ome might consider investment an art - it takes time, patience, a lot of research and observation. This guide should help you on your way to findingNeoCash items to invest in throughout the future.
[★] Contents
I. Terminology
II. Trading NeoCash
III. Research and Observation
IV. Determining Rarity
Yearly Events
Game Series Tickets
Daily Dare and Games Master Challenge
Jubjub Power Bounce
Superpack Exclusives
Capsule Exclusives
V. Capsule Values
VI. Gift Box Mystery Capsules
VII. Current Items to Consider
VIII. View the Progress
IX. Helpful Links
[★] Terminology
Firstly, you're going to need to begin with the very basics - the common terminology. It's important that you understand what these mean, in order to pursue good trades and investments.
UFT: Up for trade.
SP: Superpack.
LE: Limited edition.
RE: Retired.
RR: Re-released.
JJPB: Jubjub Power Bounce.
Cap: Capsules.
Cap Sale: Trades for capsules only.
GB: Gift Box.
[★] Trading NeoCash
As you're probably aware, the only way to transfer NeoCash items through accounts is by using the gift boxes. These can be obtained in two ways - either through NeoCash card redemption, or by opening Gift Box Mystery Capsules.
Every item you wish to trade will consume one box each (with the exception of one, which can be found in the "Gift Box Mystery Capsule" section of this guide). This can be troublesome if you have a limited amount of NC cards to redeem, so always be sure to trade wisely. Avoid adding any unnecessary items if you can.
NC trades usually take place at this board - the
NC Mall board. As you can see, it's rather fast and full of traders seeking their wishes.
[★] Research and Observation
Always be sure to do your research before you jump into boards. It's always a good idea to do your research beforehand, in order to get an idea of what you should be looking for, and what will appear as a good deal. With a little bit of observation, it's easy to see what people are looking for - is there a new mystery capsule with a limited edition dress? Maybe an event-only item which comes across as one of a kind?
As an avid NC trader for several years, I've seen countless items have their time in the spotlight, and vanish from it - and sometimes appear again, and again. Let us take the lovely Spyder Web Dress as an example.
This item was released in October 2008, as part of a superpack for Halloween (but still remained buyable separately in the mall). It instantly became popular, and has remained one of the most popular dresses throughout the NC industry since then.
Throughout the last two years, this dress has been re-released twice: once by the Creepy Halloween Skull Mystery Capsule in October 2009, and once by the Spooky Moon Halloween Mystery Capsule in October 2010. Why? Why was it re-released twice, if at all?
Simple. It's because it has a specific theme, and looks good on multiple species'. Items which have a special holiday theme, such as Halloween, Christmas etc, will always be popular during that season. TNT know this - by re-releasing a popular item like this, they'll make more money.
Allow me to elaborate on the "looking good" comment - here is an example of the Spyder Web Dress on a Kacheek, a Draik, an Aisha, a Krawk, a Uni, and a Lutari.
Not bad, is it? A little wide on the Kacheek perhaps, but this dress accommodates a multitude of species. Now we'll look at the Shining Princess Dress.
Not really what I'd call a princess dress.
It's not the dress itself, either - as you can see, it's quite nice on the Draik, Aisha, and Uni. What the point of this argument is, is that items which look good on the majority of species will automatically be more popular than items that look good on just half, or less. If the item also accommodates a holiday, that again raises the popularity.
What you should be looking at is the general shape, what theme or holiday the dress was intended for, whether it can accommodate multiple holidays, and the rarity. There is a section below on item rarity.
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Let us take a look at a background example this time. Again, you should be looking at the theme, holiday, and rarity - I also advise carefully watching how busy the background is, and what layers can be affected by adding foregrounds.
I will be providing four background examples, in order to help you get an idea of what comes across as too busy and such. You can view the SWF of an image by clicking on it, in order to see how the background would look while viewing the pet lookup. Keep in mind that the edges of the SWFs are very messy - you won't see that part on a lookup 
Here we have the following:
Among Flowers Background, Gingerbread Dream House Background, Hilltop Mushroom Background, Pink Mountain and Cloud Background
Ratings for these backgrounds will be based purely on compatibility rather than rarity, just to provide additional help on understanding compatibility of items.
Let us view the first one - among flowers. It's quite busy - but adding a lower foreground item, i.e an item which will go along the bottom of the customization, will not affect the background in any way. The problem with this, though, is that the lower foreground (Healing Springs Foreground in this case) might not be seen due to the flowers along the bottom of the background. These are on a separate layer, causing them to show above any lower foreground items.
