 Trading with Dignity
by kspare2
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After a few months of regular trading, it has come to my attention that there are many Neopians who seem to lack proper trading etiquette. My hope is that this guide will reach out to these Neopians and enlighten them about some of the slightly irritating things they may do, and hopefully provide them with alternatives to these habits. Before I go on with my article, I would like to point out that the views expressed within this article are my own and that they should not be taken as facts, but rather suggestions. At the end of the day, we can all trade whichever way we want (as long as we abide by the rules set out by Neopets), even if the way you trade makes me want to go zeenanas!
- Important acronyms to know for this article: Trading post (TP), Shop Wizard (SW), Easy to Sell (ETS), Hard to Sell (HTS), Or Best Offer (OBO)
As a seller:
Honor what you put in your wishlist. This is perhaps my greatest pet peeve as far as trading goes. Putting “free obo!” as your wishlist literally translates to “free or best offer!” and you should not put this as your wishlist unless you mean it. Even if your item costs 800k, if your best offer happens to only be 500k, you should be willing to accept that offer. If you are not willing to accept the best offer, then pick a better wishlist.
Never send out an angry neomail. It is fine to say, “I’m looking for a bit more” or “I would prefer X amount,” but sending a neomail in caps lock or saying that their offer is stupid or calling them a kau is not acceptable. The buyer may be willing to increase their offer if you politely inform them of what you want, but it is unlikely that they will do anything nice for you if you have just insulted them. Do not stretch the Trading Post. Please be sure to put spaces between the words that you type, and do not stretch out your letters in such a way that it stretches the whole TP. When you do this, the TP stays stretched until your trade is no longer one of the Newest 20, and it just makes the TP look strange! Accept/Reject offers within a reasonable amount of time. For those Neopians who are not particularly rich, having an offer up on a trade may mean that they are tied up financially and cannot use their assets to make neopoints unless you accept/reject their offer or they cancel it. If you know that you are not going to accept the offer, the nicest thing to do is to reject. Letting offers rot is rude and disrespectful to the potential buyer. If you are considering their offer but do not think you will make a decision quickly, the best option is to neomail them to let them know that it may be a couple of hours (or even days) before you make a decision. As a buyer:
Know the cost of an item before you offer. While it is true that many sellers will accept neopoints and items that come out to slightly less than the going rate of their item, most sellers go to the Trading Post to make a profit, so they are not going to sell their items for considerably less than what they are worth. Offering half of the TP asking price on an HTS item may be fine, but if you offer that low on an ETS item, it is likely that you will find yourself blocked the next time you try to offer on that seller’s lots! But no matter how HTS an item may be, the cuteness of an Icklesaur Squirt Toy and 100 neopoints will not win you the lot. Respect the wishlist. Wishlists are where a seller puts what they want for an item. As a general rule, I treat wishlists are mere suggestions. Offering less than their wishlist amount should be fine as long as your offer is reasonable. However, there is a huge exception to this! When a seller makes their wishlist something that includes the word “firm,” I consider their wishlist to be a concrete requirement. That is to say, a wishlist of “130k pure firm” means that I will not offer anything less than 130k, nor will I offer the equivalent of 130k in items. As both a buyer and a seller:
Do your own research. This suggestion ties in closely with knowing the cost of an item, but they are not entirely the same thing. There are times when you may come across an item that you’ve never seen before but suddenly find yourself interested in. You may be wondering how much it costs, what it is, what it does, what its rarity is, or even where it came from. As both a buyer or a seller, you should take it upon yourself to find out the answers to these questions on your own before going to the item’s owner. You can start by checking the SW and the TP to find out the cost. While you are looking for the item on the TP, you have the option of seeing the rarity. Alternatively, you can enter the item’s name into the Search Neopets bar to look up the item. It is true that not all items show up there, so sometimes the only way to feed your curiosity is to ask the owner, but you should at least attempt to find out answers on your own first. Reply to neomails promptly. Even if you feel that the trader neomailing you is asking a silly question, I highly encourage that you remain courteous and reply to their neomail. What may seem silly to you could be a serious question to them, and if anything, you could take the neomail as an opportunity to teach them and help them become a better trader. Lastly, always remember that there are Neopians out there who are willing to help you if you need any type of trading assistance. Both the Help Chat and the Trades Chat have amazing Neopians who are willing to answer any questions you may have.
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