Introduction
I get asked all the time..."how did you get all those rare pets!?" It's quite simple actually...of course the rumors are I've pretty much been the most cruel CS member who ninja trades just about every chance I get. Guilty! In the sense that I've asked people what they've wanted for Very Rares and sometimes they happen to select some uncommons and commons. Luck? Maybe.. I would personally like to thank the people who don't care about the rarities and would rather just collect pets based off of looks. Why?? Because I simply wouldn't have obtained all the pets I have without them.
Pet Values:
Want to know how to figure out how much your pet is worth?? There are quite a few ways actually...One is the "Is this a fair trade? thread", another is the CS Archive, even a "How Much Is This Pet Worth?? Thread". On the provided thread links, you are going to be able to find your fellow players giving you information on how valuable the pets are. I recommend to all new players to go through the archives as well and use those threads as a bible to guide you along the path to getting the very rares you desire.
Ninja Trading: there are quite a few different descriptions of this. One is simply misleading people to believe their pet is not worth as much as it really is.
Another way is during the holidays when newer players are not aware of the type of puppy they have hiding under those cute little blankets. I'm not going to say that I am completely guilt free of this, but to me it almost seems to be a fact of CS life that people do not let the newer player know how rare their potential pet is going to be. DO NOT FEAR NEWBIES, the information is out there on how much your pet could be worth!
A gray area lies within our little CS world...This is a technique I've used which has paid off quite well. Essentially what you are doing is selecting the pet you want (whatever rarity it may be) and asking the owner what they would like for it. I personally, along with some others, do not consider this ninja trading but some members do which is why it is our gray area. You will find sometimes that people will only want uncommons/commons or even common rares for very rare pets. Though, this can become ninja trading if you try to mislead the owner into believing the pet is not worth much. If you think you are an owner who is being mislead by another trader, please refer to the above links.
Down to the nitty gritty -- TRADING
- New Month -- Alright so for the most part, we all know that every month we get new pets. Well what I like to do each month is adopt all pets allowed per month. Now, if the monthly guide is not up to see all of the babies available for the month yet, open about 20-30 or more of the players online (I usually open them in new tabs), see if they have adopted the new pets as well and check the outcomes they have. If there's something you've missed, start asking people if they are willing to trade the outcome you've missed. You'll get a lot of rejection or a lot of people who ask for outrageous amounts of pets or very rare pets. IGNORE THOSE OFFERS OR EDIT THEM! If they accept the edit, AWESOME! If they don't, move onto the next and DON'T LOOK BACK! This takes a fair amount of time but you'll usually end up with every outcome for that month. I also recommend getting as many newborns from other players as you can! BUT NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! Create multiple accounts to get these outcomes, it is against the rules, obnoxious and down right wrong! All the pets you adopt will be taken away when you are caught and sent to the pound...and don't ever think they won't catch you...because they will. The worst part is...a majority of the pets you adopt from multiple accounts will end up being common and flooding our pound full of pets...well simply put...that not many will care to adopt.
_ - Numbers Game -- Alright this ones pretty simple. Most people who are below the player number of 60,000 will tend to have rare pets so if you're looking for rares, check older players. DO NOT EVER, EVER, harass older players for their rare pets, you'll simply just upset people and believe me, your name will get around and no one will want to trade with you. The way to see a players number is to scroll to the bottom of the board index. Here you will find a list of players online. When you have your mouse over the players name, the link to that player will appear in the bottom left hand side of the screen with their number at the end:
_ - Who's Online -- This is similar to the above technique but is more for the newer released rares such as malk dragons (rarely zebras) or the special May release Lions. Usually in this case you'd be looking for players with numbers higher than 70,000. When you do this, do not ever mislead someone into thinking their pets are worth less than what they are. If they ask you how much the pet is worth, direct them to the links above in the "Pet Values" area of this guide.
