Intro

Hello readers, my name is Meital and I wrote this guide mainly for NC customizers, rather than NC collectors. I decided to do so when I noticed how certain NC items get a value of 20-130 caps and are highly sought after, while others just as good are sold in one cap sales and consider as junk items or odds and ends.

I believe the reason for this is that people are often tend to think that expensive = beautiful. That’s why I’m here, in this guide I’ll try to show you that you can get an equally or even prettier look with cheaper items, and that cap value does not necessarily define the beauty of the item.

but before will go any further, lets define the NC values (by caps) as the NC boards see them:

Cap = Items? — Cap Value pocket Guide

No value- or in other words non-retire buyable items. meaning, items that are sold in the mall and don’t have an expiration date. most of the traders consider these items as junk items with no value since they are sold in the mall and anyone can buy them.

low value- 2-4 caps items. mainly not popular event/JJPB regulars items, you’ll be able to find these at 1 cap sales.

Medium value- 5-8 caps. mostly popular RR’s, 1-3rd JJPB bonus tiers, and nice retired items.

Medium high value- 10-15 caps. sought after LE’s. very popular retired items, last tire/popular JJPB bonus items, such as Pretty Little Daisy, Spyderweb Dress, white wig etc.

High value items- 20+ caps. rare sought after items, such as AC wig, GMC wig, radiant etc.

very high value items- 60-100+ caps. very rare old and valued items, mostly old LE and bonuses.

FAQs

well for many reasons, here are a few:

♥ you can get a lot of items to customize with, instead of few valued ones.

(this does not apply to collectors).

♥ since you’ll have a variety of items, you’ll be able to do a lot of themes and change your pets look constantly.

♥ cheaper items can be easy to obtain. you can find many great items on one cap trades, JJPB, and site events.

There are two approaches for NC trading, the first one is the business approach and the second is Trading for variety.

people that take the business approach will try to trade few low-medium valued items for one high valued item, and will try to accumulate as many big high valued items for future trading.

while people on the second approach will trade in order to increase the variety of their closet and will trade valuable items for couple of small ones.

if you are on the first group, my advice will sound to you like: Trade your sport car for 10 bicycles.

but if you are on the later you will take it as: it’s better to have a whole closet full of regular clothing items rather than one pair of designer jeans.

not exactly. unless you have the resources and the budget to trade for them by all means be my guest, but if you are on low-medium budget like most of the users you’ll need to trade wisely.

If you’ve been playing Neopets long enough, you’ve probably noticed the astonishing growth of the Neocash part; this would probably be very hard to believe but few years ago customisation was a very small part of the site and not so popular; but now, 5 years later, NC and customisation became the very heart of the site.

In this part of the guid I will give you some Do and Don’ts regarding NC trading, that will help you increase your closet variety and improve your customisation possibilities without spending a lot of money in the process.

Trade Wisely

some of the high valued items are great for customization — they can be used on a lot of themes, they are neutral and beautiful, while others might be as beautiful but they have limited customization potential; meaning, they match one theme, or few looks only.

so, you’ll have to make your choices wisely when you trade.

for example:

Good item for investment: altadorian wig with gold ribbon a.k.a AC wig. this is one of the best wigs on the site, it’s pretty on almost all of the pets, it has a good natural color therefore it matches a lot of outfits. the AC wig is valued at ±25 caps, which is a bit expensive, but worth it.

Bad investment: Quest for knowledge Boots very rare and expensive item, valued at 60 caps. I would call it a bad investment since shoes are barely noticeable on a pet’s customization, and these in particular have a look that does not match a lot of themes and can’t be worn with dress, it will probably be used on 1-2 looks every now and then.

Note: The cap values might vary with time. for more accurate info, please visit this page:

Dont Get Carried Away

There are a lot of extravagant items on the NC boards, that has a very, very high value; such as: Spyder Web Staff. Neoquest wizard Wand, Mini Monster … and more; these items are valued at 100+ caps, and worth a lot for NC collectors.

