*sighs* I knew this day would come. Where to buy neocash?

[~Xandria]

Well, as the title states... it didn't take me long to want some neocash. I'm hoping to get a few tips and pointers from others who buy it frequently. I think after getting my dream pet I realized how badly I want to customize her and how little you can do with maraquan pets using neopoints. Bleh. I know there is little to customize with maraquan pets in general, but I am oh so in love with the backgrounds. :wub_anim:

 

Anywho. Can you buy neocash at places like gamestop, walgreens, etc? Does it vary by state? I live in a big city so it shouldn't be too difficult for me to come across. I'd rather go out and get a game card, as I think it would be easier. Plus I don't think neopets take prepaid, reloadable credit cards but who knows.

 

So. What will, say 20 dollars get me? If you spend 20 on neocash, roughly... how long does it take for you to run back for more? I'd prefer to keep it to a minimum. I want to use the neocash to customize and every once in awhile use it for the special 'cookies'. (:

 

Am I getting myself into trouble here? Do I run the risk of addiction? :P

[Rebecca~]

Haha, you definitely run the risk of addiction. ;P 20$ will get you 2,000 NC. So you can look at what's in the NC mall right now that you like, and add up what that'll cost- you can get an idea of what that will cost.

If you have PayPal, you can use that, but if you get a card, you can get a virtual item as well, and if you get a 25$ card, bonus NC (100 or something- not much!)

 

I don't use it to customise, so when I bought a 25$ NC card, I bought a bunch of Faerie Quest cookies- I went through the NC very fast (less than 5 minutes, lol), but it'll take me 6 months to use them all.

 

On the NC mall main page, there is a "Get NC" sidebar that should have some suggestions of stores that sell NC cards. I am sure mine are different than yours, since I'm in Canada, but some may be the same: Best Buy, 7/11, Zellers, Wal*Mart, Shoppers DrugMart, Future Shop.

[Zephyr]

Hello c:

It didn't take long upon my return for me to get started on NC lol

I'm not much of a spender so 10 bucks can last me a long while though I have to admit I often go I want this, this and this when I see what's for sale xD

I hope this link helps:

http://nc.neopets.com/nickcash-cards

[~Xandria]

Haha, you definitely run the risk of addiction. ;P 20$ will get you 2,000 NC. So you can look at what's in the NC mall right now that you like, and add up what that'll cost- you can get an idea of what that will cost.

If you have PayPal, you can use that, but if you get a card, you can get a virtual item as well, and if you get a 25$ card, bonus NC (100 or something- not much!)

 

I don't use it to customise, so when I bought a 25$ NC card, I bought a bunch of Faerie Quest cookies- I went through the NC very fast (less than 5 minutes, lol), but it'll take me 6 months to use them all.

 

On the NC mall main page, there is a "Get NC" sidebar that should have some suggestions of stores that sell NC cards. I am sure mine are different than yours, since I'm in Canada, but some may be the same: Best Buy, 7/11, Zellers, Wal*Mart, Shoppers DrugMart, Future Shop.

 

Are you serious? None of your pets have anything from the neocash mall? There customization is amazing. I had no idea you could do things like that with NP's! Like for instance, the border you have around your main pet, the staff, wings, etc. They are all very awesome.

 

Do you only ever buy the faerie quest fortune cookies? Are there any other ones worth buying? I'm also curious about the habi items (not decoration but food) like the magic marshmellow for example? Oh. I heard they used to have something at the NC mall that took care of your habi for you for a weeks time, sometimes two weeks time. That would have been on my list! Too bad they don't sell it anymore.

 

Is it ever worth it to buy the mystery capsules? Sorry for all the questions. I am just SHOCKED to hear you say that you didn't use neocash to customize. I thought mostly everyone did and your pets look amazing! :wub_anim:

 

Hello c:

It didn't take long upon my return for me to get started on NC lol

I'm not much of a spender so 10 bucks can last me a long while though I have to admit I often go I want this, this and this when I see what's for sale xD

I hope this link helps:

http://nc.neopets.com/nickcash-cards

 

What do you use your neocash for? Customizing, fortune cookies, mystery capsules? Thanks for the link. :thumbsup:

[karmacow]

You definitely can get a lot of cool wearables for neopoints, but as you know, only for body types that aren't baby, maraquan and mutant. For pets with a "normal" body type, try to just enter your pet's species into dress to impress. Then you can see all the clothes made specially for that species (those are often the nicest). It'll also show you paint brush clothes and clothes/items that are species themed, but the list shouldn't be too long.

