pet traders please dont rip us off :(

[Poofah]

So 1us dollar is worth like 1g - 1.25g?

No, they were saying 1 USD is roughly 1000 gold. This is a decent estimate, but it varies quite a bit from server to server: gold is worth more on high-pop servers because there's more competition among sellers, and practically speaking there is more stuff to buy--you may never see a Soul Trader on a low-pop AH, for example. The biggest and most robust market that I know of for pets is Illidan(H). It's worth making a lowbie there just to check out the prices even if you don't intend to accumulate or transfer funds there. Just be aware that it's a buyer's market for all but the highest-end pets. That means the prices will almost certainly be lower there than your home server, but it should give a good sense of what pets are selling for relative to one another.

For the TCG pets, supply basically drives their prices, and supply comes from two places: booster packs and BMAH. There's a post on the wow pet forum that gives the chance of getting a TCG pet in a booster pack, http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/8569860065. (I don't like the tone of that post but the TCG info is good). Almost all of those pets can show up on BMAH, *except* soul trader and tiger cub, which keeps the prices for those 2 pets very high. The others have dropped somewhat and will continue to drop as the BMAH creates more copies.

[Mushalor]

Poofah summed up my awkward post much more eloquently and concisely than I managed in fumbling to explain.

[Restofarian]

Illidan is indeed the best server for it.

I spent like 30k in my home server buying pets and sold a lot of my spare ones (already upgraded and leveled). in one week I raised enough to finally get my rocket chicken.

[Ackbah]

There are “Collectors” and there are “Traders” and there are people like me that have become one in the same as a means to an end. When I have every pet that is available, I will finish up by trading extra pets for stones and, uncommon’s for rares. Then I am done.

I have been a collector for years of rare comics and magazines. I have a mint Vampirella Comic collection that took years of hard work to complete, as well as some original Simon Bisley paintings (published in Heavy Metal stuff!!) etc. the TGC’s that I buy are financed by selling duplicates from the comics I collect.

As a collector I can tell you that when you get near the end of a collection (regardless of what you collect) you go into a tizzy to complete your collection. My wife knows when it is happening without me saying anything, she can see it on me, its physical !!

It is during this tizzy that you can and will be taken advantage of if you do not calm yourself down and learn to say no.

The different types of people that are trading pets are so varied. There are people that have all the time in the world to play and have access to everything in the game but do not have RL$$ for the TGC’s. I am sure that it is a rude stereotype (Kids with no access to mom’s credit card !!) Another type are people that have RL$ but not much time to play. There are people who trade to complete collections, and people that trade for profit and people that trade for the social aspect of it.

The first person I contacted cross realm was awful, everything she had that I wanted was off the charts high valued and of course everything I had to offer was worth little to nothing to her….It was unpleasant and uncomfortable. I almost gave up the whole trading thing. Lucky for me I ran into a few people like Tactical Nuke and Rakeling that are fair and fun.

I recently made a trade for a Gryphon Hatchling and agreed to mail the plushy to a player. After contacting the guy it turned out that he lives in Canada. Eek, I took a bath on the shipping. I did not have to ship it, but I did it anyway as I had already committed (the plushy was for his newborn son !!) I told him the postal cost and he hooked me up with another pet to soften the $$ pain, haha then I got a pic e-mailed to me of the baby and the pet….so made it worth it). There are good people here, don’t let a few profiteers sour your passion for collecting.

Moneypenny, I think you are in the tizzy !! Relax and enjoy, in time you will get your stuff.

With regards to pet trading, I do not like the term “Rip us Off”, no one can rip you off unless you agree to it, after all you are the one that presses the trade button. Just say no thanks and move on, just as it is stated by Doob in the trading forum guidelines.


Ack )

[Cendir]

I dunno. I have to say I rather disagree with the OP. Sure some people may ask something for a pet that pretty much everyone else would say is a bad deal, but... don't trade with them if that pops up. No one owes a trade to anyone else, as has been mentioned. You can only be "ripped off" if you allow it. And even then, if you got what you wanted, did you really get ripped off? I used to trade MTG cards online quite a bit (while I've never traded pets yet - I got nothing good haha) so I've seen ALL kinds of trades.

