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Thread: [GUIDE] 2021 Safe Pet Buying Advice + Tips

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    [GUIDE] 2021 Safe Pet Buying Advice + Tips



    With a lot of new/old players coming back I thought I'd share some rambling from my personal experiences and give an updated pet buying safety write up! These are mainly from what I have personally noticed and/or done myself, so of course take things with a grain of salt and if you have your own methods that work for you, awesome. There is no 100% fool-proof way to remain perfectly safe but my mantra is risk mitigation and lots of it. At the end of the day no matter what, engaging in activities that violate Neopets ToS puts your accounts (and hard spent money) at forfeit, but hopefully by making smart decisions at every step of the way, you can lower your chances of involuntarily subscribing to my frosty aesthetic.


    - Prior to Buying -

    DO YOUR RESEARCH.


    ASK QUESTIONS.
    • As a buyer, for the most part the onus is on you to fish out the small details.
    • PC known vs unknown (more on that below), if unknown how long it's been off the grid for, how long the seller's had it in their possession, if they happen to have access to the pet's account's original email (in worst case scenarios if a reversal and/or freezing happens, the seller could try to ticket everything to rights) etc.
    • Never feel pressured to go through with a purchase if you feel uncomfortable at any point - nothing is more important than the safety of your accounts.
    • If it sounds to good to be true it probably is!!!


    PC KNOWN VS UNKNOWN.
    • Pros and cons to this debate, but imo pretty clear cut depending on your situation.
    • PC known pets have multiple sets of eyes on them and WILL be stalked - if you already have some kind of community presence on Neo, whether in guilds or boards, this is actually the way you want to go! An active Neopets player trading for an active Neopet, makes sense right?
    • PC unknown pets are best for those who have yet to establish themselves and their ~identity~ publicly - no one will be looking at them (or your accounts) so they will remain safely out of sight while you amass your army, lurking in the shadows.
    • More on safe integration later.


    RW/RN CAVEAT.
    • As we all know due to the "impending" re-release of UCs through the NC Mall, RW/RN pets have skyrocketed in value and are highly sought after. But the problem is many of these amazing pets haved been tied up on inactive accounts for literal decades.
    • Since they are such hot ticket items for the moment, exercise extra caution with these. RW/RN pets are EXTREMELY easy to stalk and it's painfully obvious when they have suddenly been plopped back into circulation after being on an empty purge account all this time.
    • If you really want one of these, take your time and go slowly. Keep the pet on its original account if possible. Start "playing" a little bit on the account regularly - throw up userlookup/petlookup coding, write a simple message saying like "Old player checking things out again!", participate in some site events to get trophies, raise your avatar count, adopt some VWN/painted pets from the pound and customise them etc.
    • Once it's been long enough send a few neomails between your accounts to express interest in the pet, then agree to trade/adopt out to yourself.
    • Side note: If you can straight up trade for a RW/RN you want (with an UC for example) either on the PC or with the seller, do it. RW/RN reversals are abundant due to the current PC climate and if you make a legitimate pet:pet trade, ideally you will get your UC back (or a custom) if the trade is reversed. More on pet:pet transfers vs indirect transfers later.



    - Prior to Receiving -

    Here's where things become more of a choose-your-own-adventure depending on your situation. So you've decided to buy and have your eye on a few pretties, but where are you going to put them? Preparation and foresight is key but you still want to move at a reasonable pace; imo the main reason why the few big name people who got frozen in the past for pet buying did is primarily because they just moved way too fast. Unknown pets can always be quietly kept on an alt account or shell (don't forget to dress it up though) until you're ready to cycle them in to your personal account. You can let PC known pets hibernate this way as well but don't forget the higher the tier, the more "realistic" the account holding it needs to be!

    AS A BRAND NEW "RETURNING" UNKNOWN PLAYER...
    • If you've been away from Neopets for a long time and just have a dusty old main sitting around or are starting completely from scratch, I recommend the "build up before you show up" route. I.e. get your ducks in a row before your public debut because it'll be a lot harder for people to question what you have now if they don't know what you didn't have before.
    • And if your end goal is to deck out your accounts with lots of shiny high tier UCs or popular RW/RNs, you absolutely need a main account that reflects your obvious Neopets affluence.
    • This means investing (with $ or time) in a main that has things like: old site event trophies (but be aware of whatever gap you have to calculate how long you've been "away" for, details details!) and avatars, game trophies, a sizable shop and/or gallery, a handful of stamps in your album, etc. Don't leave your userlookup/petlookups blank, it takes but a moment to copy some premade CSS and write a quick description. Fill the rest of your pet slots with customised (NC if you got it) painted converteds, bonus points for VWN/aged.
    • The most important thing to do during your "build up" period is to steer clear of any public sections of the site - boards, guilds, trades/auctions, BC.
    • Once your designated main is decked out enough and you've already moved a couple mid-high tier pets you plan on keeping, you can quietly start to post glt around the PC to make yourself known or find a guild to join.
    • But do not link any of your sides yet - this is where you will be receiving your shiny new pets!
    • While you're in this sneaky side phase you can link one or two as you fill them up and start trading/commencing your new life as a true PCer.
    • Don't forget, PC unknown pets are your friend while you're filling up hidden accounts! It'll look a lot more natural or believable if you "come back" after years away with pets no one has seen for years. Otherwise it's a huge red flag to claim you have a pet that was last traded just a handful of months ago despite being inactive all this time.


