TRADING POST

By Leia

The Trading post is an extremely valuable resource. It allows users to trade items neatly and efficiently. You can often find great deals on the Trading Post from users trying to get rid of batches of items, like petpets, food, or weaponry. In fact, while looking at the Trading Post to write this guide, I snagged a Green Alkenore for over 15k below the lowest Shop Wizard price! ;D It also provides the safest way to lend or exchange items. Remember, however, when lending or borrowing, that you are taking a risk. The person may not give back the item/give you back your collateral as agreed, and there will be nothing you can do about it.

THE SCAMMER'S LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TRADING POST
A scammer can only succeed when the person they are scamming doesn't know any better. They will try to take advantage of new or young players. Scammers will often lie about the price of an item. Don't take anyone at face value when they say, "Lowest on the TP!" or "Lower than the Wiz!" Often these scammers will try to get you to offer quickly, without checking first, by saying "Best offer in 2 minutes gets it," "First offer gets it," or something similar. ALWAYS double-check the item's value before offering. Once you place your offer, you have to wait for a certain amount of time before retracting your offer. During this time, the scammer will quickly accept your offer, and there isn't anything you can do about it.

Another common scam is "RARE ITEM WORTH 200K!!! FIRST OFFER GETS IT!" Again, ALWAYS check the wiz or trading post BEFORE offering. The "rare item" is often something worth only 1000 or 2000, and the scammer is trying to trick people into offering more.

Any trade saying "Best offer gets a ________" is a scam. Any trade that offers items outside the trade itself should not be trusted. Usually the lot is full of junk items. The only thing you are GUARANTEED to get is that junk, no matter what you pay or what they say. If they have the item up for trade, why would they put junk up instead of the item itself? Because they don't have it and they want a good price for their unwanted crap.

IMPORTANT!!!: The Trading Post is THE only way to ensure your items will be exchanged without being scammed!

NEVER exchange items by "sending."
Example: "You send the Faerie Queen Doll to me first, and then I'll send you my Chokato card." Once you send the FQD, they are under no obligation according to TNT to send you the Chokato card. Congratulations, you have just been scammed. Don't exchange items in any way other than the Trading Post, no matter how scammers try to get you to do so. There is also no real reason why the trading post wouldn't work on someone's computer, if they are still able to do Neomail or use the message boards. If they offer this as a reason not to use the Trading Post, don't buy it. It's a common excuse by scammers to steal your items. It's better to be safe than sorry.

The very most annoying thing people do is start Trading Post chain letters. Chain letters will NEVER work, and they will get you warned and possibly even frozen. They are also extremely obnoxious to other players, and it's really easy to report them from the Trading Post. Every time you post one, I'm sure you'll be reported at least once by annoyed Trading Post browsers. Often, they will say they are "Approved by Neopets." Proof they aren't: Go to the Rules. Right there, it says "13. Do not spam the message boards, guild boards, or other site areas. This includes Chain Letters of any kind!"

GETTING STARTED WITH THE TRADING POST

Click on Jhuidah's (the Island Faerie's) head on your main scroll toolbar. Your main scroll toolbar is the one visible when you are in your Inventory, it has the circle in the middle that allows you to go to Neopia Central. Jhuidah's head is to the right, a brown lumpy thing. You can also click "Trading" in the text menu above your inventory.

This will take you to the "main" trading post menu. It says "Your trades." If you have trades up, it will show them there and whether they have any offers.

(An event icon should show up in the top left corner when an offer is made. I have the Valentine's Sidebar, that's why I have the cute Feepit event icon. The default yellow sidebar has Jhuidah's head.) If you have an offer, it will say "There is 1 offer on this lot" or "There are _ offers on this lot." To view the offers, click on that text. Double-check on the shop wizard that what the person is offering is worth the item you have up for trade. When you accept the offer, a window will pop up asking you if you're sure you want to accept it. Once you click "accept," the items are immediately and automatically transferred between accounts.

Clicking "Browse Lots," predictably, will take you to a page where you can either view the newest 20 trades that have been put up or you can search for an item by entering the name of it into the text box.

Clicking "Offers You Have Made" to view offers that you made on other lots that are still standing (the user has not accepted or rejected them). You can change your mind on an offer after about 15 minutes.