[~Xandria]

You definitely can get a lot of cool wearables for neopoints, but as you know, only for body types that aren't baby, maraquan and mutant. For pets with a "normal" body type, try to just enter your pet's species into dress to impress. Then you can see all the clothes made specially for that species (those are often the nicest). It'll also show you paint brush clothes and clothes/items that are species themed, but the list shouldn't be too long.

 

Thanks for that tip. This sucks. Why do I have to like ALL the pets with UNnormal body types?! My next dream pet is a faerie meerca, which as you can tell by my profile picture, is NOT normal for a meerca. I was unaware that there was an option on 'dress to impress' so you could look at items by paintbrush color. Ugh. They need to come out with more paint-brush friendly clothing and accessories!

 

I tried looking on dress to impress for awhile last night... but, I couldn't find anything for my maraquan chomby aside from backgrounds. I love her background now, but I feel like there's no way possible to make it more 'original', aside from neocash. Does anyone know if neocash offers anything for faerie or maraquan pets? The majority of faerie pets have 'normal body types' but the meerca one looks completely different painted faerie, so idk if that counts.

 

Yesterday I bought a neopoints wearable called 'chomby flowers'. I liked the way it looked on the background I now have (was using dress to impress) but then when I bought them they wouldn't go on my chomby's background!!! :sad02: So now I'm not so sure how reliable 'dress to impress' will be with me. Unless I sort them by paintbrush. I'll try to do that. Is there by chance an option to sort by paintbrush at the NC mall?

 

EDIT: Does anyone use the lab ray cookies? Do they even offer those anymore?

[karmacow]

No no, it's not just paint brush clothes (by paint brush clothes I mean the clothes you get when painting your pet), it's also clothing made specifically for each species, that can only be worn by one species.

I just checked dress to impress for maraquan clothing and I found: Maraquan fancy dress, maraquan maiden dress, maraquan summer cloak - and a wig that I'm pretty sure is also specifically for maraquans; maraquan wig. Some of these may be retired, but this is what there is.

Also, faeries can wear regular neopet clothing. I think the one in your avatar might be an unconverted faerie meerca. In the rainbow pool it looks slightly different.

[Nataluna]

DO NOT BUY THE NC HABITARIUM FOOD.

 

you can do the same thing with the normal food, and NC habitarium food will disappear after being eaten: waste of money. :(

 

the colors are pretty but if your bugs die: you will lose the colors. also if you need to reset your habi: generally you lose them too.

 

Chomby Flowers probably have a zone that interfers with the BG you currently have on, or other items, its worth learning about Zones if you haven't already :)

 

Faerie pets fit the same bodytype as other pets, so there aren't any special NC wearables for them.

 

if you live in the USA i would buy the cards, not the online NC, as you will get free stuff and it works out the same (but plus free stuff) you will get boxes and a random NC item from the set items you can currently get from cards. I buy online even though i can get cards.. as due to the exchange rate it works out a better deal to buy online.

 

Layray cookies are still available, but they restock alot less than the faerie ones so you have to just check. alot :P

 

it is definitely addictive, so if you have control you should be okay, its handy if you get the cards to keep them, that way its easier to keep track of how much you spend..

 

i no longer open mystery capsules, as the chance of getting the item i want tends to be very slim. if there are lots of items i want being re-released i'll open a few, otherwise i tend to trade for the things i like.

[~Xandria]

No no, it's not just paint brush clothes (by paint brush clothes I mean the clothes you get when painting your pet), it's also clothing made specifically for each species, that can only be worn by one species.

I just checked dress to impress for maraquan clothing and I found: Maraquan fancy dress, maraquan maiden dress, maraquan summer cloak - and a wig that I'm pretty sure is also specifically for maraquans; maraquan wig. Some of these may be retired, but this is what there is.

Also, faeries can wear regular neopet clothing. I think the one in your avatar might be an unconverted faerie meerca. In the rainbow pool it looks slightly different.

 

Thanks so much for posting that picture up for me. I had no idea the one on my profile picture was unconverted. 'does double take'. They are both really cute though. :wub_anim: And I tried some of the items you mentioned on dress to impress, but they wouldn't show up on my chomby but backgrounds would. (So either the site was not working well on my computer; or they won't go on my chomby!) After buying the flowers and having them not work out, I'm kinda afraid to buy something that's much more expensive only to have it not go on. ;) I'll have to keep looking into this. Lol.

