NeoCash Item Trading: The Whats, Whos and Hows?!

Welcome! If you are here, you have made your first step into the wacky, wonderful and active world that is NeoCash Item trading. What on earth is that, you ask? Well, that is why I'm writing this article. For example, let's say you bought a Woodland Archer Wig with the last NeoCash you had and put it on your Uni to finish off her look, making her look spectacular! Then the next day you drag – er... take her to the lab ray, where she's zapped pink. Uh-oh! Now her hair clashes with her colour, and you've got no NeoCash to get her that Curly Pink Wig that would look absolutely splendid!

Calm down, brave Neopian, for there is a solution! No, you mustn't leave your Uni without any hair, but instead trade for that Curly Pink Wig! And this is why I have written this guide! A brief introduction, if you will, to the world that is NeoCash Item trading. Over at board number 31, the NC Mall board, you will find a bustling spring of activity. People looking for items, offering their items that they have available for trade, helping other users who are just getting started and all kinds of NeoCash related things.

So How Do I Get Started?

Now, the traditional board is called "Seeking/Trading". This is when a user creates a board with a list of the items they are seeking (as in their wishlist). They create a different list as well, which is the items that they have Up For Trade (UFT). This means they are looking to trade any item (or a combination of items) from this list, for any item (or a combination of items) from their wishlist. These lists are most often kept on petpages, for organizational purposes. Of course, to trade anything, you must start off with some kind of item base to offer on other people's items. A popular way of doing this is perusing through some wishlists and purchasing the items that seem to pop up more often on certain wishlists, then making your very own "Seeking/Trading" board! It may seem confusing at first, but this guide should help you get on your way.

Buyable Items

On wishlists, you may see a list of items the user is seeking under the name of 'buyable'. This simply means that the item is, in one way or another, still available in the mall. Watch out, though! If an item has a star next to its name, which means the item is going to retire soon. It is best to buy one of these items from the mall itself, instead of having to spend a lot more to try and trade for it after it retires.

Retired/LE Items

So you see a bunch of items on wishlists that you think would be easy to trade with, and you go to the NC Mall to purchase these items, but... they're not there! What does that mean? The items were either retired or are limited edition. Examples of retired items are seasonal items, such as the Nutcracker Superpack during the holiday season, or the Spyder Web Superpack that was released during Halloween. These items are highly sought after and are 'worth' more than other items because you can't just go out and purchase them yourself. A rule of thumb is, the older the item, the more valuable it will be. Then there are Limited Edition items. These items come from capsules, and are only bonus items. Meaning you won't get them every time you open the capsule; they're special and are awarded randomly when you open a certain capsule. Different capsules have different bonus items, and half the fun of opening capsules is the bonus item!

Item Values

Because the 'value' of Retired and Limited Edition items are higher, they are usually traded as one retired/le item for another retired/le item. The same goes for buyables, one buyable for one buyable. But what happens if you are looking for a retired item, and all you have to offer are buyable items? A lot of the time, on their wishlists, people will include a list of buyables they are looking for but cannot currently buy. When offering buyable items on retired/limited edition items, most of the time you will never find a one for one trade. You are going to have to trade multiple buyable items for one retired/limited edition items. The number of buyables you have to offer depends on the value of the item you're offering on. It can range anywhere from two to ten buyables! The only exception to this rule, as of right now, is the Down with NC Flag. Because it has such a high price tag in the mall, it often fetches several retired/le items. If you've got some NeoCash to spare, this item is definitely going to get your outfit started (or maybe even finish it up!).

Superpacks

A very popular trend in the mall is Superpacks. A Superpack is a clothing set that offers you the entire collection of a specific set of clothing (i.e. Cozy kitchen set) in one nifty package, as opposed to shopping around for the whole set yourself. Why bother getting a Superpack, you ask? For the limited edition item, of course! In every Superpack, there is a limited edition item that belongs to that collection. It is available only from buying the Superpack, and besides trading, there are no other ways of buying this item. That means that you can't just search for it alone in the mall! Lots of users are seeking only the limited edition item of the Superpack, but not the entire Superpack itself. If you have some NeoCash to spare, people will be willing to trade all sorts of things for the limited edition item in a Superpack!

How to Trade

If you haven't already noticed, on NeoCash items, there is no 'give to Neofriend' option. This is because you can't just simply send over a NeoCash item! It must be packaged in a nice gift box, and maybe some pretty gift wrap if you're feeling kind. Where do you get gift boxes? You can't buy them at the NeoCash Mall, unfortunately. Upon redeeming a NeoCash card, you will obtain a certain number of boxes. The higher the value of the NeoCash card you redeem, the more gift boxes you will get. For this reason, gift boxes are very precious! If you are seeking something desperately, it is the best advice I can give you to conserve your gift boxes. The last thing you want is for your perfect trade to go out the window because you didn't have any gift boxes, right?

The Elite Boutique and Lulu Medallion!

The... what?! *gasp*

Item number one: The Elite Boutique. Accounts that are 49 months or older have special access to the Elite Boutique, a store with exquisite items located in the NC Mall. The items in this boutique are not tradeable under any circumstances, whether it be to accounts above or under the 49 month mark.

Item number two: The Golden Lulu Medallion. This medallion was a special prize given away to those users who completed Lulu's challenges in the Daily Dare of March 2009. This item is essentially a trophy, only it doubles as a dazzling accessory. This item isn't tradeable because it's a trophy, and you can't trade those away!

If you ever come across an item that you can't put up for trade and can't seem to figure out why, it's probably because of one of those reasons!

Good luck!

I'm afraid our time together must come to an end. I hope now, you will venture into the wonderful world of NeoCash item trading, and doing it just like a pro!