As the others have mentioned, offsite trading and commissions are a good way to get pets. For example, if you have any old unused accounts on other pet sites, you could probably find someone willing to trade CS for your stuff on there (just make sure that the other site allows offsite trading first). And if you are willing to do commissions, I'd say go for it, don't worry too much about how 'good' your art is, there is a market for all styles on her ^^
I'd also suggest just getting active in trading, even if its just monthlies or events, there are plenty of opportunities to get good pets just with normal every day trades. Its definitely a time commitment, a lot of trades will not go through or get canceled, and personally I find that its just a matter of sending out a lot of trades and maybe only a few will actually get accepted. Thats normal, and I think a lot of people expect that good trades will just be sent to them, or wonder why they never get good trades, but never send any out themselves. If you want good trades, you'll need to go out looking for them, send out lots of trades, if one person cancels, find another. Sometimes it seems like no one is willing to trade a specific pet, but often its just a matter of finding the right person. I don't trade a lot now except during events, but when I do I'll often spend a couple hours finding users to trade with and sending out trades. But I find I usually come out with some good deals and better pets.
Among other things I'd suggest;
- Actively trading during events, there are often good opportunities to get good pets during events, more people are active during that time so its a good time to send out trades. You can often trade extra tokens for nice pets, offer art for tokens, etc.
- If you subscribe to using demand, paying attention to what pets people are looking for most can be helpful for trading, for example the gold gatcha pup from the last month was going for some very high prices, if you manage to get a pet like that you can trade it off for some nicer pets.
- Take the time to peruse the trade board occasionally, you might find some users looking to trade their older pets for newer pets or offering other 'deals' etc. For example, someone offering '09 rares for common hoard pets, etc.
- Look into trading with C$. You don't have to buy C$ yourself, you can always sell off your unwanted pets for C$ instead, then turn around and use the C$ to buy rares or list pets. This is actually a great way to get older or list pets that you can't trade for with the pets you have now. Because of the way C$ values work, they don't add up numerically according to pet value, so selling off lots of lower value for pets for C$ could give you enough to start buying older rares or lists that you normally wouldn't have enough for.
- If you aren't into items very much looking into trading those for pets. Most people care more about pets than items, so it can be a bit hard sometimes to find someone willing to trade pets for them, but you can often get good deals on older items or parts of sets by trading them to item collectors or someone hoarding them.
By far I've found the best thing that is helpful with trading is just experience, and being very active when it comes to trading. Take advantage of the forum resources, the fair trade thread, C$ worth thread, item worth thread, etc. If all your trades seem to get cancelled, try asking about some of the fair trade thread, see if they can be improved. If you are active in trading you'll eventually start catching onto things yourself and getting a better idea of what to look for. I wouldn't call it an 'easy' way to get good pets, but I've found it to be the best resource in doing so. Offsite trading is great if you have the resources, and commissions are great if you have the time/energy for it, but long-term, good trading knowledge has been most helpful for me. You don't have to trade all the time if you don't have the time for it, as I said before, just trading during events or for monthies is still a good, just do however much you are willing, just keep in mind that generally more active you are in trading the more quickly you'll be able to find good deals and pets.
//Disclaimer: These are only my opinions and views as a regular member of this site and not as a moderator/staff