Neopets Pound Chat

The Pound Chat (Neopets PC Chat) may seem intimidating, especially to newcomers – there are a lot of terms to memorize and rules to remember so I’ve tried to compile everything onto one semi-neat page.

Acronyms

If you need to find a specific acronym, search using Ctrl + F!

PC = pound chat
UFT = up for trade
UFQT = up for quick trade – generally the owner will decide right away if they want to trade or will take a day or two to decide at most
UFA = up for adoption
UFQA = up for quick adoption – usually the new owner will be chosen right there on the board or within a day
UFT/A = up for trade or adoption – the pet may be traded or adopted out
UFQT/A = up for quick trade or adoption – you can probably figure this one out
UC = unconverted (pet)
BD = battledome (pet)
SBD = starter battledome (pet), typically with 300 HSD or less
HSD = health + strength + defense combined
VWN = very well named – first letter capitalized, no underscores or numbers, pronounceable and not too long
WN = well named – the name may be slightly longer, some people find that uncapped names can also be WN, still no underscores or numbers
DN = decently named – this covers a variety of name formats and it’s highly subjective! some people are okay with one or two underscores or numbers, others find that being uncapped is automatically DN or if the name is very long
W/DN or WN/DN = well named to decently named – this covers both categories if you’re not quite sure what to call your pet
BN = badly named – usually with numbers and/or underscores, may be uncapped
VBN = very badly named – keyboard smash or has multiple numbers and/or underscores
V/BN or VBN/BN = same as above, if you’re not really sure what to call it
#L = the number of letters in a pet name
#C = the number of characters in a pet name – includes numbers and underscores
Y# = the Neopets year that the pet was created, Y1-3 are generally the most sought after
RW = real word
RN = real name
RW/N or RW/RN = is both a real word and a name
MS = misspell
PRDK = plushie, royal, draik, krawk – generally they are the highest valued UCs, some people only want to trade within the top tiers
RB & RG = royal boy & royal girl
EB & EG = elderly boy & elderly girl
FFQ = fountain faerie quest
NTY = no thank you
GL = good luck
GLT = good luck trading
ARB = accept, reject or beat (board) – boards people make when they aren’t sure of a trade and need extra help
PSA = public service announcement (board) – usually to warn other players of hackings and other unsavory events
BFA = bump for awareness – often used on PSA boards
HTT = hard to trade (pet)

** Please understand that not everyone has the same idea of what constitutes VWN, DN, etc., this is only meant to be a guide of sorts – you may think a name is decent while someone else might call it WN! It’s not nice to go on someone’s board and tell them that they’re wrong about their OPINION so if you don’t want to offer on their pet, just move it along.

Transfers

foo_number_pasta-4751549

The Neopet you want to trade for isn’t showing up?

Your new PB clothed pet doesn’t have its clothes anymore?

The user you want to trade with doesn’t exist?

Tip: You can transfer a pet twice in one day

Wanna back out of a trade?

it’s okay!

Customs

Custom for trade
When someone says they are offering a custom, it means that they will either create a new pet, use a pet from the pound, or use one of their own pets to morph and/or paint using up to a certain amount of NPs, to trade for your pet.

Items may not be added to the pet neither as part of a custom nor to increase its value. That means no petpets, petpetpets, NP wearables, NC wearables, added faerie abilities, or anything else you can think of. We are trading one pet for one pet and nothing more.

Since a new Neopet cannot be pounded or transferred until it is one week old, or 168 hours, it is highly recommended that the person doing the custom does not morph or paint until right before the trade. This way, should the other trader back out, any items that were purchased can be resold and nothing (hopefully!) will be lost. Make sure to double check with the other person one last time before morphing/painting.

Now what about using your own pet? Why not just send it to the other person and have them paint it then you can trade for it back? This is not allowed by TNT, unfortunately.

From Editorial 363
When trading a Neopet, there are currently three ways people do it. One, I trade my island Kacheek for your zombie Aisha. Two, I create (or paint/morph an existing Neopet) an island Kacheek and trade it for your zombie Aisha. And three, I send you my Kacheek, you paint it island, THEN you send me my Neopet back and I send you the zombie Aisha. The third method is my question — is this acceptable? ~impishmars
The first two are fine, but the last would be a no-no, since you are basically selling the zombie Aisha for a Mystery Island Paint Brush, and that is not acceptable.
You may not pound your pet and have the other user just happen to catch it! It is considered a loophole and still against the rules.