BROWSING THE TRADING POST
Click the "Browse lots" link. If you're looking for a specific item, enter the item name into the box. If you're looking for trades by a certain person, you can type in their username. Be warned that it is like the Shop Wizard, sometimes you will need to enter the exact specific item name to get the results you want. You can also "surf" the Trading Post by clicking "newest 20" in "Browse Lots" and refreshing every few minutes. Be warned, this can become very addictive. Someone who constantly surfs the Trading Post is referred to as a "trading post junkie." I am one, and I get good deals almost every day from people trying to get rid of petpets, potions, scrolls, weapons, and other items with high resale value.

KNOW THE JARGON
(Know what "jargon" means.)

Here are a lot of common abbreviations and terms used on Trading Post wishlists.

• "k" -- Thousand. Example: "650k"
• "m," "mil" or "mill" -- Million. Example: "1.2 mil"
• "pure" or "np pure" -- They want Neopoints only, not an item of equivalent value.
• ETS -- Easy to sell items
• PB -- Paint Brush
• HTS -- Hard to sell items.
• TCG -- Trading Card Game cards. These are generally considered hard to sell, and may be excluded.
• OBO -- Or best offer. Example: "400k OBO."
• NFT -- Not For Trade. This is really annoying, and there is no reason for people to do this.
• "auto" -- The user will accept this offer no matter what. Example: "Baby PB auto"
• "trans" -- Transmogrification Potion
• "reserved" -- Don't bother offering, this person is giving this item to someone else.
• "coll" or "collat" -- Collateral. Collateral is items/np you give to the person you are borrowing an item from to be sure that you will return it.
• "junk will rot" -- Bids of junk that is worth far less than the item is worth will neither be accepted nor rejected, but the user will leave them sitting there to annoy the junk bidder.

MAKING AN OFFER
Okay, cool! You've found a lot you want to make an offer on. Before you make the offer, check a few things.
-The person's wishlist. Does it say "FREE?" 99.99% of the time, the person does not really mean "free." Many of these people will reject offers. If you really want an item that says "FREE," try making a fair offer of an item worth a little less than their item.
-Are there special instructions in the person's wishlist? Does it say "Neomail before offering?"
-Are you offering what they're asking for? Is what they are asking fair? CHECK THE SHOP WIZARD.
-Is an item worth more than 800k? Up to 800,000 pure Neopoints can be transferred over the Trading Post. If they are asking for more, Neomail them to ask what arrangements they'd like to make, like a private auction.
-Double-check the item name. Make sure you're not getting a Starry Paint Brush Plushie when you wanted a Starry Paint Brush, or a Blue Acara Plushie when you wanted a Magical Blue Acara Plushie.
-Double-check if it says "complete set." Sometimes "complete" map sets will be missing a piece or two, or have duplicates. Make sure there are 9 pieces, and that they are all different.

CREATING A TRADE
To put up a trade, make sure the items you want to trade are in your inventory. You can put up to ten items up for trade in your inventory. Click "Create a new trade!" Select the items you wish to put up for trade. Trades are more likely to be offered on if they are put up singly. If you are too lazy to do this, you can put up a lot with a few items in it and put "Neomail to separate" into the wishlist box, but you are less likely to get offers or neomails.

When you make your wishlist, be honest and fair. No one wants to trade a Baby Paintbrush for your dumb old Blue Ixi Plushie. No one's going to pay 50k for your Abominable Snowball. And don't say "FREE" or "Best offer in 5 minutes" if you don't mean it. Think carefully about what you want before you create the trade.

DO NOT PUT TRADES INTO THE TRADING POST "FOR SAFEKEEPING." That's what your safety deposit box is for, and it's considered spamming the Trading Post to put items up there for anything other than trade. Plus, it's really obnoxious when someone is searching for that item and all the ones that show up aren't actually for trade. Jeez, people. Seriously.

Before you accept an offer, (you'll hear me say this again and again) ALWAYS check the Trading Post or Shop Wizard to double-check the value of the items you are receiving. If you don't like the deal, it's always okay to decline the offer.

I've enjoyed many happy years of trading. I like it better because it's more relaxed than restocking, and you can sometimes get deals that are just as great. It's much easier on people with slower internet and the free Neopets service that has to load ads all the time. It's less frustrating than restocking, where you're frantically clicking. I love the Trading Post, and I hope I've given you good enough advice that you'll be as obsessed with it as I am.