A short preamble
Hello. This is a small guide I've constructed for people who are new to trading on smogon. When I say "trading on smogon" I'm generally referring to the Wifi forum and trade center. This guide was originally intended for the former, but I thought it wouldn't really contribute to smogon if it was just about a sub-forum. Thus, I've gone back and rewritten several things to express the values that will more than likely be found in the trade center when it is fully brought forth.. I've tried to identify every aspect of trading on smogon that sets it apart from the various other sites, and to show that smogon has one of the most solid actualizations of business over wifi.
If you’re starting your little wifi shop in one of smogon’s various trading areas, there are several things to consider when constructing your shop to guarantee business and become successful in your venture.
The Basics
First of all, there's what you should be offering. IVs are ALWAYS a must when trading on smogon. Simply, if you don't know or can't measure a pokemons IVs, no one will want it. The exact same thing goes for EVs, but that doesn't mean that all pokemon should be EV-trained in a trading shop. Several people preferred their pokemon non-EVd when trading.
Common Courtesy in Trading
When trading, there are a few general unstated laws to follow. These laws have stayed prevalent throughout not just smogon, but in several trade stations around the world.
Do not offer a hacked pokemon- It’s fairly self explanatory. Very few traders will want to trade a pokemon that they have worked on for a long period for something someone whipped up in a couple of minutes. Of course there are some morals involved such as what goes beyond the games limits, but the trader will decide what they will trade for and what they will or will not accept.
Do not redistribute pokemon that you receive- Very few people want their pokemon on someone else’s trade thread. If it is, it will usually subtract from the amount of trades the original owner will make with the pokemon. A commonly made mistake for new traders is that they believe, as long as they give away that one copy, they can trade the pokemon. DO NOT make the mistake of thinking that because, beyond personally showing the Original owner your boxes first hand, there is no way for anyone to know if you truly traded one copy.
Do not continuously ask for a pokemon- If the shop owner declines your offer, they obviously do not want anything in your shop. Don't ask the owner again until you've added a new pokemon to your shop.
What’s in Demand.
One of the main philosophies of Smogon trading is that High IVs are always in demand. No matter how many times a pokemon is presented, if someone presents it with better IVs, the pokemon will be a smash hit. However, what is considered in demand beyond that will shift for the current time. One particular group of pokemon that are seemingly always in high demand are legendaries. Since they cannot be bred for and are only available once per play through of a game, good IV'd legendaries can be very hard to find. OU pokemon also have a small niche in trading, despite being common and in most traders boxes, but incoming new traders and simply higher IVs will keep them consistent. The uncommon and yet-to-be-sold are also very valuable, so even though there might not be too much of a use for them to most people, UU’s can come in high demand.
There are two kinds of traders on smogon. There is the somewhat rarer team trader, who almost strictly looks for things to use on his or her team, and then there are the much more common impulse traders. Impulse traders adhere goal spoken many times in-game of "gotta catch 'em all". Their goal is to eventually have a competitive version of every single pokemon. Impulse traders, of course, want the stuff they don't have. The above mentioned aren't exactly in every shop, so traders will hunt down the best of the best from any trade station they can find.
If you want your pokemon to be successful in the spotlight of the trade center, there are certain IVs that you must be prepared to have to get on the pokemon. First and foremost, you need good IVs in whatever stats a certain pokemon’s strength is. No one wants a Medicham with 0 speed and attack or a Hippowdon with 0 HP. For our Medicham example, a good IV recommendation would be 20+/31/15+/0+/15+/31. It’s not recommended that you offer something with an IV going through 0-5 otherwise, no one will want it (Although if the pokemon isn’t using that stat at all, the IV for it doesn’t matter. The same goes for pokemon that need low IVs in a stat for uses such as Gyro Ball or Counter). It is highly recommended that you don't list out any of the pokemons IVs as simply "x". People will naturally be skeptic that the IV might be horrible. Even if the IV is of very little value, it's best to list all of your IVs out.
A good way to acquire parents that will eventually give your final product amazing IVs, is to hunt through smogon trying to find excellent Dittos, or parents with the right nature.
Moves Can Help Too.
There’s a nice way to boost the marketability of a pokemon with ease. Simply giving a pokemon odd moves can make it more likeable. Below are a few examples of simple Add-ons to a pokemon that can make it extremely valuable.
Emerald tutor moves- If you’re a veteran breeder from emerald, you have a huge advantage off the bat. Emerald tutor moves can provide a valuable bonus for the finished pokemon. The elemental punches are a fine example of valuable moves to put on a pokemon for extra marketability.
Hidden powers- Hidden powers are without a doubt difficult to obtain, but as stated before, rare is always an advantage. Many special sweepers rely on the move, so it is a very important aspect for some pokemon.
Strange egg moves- Although not as valuable as the first two, a strange egg move can be helpful when you breed a poke. You never know what the recipient of your pokemon will do with what you gave him, so it can be a good idea to teach one more move to the father before he goes off to breed.
XD Exclusive moves- These are the either the special moves you get from purifying a pokemon, or the tutor moves that can only be taught once per game. These are even more valuable than emerald tutor moves, seeing as how to get one you need a game cube, the game itself, and the patience to soft reset for the pokemon itself.
NYPC moves and other events with special moves- Without a doubt THE rarest pokemon to come by are ones with good moves such as the rare wish Lickitung or Chansey. Having a pokemon with one of these moves (as well as the essential nature and decent IVs) can almost guarantee good business.
