The Art of Auctions by leb388 |  |
MARKETPLACE - I've recently become addicted to a wonderfully lucrative game on
Neopets: the Auctions. However, auctioning in real life or in Neopets can be risky,
so whether you're buying and selling, I've got some great tips for you to make
NP.
Auctioning
Auctioning on Neopets is much like auctioning in the real world. From your
inventory, you
can select an item and choose "Auction Item" from the drop-down menu. You can
choose the amount of time you want to auction your item for (one hour to three
days), how much you want to start the bidding at, how much you want the minimum
increment, or the least amount someone can bid, and if you want only your Neofriends
to be able to bid on your item.
The amount of time you want to auction the item for depends on the price. If
you're auctioning off a codestone, Dubloon, or other semi-rare item, you'll
want to auction it for a longer period of time, since people are more likely
to search for it using the Auction Genie, similar to the Shop Wizard, and bid
on it before it appears on the main pages, which only include auctions with
a few seconds to a few minutes left. However, if your item is less than a few
thousand Neopoints, a shorter auction of a few hours long will be best because
the item isn't in demand, and when it appears on the first few pages of the
Auctions and there is only a few minutes, many users will try to bid on your
item if it's the right price, so there's no use in waiting days. For Uber-Faerie
quests (in which a Faerie randomly appears and asks you to get her a certain
item. You can complete these quests by going to the appropriate quest part of
Faerie City, but
you can't use the Shop Wizard to buy the item), it's best to time your item's
auction some time in the middle, so that people who search your item using the
Auction Genie have ample time to bid, and that when your bid reaches the first
few pages, others who need the item will bid.
For your decision of what to set as the starting price, refer to the Shop Wizard,
take about 10% off the lowest or second-lowest price (multiply the price by
.1, and subtract that from the starting price), and set that as your starting
price. For example, if you're auctioning a Mau Codestone and the lowest price
is 4,700 NP, set your to-be-auctioned item's price at 4,230 NP. You may want
to start at the average to lowest Shop Wizard price, but fewer users will bid
if you do so, since they're looking for a cheap price. If your price is too
high, no one may bid, and if your price is too low, you may lose NP.
The minimum increment also depends on the average price of your item; a good
system I use is to to take about 10% of the price for the minimum increment.
If you're auctioning a Blue Bottle of Sand, about 50 NP at the time of this
writing, the minimum increment should be about 5 NP or less. If you're auctioning
off an unbuyable that's 100,000 NP or more, such as an expensive paint brush,
costly Battledome weapon, or a certain hard-to-find petpet, a good minimum increment
would be about 10,000 NP or less. However, bidders may become frustrated if
they have to bid an exorbitant price or have to type several numbers in a few
seconds, so if you're not sure about the minimum increment, it won't hurt to
leave it at one NP.
I've never tried setting an auction to Neofriend-only, since I'm picky about
my Neofriends, but if you have many, it may be a good option--be sure to tell
your Neofriends that you're auctioning first, though, or no one may bid. Also,
a Neofriend-only auction would be a good, no-scam way for a guild to receive
donations--and the top bidder will automatically receive the item--and it's
a good way to make sure non-members don't bid, but it would require the auctioneer
to befriend every guild member who wants to participate.
Also, after an auction ends, you will receive an e-mail (if you're over 13
years old) from the Neopets team including who bid and who won--and you'll also
receive the NP automatically soon after the bid ends, unless no one bid or the
winner didn't have enough NP for the item after bidding.
Bidding
For some, bidding on an auctioned item on Neopets only makes sense for completing
an Uber-Faerie Quest. However, if you know how to bid correctly by reading the
following tips, you can almost effortlessly make NP.
If you're just searching for any cheap item, glance through the first few pages
of auctions; if you're searching for a rarer item, use the Auction Genie. Always
check the Shop Wizard before bidding on an item, even if you think you know
the approximate price of the item, since the value could have fluctuated.
Wait until the last 20 seconds or so to bid if the time limit of the auction
is less than an hour long--that way, you won't bid every few seconds and be
frustrated when you don't get the item, and the item will be cheaper if you
win, since you're not constantly raising the price. If the time limit is two
hours or more, place a bid and check back later.
Bid on only a few auctions at once--only one or two may waste your time, and
bidding on many will only confuse you and cause you to miss the time limits
on some auctions. Be prepared to lose auctions--that's all part of the game.
Well, I hope my tips have helped you! If you have any questions or comments,
Neomail
me. Thanks for reading!
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