_ - Building up your trades -- You can never have enough pets to trade. Always be on the look out for older pets (usually pets from May 2009 and older) to add to your trading collection. It may take a few of the newer months uncommon pets to get them, but they are usually good trading fodder for the newer players. Best way to find those pets is again to look at the players online and find older players who have LARGE trade groups. Usually their IDs are lower than 40,000. When CS first opened there was no limit to how many pets you could adopt so you will find these older players will have huge amounts of these older pets readily available for trade.
Few more trading tips:
Provided by Deja:
1. Timing. Trade or auction your pets at the height of their popularity. i.e. Pets that everyone is looking for and paying ridiculously for when they first come out - like the May lion, Lava PPS, Null PPS, broken-heart bunny... Trade 'em while they're hot.
Also, around holidays like Halloween, the pets from the previous year will be more in demand than usual. If you're planning an auction, doing it then will get you better results. Similarly, don't auction your July and August '08s around Dec 18th since they're much easier to get then. If you're looking for those pets though, then is a good time to go for them since a ton more have just been released.
2. Stalk the Free Adoptions and Trades boards. I got my Dogtag after finding someone's random trade thread, and I even got a Sorbet for free when a user was quitting.
3. When you find a good deal, take it. "Flipping" pets helped me out a lot; let me explain. In one instance, I grabbed the auto-win on an auction where someone only wanted a store liontail for their BMD. I then auctioned the BMD and got a replacement liontail in the winning offer, along with a bunch more pets. This may fall under ninja trading, so if it's conflicts with your morals, don't do it.
Few tips to surviving in the world of CS:
Writing a long well thought out letter. BE genuine. Players get tired of the, "10 for 10 pets is fair, accept." when they have all common pets on their side and half of the pets they want from you are rare. In some cases people just don't know better (because they could be younger and not understand rarities) but in a lot of cases people just want to assume that you don't know how much pets are actually are worth, or hope you just don't care. Below is a letter that Chianya uses. This letter is to NOT be used by you, be original and make your own letter.
Chianya wrote:Hey there! How are you doing today? I was wondering if I happened have any pets or any items that you would care to trade for *any* of these pets? ^_^ Thank you for your time and consideration!!
Just if you do have to cancel, please don't be cruel like some people are; there's no cause to be mean lol
Have a nice day, wherever in the world you are!! ^_^
~Chianya
PS Please feel free to take your time in responding, and don't feel like you need to cancel simply because an amount of time has passed since I sent this - I understand that random trades often take awhile to be seen and responded to, which is why I don't offer any pets to start with: so that I don't tie anything up for weeks or months ~_^ <3 Thanks again!
PPS. And remember, I don't need to trade for all of these, these are just the pets of yours that I am interested in so...don't panic XD This way, you can pick and choose what you would like to trade ^_^ And if I've chosen something that you don't want to trade, I apologize - I assume that unlocked groups means you're willing to at least consider trading the pet. I'm sorry if I'm wrong! ^_^ Thanks again <3
Most collectors/active traders are not looking for rare rats, "common" rares (such as the recently released Easter hunt pets), Bunnies, Spiders, etc. Most people want DOGs, CATs, and HORSEs! Be aware of this when trading so you don't get a ton of pets most people will just not be interested in.
Thank you for reading my guide...its sort of short but if you have any suggestions or other techniques, just let me know and I'll feature you in the guide.
For older players being bombarded by trades:
This was provided by Nico --
You might want to add that there is an easy workaround for avoiding being detected and picked out at random from the Board Index "Who Is Online" list.
Select invisible mode from your User Control Panel as follows:-
1. Board Preferences
2. Hide My Online Status (tick the appropriate circle)
3. Submit
There is never a reason anyone should not know what a pet is worth anymore these days. We have plenty of resources, not to mention it says on full grown pets how much they score on the rarity spectrum. If you have lost a rare pet because you were not aware of how much it was going to be worth or was worth, the harsh reality is there is no excuse, which is why you need to be active and check the provided links in the "Pet Values" section of this guide.
thank you