The reality is, people value different items differently. The best example I can think of regarding pets is the additional value some (most?) people place on max level pets. To me, a level 25 pet is worth no more than a level 1 pet. Ever. To me, leveling a pet is trivial and can be done very fast. The gold difference however would take me quite a long time to get. I don't have a decked out character to run around soloing stuff for good drops to sell on the AH, or have the knowledge on how to earn serious coin in game. But to someone who does? Paying a premium for max level pets may be the only way to go for that person, because acquiring gold is trivial to them while they don't know how to level pets fast.

Twice so far I've seen pets on the AH listed at (imo) super high prices that I knew would never sell. Sent a message to each of the sellers offering a lower price if they didn't sell, and in each case, someone actually did pay that high price (go go med pop server?). I might think those prices crazy, but if someone is paying it, then that price is worth it to *someone* and the seller did well to ask so much. Who are you or me to tell those people they paid too much and got ripped off?

[Threnody]

Like Ackbah, I've also become a "trader" as a means to complete my collection. I'm more of a social trader -- I have gold enough to buy most of the pets I want but I prefer pet swaps over AH purchases. Trading adds another fun aspect to my WoW experience. I still scour the AH for pets though. AH shopping is also fun

When I do trade, I always keep in mind that pet value is subjective. Other people may value time, gold, or real $$ differently than I do. And as others have pointed out, people use different servers' AHs for reference on prices. For me, only the AH on my home server really matters as that's where I intend to spend most of my time and gold, and I'm not interested in building a cross-server financial empire. Fortunately, my server's economy is healthy enough to suit my needs.

Of course, the person I'm trading with may not care at all about my server's AH. I don't think they're trying to rip me off when they say they would like to get more than my offer. I just politely say no and move on.

[Opallena]

I think part of the problem with these outrageous prices is due to the fact that people simply do not know what would be a fair price for certain pets. Definitely worth a shot to ask sellers to lower their prices though, worked for me so far anyway

On the topic of AH prices too, I know some people simply put high prices on items simply to let others know they are available, and most sellers of said items (usually a pet or mount) are open to negotiation. I myself have posted a reins of posiedus for probably 10-20k more than it was worth, then sold it for less while broadcasting over trade chat.

[Raptorbait]

Free Market...boom done

[Tasenet]

A guildmate of mine was downplaying the value of the darkmoon eye back when it first came out; the first week of the dailies I wound up with 2 of them and was thinking of trading for something. Since they were like "oh I don't even think it's worth 10k and will just wait" I traded one for a gregarious grell and I am STILL kind of frustrated about that. Never doing that again. I'm really mad to be honest, still. What the trader did was mean, they knew they were ripping me off.

[Clatong]

To echo a few thoughts here:

I also don't place any value on leveled pets over a level 1 pet. I think any of us with fliers and good level 25 pets can level a new pet from 1 to 25 in 30 minutes or so, and to me, I'd rather spend those 30 minutes than pay even a couple hundred extra for a max level pet.

I do most of my 'trading' at the auction house, buying and selling. I have happily sold some pets to people who have asked via whispers/mail at less than what I was trying to get through the Auction House, both because I save on the 5% fee, and because I'm usually happy to help out someone who I know really wants the pet, and isn't just trying to turn another profit. Also, I've had good experience, as others here have, sending a message to another AH seller offering less gold than he's trying to get via the AH.

As with all trading, do your research, and make trades that feel right to you and how you value the pets. If something doesn't line up, pass on the trade and keep looking!

[Poofah]

A guildmate of mine was downplaying the value of the darkmoon eye back when it first came out; the first week of the dailies I wound up with 2 of them and was thinking of trading for something. Since they were like "oh I don't even think it's worth 10k and will just wait" I traded one for a gregarious grell and I am STILL kind of frustrated about that. Never doing that again. I'm really mad to be honest, still. What the trader did was mean, they knew they were ripping me off.

Prices on the latest ingame pets are extremely volatile, so for example with Darkmoon Eye there was a burst of demand and very little supply after the first DMF that it could drop. I saw them sell for 50k back then. But now after a few more DMFs they're down in the 20k range and they will continue to drop. It will probably take a while to get into the same price range as Grell, but it will get there eventually because the DMF daily is convenient enough that people will continue to do it even after they've gotten their Eye. Whereas Grell for example is tied to a physical object that has a known and limited supply. So although it's currently lower than Eye, it will hold its value better over time, and eventually they will probably be quite close in price.

