natural -- you're not going to please everyone, anyways.

One. When you're trading a pet for someone else's custom, it is rude to back out once the pet has already been created/items have already been bought.

Two. Don't be a troll, and don't be overdramatic. And don't create self-pity or gloating boards.

Three. When someone is excited about adopting a pet you think is ugly or with a name you find distasteful, don't voice your opinion. Congratulate them and move on.

Four. False topics are now reportable. And they're exceedingly annoying anyways.

Five. Don't offer a transfer exchange, etc. to someone before finalizing a trade with them. It can waste both your and his/her transfers, which is infuriating when we've only got a couple transfers per month.

Six. Don't offer your BN Blue Shoyru on someone else's WN UC Plushie.

Seven. Do not offer your pets on pets that are clearly labeled "Not UFT.

Eight. If some nub who breaks rule six offers their BN Blue Shoyru on your WN UC Plushie, you don't need to laugh at them. Just say no thanks.

Nine. Don't be a report happy. .__.

For a more extensive list, check this one out.

Also please note that these are also generalizations. While most generally agree that UC Plushies are worth more than UC Faeries, a UC Faerie Grarrl, for instance, is more valued than a UC Plushie Buzz.

And no, "flabbergastingly" is not a real word. Don't be a jerkface and race to the "Create-A-Neopet" page to see if it's been taken. (And "jerkface" isn't a word, either... just so you know.)

Pound Release is an account that stores neopets abandoned while the pound was down several years ago. These neopets are finally being returned to the pound, a batch released everyday at 8:47 NST (or 9:47 NST during daylight savings time).

A pet can be pounded an unlimited number of times a day; however, an account can only pound once a day.

Neopets can be "stuck" in the pound. This is a glitch. When you pound a neopet and it gets stuck, it means that no matter how many times you hit the "View More Neopets" button, your pet will never show up. You'll have to type the pet's name into the search box in order to find the pet.

Also note that Magma pets, when pounded, will turn red, and Ice Boris¹, when pounded, will turn blue. (Note that they will retain their color if transfered between accounts using the transfer system.) Petpets will follow Neopets into the pound, while paint brush clothing, customization items, and battledome weapons do not.

For a period of time, the pound was down, and pets that were pounded during that time were put onto an account called "pound_release". These pets are finally trickling back into the pound, a batch released everyday at 8:47 AM NST (9:47 NST during daylight savings time). This includes a number of UCs, painted pets, Draiks, Krawks, and more, making the entire affair super exciting for some.

^{1. Ice Boris are now a /retired/ neopet. They could only be created by downloading a certain toolbar (no longer available) several years ago. Some people still can create Ice Boris customs; Ice Boris, therefore, are rare (even if they're not too popular).}

What does it do? It turns your Neopet's color into Robot.

Huzzah! Darth Vader has successfully been created.

You know. I've got a Purple Gnorbu, you've got a Purple Xweetok, and my invisible friend here has got a Purple Yurble.

I love Purple Yurbles. You love Purple Gnorbus. My BFF Invisible Friend has got a passion for Xwees. ...Well, let's three-way.

I would give you the Gnorbu; you would give my friend the Xwee; and my friend would give me the Yurble. So we're all happy, and everything's good.

Some people make their three-way trades public by creating a "Witness Thread" on the PC, welcoming people to watch the trade in an attempt to stifle any possible scamming.

Every account gets one transfer every month per two years they have played. Here is a chart to help you figure out how many transfers your account gets:

Each transfer can be split into one in-transfer & one out-transfer, or one safe-exchange transfer. An in-transfer lets you take in a pet; an out- transfer lets you give out a pet. The safe-exchange (or direct transfer) option is mostly for trading purposes to avoid scamming, which will swap two neopets.

For instance, a Faerie Xweetok on Account A and a Maraquan Grarrl on Account B go through a safe-exchange. After the safe exchange's completion; the Faere Xwee will be on Account B, and the Maraquan Grarrl will be on Account A. Easy and clean ^^

One of the pros of this, besides the fact that it's impossible to get scammed in the safe-exchange option, is that you can have 4 neopets on both accounts. If you were to split up the safe exchange with an in-transfer and an out-transfer, at least one account would have to have only three (or less) neopets, just to make room for an incoming.

There is no safe transfer option for three-ways.

Unlike the pound, paint brush clothing follows pets in transfers, as well as other customization items (excluding NC Mall wearables).

Besides pet trading & adopting out, transfers are often used for account rearranging, avatar lending, and giving away paint brush clothing.

Well, you only get a limited number per month. And there have been some glitches in the past; for a period of time, paint brush clothing disappeared from pets being transferred. Also note that a pet cannot be transferred twice in one day.

Ignore it. The transfer should expire within three days, and your transfers will remain intact (though theirs won't be). If you reject it, rumor has it that your transfers will disappear, too.
To prevent this from happening again, you can modify your preferences to block all user-to-user transfers. Just remember to toggle it off again when you need to use your transfers ^^

But wait! Not all Neopets have got a "UC" form. Some neopets were "auto-converted," which means that when customization came out, all neopets of that species and color were automatically converted to the newer art. For instance, though there is a UC Maraquan Kau, there is no such thing as a UC Maraquan Uni, because all Maraquan Unis were auto-converted.

You can trade for one. UCs normally go for other UCs, Draiks, Krawks, or customs.

First of all, if your pet is looking sad, it's not a UC. UC pets portray no emotion. Second of all, if it's got a fist, it's not a UC either. Third of all, if the picture matches the one at the Rainbow Pool... nope, sorry, not a UC.
However, you can find out if your pet is a UC if you go to your Quick Ref and look for this notice:

Drag & Drop the image into the address bar for full size.

See any errors? Comments? Questions? Contact Cae here.