From Editorial 363
So, let’s say I trade a Neopet for a 3 million NP custom. Would it be allowed for me to send the Neopet that I want customed over and, rather than having them paint it, ask that a Mootix (which costs 3 million) be attached instead, serving in place of the “paint job” custom? Technically you can’t profit from it, as Petpetpets disappear when traded, but Mootix are still items. I asked people on the Pound boards about this and got VERY strong mixed answers as a reply. Also, are you allowed to trade Neopets using aged avatar Neopets / Mootix as an extra? I desperately want answers to both of these questions. Please remove my username. Thanks! ~[username removed]
One Neopet for another Neopet is what you are allowed to trade. Petpets, extraneous items, Neopoints, or even extra Neopets are NOT allowed to be considered part of the trade.

Remember that FFQs are absolutely fine to trade! You can advertise them just like you would any other custom, the above rules still apply. However, you must complete the quest on your own. The other trader is not allowed to buy the item for you or “donate” to help you buy it.

Custom for adoption?
In short, you can’t do that (FFQs included). But it’s a very nice thing to want to do! Instead, a common thing that I’ve seen is to take a poll asking people what pet they would like to see go UFA. The most popular pet tends to win and is created (or picked from the pound, the person can even morph/paint a pet they already own) THEN put UFA.

From Editorial 369
While wandering the Pound chat as of late, I’ve noticed several people putting a “10 million NP custom up for adoption.” This apparently consists of someone making an application, stating what they would ask the custom maker to create. I’m wondering if this is bending the spirit of the rules a little, in that it’s 1.) essentially applying for a Neopet that doesn’t exist yet and 2.) pretty much applying for money, even if it is to be a Neopet. Not being an adopter or custom maker, but rather as an impartial observer, I’m curious: is this allowed? ~anjie
This is bending the spirit of the rules. No one should advertise a Neopet that doesn’t even exist yet, nor should they advertise an application that even resembles a competition and/or sale.

From Editorial 703
Hi, I hope you’ll don’t mind me asking but is adopting a pet from a friend, painting it with our fountain faerie quest and adopting it back to our friend be illegal? or legal? Thank you for taking the time to look at this and hopefully I can get a response back soon! ^^ ~acerawr
Hi! So unfortunately, you cannot use your fountain faerie quests for another user. It’s a nice thought, but we ask each user to work towards their own goals and enjoy the benefits, instead of using someone else’s.

What about BD customs?
Surprisingly, these are allowed!

From Editorial 583
Hello, TNT! So, this has been worrying me a little. When you transfer a Neopet, does he lose his new faerie abilities, or will they go with him like the old ones? Also, when you trade for a Neopet, is it permissible to ask (as part of a custom) that they train a certain faerie ability to the Neopet? I know that asking for a painting is allowed, as is asking for training, and since this is (in my opinion) kind of the same thing, I was wondering if it was allowed or not. Best wishes and thanks! ~denu_23
Abilities do transfer with the Neopet. We barely tolerate the whole “training” part of customs, but also asking for abilities just pushes things too far. Basically, we don’t want you to be “paying” someone to play a part of the game for you. That’s why we have a low tolerance for such things.

Backing out of a custom
This is not against the rules to do, even if the pet has been morphed/painted already. But it is extremely frowned upon in our little community and truthfully, can be heartbreaking for the other trader.

From Editorial 434
Hey TNT, thanks for the site. In last week’s Editorial, in response to a question about trading customs, you said: “They are not obligated to give you their Neopet just because you spent Neopoints on painting or morphing your Neopet into something they wanted, even if they had agreed to trade with you if you did so.” However, this is at odds with an earlier Editorial question (from issue 380) that stated: “By this stage it would be too late to cancel the deal. The other person has already invested Neopoints or altered their Neopet to fit the trade agreement.” Which is true? Are there different scenarios where backing out after someone has completed a custom is okay? (This seems unfair to me.) Thanks, please remove my username. (: ~ username removed
We believe the confusion caused from past Editorials is that they have referred to custom Neopet trading with regard to Neopoints invested. For instance, Player A says they will trade their Royal Neopet for another Royal, so then Player B purchases a Royal Paint Brush to paint their Neopet Royal for the trade. Player A then changes their mind, leaving Player B upset and with an unused Royal Paint Brush that they had invested their Neopoints into for the purpose of trading Neopets. At this point Player B could sell the paint brush and regain all or nearly all of their Neopoints back. If Player B had painted their Neopet Royal before Player A had backed out, then they would have had enough cause to report Player A to our monitors for further investigation, but that does not mean Player A was in the wrong or a trickster.

