Guide to Making Neopoints in the Neopets Auction House by reedeem33

Edited by Kym Huynh

Introduction

Okay, I have made a decent amount of neopoints off the auctions, and realise that not many Neopians understand how to utilize the auctions properly and are usually put off by the complexity of the auctions. I am writing this guide for those Neopians out there, so hopefully this guide does help you in making neopoints off the auctions.

What Exactly are the Neopets Auctions?

“The auction house is a place in Neopia Central where users can place an item up for an auction as another method to sell items. Users can place any item valued over 100 neopoints up for auction, and have other users bid on them. The user who bids the highest price when time runs out receives the item. Players can set a minimum price, the minimum bid to rise, and how long the auction will last.” – http://www.pinkpt.com/neodex/

This meas that is a potential market in the Neopets auction house for cheap bargains, since the price can be set by the seller. As the seller can be ignorant of the actual value of the item he/she is auctioning, there is an opportunity for other Neopians (such as yourself) to grab the item for a cheap price and resell it for a profit.

So to make neopoints in the Neopets auction house, the idea is to look out for such bargains, and snipe them off the market quickly, and then selling them at a profit at your shop, trading post, or even the auctions again.

How do I Make Neopoints in the Neopets Auction House?

It takes neopoints to make neopoints. This statement is really justified in making neopoints in the Neopets auction house. You’re going to need some neopoints pot to purchase items that are priced much lower than it should be. After acquiring these items, the idea is to resell them at their proper (or higher) price.

For example, a Christmas paintbrush is normally priced on the trading post at 230,000 neopoints. If you happen to see a Christmas paintbrush that is priced only at 50,000 neopoints, including a 1,000 neopoints minimum bid would give you a very cool profit of 179,000 neopoints.

Sounds really easy right? But you have still to consider fellow auction shoppers who would also be looking for the same bargains as you are, and a bidding war can ensue, easily propelling the price to an amount above 100,000 neopoints.

But even if a bidding war ensues, and you still manage to bid and snipe the Christmas paintbrush for 100,000 neopoints, you still make a decent profit of 130,000 neopoints.

So this means you would have to have a substantial amount of neopoints with you to bid for that Christmas paintbrush at 100,000 neopoints and have enough neopoints to engage in a bidding war with other auction shoppers.

This brings me back to the point that it takes neopoints to make neopoints, so to really make a living in the Neopets auction house, you should at least have 200,000 neopoints with you at any one time and still have backup neopoints in your Neopian bank to take out, should you spot really rare items in the Neopets auction house and decide to bid for them at monstrous prices.

Step-by-Step

1. Open 4 browser windows.
2. First window being in the Neopets auction house with its view at the bottom of the page of [Auctions 1 – 20].
3. Second window being in the shop wizard, to check prices.
4. Third window being in the trading post, to check prices of items whose value are above 100,000 neopoints (the maximum value of items in the shop wizard is 100,000 neopoints only).
5. Last window being in the Neopian bank, preparing a withdrawal of at least 1 million neopoints, putting in the pin code, but not pressing the Withdraw button yet. (I don’t really feel safe having 1 million neopoints with me, running all around Neopets.)
6. Okay, now you are at the first window, in the Neopets auction house, at the bottom of the page of [Auctions 1 – 20]. Now you should starting spotting for items with exotic names, or that they really look expensive. (You will get better with practice at spotting expensive items.) For example, you spot a “baby Aisha hair clip” with a last bid of 210 neopoints, and current price (or asking price) of 265 neopoints, and you think that it is worth much more, so you should go check the price on the shop wizard.
7. (Ctrl + C) “baby Aisha hair clip” and (Ctrl + V) it in the shop wizard search, and the cheapest price in the Shop Wizard first search is 1,400 neopoints, a profit of 1,000+ neopoints! BUT why did I mention first search of the shop wizard? Because of his introductory statement: “I’m your friendly guide to on-line comparison shopping! Type in what you want to buy and I will search through all the shops in the market to find you the best prices! (I search a different section of the market each time to get more results!)”
   In the last sentence, it says “I search a different section of the market each time” so this means that the prices in the first search may not be the actual value of the item. By refreshing your search, you are doing multiple searches on the same item, searching other sections of the market too, and if the low prices on the other searches are still around 1,400 neopoints, go ahead and bid on the item.
8. For items that have a last bid of 100,000+ neopoints and a current price (or asking price) of 100,000+ neopoints, you should really use the third window now; the trading post. So for example you spot a Christmas paintbrush with a last bid of 120,000 neopoints and current price or asking price of 125,000 neopoints, and you feel it is worth much more, you should FIRST check the price on the shop wizard. If the item is not found you can be assured that the value of the Christmas paintbrush is above 100,000 neopoints. So now, do a trading post search, and do a quick skim of the wish lists of those putting the Christmas paintbrush for sale and if most of them say it is worth 200,000+ neopoints, you should be assured that the Christmas paintbrush is worth 200,000+ neopoints and you can now safely place a bid of 125,000 neopoints for that item.
9. Now, for items worth above 1,000,000+ neopoints, you should repeat the previous steps again, and if it is really worth it, go for it. Now you can use the last window to access the bank for that withdrawal quickly so you can make a bid for the item in time.

