Trading NC Items??

[Kouji]

Okay, so I've never been big into NC (mostly because I don't have money to spend on that stuff) but now I'm older and I've got the cash and I've been spending a little too much time fiddling around with DTI and a lot of the items that I want for my pets' customizations are NC items that aren't sold anymore.

First off, I think it's stupid that they retire items so quickly. i mean, pff, maybe give folks a shot, geez. >.>

But I know that people rade NC items, in the gift boxes?? I don't know anything about boxes, I bought some NC online the other day but I've never been able to find NC cards anywhere in my state.

I'm totally new to this idea, and I've tried to find guides but nothing is telling me what I want to know so I figured I'd ask here.

Does anyone have any advice for me?

Personally I think NC should be available for transfer between users, and NC item shops should be a thing.

I mean the NC was paid for at some point regardless of who bought it. Or at least some kind of safe transfer method of the items should be implemented.

 

Anyway, I might be saying things that are completely undoable, I am a really big novice to NeoCash.

Any advice is appreciated!

[Rebecca~]

I think that you will get nothing but agreement from people re: a different trading system for NC. But as of right now, boxes are your only hope. Unfortunately, they aren't given with NC bought online, like they are with NC cards, but every couple of months Gift Box Capsules go on sale in the Mall (I think for 150NC each) and each capsule will give you between 1-4 gift boxes, as well as a cheap item or two. These capsules are usually the standard trading thing. If someone says that an items is worth 5 caps, they mean these gift box capsules. Not everyone that is trading will want capsules for their item, and may want to trade other items for it- it's really up to the person!

 

I think the last gift box capsules were the AC ones, so there probably won't be any more available for a month or two. You can spend this time looking around the NC Mall chat and see how people usually buy and sell, the protocol, and you might even stumble across someone selling the items you want. You can always neomail them, saying you're interested in buying, but that you have to wait until the caps go on sale again.

 

:) Good luck! I'm not much of a NC person, so I'm sure that others can probably give you more in depth information, but this is definitely the basics. :)

[Kouji]

Oh all right, thank you for the advice! C:

I'm mostly worried that no one will have any of the items that I want, haha.

[siniri]

Sometimes if you have a long-retired item (the one I had was a free Halloween one, so they needn't necessarily have cost a lot of NC at the time) that someone really really wants, and you don't have any gift boxes, they'll send you a gift box so that you can send them the item. There are petpages that have suggested prices (in the gift-box units mentioned by Rebecca) on them -- this enables you to look up what you have to offer and what you want and try to match "prices."

 

A long while ago, TNT gave out some free gift boxes, usually in the Advent Calendar. I've only done about 3-4 trades total ever (using these free gift boxes), so I'm also not much help. But if you go to the NC Mall boards and ask for help, someone should link you to the various guides. A lot of NC traders will create petpages with wish lists and what they have available to trade; it's easier than recreating the list on a Neoboard every time you want to do some trading.

[Finn the Human]

You get gift boxes after NC Cash card purchases and when TNT feels nice :P. Personally I use my free NC to buy a capsule and wait a year or two to trade it for something higher.

[feeble_iq]

Tips, tips, tips.

 

I suppose one of them would be to stock up on Gift Box Capsules when they are available at the NC Mall. They aren't available for a long time (a few days to a week when they're mentioned) but they're highly sought after as NeoCash cards aren't available in a lot of areas. This will make trading rather easier, for you to gain boxes and items you may really want.

 

If you're looking to trade, someone is bound to have it. I've been successful in contacting DresstoImpress users who do have the item up for trade by looking at the item details! That's only when they've linked their neomail to their DTI account though.

 

Trading for items really depends on what you can offer. So items that can simply be bought at the NC Mall don't have much value (unless they're from a few years back or went under the radar before the NC Mall was big). So items that I've been able to trade easily are from NC Events, such as the Battle of the Obelisk Luminous Casks and Mysterious Morphing Items, Altador Cup tickets. Those had predictable items though. Items that may have higher "value" are ones given randomly through an NC game, such as Shenanigifts, Wonderclaw, Secret Meepit 'Stache, etc. So it may be worth it to try your luck at snagging a good item, but then again, you may end up with the most commonly given out item of the game.

 

Also, I've been able to trade a lot for "custom", which is simply buying an item at the NC Mall for a Neopian who has the item I want. I always put it down to them not having enough NC but I'm sure it also saves them money in the long run for an item they weren't going to use anyway.

 

KeyQuest Tokens are seen by many to be worth investing in as they provide exclusive items only provided by activating the token. Purchasing the token is quite expensive itself! So trading the KQ Token or the item can have it's rewards. Especially retired tokens and items.

 

Also look out for capsules with RRs (or re-releases). The latest RR that caused an upset was the Altadorian Wig with Gold Ribbon. Some Neopians had paid $150+ of real money to acquire and trade for one of the items, only to find that it got RRed in the last Altador Cup. The value went down like gravity!, but it still may be sought after. The latest Birthday Capsule in NC Mall is RRing a lot of items that were quite expensive, such as the New Year backgrounds and Gingerbread Wings. And again, it's random.

 

Take note: some users don't even want to use the items to customise! Some collect them for their gallery, collect to gain something greater, or simply as a status symbol (such as the Altadorian Wig with Gold Ribbon).

 

The trading boards look at Filigrees webpage to determine the capsule value of an item they're seeking or trading. Not everyone does looks at it though nor does everyone follow it. It is a good start though: there are users who willingly rip other users off. The latest I saw was a 2-cap baby item for a 900NC 10-pack for Shenanigifts! Other users quickly chimed in though and stated that it wasn't fair and the deal didn't go through.

 

I hope that helps. It's been interesting to follow the trade value of some items, such as the Brilliant Blue/Green/Red/Purple (and especially Yellow) Faerie Wings, Isca Wig, and Balthazars Bag of Bottled Faeries.

 

Oh and finally, you don't need to spend $thousands of dollars to get what you want. I've only spent $150 with no intention to spend anymore as I'm completely happy with my pets' customisation. There are serious users that have spent an excess of $5000+!!! It may seem rather daunting learning all the abbreviations and how quickly the board rotates but you'll get the hang of it soon enough. If in doubt, make a board about it! :D