When you agree to a custom trade, you are trading a Neopet for a Neopet. The cost of the paint brush or morphing potion cannot be considered in the trade, as that would be against our Terms of Service and trading a Neopet for Neopoints. No matter how much a paint brush or morphing potion costs, you are willingly painting your Neopet to match the trader’s request, and should do so at your own risk. While we do not encourage players to back out after a Neopet has been painted or morphed, players can back out or change their minds at any time. If you think someone is deliberately abusing this to trick people, then you should report it to our monitors for them to investigate. We will warn or freeze players that we find repeatedly doing this to others.

This is why it’s especially important to wait until the last minute to morph/paint!

What about special pets?

It’s 100% okay to look for or seek offers for the following pets:

- - Battle pets of course!
  - Pets of a specific age
  - Pets with trophies
  - Glitched pets (for example, negative stats or unknown Grundos)
    
    From Editorial 722
    I’ve been scouring past Editorials, but can’t find the answer to this question. Am I allowed to mention that my pet has 2 Beauty Contest trophies when I’m trying to trade her away to another player, or is this against the rules? Would it be suspicious if I trade my Orange Koi (with gold and silver trophies) to someone else for, say, a Royalboy Cybunny? There are a couple of artists who want my Koi, because they want to continue earning her trophies. The Help Neoboard, Art Neoboard, and Pound Neoboard all have no idea. Thanks for publishing my question! ~ indulgences
    Hi there! Everyone has different things they look for or ways to value pets, whether it be colour, stats, name, or trophies won. If someone values one over the other and agrees to a trade, who are we to say no?

Editorial 384
I’ve seen a lot of people trading glitched Neopets. You know, Neopets with eyes missing, mouths that disappear, and some with zero or negative stats. However, when I made a topic asking if anyone would trade for my glitched stat Neopet, someone told me that I could be frozen for profiting from a glitch. So, is trading glitched Neopets something we shouldn’t be doing? ~muffinplz

Editorial 622
As you probably know, there are a small number of Neopets that have negative stats and 0 height and 0 weight, which came from a glitch in the old Neopet creation system. In a previous Editorial you mentioned that glitch ‘pets were okay to trade as long as the receiver is aware the Neopet may be fixed (that was in reference to the unknown Grundos). I would like to know what your official stance is on negative-statted Neopets; they’ve been around for years, but they offer no advantage to anything (you can’t go into the Battledome with them), so they are essentially harmless. Will you be keeping these unique ‘pets as they are for the foreseeable future? I really love my negative-statted Neopet. Please remove my username. ~username removed

However, you may NOT advertise your pet nor look for one that:

- Has a specific petpet or petpetpet – this includes zapped, UC, and glitched petpets!
  
  From Editorial 470
  I’ll get to the point real fast: if I’m on the Pound Chat, am I allowed to make a topic that pretty much says “Basic Neopet with aged zapped Snowbunny UFT! (Get Snowbunny avatar!)”? From what I see, there are two conflicting points. 1. No Neopoint profit can be made, but 2. It “sort of” breaks the spirit of trading a Neopet for an item instead of a Neopet for a Neopet. Ambiguous, sort of, so I figured I’d ask. xD ~tealnova_dragon
  Not ambiguous to us. You would be attempting to trade a Neopet for an avatar / Petpet. Neopets can ONLY be traded for another Neopet. Rest assured that, if we see a plain blue Lupe being traded for a royal Acara, we’re going to know something is up and investigate.
  
  From Editorial 587
  Hi, TNT. *hands you a sandwich* On the Pound Chat, a lot of people have lately been posting things such as “Looking for Neopet with an avvie Petpet” or “Looking for a Neopet with a Mootix attached.” I know that trading a ‘pet specifically for the Petpet is against the rules, but what about for a Petpetpet? They can not get it off and sell it, so it would just be for the avatar. Is that allowed? ~sillyblondegirl17
  No. The Petpet still has a Neopoint value, even if it can’t be removed. You may trade one Neopet for one Neopet. That’s all.
  
