Your Guidebook to Trading

MYSTERY ISLAND - When browsing around the forums, I realise that there are a lot of questions that people ask about the Trading Post. “What is K?” “Obo means some sort of instrument?” “Will you accept 50,000 Neopoints for that Yellow Krawk Morphing Potion?” and many others… Not to mention the fact that some people believe bidding 10k for a Darigan Paint Brush is fair, because the Shop Wizard only says 100k…

So, your local Wsprite decided to be nice, and has made these handy references to what the many different words means, as well as how to generally behave while trading.

Begging - this is whenever a person asks ”please give me 10k for this Tiki Tack Keyring!”.

Bidder - means the person(s) who will offer on a particular lot.

Donate - some people put up a lot, in which they clearly state that it is for those people who would wish to donate to their Labmap Fund / Paint Brush fund / ect. This is not considered begging, as the money will actually be used on SOMETHING, and often donators will have their names written down on the petpage or in the shop of the person to whom they donated.

ETS - stands for ”Easy To Sell”. It means that the trader wishes for an item that is not extremely difficult to sell – as an example which could be mentioned is Codestones. They usually sell very fast, as there’s a high demand for them, and they are therefore easy to get rid of. Likewise with very nice paintbrushes, such as the Halloween, Maraquan, Pirate, Faerie and Royal paintbrushes.

FREEEEEEE - Though it may look like the item will be given away for free, do not expect this to be true – very often, the trader will use this lure in an attempt to get more people to bid on his/her lot.

Haggle - if a trader writes ”Will haggle” in his/her wishlist, it means that the person will be willing to lower the price of the items, should you come to an agreement about how far down to lower it. However, do not take it as an invitation to offer 5k on a Gruslen and believe you’ll get it…

HTS - Stands for ”Hard To Sell”.

K - K comes from latin, and stands for Kilo. Meaning thousand. So if you see someone posting 100k, they actually mean “100,000 Neopoints”, and not 100 (as many seem to believe).

Lot - this word describe a specific trade and the items within it. All lots on the Trading Post are given a unique number which will identify it from the millions of other lots floating around.

M - As with K, indicates a number, which, in this case, stands for “Million Neopoints”.

N00b - also known as Noobs, these are people who has played Neopets for a long while, but STILL behave like newbies (eg. Asking “What is Faerieland” after having been on Neopets for 2 years).

Newbie - a word used to describe a person who has only recently started playing. These people do not know a lot about how to act and what different things are, and rely on the aid of others to learn to understand this. Remember – we have ALL once been Newbies.

NP/NPS - Is short for Neopoints.

OBO - ”Or Best Offer”. Means that the trader are willing to look at offers below the one stated in his/her wishlist, though, of course, don’t think that it is an invitation to make silly bids.

Offer - is a word used to describe the Neopoints and/or items that you give for a certain lot or receives for your lot.

Post this message.... – IT REALLY WORKS - means a chain letter created either by someone hoping it to be true, or by someone whose main interest is to get the Trading Post flooded by people who hopes this works. However, it does NOT! I repeat – it does NOT work!! Unless you win the jackpot at the Test Your Strength, there is no easy way of getting 100 million Neopoints and/or paintbrushes.

Pure - this means Neopoints ONLY. If someone wants 40k pure, it means that they want to have 40,000 Neopoints IN Neopoints. Not petpets, dubloons, nerkmids or any other thing.

Restocker - also known as ”Resellers”, these people snoop around the Auction House, the Trading Post and the Shop Wizard on the lookout for cheap items that they can sell in their OWN shop to make a profit..

TP - Simply means ”Trading Post”.

TP Price - “TP Price” means “Trading Post Price”; when a trader asks for this price for an item, it means that he/she expects potential bidders to look up the same item on the Trading Post to see what the general price-level of the item is.

R - Stands for Rarity; this informs potential bidders of how rare the item in question is.

Trader - means the person currently holding a lot.

Withdraw - this means that a bidder takes back his/her offer on a lot.

Now that you know how to decode much of the talk used in the Trading Post, you will be able to enter it and start bidding for items, or put up your own lots. However, you may ask, should you then behave?

As a trader - the most important thing to remember when you’re trading some of your items, is that people are hopeful. You will most likely get at least ONE person offering a Rotten Berry and 120 Neopoints on a lot with a Niptor within it, but do not despair. There is a nifty little button saying “reject this offer” which you can click to make this low bid disappear.

Secondly, you may at times get serious offers, but you find them to be too low for your liking, and therefore Neomail to tell them to raise their offer.

Allow me to give you two examples of such a Neomail – one showing how to do it. The other how to NOT do it.

1st example: “Hello, [insert name of bidder].

You have offered on my lot with the [insert the items that you have in your lot], but I do not find your offer to be high enough for me to accept. Would you be so kind as to offer more Neopoints or items, so that the value of your bid would rise?

Sincerely yours, [insert your name]”

As can be seen, the choice of words are readable, understandable, and gives the overall impression of a calm and relaxed person who can be talked with. Also, giving a friendly appearance will increase your chances of the bidder to give another, higher offer.

2nd example: “Hey, jerk! U offr stinks! I wnt more NPs!!!! U SUX!!!!111”

This example gives a clear idea of how to NOT attempt to get your bidder to raise his/her offer. First of all, using chatspeak is not a good way to give an impression of your intelligence – taking your time to type out all the words will inform your bidder that you are of a high level of intelligence, and is not with the same brain as a Mootix. Secondly, this Neomail starts off with insulting the bidder – another BAD idea if you don’t want your bidder to run away screaming… Thirdly, the Neomail ends with yet another insult – as before, not a very good initiative to start discussing the lot…

Also, if you wish for something specific – even just a specific amount of Neopoints – put this into the Wishlist of your lot. That is why it’s there…

When you get offers on your lot, be prepared that you may face a lot of offers 1-20k below the current trading price of your item (depending on its value). This is because a lot of people are restockers, and therefore not willing to pay the full price for an item, as they want to make a profit by re-selling it to someone else.

Now that the basics of being a trader has been told, allow me to show you how to behave when you are on the Trading Post:

As a bidder - You are what all those people with their lots are after. You are the one with the money, who are looking to buy their items. This gives you the upper hand in things, though, do not get your head full. One of the most important things to remember is also that THEY have an item YOU want.

When you make an offer on whatever item it is, make sure you have at least SOME idea of what the item is worth. An offer of 100k and a Plain Omelette on a Usuki Paint Brush is certain to be rejected by the trader. Use the Trading Post search to look up the item, if you cannot find it in the Shop Wizard.

Remember, you can only offer 800,000 Neopoints on a single lot. If you wish to pay more for an item, send the person with the lot a friendly Neomail asking them to put it into the Auction House.

Also, when you make an offer, do NOT send the person whose lot you are bidding on a Neomail, begging them to accept your offer. This appears quite often with newbies, who think they may rely on the goodwill of the trader to give them the Fire Paint Brush they so greatly crave.

Begging for items, no matter how it is, is considered low, and will only result in your popularity dropping a lot.

I hope at least a few people will read this guide, and be able to use it for a practical purpose of some kind – if nothing else, then to make the Trading Post a nicer place to be.

- Your local restocker, Wsprite