I personally think that they have even less customization value than the AC wig. so if you see these items on NC value guide and put them on your wish list just because of this logic: It’s so valuable it must be the best of all items, then you don’t actually need them!.

These are for collectors and they are rare and expensive, you won’t be able to customize a lot with them and with their price you’ll be able to get a lot of great cheaper items which can serve you better when customizing.

Still interested in High-End items?

So is there an item you just must have. an item you really love and has a great customisation value, but also has great cap value?

If so there might be a solution for you; feel free to open your calendar and mark the entire month of july!

why you ask. well each year (around the July 3rd) TNT will release a very special Mystery Capsule to celebrate the NC mall birthday. These capsules usually called NC Mall [X]th Birthday Mystery Capsule and contains a lot of previous and new limited edition items. some of the items that get re-released in these caps are extremely popular (New years backgrounds, Spyder web dress, Pretty little daisy and much more) and some are less popular (Wrap Around Towel, Twirling Fire Baton, Holiday Bumbluz Light Wings, etc), you’ll never know what you’ll end up with; it can be either a lot of popular items, a lot of less popular items or just few regular buyable items from the mall.

Another important aspect of the Birthday caps is their impact on the NC economy, these caps enable almost everyone to get their favorite items at a reasonable price, either by opening lots of caps or by trading for the RRs (Re-releases). The Birthday caps change the value of a lot of popular items and decrease it immensely,

The 5th birthday cap which was priced at 150NC (100NC less than the previous years) brought a lot of the popular items to the NC market and made their value achievable for almost everyone, here are some examples:

Again, the cap values might vary with time. for more accurate info, please visit this page:

This might be easier said than done, but if you decide to trade for the items you want from the Bday caps, please wait till the end of the month when the values are at a low point.

Odds & Ends

one user’s junk item is another’s treasure.

If you’ve been on the NC boards long enough, you would have probably seen the 1 cap sales. these boards tend to pop out when a new GB cap is available at the mall.

so if you have NC custom and want some nice retired items you’ll be able to find many of them in these sales. some times the little 1cap items makes the whole outfit; so instead of trading 10 GB caps for 1 valued item, you can trade 10 caps for 10 cool items.

(again this is not for collectors and it’s not the wise thing to do if you’re interested in accumulating high valued and expensive items).

Complete look — items: Robertas Collectors Contacts (NC), Cheery Spring Meadow Background (NC), Giant Bubble Blower (NP), Peaceful Tree Garland (NC), Kacheek Pyjama Gown (NP), Petpetpet Covered Foreground (NP), Roo Island Bug Handheld Plushie (NC) Pretty Pink Wig (NC).

Single Item: Spyder Web Dress (±15 caps)

Neopest Site events

Every once in a while you will be able to find site events in the NC mall, these events require ticket packs which costs between 200-3000NC depends on the number of tickets. a lot of people trade the big ticket packs for high value items. If you have the custom and you wish to trade for bigger items, this might be a great way to find a trade for them, since you’ll be using a lot less boxes (sometimes just one). But keep in mind that taking part in these events will get you a lot of items (in some events more thank 30 items!) and cool bonuses at the end, the GMC wig was actually the bonus for completing the entire Game master Challenge in 2010.

NC Mall Games

JubJub Power Bounce

Every season TNT releases new JJPB items, and new items are being added while the weeks goes by. JJPB is a great way to get a lot of little but very nice items, they are relatively cheap if you buy the 10/25 tokens pack, and you can also win nice bonus prizes, which tend to trade at 6 to even 15 caps value.

If you won a bonus item and you don’t like it, you can trade it for another medium-high valued item you do like; that way you’ll be able to save your custom, gift boxes and even get a lot of nice items from the game.

