From: Dog♥er

Trading Room Tips

A little jealousy here, a little jealousy there. You’ve heard of people getting great deals like, for example, white bunny ears (level 4 priceless) for a Floral Fox PSI. Wouldn’t you like to be the one with those kind of deals? However, you don’t always have to be on the winning side. Remember to be fair, and not completely cheat them out of their items. Place yourself in their shoes. In the Trading Room, it’s obviously different. Some people know the WIGEV values, some don’t. That’s sometimes good, sometimes not. If someone wants you to overpay for their items (like Love Puppy PSI and Santakinz Reindeer Antlers for their Plumpy Glasses), never, ever accept. You can get Plumpy Glasses for a much better deal. Well, here’s a guide to help you get what you want– without completely cheating out your trading partner, I hope! :) 

What to Bring

Okay, first of all, I’d take your rarest items. Keep them in your dock. Whenever you see a pet that’s wearing rare items, such as the Pumpkin Hat, or white bunny ears, invite them to trade. They usually have good items. Some pets without the rare clothes can have good items too, but the chance of it is usually less. So when you first click in the trade, put up your least rarest item. See what they have to offer, and then if you see something you like, click that you like it. If they don’t want to trade for the item you have out currently, then switch it with a better, more rare item. Sometimes people go for looks rather than value (younger kids don’t know values, they only like the looks.) It’s important to have all sorts of items in your dock, such as foods, clothing (Kinzstyle Silver/Gold dresses trade especially well), exclusives (a variety would be nice), PSIs (retired and current, for experienced and little kid traders), and anything else that you think that you could trade. Always look in the Curio Shop for some rares (Webkinz Insider forum is good for that) because you don’t know when they’ll be available again. Items that look more appealing tend to have better trade value in the Trading Room. Scientific theme-items are expensive, but it doesn’t mean that more expensive things are in high demand in the trading room. The scientific items don’t really look that cute, which is what many members are looking for. I would stay away from Medieval, Scientific, Hockey, and any other retired W-Shop theme because they look like W-Shop items, which is why people don’t even bother looking it up to make sure it is. Ancient Civilization and Egyptian themes have never been in the W-Shop and look more interesting, so you could probably trade better with those items.

How to Get What You’re Looking For

Okay, you really want that Pumpkin Hat. You’ve searched everywhere for it in the Trading Room, but no such luck. Finally, one day, you see someone that might have potential. They have white bunny ears from March ’06, and the Pumpkin Hat was from October ’06, so it’s possible they have one. But when you start trading with them, you realize that they aren’t putting up any retired stuff. The best thing to do in this situation is to put up your best items first, and then see how they react (do they like/dislike the item?) If they like your B&Y Grandfather Clock, great! If they don’t, put up another rare item. Eventually, put up 3 of your rare/exclusive items and see which ones they like. Usually once you have 3 items they like, they start putting up the good stuff. And finally, the coveted Pumpkin Hat is put up! You click the happy face for it, and since they think the trade is fair, they click “Ready to Trade.” You agree, and within seconds the cute pumpkin hat is in your dock!

How to Get All of Your Trading Partner’s Items Up

You never know what your partner could have in their dock. Maybe they’ve only showed you their least impressive items. Sometimes people have rare items, they just don’t want to put it up. If they really like one of your items, for example, but you don’t like any of theirs, just keep clicking the sad faces. They’ll eventually put up all of their items if they’re desperate. If someone quits out of the trade then invites you back again, accept because they might not have put up all of their rare items. Unless you’re absolutely sure that they don’t have any better deals, always accept. However, some kids have been playing awhile, and have rare seasonal that they don’t think are worth much. One example that happened to me was when my trading partner put up all foods and no exclusives. I only liked the exclusives and they only wanted food, and then all of a sudden, he put up Santakinz Reindeer Antlers. I had no idea what those were back then, but I just thought they were cute. Thinking the antlers was just clothes, I thought PSFs were a fair trade. Later I found out that not only was that not fair on my partner’s end, but that was soon to be priceless. I’m fairly sure that the person I traded wasn’t someone that knew WIGEV, and I didn’t know it either. 

Trading Room Courtesy

In my experience, I like talking to nice and polite people. That’s the same in the Trading Room. Greeting people with a “Hello!” “Hi!” or “Nice to see you!” usually gives you better results in the trade. It’s not impolite and bad to not say that, but I think that does help a little bit. During the trade, if it seems as if they’re out of items to trade and they really like your items, don’t just click out and assume they don’t have anything else to trade. Maybe they just have a larger dock than you, and it’s taking them longer to click through it all and find the right item. Instead, a better option is to ask them, “Do you have anything else to trade?” Chances are, they’ll reply yes because if they don’t have anything else they had or wanted to trade, they would’ve exited already. Just be patient. At the end of your trade, it’s always polite to say, “It was great trading with you!” Then they know that you are leaving, and it’s not surprising. Sometimes when people just leave in the middle of a trade, it’s like someone shutting a door in your face. 

Glitches and Scams

I’m not the only one who’s been scammed before, and I’ve figured out some ways how people have done it. One way you can get scammed is by last-minute item switching. Right before they click “Ready to Trade”, they quickly switch an item from their dock with something they already have up on the trading table. You don’t see the item switch on your screen, but you see the item blink once. That’s how you know that some item has been switched but isn’t shown on your screen. Some people have had glitches happen to them, such as when they trade, but none of the items they traded for showed up in their dock. I don’t know how to prevent this, but this glitch is probably the one you should watch out mostly for.

In Conclusion

The Trading Room can be a great place to swap items with your fellow Webkinz World members. There are times when it can be a blessing, and there are times when it can be just a headache. Hopefully, the glitches and scams won’t find their way to you, and your items will be safe. I hope these tips will help you in being a more successful trader!

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