 

DO NOT BUY THE NC HABITARIUM FOOD.

 

you can do the same thing with the normal food, and NC habitarium food will disappear after being eaten: waste of money. :(

 

the colors are pretty but if your bugs die: you will lose the colors. also if you need to reset your habi: generally you lose them too.

 

Chomby Flowers probably have a zone that interfers with the BG you currently have on, or other items, its worth learning about Zones if you haven't already :)

 

Faerie pets fit the same bodytype as other pets, so there aren't any special NC wearables for them.

 

if you live in the USA i would buy the cards, not the online NC, as you will get free stuff and it works out the same (but plus free stuff) you will get boxes and a random NC item from the set items you can currently get from cards. I buy online even though i can get cards.. as due to the exchange rate it works out a better deal to buy online.

 

Layray cookies are still available, but they restock alot less than the faerie ones so you have to just check. alot :P

 

it is definitely addictive, so if you have control you should be okay, its handy if you get the cards to keep them, that way its easier to keep track of how much you spend..

 

i no longer open mystery capsules, as the chance of getting the item i want tends to be very slim. if there are lots of items i want being re-released i'll open a few, otherwise i tend to trade for the things i like.

 

Thanks for the tip about the habi food and the mystery capsules. I'll probably steer clear of both of those. I also know nothing about these 'zones' you speak of. :P So I'll have to figure that out. Lol. I didn't know about the free-stuff if you buy the cards! Yay for free-stuff. I'll definitley find a place around here soon.

 

Thanks so much everyone! :wub_anim:

[karmacow]

I also noticed that some of the maraquan items don't show. That's because no one has "showed" the site what they look like on chombies yet. That's how DTI works, someone has to have the item and the species in question and then enter the pet name of the pet wearing it into the modelling hub, otherwise they don't know what it would look like.

It just occurred to me that you can search for stuff in the NC mall. I typed in "maraquan" and the only clothing item for sale right now is the maraquan fancy dress. Luckily you can try things on at the mall and be sure it can display it :)

[Zephyr]

@Xandria: I'll like to highlight what annukii said bout buying cards will get you bouns item (I would have quoted but am on my phone & couldn't figure out how xD)

Gift box is a must if you're looking to trade or gift your NC items so if you have any future intentions to do so, I'll say go for the cards.

 

I like to buy accessories like facepaint, foregrounds, wings, & special effect trinkets like rolling fog & sunbeams. I really like those little touches <3 But I spend the most on gift box mystery capsules just to have some boxes to trade with others :c

[~Xandria]

Nice! Thanks so much for the helpful reply! How do you trade neocash items anyways? Are all neocash items able to be traded? I have a wig I don't want that came with my newbie pack, sadly I can't trade that one though. :laughingsmiley: I really do like the little touches too. Makes all the pets stand out. :wub_anim:

[karmacow]

You have to use a gift box if you want to trade NC items, and I don't think there are any NC items that can't be traded using gift boxes.

[Zephyr]

Yeah, those effects add a lot to the atmosphere c:

& the other day I was staring at a face paint sparkle for a bit too long rotfl

 

Like what karmacow said, all NC items can be traded even the fortune cookies. For normal gift boxes, 1 box can contain 1 NC item. If you'll like to know what others are asking for for their items, the NC mall section of the Neoboard is the place to go. I think there were also a few user maintained price guides if you like a bit of general reference.

 

When I first started, I find it helpful to lurk around the board for a while to get a feel of things. When you're ready, don't forget to haggle xD

[Rebecca~]

Are you serious? None of your pets have anything from the neocash mall? There customization is amazing. I had no idea you could do things like that with NP's! Like for instance, the border you have around your main pet, the staff, wings, etc. They are all very awesome.

 

Do you only ever buy the faerie quest fortune cookies? Are there any other ones worth buying? I'm also curious about the habi items (not decoration but food) like the magic marshmellow for example? Oh. I heard they used to have something at the NC mall that took care of your habi for you for a weeks time, sometimes two weeks time. That would have been on my list! Too bad they don't sell it anymore.