  From Editorial 587
  Hi, TNT! *throws asparagus cookie* I’m looking for some clarification. I was lurking the Pound Chat boards the other day and someone had a badly named, cheaply painted Neopet up for trade. The Neopet had a very old Petpet (a Boris) attached. Numerous other players came on the board telling the original poster that it was against the rules to advertise the Petpet as adding value to the Neopet, as it would be like trading items for Neopets. The OP responded by saying that that rule doesn’t apply because the Petpet has no Neopoint value, and that it only adds trading value to the Neopet it’s attached to. Is this correct? Are unconverted Petpets allowed to be advertised as part of a Neopet trade? ~_crescendo
  Hey guys, Hanso here. The Editorialist just screamed, threw a keyboard across the room, and then tossed the computer monitor out the wind0w.
  We’re taking that as a “no.”
  
  BUT this is not to say that is against the rules to trade for a pet with a petpet or petpetpet that is still attached. It just means that they cannot add to the value of the pet itself.
  UC pets
  UC means unconverted, these are pets that were made before the site revamp that took place on April 26, 2007. For years, players asked TNT to allow their pets to wear clothes but the only way to do this was to make standardized poses. Now all pets of a given species have the same pose with the exceptions of Baby, Maraquan, Mutant, and the edible Chias. The NC Mall was also introduced as well as a total overhaul of the layout of Neopets.
  
  UCs are essentially retired pets and cannot be created anymore. Because of this, unconverted pets are highly coveted and sought after. Not all pets were allowed to stay unconverted though, only some of the more detailed colors had the option and even then, it seems that random pets of certain colors were excluded from keeping their old form. Here is one example of an unconverted pet in comparison to its converted counterpart:
  UC pets are flat images so their ability to be customized is limited. They can wear things like backgrounds, foregrounds, trinkets and sound effects. They cannot wear anything that goes directly onto the body. Their facial features never change regardless of being sick, sad, angry, or injured.
  
  Altering a UC’s appearance in any way will convert it!
  
  From Editorial 526
  Hey, so you know how, when you change a few things on Neopets and you’re happy with it, but then sometimes feel like you’re going to miss the old thing that you fixed? Well, I was thinking about the unconverted Neopets or whatever you call them… well, my best friend had a UC Neopet, but then when she painted it royal it was normal. She was not in the mood to do anything later. So I was thinking that, when you go to the Rainbow Pool to paint a Neopet pirate / Halloween / faerie / royal, etc., perhaps you could have a choice of keeping it normal or unconverted. That would make my friend really happy. 🙂 ~tulituli9025
  Whoops. :X There is no possible way for unconverted Neopets to be created by any means. It’s just artwork that hasn’t been updated, not a type of colour. Therefore, when you paint an unconverted Neopet, it’s going to become whatever the current artwork for that colour is. There is no way to paint a Neopet and have the unconverted aspect preserved, and that is not a functionality we have any plans to change.
  
  Will they ever be creatable?
  Some people think that UCs should be brought back in the form of a Neocash buyable. Could TNT do this? Yes of course, I’ve seen them unconvert UC pets that were stolen and converted. It’s possible but HIGHLY unlikely that we’ll ever see new UCs.
  
  From Editorial 683
  I really like UCs, and I know other Neopians do, too. There should be an option to choose either a UC pet when creating a pet, or create a normal pet. Can you please bring UCs back? ~popcorn_snuffler
  We’re glad you like them! However, currently we have no plans to bring back unconverted Neopets as a creatable option.
  
  From Editorial 647
  Hey, TNT! I’ve been hearing lately that Jumpstart is considering bringing back unconverted Neopets. I, personally, hope this is true, but can you shed some light on this before I get my hopes up too much? Thanks! ~poogle_girl287
  Uh, no. Unless we state in big, bold letters on New Features that we’ve suddenly changed our opinion and are bringing back UCs, then please consider anything you hear to be an unsubstantiated rumour started by overly-hopeful, misinformed, or mischievous players.
  
  From Editorial 511
  Now that you’ve successfully tackled Draik / Krawk inflation, what are your plans for the future regarding unconverted Neopets? Would you ever invent something like an unconverted Lab Ray zap, a Random Event that turns Neopets unconverted, or give Neopets an option to be UC or converted to suit owners’ taste? Please remove my username. ~username removed
  There are no plans for unconverted Neopets. They are relics left over from the past, and not something we are giving any consideration to in the future. While many players seem to think of them as something like a rare paint brush colour, we consider them to be more like an out of date operating system: great back in the day, but no longer supported.
  
  UC pets and gender changes
  If you zap an unconverted pet, you run the risk of it getting a species or color change which will, of course, convert it. If you only want to change its gender, it is absolutely not worth attempting to zap. Fighting the Lab Ray Scientist in the Battledome is the only safe way to do it and it will NOT convert your pet.
  
  From Editorial 334
  Hey TNT! I have a problem that has been bugging me. If you battle the mad scientist in the Battledome there is a chance that your Neopet can change genders, right? What would happen if an unconverted royal boy Draik battled the scientist and got a gender change? Would the Neopet change to a converted female Draik, or an unconverted version because it was unconverted to begin with? Is battling the scientist risky using an unconverted royal Draik? Thanks so much! ~coffeeluvr1992
  If you go into the Battledome with a royal boy Draik and the Lab Ray Scientist changes the gender of your Neopet, you will then have a female royal boy Draik. The gender will change, but the clothes and the colour will not change.
  
  Is my pet UC?
  If you’re not sure, there is a very easy way to check! Just go to your Quick Ref, to the right of your pet’s image you will see something like this:
  
  If you don’t have this notice, your pet is converted.
  Keep your account safe
  *First I want to thank dmitri_stanislaus for letting me borrow from his amazing guide! Anyone who wants more information on cookie-grabbers and how they work should definitely visit it!
  
  • To put it simply, here is what you do if you think you may have been cookie-grabbed or hacked in some way:
  1. Log out. 2. Log in. 3. Change word. 4. Done.
  
  • It’s very important to make sure that your email is one that you currently have access to. Some email hosts will allow email addresses to expire and be remade. All a hacker would need to do is recreate an old email address that’s attached to an account and have the PW sent to it – instant access. It’s also a good idea to use a host that has a 2-step login.
  
  • Put PINs on everything! Anything that’s relevant to you, put a PIN on it. I also recommend using a different PIN for each of your accounts.
  
  • Block pet transfers! It’s easy enough to unblock them if you want to trade pets with someone. The 10 seconds it will take you to to this could be the difference between a hacker sending your pet off to another account or kicking them out of your account because they would need to change it before transferring any pets.
  
  • Have a favorite pet? Keep its petpet in Grave Danger at all times. A pet cannot be moved from an account if its petpet is in there, the timer must be up and the petpet has to be manually taken out before the pet can go anywhere. Keep in mind that you can only do this on your main account.
  
  • Do not set your account to stealth mode. Show hackers that you’re an active player and that you’ll definitely notice if something is wrong.
  
  *Thanks to Em (emilybugdh11) for suggesting this section!
  Did you know?
  
  Color-changing events are gone!
  Yes this change was implemented quite a while ago but not everyone knows about it! Show off those beautiful pets!
  
  From Editorial 699
  So I heard recently that the color-changing random events (such as Boochi) aren’t happening. Is this temporary, or is it going to stay this way? I want to know if I’m safe to have my Faerie Cybunny as my active pet, or if I should keep my ‘Boochi-shield’ foster pet as my active, in case the events return without warning. Thanks! ~ dreamer_lily
  Rest easy, your faerie Cybunny is perfectly safe! Color-changing random events are officially retired, and they will not be coming back without warning (they probably won’t be coming back ever, but if they ever did, you’d definitely be warned!). You are now free to show off your favourite pet colour with pride!
  Woo hoo!
  
  FFQs can’t paint every color
  Not even the Fountain Faerie can paint these colors: 8-Bit, Clay, Garlic, Ice, Magma, MSP, Quiguki, Robot, Royal, Sponge, and Usuki.
  
  The lab ray can’t either
  Baby, Magma, Pirate, Plushie, Quiguki, Royal, and Usuki are all restricted from the lab.
  
  But there are lab only colors
  The only way to get one of these colors is through a lucky zap: Clay, Garlic, Ice, MSP, Robot, and Sponge.

Acronyms

Transfers

Wanna back out of a trade?

Customs

What about special pets?

UC pets

Keep your account safe

Did you know?