The Trading Post & You
Many people use the trading post simply as a means to search for items to see what the going price is. But the trading post can be a much greater help to actually EARNING NPs than you may have imagined.
In order to make money in the trading post, you will need at least a base of pure NPs, and a few items to work with. You do not need expensive items, just items that you can offer to fulfill the trading post requirements(you must offer at least one item in every trade).
... For Starters
The first thing you need to know about the trading post is that everybody is looking to Buy Low & Sell High. Whether the items that somebody is selling are items they acquired from other trades, items they got from a random event, gifts, etc...everybody wants to maximize the amount of NPs they can get.
What you want to do is look for lots that you think you could offer on and get accepted for that could sell for a profit OR (important) attract the attention of future traders.
If you can trade your items for more attractive looking items, then you have a one up on other people. Most people just offer some NPs + a junk item on a trade. If you can offer some NPs + an interesting item, you may have a better chance of them accepting your offer. The trading post is all about appeal, if you can offer more appealing items and the same amount of nps as the other guy...you will wins hands down everytime.
Pack Rat Heaven
The Trading Post is an EXCELLENT source to use to get the Pack Rat avvie. Everybody can fill their sdb with advent calendar items, fishing junk, omlettes, jellys, etc. But it is those last couple hundred items that really take people the longest amount of time.
If you are going for pack rat, it is important to know what items you already have in your sdb, and which items you do not. This will save you valueable time when searching through the lots in the trading post. What you are looking for, are decent lots with wishlists that read: "Free stuff", "cleaning out sdb", "packrats welcome" or something similar.
Once you find them, check the items and see if there are at least a few items that you dont have in your sdb. If you keep doing this, you can get pack rat pretty quickly. I have used this techinique and gotten pack rat in just a few days. Mind you, it will not be EASY collecting 1000 unique items, but you can do it!
Monetizing The Post
If you have decided to give the pack rat method a try, or if you have just acquired a bunch of items on your own..now is the time where you can start to make some NPs through the trading post. You wanna look for lots with codestones, faeries, petpets, and other cheap ets. You will need to offer NPs on these lots but oftentimes people are just looking for some quick nps so they will sell cheap without checking the prices. ALWAYS check the price of a lot through the shop wiz before you offer. You might think it is worth more than it actually is. The trick is to offer a decent enough offer that they would consider it, but not so high that you won't be able to turn a profit.
Once you get some cheap ets, you can work your way up to cheaper end paint brushes such as a christmas paint brush, petpet paint brushes, etc, etc. From there, you can move to more expensive items and after that the sky is the limit! The trick getting started.
Closing Tips...