Some Jubjub Power Bounce items:

Wonderclaw

In this game there are there types of claw machines: cloud, fire and patchwork, all created by the very fashionable skeith Bigsby Shadington, the machines work on widgets which are obtainable on the NC mall at different prices, here is a picture of the widgets:

as you can see, there are 3 types of widgets packs:

1 pack will give you one item at the cost of 150NC, 5 pack will give you five items at the cost of 100NC per item, and the last is the 10 pack which is the most economical, will give you 10 items at the cost of 90NC per item.

another interesting addition to this game is the power ups. there are two types of power ups:

Large Claw Wonderclaw Power-Up — this power up will allow you to grab two items instead of just one. this item cannot be used on it’s own, only as an addition to widgets and will not appear in you inventory once you’ll buy it, it will only show in the game.

this power up is very recommended since it allow you to get another item for only 75NC.

for example: if you are planing to buy two 10packs (1800NC), it will be more wise to buy only one 10pack (900NC) and combine it with 10 of this power-up (750NC), this way you’ll be able to save 150NC and get the same amount of prizes.

Tier Boost Wonderclaw Power-Up — This power up will upgrade the prize you got to a higher tier (25NC). in my opinion this power up is less recommended, since unlike the JJPB game, in this game the wooden prizes are more rare than the gold ones.

Wonderclaw items here is an example of the items you can get from the wonderclaw game:

Wonderclaw items as alternatives

Cloud Castle Background

As you can see in this background there is a built-in cloud foreground that can be a great alternative for the popular feet in the clouds foreground; not only that the background’s cloud FG looks more realistic it also trades at a low price, only 1cap value while the Feet in the Clouds trades at 20caps.

Fantasical Plushie Land BG & Toy Room BG

Up until the new patchwork machine discovery, the Sewing Room Background was considered the ultimate background for plushie pets, this background is very pretty yet very expensive as it trades for 30caps value. but now, thanks to Bigsby there are two new and very beautiful backgrounds that can be used as alternatives, and the best part is that they both trades at 1-2caps each.

Credit: These two alternatives were brought to you by Kyte. ^__^

Nox Corridor of Chance

another great game is the Nox corridor of chance, in this game you can zap your pets once a day each, and get cool items.

from all of the nc games this one is less based on luck. you can chose which item you want to get so the only random part is the color of the item.

to get a certain item, your pet need to wear only one clothing item before you enter the corridor of chance.

For a wig your pet needs to wear a hat or a wig.

For a mask your pet needs to wear earrings.

For a dress your pet needs to wear a shirt or a dress.

another reason to get these items is that they are very versatile and can be used in a lot of outfits, they are fairly popular and not expensive. if you’ll buy a 20pack of keys each items will only cost 75NC.

Here are the items:

a lot of people see the NY in FL as the most precious and most beautiful Background on the site, and I agree, it is a very beautiful background but it has it’s limitations. This background has a very clear faerieland theme and a monotonous color scheme, so you won’t be able to do a lot with it; moreover the owners of this background tend to do the same combination with it (see picture); oh and one more tiny little detail, it is worth 55+ caps and it’s very hard to find.

so, if you have the money and you simply can’t live without it, be my guest; but if you don’t, you can find a very nice NP alternative: Wheel of Excitement Background and the best part is, it’s absolutely free! Well, you’ll need to earn NP’s for it, but on the plus side, you’ll get to play a lot of great flash games in the process.

The Spyder Web Super pack in particular and spooky items in general, are very popular among the NC traders.

These items tend to trade high and are very sought after.

The spyder web Super pack contains the most popular items for spooky themes: Spyder Web Mask/Dress/Gloves (all trade around ±10caps), and of course the Spyder Web Staff which is the rarest of them all (trades at 130+caps).

Since not all of us are NC collectors, or can afford such price, there are a lot of wonderful NP items that can create a similar look with fair price for everyone.

As you can see, the Dark Princess Gown (buyable) looks a lot like the spyder web one, and if you add the new mask and wig from the last NC ToT event, you will be able to get a great look with only 8 caps value.

To complete the look, you can use some really nice NP items (in green), they have a very low to medium NP cost and can be bought at users shops.