Upper foreground items (for example garlands) and regular foreground items (such as frames) will remove the background completely.
Rating: Failed
The Gingerbread Dream House Background is the same when it comes to lower foreground items - however, you're able to use either a main foreground item, or an upper foreground item with this.
Rating: Decent
The Hilltop Mushroom Background is actually amazing. It can accommodate a lower foreground item, along with either a main foreground item or an upper foreground item. There are also a LOT of items which fit and look good with this theme.
Rating: Great
Lastly, the Pink Mountain and Clouds Background. This background is just like the last one - it will support a lower foreground, along with either a main foreground or an upper foreground item.
Rating: Great
So, which backgrounds do you think are the most popular? As you've probably guessed, the latter two have proved to be highly sought after among traders. If rarity is taken into consideration with these examples, it actually wouldn't make too much of a difference - all of the backgrounds I've chosen are limited edition items (Among Flowers came from the 2011 Neggstravaganza, the Gingerbread Dream House from the 2009 Stocking Stufftacular, the Hilltop Mushroom as a gold prize from the Spring 2011 Jubjub Power Bounce, and the Pink Mountain from the Series 7 Faerie Cloud Racers featured game ticket). I ranked them from least popular to most popular.
[★] Determining Rarity
This step can be incredibly tricky. As I stated above, the accommodation of the item is incredibly important - but you also need to take into consideration where the item came from.
Usually, but not always, limited edition items are considered the rarest. Some might be one-per-account, others might be a yearly thing. View the sub categories in order to understand where limited edition items come from.
☆ Yearly Events
These include events such as the Stocking Stufftacular, Neggstravaganza, and 13 Days of Trick or Treat - these events are based on holidays (Christmas, Easter, and Halloween for example) and require you to buy NC tickets in order to participate - you can also do so on side accounts. Occasionally, if you use a ticket on every single day of the running event, you'll receive a bonus item. These items retire when the event is over, and are never released again.
☆ Game Series Tickets
You know when TNT releases a new game, you have the chance to win prizes for beating AAA and Abigail's score? If you purchase a game series ticket from the NC Mall and beat Lulu's score, you'll receive an item exclusive to that game in return. These items retire when the event is over, and are never released again - these items are also limited to one-per-person, because you're not allowed to play games on a side account (unless you use a proxy on a shell, of course )
☆ Daily Dare and Games Master Challenge
So far, five items from the Daily Dare have been re-released - these were known as "retro Tuesday" items. However, these items were one-per-person, because you're not allowed to play games on a side account.
During the Daily Dare 2010 and Games Master Challenge 2010, you were awarded a superpack if you were able to beat all of Lulu's scores. There's a note about this further down.
☆ Jubjub Power Bounce
In order to play this game, you must purchase tokens from the NC Mall - when you use a token, the prize you'll receive is random. If you land on what is known as an "uberiffic" spot, you'll receive the gold prize - usually what everyone seems to be seeking. You can also win a bonus item from this game.
This game can be played on side accounts, because there is no profit made from them. When a new season begins, the previous themed items retire - however, until the 31st of May this year, TNT are allowing users to vote for items they'd like to see re-released.
☆ Superpack Exclusives
Whenever a superpack is released, there is always an item which is exclusive to it - this is TNT's way of getting you to buy the whole thing just for that one item. When the superpack retires, the superpack exclusive item along with the other items will inflate - sometimes to ridiculous amounts. More on capsule values can be found further down. These can be bought on multiple accounts.
☆ Capsule Exclusives
Whenever a capsule is released, TNT release a special item which is associated with that capsule's theme. Receiving this item is random when you open a capsule. These can be bought and opened on multiple accounts.
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Limited edition items can often be hit-or-miss, for example, the Games Master Challenge and Daily Dare. During the Daily Dare 2010, the bonus for completing all of the NC challenges was a really rubbish superpack - all of the items were limited edition because it was exclusive to people that had completed the challenge, but the general look of it was hideous.
The Games Master Challenge 2010 superpack, however, became a hit. The wig was the favoured part of the superpack, but overall it was a far better prize nonetheless.
[★] Capsule Values
On the NC boards, items are valued in "caps", aka $2.50 mystery capsules. This system was brought out to induce fairness among traders, in order to make sure that people weren't being ripped off. This system, however, is often abused.