 

Is it ever worth it to buy the mystery capsules? Sorry for all the questions. I am just SHOCKED to hear you say that you didn't use neocash to customize. I thought mostly everyone did and your pets look amazing! :wub_anim:

 

Mneryth's background is from the NC Mall, but that's it! I bought it forever ago withe the free NC TNT gave out, haha. I think his goggles are also considered NC, but I didn't buy them- I got them from somewhere, lol. Maybe the Advent Calendar? I donno. Everything Ansteigen is wearing is NP. :) All of his clothes are from the Royal paint brush, and the wings come from him being cross painted Faerie. I love the cool looks you can get from cross painting pets. :D Oh, and so you know, the frame is one of the 'ink frames'. There are seven different styles, I think, and they're all gorgeous. <3 There's one for basically every style of pet. :3

And thank you! :wub_anim:

 

For me, the only cookie that is worth it is the faerie quest one. I'm spending so much on training these days (ugh, up to 5 codestones), that the cookies and their daily quests are a huuuuuuge help to me. If you aren't interested in training though, I wouldn't bother. I've used at least 13 or so of them by now, and I haven't had a FFQ. If you are a big gamer though, you may like the game cookie. The lab ray one looks fun, but it's one that I don't want to spend money on. They are quite cheap (the lab ray cookie is 125NC?), so it's not going to hurt to try it out. ^_^

 

As already said, don't bother with the NC food on Habi! If you want to use the decorations, or the ink droppers on your buildings go for it, but the P3 droppers and the food are just a waste. :(

Yeah, there used to be a thing that would keep your Habi in working order for a couple weeks while you were gone. But rebuilding it isn't hard. You're still at the level you were when you left, but your buildings have decayed, and your P3s are dead. You're given new eggs (and it's a good idea to have enough eggs stored to rebuild), and then you just have to make it all look nice again. x3 It's a bit of work, but I imagine can be easily done in an hour or less.

[Nataluna]

not all NC items can be traded, there are a few which cannot be traded: NC Elite Boutique items are only available to accounts of a certain age, and cannot be traded, also grams can't be traded directly either, you can send gram items to other users without a box but cannot send the gram itself *which disappoints me since they are so pretty i want them for myself*

 

http://customize.thedailyneopets.com/index.php/articles/viewarticle/zones/

 

thats a article about Zones :)

 

if you are looking at some of the retired NC items, gift boxes are a must. free free to ask here or on the NC boards about trading and fair trading especially. newbies to trading run the risk of being fleeced by some unsavory types so beware stuff through neomail *not all, but i've noticed thats generally how people do it*

 

if you are interested in NC trading check out some of the pages listed on http://www.neopets.com/~Erum for some guides on NC trading.

 

http://www.neopets.com/~Pound is also a great site for working out alternative looks for the really expensive stuff. some of those NC items are rare, and for a new trader, would be REALLY expensive.

[~Xandria]

Thank you so much Rebecca and Annukii. You are both really helpful. I think I just might try out the lab ray cookie, depending on how long it lasts. 2 zaps a day instead of 1 sounds like it might be pretty cool. I love playing the flash games, so I might try that one too. I usually don't complete faerie quests because most are expensive. That will probably change once I have more NP's.

 

Thank you very much Annukii for the helpful guides about zones, neocash trading, and the 'alternatives to expensive stuff'. Will be checking those out right away!

 

Oh, so in order to trade things you have to have a box, huh? I'm assuming those cost even more neocash? That doesn't really sound worth it. I mean, why wouldn't people just buy what they want in the first place instead of trading something else for it? Or do people attempt to trade for things that are 'limited edition' and have retired? That's the only reasoning I can come up with.

[Nataluna]

for some people "there is no substitute" and you'll find alot of NCers are seriously picky about their customisations only that item will do.

 

for me, i'm a wing collector, and so i didn't really have a choice *except to stop collecting*

 

gift boxes can also be obtained by opening Gift Box Mystery Capsules which sell for 200NC each and give you 1-5 boxes (random and usually its 1 box..) plus random buyable wearables fro the mall.

 

as such i have alot of pretty usuki collector dresses and beauty spot, in NC trading those are usually considered "junk"

 

its an expensive hobby :P but if you have been doing it from ages past, people have had the good luck to be holding onto some really rare items like Balthazars Bag of Bottled Faeries (a few hundred caps worth) and so have been able to get all their wishes ;)

[Rebecca~]

In addition to the Gift Box Mystery Capsules, you can get the gift boxes from redeeming NC cash cards- if you're interested in doing some trading, that is probably the way to go, since you need to buy NC anyway! :)