Please note: ALL contests are now banned from Neopets. This article remains online for archival purposes.
Everyday on the chat boards (I primarily lurk in Help chat board but I am sure these happened in all the other chat boards) we can see player advertise about “NEW COMPETITIONS – WIN SO AND SO” Granted it’s very annoying to see all these boards. (but where else can they advertise?) Sorry, but I digress. However it’s very hard to see any competition worthy of participating. I will never pay a lipstick for 500NPs. It’s really a matter of principle. I mean why would you want to pay for so much something that is virtually useless? Here are some of my tips of making a contest worth participating or simply showing a guideline of which contest is worth participating.
1) The prize must be good. This is really self-explanatory. I would never pay 500NPs or more per item for a competition that will only give me something worth 10,000NPs or less.
I once see a contest held by a guy who said he will give a piece of a spooky map as long as you spend 150NPs on a bag of cheesy neos (they are worth 20NPs). A spooky map piece is only worth 1,700NPs. If you buy ten bags of those cheesy neos, you might as well just pay for a spooky map piece.
Some of the good prizes include paintbrushes (like Faerie, Striped, Rainbow, Fire and Stars – these are the more expensive paint brushes), unbuyables (like wines, wellington boots, ice glove, staff of supernovas, pink job coupons.. basically all the “show off items”) and “cool” items like “Wand of light faeries, circlet of air faerie etc” Do your homework and see what people likes. Personally I won’t attempt any competition with lousy prizes.
2) Make your prices reasonable. Don’t sell everything too expensive (i.e. not 10 times what they are worth). People will not buy it that much if everything is so expensive. It would be better if you sell useful things too. Example food, toys, pet pets, Faeries. The key here is not to be greedy. If you set everything 2-3 times their value, you will already earn something in return. (that is precisely the point of contests isn’t it? To get something in return)
Some good valuations that you “might” find useful.
Normal Food = 100 – 200 NPs
Chia pops = 2,500 – 3,500NPs
Snowpuff (except for lime) = 800NPs – 1,200NPs
makeup items = 100 – 300 NPs
Faerie = 5,000 – 7,000NPs
Codestones = 6,000 – 8,000NPs
There are heaps of other items to sell, but just think twice before making everything too expensive
3) What kind of contest are you holding?
Raffles? Spend Most? Or Neomail me if you buy so and so item?
Personally I will never join any competition that boast “raffles” because there is simply no basis on it. I mean the owner could say oh so and so win, but so and so never did. I just don’t like the idea.
I also dislike the idea of “neomail me” when you buy so and so item. Now before you buy an item, always neomail the person first. Some nasty blocked everyone but their neofriends. So always check for your own sake.
The most popular contests seem to be “spend most and you win so and so” I will probably only join such a contest IF and only IF they show who are the ones that is leading and how much they have already spent. It’s unfair if this information is not disclosed. When they said “so and so” is winning, check “so and so” to see if s/he really can have so much NPs. (there are scams who people make a new account and then said it’s their other account who wins, and hence the items stay within them)
Ok now that you have a great prize (it’s always a good idea to have 1st, 2nd and 3rd prices so that people will know at least they can aim for 2nd place), some great goodies to sell. How do you let people know of this competition? There are a few ways I will recommend
I) Advertise in the chat boards (prove to be popular). I said “advertise” NOT “spam”. Spamming is both illegal and annoying. Showing the same board about your competition will only get heaps of rude comments and disgruntled players. Once every 30 mins is decent. Or even once every hour. Be as informative as possible. Don’t say “GREAT CONTEST!!!” then “come to my shop”. I mean who cares about your contest? If I see something like “WANT TO WIN A RED WINE?” then “I am now holding a great competition in my shop, if you spend most within the next 3 days, the first prize is an unbuyable red wine! Come to my shop for more information” Then at least I get more information and more interest
II) Retain some items in your normal shop for cheap (or sell some items cheap but others expensive… but all items are to be used for the competition). Then at least people using the wiz to find something cheap, they will still see your shop. Tell that you have a competition going on by means of banners/wordings/warning windows.
III) Get friends or participants to refer with some incentives. eg “if you refer a person to spend more than 5,000NPs in my shop, I’ll give you 2,000 points for free!”
Now that you have set up ur contest, have you set the end date? Don’t span your contest for more than 10 days. People do get bored after a short while. 3 – 7 days will be a decent amount of time. Don’t extend if you didn’t get enough NPs (or didn’t get the expected amount of NPs) It’s kinda low.
Always display your contest prize (if it’s a wand of supernova, show us that you have one and priced it at 200,000NPs).
Finally (something I must add) don’t spend all your NPs in one contest (either by setting up one or by joining one). And many might be scams. All you have to rely on is the credibility of this person. Always check the pets/shop size/etc of this person who held the contest and see if s/he has anything to lose. I mean if he has great pets and you report that he is a scammer, he would lose out a lot hence s/he would probably be less likely to cheat and scam. If s/he insists that he is using another account. What is the other account. Is it really his/hers? Be save than sorry. If you can’t afford a contest or participate in one, then don’t 😉
Hope this helps