Species Specific Items

Another good NP alternative is the Species-specific clothing items, which are being released once a year on your neopet’s Pet day.

these items look very good on pets since they are designed to fit only one species; their price range is very wide, while some can be very cheap and obtainable in user shops, others can be extremely expensive, and can only be obtained via trades, auctions or restocking.

But regardless of their price, these items can be a very good substitute for expensive NC super pack items.

In the picture below you can see another popular and very valuable NC super pack, the Nutcracker Superpack.

This Super pack contains few of the most popular items in neopia: Under the Tree Background (6-8 caps); Nutcracker Jacket/Boots/Hat/Music (all trade around ± 5caps); Nutcracker Sword/Gloves, both are expensive collectors items, and last but not least the Nutcracker Face Paint a.k.a Nutty, one of the most popular items among NC traders (trades at 12-15 caps).

Few examples for cheaper Nutcracker look:

Cute girly Nutcracker:

As you can see in the picture, I used the Kacheek Mail Carrier shoes/boots (NP items) as a substitute for the Nutcracker boots.

The Fancy Kacheek gloves/sword (NP items) as a cheap, or free to be correct, alternative for the expensive Nutcracker Sword/Gloves (collectors items); The Adorable Freckles (buyable) — instead of the Nutty face paint.

I combined the Advent Calender BG (NP item) and candy cane Lights (2 caps) — to create the Xmas feel, and I chose to use the Original lulu wig rather than the Nutty hat since they have the same value and with the wig I’ll be able to create more outfits.

Band Leader or Nutcracker?

Miner Look

NC Item: Professional Mining Helmet — 2008 Super-sale item. (10-12 caps).

NP Items: Cybunny Miner Hat, Bori Miner Hat, Grundo Miner Helmet.

GMC Wig

The GMC Lulu wig is one of the most popular wigs on the site, it’s very rare to find one UFT (up for trade), it trades very high (20 cap) and it’s value is constantly increasing.

But there is some good news for Xweetok owners, there is an almost-identical wig available only for Xweetoks: Space Gypsy Xweetok Wig. this wig looks almost exactly like the lulu wig since they have the same shape and cut, the only difference is in the wigs color and ornaments.

Skelly FP and Nox Cape

Another very popular item is the Skeletal Face Paint (

15caps), also very hard to find and very sought after. But if you own a Jetsam, you will be glad to hear that the NP alternative for this item is relatively cheap and even prettier than the original.

Jetsam Witch Doctor Mask — has the Skelly FP effect and also includes a hat the resembles the Spooky Spyder Top Hat, which makes it even more profitable.

Another alternative is PB item Halloween Jetsam Cape which can be a great substitute for the Nox Cape.

Sorcerer Look

NC Item: Hubrid Nox Collectors Cape (5-6 caps), Shining Ruby Staff (5-6 caps).

NP Items: Draik Sorceress Belt and Tunic, Draik Sorceress Cloak, Draik Sorcerer Wand.

Explorer Look

The NC Adventure Set is relatively popular and trades around 4 caps per item (minus the wings which trades at 6-7caps).

Ruki:

Mynci:

Techo:

Paint Brush Items

The secret for a great customization is to use a variety of items, NP and NC; but there is another kind of items — Paint brush items.

these items are part of the pet’s color and are obtainable by painting your pet with a paint brush or zapping them at the lab. the paint brush items are usually expensive due to the paint brush high prices, but the clothing items you’ll get can be worthwhile.

Nutcracker Face Paint

The Nutcracker FP or the Nutty FP, is one of the most popular and sought after NC items, this item trade at

15caps and is very hard to find.

There is a cheaper NC alternative for this item, which a lot of the NC traders use, Rosy Cheeks Face Paint — LE from the buyable Flower Fun Superpack (Trades at

4caps).