How to Engage in an Auction Bidding War and Emerge Victorious

icecool88 7,300 neopoints 7/10/2007 02:27am
4ever4given 6,501 neopoints 6/10/2007 08:08am
frank4678 1,500 neopoints 6/10/2007 04:33am
u_melrose_u 1,251 neopoints 6/10/2007 04:04am
yvet1994 1,250 neopoints 6/10/2007 04:03am
frank4678 1,000 neopoints 5/10/2007 09:45pm

Above is a typical bidding war in the Auctions, when you first know the value of the item which in here is 20,000 neopoints, you should place bids on it that is still profitable for you (below 20,000 neopoints obviously) and place bids that should beat other bidders.

Such bidding wars, is won by quick reflexes, thinking and a bit of luck too. Quick reflexes come from your searches on the value of the item on shop wizard and trading post. Quick thinking comes from you being to make quick judgments on the spot, whether is it worth to bid that amount of neopoints for that item and still make a profit out of it.

The luck would then come during the bidding war, in which you place bids just in time before the auctions closes, and the auction closes with you being the last bidder, which means you get the item.

If you place a bid and it is unsuccessful, press the backspace button to return to the item auction page, and press refresh, and press refresh, and place another bid till it is successful.

If the bid is successful, press backspace button, and press refresh continuously till the auction is over, and if someone actually outbids you, you should immediately place another bid to outbid that fellow, and follow on with the same steps of refreshing and rebidding till the auction is over.

Things to Note

Profits really come on your judgment of an item’s value and how it sells in the market. If you are buying an item worth 175,000 neopoints in the market and its asking price is 170,000, with you able to make a profit of 5,000 neopoints. You should then ask yourself, is it really worth it to spend 170,000 just for a profit of 5,000 neopoints?

For items valued above 100,000 neopoints, using the search of trading post, you have to remember that the value of item is determined by the value Neopians place on selling it, and its price could rise and fall at any time. So be wary that profits may not be guaranteed as what may be profitable today may not be profitable tomorrow.

If you really want to make 100,000 neopoints a day, in one hour, you should go after items with huge values, and focus less on petty items worth below 1,000 or even 10,000 neopoints.

Patience is really the key to success. Persist in your bids, and even if you are unsuccessful with your bids, you should go back to the auction pages and refresh till you spot another item, and bid on it. Success in the Neopian auction house comes with patience and luck, not with bids without searching the shop wizard or trading post first.

Good Luck!

P.S. If you think this guide was useful, you can neomail a message of thanks or even make neofriends with me or even if you are that kind, you can even send me items, it would really brighten up my day. My username is reedeem33.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I find the Neopets auction house?

Click on the Neopets toolbar, shops, click on the picture of a hand holding a hammer, and there you are.

How many Neopians are there using the Neopets auction house at any time?

Less Neopians would mean less competition, and it would mean more chances of success in bidding wars, so, you should try to find out the time when they are less Neopians logged in, and log in during that time to avoid the crowds.

How much neopoints have you made off the Neopets auction house?

It is hard to gauge, but counting in all unsold items and sold items, it should be around 3.6 million in around 7 days? It adds up to around 500,000 neopoints a day.

What items should I look out for?

Paintbrushes, weapons (some people really put them real cheap on auctions), books (they can be really expensive), transmogrification potions (can be worth 100,000+ neopoints), furniture (they sell well in shops) and food too (prices may vary, but real good bargains can add up to 100,000+ neopoints).

What items should I avoid?

Treasure maps, neggs (but this may vary since some Neggs may not be spotted by auction shoppers), codestones, bottled faeries, scratchcards and dubloon coins.

Have Fun at the Auctions! – reedeem33