Auctions and trading and stamps, oh my!

[qmf]

Hello from a mostly lurker! Here's the problem: I've been around neopets for an embarrassingly long amount of time, but there are still several areas I'm completely clueless about. Today's head-scratcher? Buying and selling expensive things.

For the most part, I don't stray beyond the shop wizard. The couple times I've had something expensive to sell, I've auctioned it. I used the trading post once to buy something, but I've never sold. I'm looking to change that soon, since I've gone a bit overboard on the stamps and gotten all that I can out of the shops. Now I'm looking to move on to more expensive ones, so I have a couple questions:

- Auction or Trade? If I have an item worth about 250k, is it better to auction it off or try to get rid of it on the trading post? When would it be best to auction something vs. trading it?

- If I were to list an item on the trading post, I'd want either np or stamps. I'm asssuming that if I asked for pure np, someone would offer a junk item with the np attached?

- Unbuyable just means that the item can't be found on the shop wizard, right?

- Flip side of the trading post question: If someone is selling something for pure NP on the trading post, do I just offer them a fishing hole fish plus the money?

- I've read that you can't go over 800k on the trading post. What do I do if I want to buy something for a couple million?

- What are some things I need to look out for? How do I avoid getting scammed, cheated, or otherwise doing something that's going to make me smack my head against the wall for my stupidity?

Thanks so much! I feel much more comfortable asking here than on the neopets boards.

[stampsyne]

Hello from a mostly lurker!

Hello! Welcome. maybe I can help.

Auction or Trade?

Anything over 800k in pure needs to be auctioned. That's the cut off highest amount the Trading Post allows. I think anything under that is best listed on the Trading Post unless you demand pure. It a good rule of thumb as to what is best listed where, even though people advertize an item for sale in Trading Post as well. See lower for more details.

I'm asssuming that if I asked for pure np, someone would offer a junk item with the np attached?

Correct

Unbuyable just means that the item can't be found on the shop wizard, right?

Correct again!

Flip side of the trading post question

Ditto

I've read that you can't go over 800k on the trading post. What do I do if I want to buy something for a couple million?

Let's just say you find a million dollar item in the Trading Post listed for Pure neopoints. This is a person advertising an item for sale. Neomailing and haggling will commence. Once a deal is struck, you request a 'private auction' where they make you a neofriend and then make the auction neofriends only. They set the starting bid so that what you bid will be the agreed amount. Some people make the bid increment amount huge, others make it 1 np. It's a matter of preference. Look closely before bidding to see if it is correct. You have tons of time to be sure, because you should be the only bidder.

What are some things I need to look out for? How do I avoid getting scammed, cheated, or otherwise doing something that's going to make me smack my head against the wall for my stupidity?

1 - items listed on the Trading post for million when you can find them on the Shop Wiz for 20k.

2 - NEW items that have yet to devalue. Check neoitems.net of you are unsure.

3 - Painted petpets. They should not cost more than the petpet + the paint brush used to paint them.

4 - HTS (hard to sale) items. Does the item have a use or value beyond a gallery? If not, then it would be harder to sell than a good BD weapon, a potion that gives or does something, or a book/stamp that are used once then gone.

Thanks so much! I feel much more comfortable asking here than on the neopets boards.

De Nada!