But, if you are a Usul owner there is a FREE (NP) alternative for you: Usuki Paint Brush — This paint brush gives a Female Usul a built-in Nutty FP effect (see Picture), and it cost around 1.8m NP — which is completely free.

Princess Bubblegum

items:

Background: Waffle Paradise Background (NP), Dazzling Ice Cream Castle (1 cap), Candy Buffet Foreground (1 cap), Gingerbread Wings Shower (3 caps).

Kacheek: Bubble Gum Wig (buyable), Fluffy Feather Pillow (1 cap), Kacheek Pyjama Gown (NP), Jinjah Handheld Plushie (1 cap)

Shankuu themed background

items:

Background: Idyllic Nature Scene (NP), Shenkuu Lantern Garland (buyable), Shenkuu Bridge Foreground (1 cap).

Kacheek: Funky Shenkuu Wig (buyable), Ceremonial Shenkuu Warrior Heraldic Banner (3 caps), Shenkuu-Inspired Paper Parasol (NP), Black Lace Up Dress (1-2 caps)

Pirate themed background

items:

Background: Creepy Cave Background (NP), Doraks Boat (2 caps), Dew Drop Garland (4 caps).

Lutari: Pretty Dark Wig (buyable), Daring Sea Captain Trousers (1 cap), Bandit Mask (5 caps), Friendly Glowing Lantern (NP), Ultimate Bullseye II Quiver (NP), Evil Twin Goatee (NP), Lutari Aviator Tail Belt (NP), Striped Dueling Shirt (NP)

Sum: 10-12 caps

Space themed background:

items:

Background: Virtupets Space Station Space Dock Doors Background (Free — Code item), Petpet Goo Blaster (2 caps), Hero of Neopia Foreground (Buyable), Looming Balthazar Shadow (NP) .

Lutari (Clark Kent — Superman Theme): Suave Wavy Brown Wig (buyable), Caroler Trousers (1 cap), Sturdy Caroler Shoes (1 cap), Hero of Neopia Shirt (Buyable), Lutari Aviator Tail Belt (NP), Black Square Glasses (NP).

Sum: 4-5 caps

Gold Mine themed background

items:

Background: Dark Cave Background (NP), Gold Filled Mining Cart (NC Item), Starburst Shower (3-4 caps), Old Cobwebs Foreground (NP) .

Korbat: Korbat Miner Coveralls (NP), Korbat Miner Gloves (NP), Korbat Miner Headtorch (NP), Korbat Miner Shoes (NP), Korbat Miner Tail Cover (NP), Shiny Bag of Gold Coins (1-2 caps).

Sum: 8-9 caps

Dreamy themed background:

items:

Background: Faerieland Cloud Background (NP), Jumping Babaa Garland (3 caps), Little Babaa Shepherdess Babaa Foreground (Buyable).

Kacheek: Adorable Freckles (Buyable), Little Babaa Shepherdess Crop (Buyable SP — LE), Kacheek Pyjama Cap (NP), Kacheek Pyjama Gown (NP).

Spooky themed background

items:

Background: Spooky Tower Entrance (NP) or Haunted Trees Background (Free — Code item), Tombstone Foreground (1-2 caps), Old Cobwebs Foreground (NP), Spooky Shadows (1-2 caps) .

Mynci: The Three Collectors Cloak (NC item), Halloween Mynci Scythe (PB Item).

Sum: 8-9 caps

Magma themed background:

items:

Background: Tyrannian Volcano Lair Background (NP), Broiling Fire Foreground (2-3 caps), Breath of Fire (4 caps), Lava Puddle (NP) .

Hissi: Halloween Hissi Skeleton Gloves (PB item), Halloween Hissi Skeleton Helm (PB Item), Halloween Hissi Skeleton Hind Cover (PB Item), Hissi Knight Chestplate (NP), Hissi Swordsman Toy Sword (NP), Woodland Archer Cape and Quiver (Buyable).