    AS AN ALREADY ESTABLISHED PLAYER...
    • Depending on how deep you want to go and how far the gap between your identity's known "wealth status" and dream pet is, this could be a long and tedious process.
    • If you're an active PC shuffler/chronic trader, for low-mid tier pets of all name formats you more than likely can just swap pets in and out of your accounts like changing shoes and stuff them into the shuffle grinder without missing a step. thank you for constantly refreshing the shuffle trading pool
    • If you've had your current set of pets for ages and everyone in your guild knows your accounts forward and backward, it'll be trickier since if you REALLY care about appearing legit, you might have to actually start working the PC circuit and trading up from whatever you have (a whatever VWN converted for a cheap T1/2 to get you started - pets like Werelupes, Mutant Lupes, Baby Kougras can still trade up decently as long as VWN) until you're close to your goal tier (if aiming for mid) or at the very least establish yourself as someone who can make trades and does.
    • From there you can fake a trade for your own fodder with whatever you wish to buy (sell off your hard earned fodder to another buyer or do a pet:pet trade + USD for a paid uptrade) and you've done it, you're another PC trading success story!
    • Obviously this does take time and effort so if you're already somewhat of a trader and stuck in that middling ground but want to make that final jump to your dream UC Royals, consider making a project page and (quietly, drawing TOO much attention to yourself is never a good thing) show it off to a few friends so you can maybe skip a couple tiers and "adopt out" or "gift downtrade" your dream pet.
    • Do not make a board on the PC announcing your dream adoption or lucky trade. Just don't.
    • And remember to steer clear of higher tier unknown pets because some jerk will PC brake check you and ask where you got it or what you traded for it.


    IF ALL THAT IS TOO MUCH WORK AND YOU REALLY JUST WANT YOUR DAMN PET...
    • Ffs either keep it on a side or at the very least NOT YOUR ACTIVE PET if it's a rare/high tier.



    - Keeping Your Pet -

    Here are some things to keep in mind to hopefully ensure a long and happy, TNT-free life with your new pets!

    PET: PET TRANSFERS.
    • As touched upon above, when moving pets you should always do a pet for pet transfer as opposed to indirect (or "one-way") transfer, yes even if you're swapping some high tier pet onto your account for a stinky converted you fished out of the pound 2 seconds ago. (But if you can a random 4L, shitty uncommon RW/RN, or painted/lab color VWN converted you don't mind yeeting is another layer of safety - risk mitigation!!!)
    • In my experience TNT is less inclined to treat this as a sale when it comes to reversals or scrutiny, than if you just straight receive the bought pet.
    • And on the topic of reversals, if you get hit with one and you received a pet in a trade and sent back nothing in return, it's highly likely that TNT will see this as a "break" in the trade chain and you will end up with nothing. Pound transferring pets also breaks the chain. As reversals are still occurring, it's not recommended to intentionally break a trade chain especially if the "compromised" pet ends up stuck on an abandoned shell that no one knows who has ownership over. Hopefully if the trade chain is maintained and you lose the pet you traded a bought pet for, you'll get it back or be allowed to create a new one.


    CONSIDER PLAYING NEOPETS SOLO.
    • Now this isn't an option for most of us as we crave rabid validation from other players but honestly if you can live without ever having to step foot on the boards or can settle for a nice, small guild to make a few besties in, you're already that much safer than the majority. (Or consider having one "public facing" side that you post to the boards from exclusively that doesn't hold your most valuable pets and never link back to your main.)
    • TNT really only comes when the fire dept is called - they don't care if your house be smokier than the local hookah club if they can't see it. If you live on a 50 acre lot with nothing but empty fields around you they'll let you die in peace. (Ok that metaphor took a weird turn...) But if you have nosy neighbors on all sides of you constantly looking in across the way, you can bet SOMEONE will call the cops on you.


    IF YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SOCIAL LIFE.

    • This is actually a double-edged sword - putting yourself out there does expose you to higher risk no matter what, but there is safety in numbers!
    • Befriend other PC regulars (the good ones), especially people who would most likely run in the same circles as you. Most people have their own "clique" to chat with and make joint boards with, and you'll stick out much less like a random sore thumb if you have friends drop by your board to say hi and help bump every now and then.
    • Joining one of the handful of active guilds remaining on Neopets is a good way to make new friends with similar interests or have fun/be motivated while improving your account.
    • Honestly, just be a nice, active Neopian - we're all here to have a good time and if you're polite, friendly, and drama-free I think that most people will be content to leave you alone or even come to your defense when under fire.
    • From what I've seen it's those who move pets too quickly/publicly, make a spectacle out of themselves, irritate the rest of the PC with annoying boards/topics, or unfortunately get implicated by other rotten players that get gossiped about and called out.
    • Realistically a large number of old players HAVE been returning due to quarantine/new pet slots/UC announcement etc. so just play it cool () and low-key.


    Well I think that's just about every inane thing I could possibly squeeze out of my brain at this time but hopefully this helps in some way! Thanks for reading!

  2. The Following 64 Users Say Thank You to Ice For This Useful Post:

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