Now, I'm not saying your guildie was justified--just that it's possible they really were willing to wait until the price inevitably dropped into their 10k range. They still should have recognized that at that time you'd get a better deal from somebody who wasn't willing to wait.

[Tahsfenz]

I'd feel bad if a trade was lopsided heavily in my favor. Sometimes people insist though, but other times I'll toss in something I know they needed just to level things out. It makes them happy & hopefully build a reliable trading partner. These pets are like baseball cards when I was a kid. Everyone values them differently. Level 1 or 25 doesn't make a difference, so I won't overpay unless i REALLY want something.

Bottom line, you should feel comfortable with who your trading with. If not, move on. There are plenty of traders out there. You'll eventually get what you want.

[Raptorbait]

I think there are some valuable life lessons that can be learned through the free market in WoW. Patience and planning are key. If you are an emotional buyer/trader and get "ripped off", it's not that fault of the other party. Learn and grow. Whiners are not winners, in WoW or in life. Much better to learn here.

[Waflob]

At the risk of revealing my naughty secrets ( ), realm plays a huge part here.
I've been making decent gold between 2 servers by buying cheap pets on one and selling them on another.
It's really odd, but server A has the new pets from 5.2 at a really cheap price (about 20% of the price on server B), and conversely, the older raid pets and DMF pets are cheap on server B and expensive on server A. Since pets are now account wide, it's really easy to do this.

It might just be that people have a different realm in mind when making comments about value and prices.

Just my $0.02 ...

[Pocketimp]

Something to consider also. TCG pets can and do show up on the BMAH. Blizzcon pets never do. Would you rather spend digital currency or real currency? I have a friend who has over 500k gold because he raids and mines all day. He would never pay $100 on e-bay for a Murkablo Code but he'd blow 175k gold on the BMAH for a Dragon Kite and trade it for the code.

[Aislinge]

At the risk of revealing my naughty secrets ( ), realm plays a huge part here.
I've been making decent gold between 2 servers by buying cheap pets on one and selling them on another.
It's really odd, but server A has the new pets from 5.2 at a really cheap price (about 20% of the price on server B), and conversely, the older raid pets and DMF pets are cheap on server B and expensive on server A. Since pets are now account wide, it's really easy to do this.

It might just be that people have a different realm in mind when making comments about value and prices.

Just my $0.02 ...

I do this all day - between 4 servers now (I've cut back). It's my way of watching 4 BMAH and jumping in on cheap pets as they arise. I have a set price in mind which I know, across all those servers, is an acceptable/cheap price then I pounce. Sometimes I lose, but sometimes I make money. In the end, all I want are ones like the TCG's and Darkmoon Rabbit which, in the past I would have paid RL currency for but can now slowly work to buy with gold.

Remember - an item's value is what you place on it. Nothing more.

[Ravnhawk]

Just my 2 cents. I am having a blast trading, not so much for the trades as for the people I've met. I love hearing when people get stone drops or new gear or even that elusive pet that won't drop for me,. (Hear that fishies! I am talking about you) The most fun is heariongg some one FINALLY got that last stone to drop they needed to make all their pets rare. That really makes me smile. Or they got their last pet to 25.

I have never had anyone on this forum try and rip someone off. Says a lot for the people here.

It never hurts to ask someone if they are willing to take a lower price for a pet most will. Some won't that's the free market. Have fun. It's all about the fun and when you get down to it. These pets and gold are simply pixels. That saves me a lot of frustration. It's all just pixels. (Especially when I meant to put a Red panther mount on the AH for 24,000 g and put it up for 2400.) And imagine how fast that sold LOL.

[Ryazan]

(Especially when I meant to put a Red panther mount on the AH for 24,000 g and put it up for 2400.) And imagine how fast that sold LOL.

Earlier this week I managed to sell Sunfur Panda for 16,99g... Few forgotten numbers here and there, no biggie! :D

[Dragonwizard]

(Especially when I meant to put a Red panther mount on the AH for 24,000 g and put it up for 2400.) And imagine how fast that sold LOL.

Lol back in the begining of wrath I put up a Vial of the sands for a whooping 4200G instead of 42,000G. Lets just say they was some eRage towards myself when I logged in the next day.