Q about trading TCG / pet store / collector's edition pets

[Triara]

I have a question regarding trading pets - this is a general question, so I am putting it here (if it doesn't belong here, sorry, please move this to the right forum).

What would be your recommendations for buying TCG / pet store / collector's edition pets?

I have been buying TCG pets in the past, my recommendation is to never buy the code and always buy the caged pet through the auction house. The reason: if the pet is non-legit, this puts additional protection between you and the seller - you bought it through the auction house, which shows that you didn't know the buyer and wasn't interested in any scamming business. I know of at least one case of Blizzard removing a non-legit pet which was traded via direct trade (gold for pet), but I don't know of any cases where Blizzard would remove a pet which was traded via the auction house.

Same for pet store pets - buy through the auction house, definitely don't accept real money, definitely don't give out your account info so that the seller "buys a pet for you without divulging their credit card info".

I have very little idea on how collector's edition pets are traded - what is the procedure? As far as I understand, these pets can't be caged - does trading involve a code that is sent to you? If so, that's definitely risky. Any suggestions other than the obvious "buy from someone who have already sold something like that on this site / somewhere else you trust"?

Thanks in advance for any input.

[Kpb321]

Buying cagable pets on the AH does seem to be the safest option when possible but only one of the store pets and none of the Blizzcon/CE pets are available that way. Personally, I've almost completely avoided the "questionable" sellers in Trade chat but that is as much because my main server is a low/medium pop server even after a merge that generally doesn't have them as it is because of fear of loosing the pet after the trade or an objection to what they are tied to.

I've bought/traded for basically all of the store pets and a couple of the blizzcon/ce pets and even the RAF pets. In those cases you are trading something for a code that you'll have to enter in game or on the website so obviously requires some trust on one or both sides as you can't put a code in the trade window. I'd never trade for one of these from some random person selling in trade chat but I have not had any problems doing these types of trades on the forums here. There is always a risk and I don't expect blizzard to do anything about it if you get burned. The alternative for me was to not have the pets as I was not willing to spend the money needed to get them otherwise so I tried to be careful and accepted the risk.

As far as the people on high pop servers that seem to be selling game time/pets/mounts in trade chat I'd avoid them like the plague. My understanding is that they are frequently buying them with stolen cards so everything goes through and you get you a working code and everything looks good until the charge gets disputed and reversed. Then your pet/mount/game time goes poof and blizzard isn't going to do anything to get your money back.

[Darolyn]

I just completed a trade that involved store pets. Because I'm newer to the forum, and don't have as many people to vouch for me as the person I was buying the pet for, I went first. Yes, I assumed the risk, but I felt comfortable, given the person's reputation here on the forum, that it was okay.

She and I are both happy with how the trade went. But as usual, it's buyer beware.

I'd personally never use real money to buy something for someone who didn't have a high pet score, lots of posts on the forum, perhaps MVP status...some sort of permanency.

I'm certain that, if you were to get involved in one of those types of trades, you could ask the person you were thinking about trading with for references among others on the forum. It's not fool-proof, but it certainly gives a bit of peace of mind.

Good luck!

[Morlis]

I recently did a Pet Store trade for Hatespark. Since I was putting up the real cash I asked that the other party make the first trade. They agreed and once I had Hatespark I did the gift to their email. Everyone went away happy. Had they insisted on getting theirs first I would have declined the deal. Also had they asked for Argi I would have declined the deal, last I heard Argi can not be gifted, which throws a huge problem into how to get it to the other party.

Honestly I would much rather spend a few bucks than a ton of hours on a raid that doesn't trill me much. I have done it, mainly to get the mount, but beyond that I just couldn't bring myself to farm it. The time I went it took about 2 hours and 15 minutes or so. Though I heard stories of 4 to 6 hours.