Guide to Trading in 2016

Hey Jammers! As many of you know, trading in Jamaa has gotten more and more complicated over the years. There have been so many rereleases and items that completely vanished from shops that the idea of rarity just keeps changing and changing! 

Because it can be so hard to keep up with, I'd like to provide you with a new & improved guide to help you get the trades you want, and avoid the scams you definitely don't want! 

Let's get started! :D

#1 – Know what "beta" means

I'm sure you've all been in Coral Canyons or Jamaa Township and have seen someone call out the phrase "BETAS ON TRADE!" or something of that nature. The truth is, many items that people refer to as "beta" aren't actually beta.

For the most part, however, those people aren't intentionally scamming you. They're just confused as to what a "beta item" actually is. For this section, I'm going to try and clear up some myths about beta items and help teach you the truths so you don't unknowingly accept an unfair trade. Knowledge is power!

Popular Myth #1: "Beta" means the same as "rare" ✘
Popular Myth #2: Any item not in stores is beta ✘

*Beeeeep* Wrong!

The Truth – If an item is beta, that means that it was last seen in stores during the beta testing of Animal Jam, which was from 2010 to early 2011. The earlier an item was last in stores, the rarer it is! However, when beta items are rereleased in stores after beta testing, they are no longer rare. ✔

If you're curious as to what beta (pronounced BAY-TAH) testing was, it was the beginning of Animal Jam where only a few select people could play. Every video game has a beta testing period with the purpose of weeding out glitches and getting feedback. During that time of Animal Jam, a lot of cool items were released that got replaced after beta testing was over and were never released in stores again. Those are beta items!

TIP: If you're trading and want to know if an item is beta or not, the official Animal Jam Wiki is very helpful. They have articles with release dates for nearly every item in Jamaa! What I do is Google search something like "aj wiki worn blanket" or "aj wiki sunglasses" and the top result should be the article for your specific item.

#2 – An item's last time in stores AND if it can be won in The Forgotten Desert both affect its rarity 

I drew up this handy dandy guide as reference for those who prefer a diagram. :)

To keep it short...

If an item can be won in The Forgotten Desert (an adventure where you win rare items), that makes it less rare.

An item that was last seen in stores a year ago is rarer than an item that just went off the shelves. Likewise, items more recently in stores are less rare. 

Simple, right? Well, things get quite a bit more confusing when demand comes into the picture...

#3 – Know what's in demand

Just during this year's Lucky Day celebration, the seasonal adventure Lucky Clovers rereleased Spiked Collars and Wristbands as member's only prizes. From what I remember, quite a lot were given out! I didn't go ten minutes without hearing "OMG I GOT A SPIKE" from someone while I was playing the adventure.

At the time, Spiked Collars were very popular, despite not being very rare if you think about how they can also be won in The Forgotten Desert. Their release as prizes in Lucky Clovers detracted from their rarity even more! 

However, they remain equally popular. This is something very hard to measure that tends to happen at random, and it's called demand. Or, how much people want an item, regardless of rarity.

The idea of demand tends to disobey the rules I talked about earlier. For example: almost immediately after leaving stores, Straw Hats went into high demand. They were rather ignored in stores, which made their comeback hard to predict. Now, people drastically overpay for them in trading! I saw one popular guide that claimed a Founder's Hat (released once at the beginning of the game) was worth a Straw Hat.

In general, what people will trade for is a relative combination of DEMAND and RELEASE DATE, but release date doesn't really matter if an item is high in demand. Simply put, an item in high demand is treated as very rare, even if it only just came out.

Demand really only means anything to people in trading. An item's old release date usually puts it higher in demand, but a newer item can be higher in demand, too. You can't really convince people a Straw Hat isn't rare by release date alone, because it's already so high in demand.

In the end, just trade for what you want. People won't always agree with you about what's rare and what's not, and if that happens, just move on and try to trade with someone else. 

That's all for now, Jammers. See you in Jamaa & happy trading! :D