Pink Poogle Toy Forum

I know in the terms and conditions it says 'item pools are a scam and are not allowed' I know a lot of guilds do it...

My guild has just finshed saving up for one, and now we are all using it to get the avatar.

I was wondering what your opinion of this in terms of whether this is okay, or whether I stand to get frozen because of it? I don't want to risk my account, but I'm proud that a guild I created from scratch has managed what originally seemed a very large feat.

Have you ever participated in a successful item pool?

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Thanks Rachel!

What's an item pool? *feels incredibly stupid*

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that's me.

Don't worry, I'm with you. Being a guildless person, I also don't know what an item pool is.

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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v379/qanda/qandalitsiggy.gif" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

It's where a group of people get together and collect enough money between to buy a certain item.

For instance, we had a donation shop, and everyone donated what they could, until we had 1.1mill.

This means the doll belongs to everyone. Of course, it's easy to use this as a way to scam people, like by saying 'Oh yeah, donate all your NP to me and I'll buy a doll' you know?

But I haven't scammed anyone (clearly!) I have brought the doll and we are all know getting an avatar we wouldn't be able to get.

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Thanks Rachel!

Ok, I see... but then it really is rather risky. It only takes one greedy and dishonest person to keep the doll for him/herself and all the np everyone donated is gone... I myself don't think it is worth risking that just to get an avatar.

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Yes, I see your point, and I guess that's what I'm mainly worried about. I mean, 1.1million is a lot of NP, especially from a guild with only 70 members.

I just think that it's too late to back out of lending it to everyone, and I don't want to back out, but if it gets stolen a lot of people would be very disapointed

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Thanks Rachel!

I'd be more worried about someone stealing it than about a repramand from neo.

If you think you have to lend it out at this point (refunding np would probably be hard) than I just think that you should take whatever precautions you can with the lending.
Possibly collateral (i don't know if that would work in your guild)
Maybe announcing who is currently borrowing it would keep that person honest.
Is there a way to ensure the most trustworthy people get to borrow it first? I'm not sure how you would figure out "most trustwort" though. Perhaps the people who donated the most np for it or those who have been in the guild longest
I'm not sure what to suggest. Good luck

Neopets is only warning people. Item pools are a great way of scamming people.

Just like donating to guilds. It's up to you if you decide to trust the one that holds the neopoints or not.

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Faith is often the boast of the man who is too lazy to investigate. ~ F.M. Knowles

Well I hold the neopoints in my guild, and I know that I would never do anything like that.

To be honest I'm surprised at the trust and generosity of some people, I wouldn't hand over 100K within days of joining a guild. I just they must like me

But really, what I wanted to know, was would you guys ever run/take part in one? Or are the risks just too high?

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Thanks Rachel!

Twinkly, I have not participated in, nor would I, an item pool. I was glad to see that posted on the Avatar Board. I have seen alot of pools - especially for the FQD. Not one of them turned out to be legit. The person "holding" the np for everyone else either just disappeared with the np or did buy the doll, but then took off with that, leaving the other people in the pool with Nothing.

I've seen a few freezings for this pooling, not just warnings, though I have seen warnings for talking about them/asking if ayone wants to start or join one. Of course, the whole lending/borrowing can get you a warning or worse, as that's frowned upon too.

Guildwise it's a little different -- maybe. But they do not want us doing item pools and guilds are being watched (mostly) alot more than they used to be. So if you've now bought the avatar item and the guild is lending it, be very careful/quiet about how you have it listed, like on the TP. Don't put in the description that it's for such and such guild avatar lending (you know what I mean). And do ask for something of high value - np and/or ets. You do have to worry that someone is going to borrow something and never return it.

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No,in all honesty I would not.

It is very,very risky on the levels of either losing it or getting frozen. I suggest you just say you're sorry and give everybody their money back. That is just me,the over paranoid girl,but I've never been frozen or warned so I would say its worth it.

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I've never participated in donations/item pools and don't think its a good idea either. The person who holds the NP who buys the item you want might just run off with the NP/item for theirself....so I wouldn't risk it.

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I like pickles, I like cheese, I like climbing lobster trees!

Okay, interesting, but as I said. I hold the item and the NP pool. Therefore I know I'm not going to short change anyone.

I think the thing that worries me is someone going off with it, which I can see would be the main problam item-pool wise, even if the holder doesn't run off with the NP.

In fact, I can see how actually, they are not good things to allow on neopets at all, very easy to take advantage of people.

Well, I'm not going to divide out the NP. I'm going to lend the doll to the trustworthy people, then sell it for a profit to pay for a noticeboard advert. Yes.

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Thanks Rachel!

I was never in a guild with item pools and i'd never participate anyways since i don't trust anything. It's better when you just rade for a collateral and then trade back for things. I've done that on the boards and gotten a lot of avs safely

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Losers are those who do not try

The guild I'm in did that for the FQD, but the guild leader put rules on it:

The first being you have had to be in the guild a month. In addition to being in the guild a month she had certain criteria, obviously if you had been in the guild a month but hadn't posted or contributed something you weren't going to get it. I think she looked at who donated for it, active participants, etc.

One thing you'll have to be carful about is if you put it up for user 'x' and somebody bids with what looks to be user x's name, please double check that they're in your guild, people could scam your fqd from you this way (it happened in the guild I'm in).

I know it's illegal in the ToC but as long as you don't make a huge deal out of it and are certain that those who you loan it to will return it I think you'll be okay.