Sum: 7-8 caps

Remember when we talked about investing in multi-customizable items?

well, not every item of this kind has to be an investment, some items can be very efficient and relativly cheap.

let’s take the Black Lace up dress as an example; in the pictures below you’ll be able to see 6 different outfits featuring the black lace up dress.

For more information about the items, visit:

as you might have noticed, there are some items around neopia that look almost the same.

These items, usually are new release of an older NC item or an NP equivalent.

While the NP items are completely free, the newer NC items will be, in most cases, cheaper than the original version, and will make a great substitute for new NC traders.

Here are some examples:

Hoodies:

Partly Cloudy Hoodie- Was a prize from the 2010 AC challenge, trades around 4 caps.

Pink and Purple Striped Hoodie- Prize from the 2011 Daily Dare NC challenge, traded around 1 cap while the challenge was available.

as you can see, apart from the color, the two items look exactly the same.

Sparklers:

Festive Sparkler- NC item (retired in 2009) and trades around 4 caps.

Sparkler- NP item, available at user shops.

Contacts:

Icy Blue Eyes - NC item (retired in 2010), trades around 2 caps.

Zenco the Magnificent Contacts- Prize from the 2011 Daily Dare NC challenge, trades around 4-5 caps.

In this case, the New item is more expensive than the original.

Shankuu Items:

Dresses:

Shenkuu Adventure Tunic- limited edition NC item from the 2010 Anshu Quest for Knowledge Mystery Capsule; trades at 5-6 caps.

Princess Lunara Collectors Dress- The last item from the Royal Treatment collection, trades at 2caps.

Parasols:

Princess Lunara Collectors Parasol - NC item from the Gamers Deluxe collection, trades at 4caps.

Shenkuu-Inspired Paper Parasol- r-94 NP item — slightly expensive; Obtainable via Trading post or Unis Clothing Shop (rare).

Tyrannian Items:

NC Items:

Magical Stick of Bread- 2011 Daily Dare Prize for beating Lulu; trades at 1-2 caps.

Tyrannian Bonfire - 2010 Daily Dare Prize for beating Lulu, and RR in 2011 Daily dare Retro challenge; trades at 1-2 caps.

NP Items:

Loaf of Bread Bat - 2010 Daily Dare Prize for beating AAA — very cheap, obtainable in user shops.

Campfire- r-88 NP item — relatively cheap; available at user shops.

Spring Look:

Ice Cream:

Dripping Ice Cream Cone- 2009 Summer shop buyable (3-4 caps)

Stacked Dice Ice Cream Cone- 2011 Daily Dare shop buyable (1 cap)

Backgrounds:

Tunnel of Trees Background- JJPB uberiffic prize, vary popular (+6 caps)

Spring Path Background- r81 NP item, relatively new therefore a bit expensive at the moment, available at the Trading Post.

Fireworks:

Spellseeker Fireworks - Prize for beating Lulu in the New Game Challenge for Spellseeker. Very popular item, trades at ±15 caps

Starburst Shower- Prize from the 2011 Daily Dare NC challenge.

NC Board Jargon

Being a new trader on the NC board could be extremely confusing, with all the talk about caps and values, random letters in the middle of sentences, utter gibberish.

so if you are reading this and nodding in agreement, you’re in the right place, here you can find some of the NC board common jargon and hopefully it will make everything a bit clearer.

Common Abbreviations

Popular items Abbreviations

NY in FL?!

Confused. so does a lot of other new traders!

NY in = New years in, and it refers to the LE (limited Edition) New years backgrounds.

These background are very Valuable and popular among NC traders, here is a complete list of them:

Remember that we said that Expensive does not equal Beautiful?

On this page you can find great looks created by users with minimum cap value usage, all looks are between 0-12caps.

If you want your pet to be displayed on this page, all you have to do is:

Customize your pet economically (0-15 caps only), buyable items does not have cap value (since you don’t need to trade for them). and Send a Neomail to me (Username: Shirmeital) with your theme and the link to your pet.

Since Sep 6th 2012 there is a new site for the eco looks, check it out: