Item Rarities and You

What is an item rarity?

What are they for?

Why would I ever need to know about them?

Item rarities can be useful for different reasons. They are, more or less, used to indicate the availability and origin of different items, from common items that restock frequently in Neopets shops, to rarer items that are given out in site events, as advent calendar prizes, or have been retired and may never be given out again. Like in real world economics, the availability of products determine their worth. For example, something always in stock in a shop will almost always be worth less than an item that is only given out once. Determining values based on rarity can be very important for collectors or restockers and those seeking certain avatars. Something that is frequently in stock is going to be less profitable for restockers than something more elusive that doesn't restock often or no longer restocks at all. Collecting retired items is going to be much more expensive than common items. Some avatars require you to buy or use a number of items of a certain rarity. Having some knowledge of item rarities can be quite helpful in your daily neo-activities.

How Do I Find an Item Rarity?

There are a couple of ways you can do this. The easiest is if you already have the item in your inventory. Navigate to your inventory page. the first thing you will see on this page is the classification of the item.

There are different classifications that depend on rarity (how often or when the item can be obtained). More on this later. Next, click on the item. It will bring up the description:

If you do not possess an item and still want to know its rarity, you can search for it in the search bar on the Neopets site. However, items with a rarity of 98+ will not show up in search results. Items with a rarity of 99 and 100 will very rarely restock in main Neopets shops, but will not show up in search results.

Along with the rarity, you will find what type of item it is (food, toy, grooming, etc), the item's description, weight, and estimated value. Let me remind you again that you do NOT want to be pricing/ judging items based on their estimated value. It is rarely, if ever, the true market value of the item. In this case, the estimated value is 700np, but you can find hundreds of these in shops at 1np and many at the Money Tree for free. Item rarities are a little more helpful, but can also be deceiving.

What They Mean

The rarities are broken down into groups depending on where and how often they can be obtained:

Remember

Even though the Rarity Index can be quite helpful, it can also be deceitful. Items may be classified as "Special" or "Rarity ###," making them seem more valuable because they only come from certain places or events, but they are sometimes given out in such huge quantities, that they are virtually worthless at the time of release. While things like omelettes will likely continue to have a lower value (especially the more common omelettes), things like advent calendar and plot prizes may see an increase in value, especially if they are consumable (books, food, stamps, etc) that can only be used once and will not be given out again.

Rarity-Based Avatars

There are currently 3 active avatars that are based on item rarities:

Angry Air Mote is achieved by purchasing any mote with a rarity of 70+ from the Brightvale Motery .

You can get Uni Faboo by purchasing an item with a rarity of 80+ from the Clothing Shop .

The Chocolate! avatar is gained by purchasing an item with a rarity of 90+ from the Chocolate Factory . This is the harder of the three because your account has to be over 1 month old to view items with a rarity of 90+ in shops, rarity 90+ items don't restock often and when they do, they're often snatched up because some of them can fetch a high profit when re-sold.

Tips

Hidden Tower items are often fairly consistent in market value, retailing at or, in quicksale offers on the Trading Post or in auctions, slightly lower than the Hidden Tower value. Even in a case where these items are given out as prizes and their value drops, the market will tend to re-stabilize itself. There are also a few items to be aware of. The notorious "Squeezy Tombola Guy Toy," for example, retails in the Hidden Tower for 110,000np. However, the market value barely reaches more than 10,000np in user shops and trades.

Why is this? This particular item is the second cheapest in the Hidden Tower. There is an avatar awarded when you make a purchase at the Tower. When this was the cheapest item in the tower, many people would buy it to get the associated avatar. Now people tend to purchase the Grimoire of the First Order, a non-tradeable avatar book. The Squeezy Tombola Guy Toy is a toy, meaning it is non-consumable (unless feeding to a Grarrl or Skeith). It will remain in existence after someone buys it unless they either feed it to the aforementioned pets, or discard it. This means that there are more of them circulating, driving the price down.

The prices and value of NeoCash items are a little different than neopoints items. These items must be bought with Neocash, which is purchased with real money. The price varies in the shop depending on the item. Smaller items like earrings will cost less than a dress or background, and much less than something like a superpack, which offers multiple items. You can buy items from the shop directly or trade with other users. Items traded must be traded for other NeoCash items. It is against the rules to trade a NeoCash item for a neopoints item or neopoints. As the "trade" actually involves putting the item in a box and gifting it, it's advisable to only trade with those deemed to be trustworthy or, even better, people you're friends with in real life. Once you gift an item, there is no way to ensure that they will gift you one back. Be very careful when trading Neocash items. There is no rule stating you have to trade. Someone may feel particularly generous and decide to give you an item for free. This does NOT mean you can beg for items. That is still considered harassment. It is understood that items will be traded unless stated otherwise. Any trade agreements should be made through neomail and those neomails kept until the trade is completed by both parties. They can be valuable proof in case someone runs off with your item without giving you the agreed item in return. You will likely not get your item back, but this "scammer" will be brought to TNT's attention so they cannot scam others. Generally, people will want to trade with items of approximately the same value. For more info on NeoCash, visit TDN's NeoCash info and for more information on NC trading, view our Trading Guide.

In Conclusion

Item rarities are great for giving quick information on where to find an item and an idea of what an item may be worth. However, market prices depend on a number of variables, so it's always a good idea to double-check your price estimate with the shop wizard, auctions, and the trading post. I hope you found this introduction to item rarities helpful. Good luck!