Trading Post

Welcome to the Animal Jam Stream Trading Post! I've created this page in an attempt to help you trade fairly. In recent years, the clearcut system of rarity we were used to has become confusing because of a few somewhat recent developments:

1. The Forgotten Desert rereleasing items once considered "beta"
2. The Diamond Shop rereleasing past monthly member gifts (Legendary Gloves, Clouds, etc.)
3. The rise of unreleased/glitched items
4. Spiked Collar/Wristband hysteria

Because of all this convolution, the words "rare" and "beta" are increasingly misunderstood.

So I'll try to define them in terms of Animal Jam:

Beta – an item most recently seen in shops around the time between July 17th, 2010 and September 9th, 2010.

Rare – specifically an item with a golden RARE icon on it, but some Jammers use the word to describe betas or any item out of stores.

(Unlike "beta", "rare" is a more ambiguous word, but when trading it's less confusing to use the literal meaning.)

People might argue with you about what a beta item really is, but in the end it's simply an item last seen in beta testing. 

Beta only lasted a few months, and because of all these rereleases the amount of true beta items has significantly been lowered. 

So, as of today, here are all the true betas left:

Books

Mask

Founder's Hat 

(released a few days after beta's end and left forever a month later. Still including because this list is so small.)

Gecko Banner

...surprised?

Well, maybe you disagree with me on the definition of a true beta. Most Jammers think of beta items as items first released during beta testing. But using that logic, wouldn't stuff like Necklaces and Pillows be beta items as well? They've been around since beta testing. That's why I'm defining "beta" as being removed during or shortly after beta testing's completion.

By that definition, there used to be a lot more true betas. Until The Forgotten Desert came along.

On May 15th, 2014, it can be said that the Animal Jam rarity system changed forever with the release of the first flying-animal-only adventure. 

This adventure is like some of the seasonal adventures that come and go because of its formula – look for in-game items, get prizes. Unlike seasonal adventures, however, many prizes in TFD are randomized out of most pre-existing items. Including items that on May 14th, 2014 were last seen in beta.

Cami's Frogs, Zios Statues... all were given to Jammers as prizes. Their rarity has decreased significantly because of this.

Most people, however, don't pay attention to this fact and trade as normal. But are those trades really fair? Is it really fair to call these items "beta" anymore?

That's where we get into tricky territory. I'll come back to that later. 

Even though the Mask and Book pile are the closest things to betas we have, they are definitely not the only things considered rare. Some underrated items might be able to be considered rarer than many of the TFD prizes... you decide for yourself.

Spiral Lamp

2011-2014

Cat Banner

2011-2012

Green Gecko Plushie

2011-2014

These are just a few of some items that not a lot of Jammers consider when talking about rares. 

I am 60% sure you don't remember Spiral Lamps– they were an unremarkable, even ugly item that stayed around the back pages of Jam Mart Furniture's catalog. Few people bought them, and so when they went on clearance nobody rushed in to save them. It is nearly impossible to find anyone who has one or even knows what they are.

Cat Banners are not very popular, but are still often regarded as moderately rare. Still, most Jammers do not consider a Cat Banner for a Mira Statue a fair trade...

Green Gecko Plushies are rarely considered even the slightest bit rare, even though they have not been available for three years. Their orange counterparts are prized a bit higher, but still not by much. 

Did you know that the orange ones are entirely different items? They were released in Jam Mart Clothing shortly after beta. Of course, they are now available in The Forgotten Desert, while the green variety is not...

I think there are different kinds of rarity. Three kinds, actually:

Age – the further back in time the item was last available, the better.

Demand – the more popular an item, the rarer it is.

Quantity – the fewer of the item in the game, the better.

An example of an item high in age-based rarity might be the pile of Books. An example of an item high in demand-based rarity could be the infamous Spiked Collar. And an item that might be high in quantity-based rarity could be the Spiral Lamp.

However, these three kinds of rarity don't often work together. There are few if not no items that are high in age, demand, and quantity-based rarity.

For instance, Spiked Collars might be high in demand, but have no age-rarity and the quantity is too high. Books are super high in age-rarity, but the demand is minimal and quantity moderate. The Spiral Lamp does not exist in large quantities– because of the fact that they are so low in demand!

These are what I call the three parameters of AJ rarity. 

Is there one parameter that is more important than all the others, though? Demand is a strong motivator for most traders, but would trading a lot of low-demand-but-very-old Books for one high-demand-but-very-available Spiked Collar be a fair trade?

In the past, I tried to make a page all about item rarity– what items are worth what. But do you know what I discovered? What an item was worth changes from day to day, person to person. In the end, I realized that the only sure-fire way to get a trade accepted is to think only about what the other person wants.

I think I saw AJHQ once say something like "items do not have a value, they are worth what you and your trading partner can agree on" and I think that is the bottom line here.

(More info coming soon– stay tuned!)