People refer to capsule values as if they're part of the Bible or something. It's a good idea to be considerate of what people value their items, but don't feel that you're obliged to follow it.
[★] Gift Box Mystery Capsules
You can never, ever, ever go wrong with these. Although these are now released every season (or holiday), people always need them. Boxes are crucial when attempting to trade because without them, well. You can't trade.
Gift Box capsules will give you between one and five boxes at random when you open them. They usually cost 200NC, although sometimes they're a bit more - the Holiday Gift Box Mystery Capsule is an example. This gift box capsule was also the only capsule to randomly yield a box in which you could fit four NC items rather than just one.
If you see these in the mall, buy them. As many as you possibly can. People will trade stupid amounts for one of those. Often during a GB capsule release, you'll see topics appearing like "one GB cap sale" - this means that the person has a bunch of items for trade in return for a single gift box capsule. The bargains you can get with these topics is incredible sometimes.
The next release is likely to be around early to mid July, to celebrate the NC Mall's fourth birthday. The second birthday is when gift box capsules were first introduced.
[★] Current Items to Consider
As mentioned above, TNT have released a poll in order to re-release some past Jubjub Power Bounce items before the game takes a hiatus. Here are some of the following items that I would advise investing in, if you notice that these items have been re-released. Items in bold are ones you should definitely consider, while items in red are a bit hit-or-miss.
★ Summer 2010 prizes:
Feet in the Clouds Foreground
Front Porch Background
Long Summer Dress
Seasick Background
★ Autumn 2010 prizes:
Autumn Back Porch Background
Ghostly Sheet Costume
Haunting Eclipse Moon
Pardoned Gobbler Trinket
Pretty Spyders Web Wig
★ Holiday 2010 prizes:
Holiday Party Dress
Holly Wig
★ Winter 2011 prizes:
Curly White Wig With Bow
★ Spring 2011 prizes:
Giant Jacaranda Tree
Hilltop Mushroom Background
Tunnel of Trees Background
Aside from those, you might want to begin looking for Autumn/Fall items now. They'll be slightly discounted at the moment, until around September
[★] View the Progress
Here are a few examples of items that started off as perhaps a 250NC capsule LE, or even a simple buyable - now look at them!
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New Years in Faerieland, New Years in Mystery Island, New Years in Shenkuu
These were limited edition items obtained from the Bright New Year Mystery Capsule, released on the 29th of December 2009. A mere 250NCcapsule produced backgrounds that today, range from 30 to 60 capsules in value.
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Spyder web Staff
This item was part of the Spyder Web Costume Pack, released on the 18th of October 2008 for 500NC. This staff was the superpack LE, and is without a doubt one of the rarest items you'll find in the NeoCash world. It's worth roughly 150 capsules.
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Butterfly Dress
This dress was released on the 31st of July 2009, with the release of the On the Town Style Pack - however, it was also buyable in the mall, therefore not rendering it limited edition. It was a mere 175NC, and now trades easily for 15 capsules - some even going for beyond 20 capsules.
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Blooming Garden
This item was the limited edition exclusive to the Fantastic Bloom Mystery Capsule, released on the 23rd of May 2009 - however, it was re-released in the NC Mall 3rd Birthday Mystery Capsule (released on the 3rd of July 2010). Both capsules were 250NC each, and this foreground stillexceeds 20 capsules in value.
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MME1-B1: Sputtering Grey Mini-Monster
This was the bonus from the very first Mysterious Morphing Experiment, which became available in the mall on the 21st of July 2009, for 800NC. You'd be lucky to find one of these for less than 120 capsules in value these days.
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Nutcracker Toy Sword, Golden Nutcracker Gloves
These items were both superpack exclusives from the Nutcracker Superpack, which was released on the 10th of December 2008 for 900NC. The sword is valued at between 30 and 35 capsules, while the gloves are between 22 and 25 capsules - if you had invested in this superpack, the whole thing (including the items made buyable in the mall) would be worth between 85 and 90 capsules.
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Shenkuu Lantern Capsule, Paper Lantern Staff
This gorgeous capsule was for sale in the mall on the 16th of January 2009 for 200NC. The capsule itself is valued between 16 and 20 capsules, while the staff (the capsule exclusive LE) is valued at between 35 and 40 capsules.
