Feeling frusterated

[Wild things]

I'm so annoyed. Every . Single. Trade. I send gets declined. They are all reasonable but none accepts. Can ANYONE give me tradgin advice?!?!?!?!

[Topiratti]

Players have the right to accept or decline any trades you send. It can be frustrating, but you just have to keep trying and sending out fair trades.

[Shinryu]

Sometimes people will decline trades even if they're technically fair, usually because they just don't like the offer on a personal level or aren't currently looking for this type of trade.
But as far as general trade advice goes, here's a couple things I can think of on top of my head.

Keep pets' popularity in mind.
There's more to trading than keeping the age and rarity of the pets in mind - sometimes it also matters how well-liked the pets in question are.

Firstly there's the general popularity of a pet.
Some outcomes are very popular, so the person might be receiving many offers for them and has no reason to accept just any trade for them just because it's fair.
Some pet species as a whole are also more or less popular than others. Dogs, dragons and lions, for example, are very popular with a lot of users, whereas ponies, rats and chickens often end up on the less liked end. So there may be people who don't want to trade their dog for your pony because they value the dog higher.

Next, there's how people persoally value the pets.
For this, it can really pay off to look at trade rules and pet groups. If they say they're trying to complete their pony collection, or they say they love chickens, then they're probably a good candidate for trying to trade off your spares of those species. Every species has its fans out there.
People will also sometimes tell you what designs they like. Someone likes Halloween pets? Their favourite colour is blue? They love birds? Keeping their interests in mind when offering can be a huge help. If they found it important enough to stick into their rules, it's worth paying attention to.

Similarly, it also lets you know what not to offer. It can be frustrating when someone has a rat on their wishlist, but then cancels your offer telling you they don't want that rat - but at the end of the day I've learned that it's better to rely on someone's trade rules, than on their wishlist.
People use wishlists for all kinds of things, like the Pound or finding pets in adoption centers. If someone's rules say they don't like to be offered certain species, try to avoid them unless you are also asking for the same species.


Trade messages
A good trade message can go a long way.
You don't have to write a personalized message for everyone, but even when I'm just sending out a really simple monthly swap, I like to attach a little "Would this be okay for you? Or, if not, do I have anything else you might be interested in?" and thank them for taking the time to look at my offer.
Being friendly costs nothing and will give people a pleasant first impression of you.

When I send a trade that contains many pets, I like to attach a message along the lines of "I hope you don't mind the large trade, here's what I was thinking" followed by a brief summary of which pets I am offering for which, and why.
People generally like it if you can let them know what's going on in a larger trade so they don't have to figure out all by themselves what you are trying to do there.

For trades involving valuable pets, if you have an alternative offer in mind, it can be good to let the user know. Say "if you don't like the pets I added, I also have [pet/s] that I could add instead".


Try to stick to trade groups and/or doubles.
A problem I run into very often is that people don't have clearly defined trade groups, or they have a lot of open groups. Sometimes even their trade rules don't make it quite so clear what they do and don't want you to offer on.
When someone has a designated trade group, I try to stick to that.
If they don't have one, I try to go for doubles only.

If you want to offer on a pet someone has and it's neither in a trade group, nor a double, nor do the rules say anything about it, then sure, you can still go ahead and offer. Remember the thing about trade messages here. Say something like "Sorry if this pet isn't for trade, I couldn't find anything in your rules and there doesn't seem to be a trade group" to show that you are trying to be considerate.
But if the trade gets cancelled, try not to be too bummed - it might be their only copy of the pet and they don't wanna trade it, that's fine.

If the pet you want is on the more common end and easy to find, it may even be best to just find someone else to trade with instead.


Hoarders
Trading with hoarders can be pretty useful! They will be happy to take multiples of the same pet off your hands, and they are often looking for common and/or recent pets even when everyone else has already swapped for their missed outcomes.
They're also often a good candidate for quantity trades if you happen to have a lot of the pets they're looking for.
Keep a bit of an eye on the trade board, the hoard discussion thread or people's rules and groups, and you may just get an opportunity to obtain several different wishlist pets by trading off your multiple doubles of one pet.