How to tell how hard to sell something is.

[Siniri]

I just won my 3rd Christmas paintbrush in a week (refreshing at the Advent Calendar) and put it on the trading post. Within seconds, someone had bid a Yellow Meerca (TCG). I looked it up on the trading post, and people are asking 800-900k for it. Now, I'm assuming it's really hard to sell. But the Christmas paintbrush is only worth 200-220k. So if I had accepted and then priced the TCG for, say, 500k (or even 250k), would it have still been hard to sell? Or do restockers snap them up (the way they would an underpriced paintbrush, for instance?

(This is now a moot point because the bid was withdrawn when I didn't respond within five minutes. But just out of curiosity, have you ever been burned getting stuck with a HTS item? Have you ever undercut the price to get a HTS item to move? If so, by how much? If I keep winning these paintbrushes, I'm going to be using the trading post a lot more, and I want to be ready to make a decision if another opportunity/trap comes my way.)

Thanks for any replies!

[Mongrel]

I once fell for a sort of scam with a Feathered Pteri Cloak. There were only 3 on the TP, and the only asking price was 1.4 million. When I accepted it, several more cloaks filtered onto the TP around the 600k price, and I realized I'd been had.
Items with high rarity and low demand are hard to gauge price-wise, which is why the above scenario works. You have to wait for someone who wants your item to come looking for it, and the only use a card has is to go in a gallery. It probably would've been incredibly HTS, and you'd need a lot of patience.

[Siniri]

Thanks, Moongewl. I was suspicious of something like that, so I tried refreshing to see how many were available on the TP; it seemed like about 6 (all different users). And none of them were the bidder. I would think that what happened to you is against the rules (I'd call it a scam); I hope you were able to get your NP back or something.

The other quick bid I received was a water muffin and a green paintbrush. Did they really think I don't know what those are worth (or at least check)? I think I'll just wait until someone offers me NP -- it's probably safest.

Thanks again for the feedback, Moongewl.

[Mongrel]

I would think that what happened to you is against the rules (I'd call it a scam); I hope you were able to get your NP back or something.

It's considered artificial inflation, but by the time I realized I'd been scammed, I'd lost the username. I just considered it a lesson learned and let it drop.

[Unitylejean]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it considered a scam only when several people team up to create artificial inflation? And when one person tries to do it, it's just considered to be in bad taste, but perfectly legal?

[neobeth]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it considered a scam only when several people team up to create artificial inflation? And when one person tries to do it, it's just considered to be in bad taste, but perfectly legal?

Yes if just one person is doing it its legal. This has been covered in the times many times.
Also the price on christmas paintbrushes is only going to rise as we get closer to christmas.

[Anoohilator]

Heh I once traded a PPPB for a TCG card once

[Medusa]

You could always duck onto the Shop/Auction/Trade Post Board on Neopets and state that although you're not currently selling see what people will pay for xyz item. Often, you'll find that HTS items will get quoted at a buyable/close of buyable price irrelevant of how many million they're going for on the TP.

The problem with HTS is that they're HTS because people don't want to buy them without being able to get out quickly, that means even if you do drop the price to 200k between then and the time someone comes looking for one other users have also dropped their asking prices to 200k or less.

Seriously, I'd stay as far away from HTS as possible. Neopoints, codestones, paint brushes, (good) weapons and a small number of the stamps are still the safest bet.