Persuading the Customer
Yet another influential part when offering a pokemon is for you to have persuading methods of enticing someone to take what you offer. One of the most prevalent is writing a short paragraph of text describing how your pokemon works in combat or how you obtained it. If you’re your offering a pokemon that is strange and gimmicky with an abnormal set, nature, or IV spread, then this is an absolute necessity. Generally, people will like to see what exactly the pokemon is without reading a thing, so a visual is a great plus. A sprite is the most commonly used and most prevalent, but there are several other ways to show off, such as artwork, older sprites, moving sprites, or the pokemon from some other form of media. If your pokemon is lucky enough to end up in a warstory or on a youtube video, link to it somewhere on the pokemons page. This gives the buyer a chance to actually view your pokemon doing what it does best (of course if it’s sent out and immediately KO’d, it could be counter productive to show it).
You now have the pokemon and are ready to trade. The question is whether or not you are really willing to trade. The Trading station is only as good as the person who owns it. If you’re almost always ready to go on wifi and exchange pokemon with someone, and happily except offers, as well as keep track of offers, you’ll be a very productive trader. If you’re uninspired to engage in many trades and think you don’t have enough time, you won’t be a very productive trader. Neglecting any aspect of what has been mentioned above can be a fatal blow to your productivity. Below are two examples. One is of an excellent trade offer; the other is of a pitiful one.
The Breeding project
Do you have nothing to offer a trader or they do not like anything in your shop? No problem! The breeding project is when you breed a pokemon for someone else, they specify if you can redistribute the poke or not, and you receive a certain amount of pokemon from the associate. Whoever you bred it for shares or retains all redistribution rights with or without you (depending about what the two of you agree on before hand).
Other Things to Know
Most pokemon are redistributed by the original breeders, but occasionally pokemon that the owner does not care about who owns it or trades it will come up. This is simply a redistributable pokemon. Usually, the pokemon has been available for a while, it's worth has deteriorated, or the person is just flat out generous.
It is highly recommended, however, (to make it flow a little more easily) that your trade station not consist of nothing but redistributables. With them being sold everywhere else, you will have to have exceptionally low standards and will get yourself barely anywhere. This is incredibly important if you have just opened your shop as redistributables often have little to no value. Better things to ask for than a redistributable (no matter how good they may look) would be for a fancier pokemon from a trade shop or dittos to plant the seeds of what you will be offering next.
Now that you've bred the pokemon, you aren't exactly offering it as the sole copy. Cloning is commonly seen throughout the various trading areas to keep you selling it. The most common method of cloning is action replay cloning. Despite being done with a cheating device, this does not affect the pokemons legitimacy at all.
There are three other methods of cloning seen as well. The first is the GTS cloning glitch. The glitch takes a considerable amount of time to perform, and often results in error. The second is almost never seen any more, Pokesav cloning. Pokesav is an advance hacking program for the game. The reason action replay cloning is more common than Pokesav cloning is that the latter DOES affect the pokemons legitimacy by erasing a series of data. The final one is exploiting the cloning glitch in Emerald. This is known to be a safe method, put it only allows you to clone a pokemon six times a day due to the pal-park (It is possible to import more than 6 pokemon a day, but this will require two GBA version and changing back and forth of your DS's clock). On top of that, you obviously can’t clone pokemon you've bred in your diamond or pearl version.
Services or items can also be offered in exchange for pokes. Common services include, but are not limited to, Cloning, EV-training, EV-reduction, and Leveling up. If offering these services, you generally need: the above criteria for cloning, the Power items and the Pokerus for EV-Training, the EV-reduction berry for EV-reducing, and rare candies for leveling up.
How to Avoid Being Scammed.
Certain precautions must be taken when one is trading left and right with people. Although a majority of traders are good natured souls, there are several scammers that run through occasionally. Below is a simple list of things to lookout for to spot a possible scammer.
Don't be a complete sheep. This is by far the most important thing to take into account to avoid being scammed. Don't blindly trade for something suspicious. You should always be a little cautious of someone offering a near flawless legendary with an awsome hidden power.
Gather some background information. Searching for background information isn’t very difficult at all. Simply looking at a join date or trade history can give valuable background info on the trader.
Know who other traders aren’t trading with. If there’s someone a fellow trader has blacklisted, there is usually a good reason there not trading with them. Just make sure that they didn’t blacklist a person because he insulted them jokingly, or something else trivial.
Beware of continuous, massive updates. If someone adds a triple flawless Azelf one day, adds a quad-flawless adamant Arcanine and a godly timid Octillery the next, and then another assortment of awesomely High IV’d pokemon, be cautious. Sometime making a great pokemon can take anywhere from days, to weeks, to months to breed. If someone’s showing exceptional pokemon left and right, be wary.
If all else fails… The most experienced scammers can easily make a pokemon indistinguishable from a legit one, but there is one loophole around this. There is a method kept secret from many, involving the check of certain hex codes in a pokemon. The programs used to create hacked pokemon delete a string of certain data that can be identified with relative ease.
Special thanks to Anti, CaptKirby, and Mr_Goodbar4321 for their help.
Hello. This is a small guide I've constructed for people who are new to trading on smogon. When I say "trading on smogon" I'm generally referring to the Wifi forum and trade center. This guide was originally intended for the former, but I thought it wouldn't really contribute to smogon if it was just about a sub-forum. Thus, I've gone back and rewritten several things to express the values that will more than likely be found in the trade center when it is fully brought forth.. I've tried to identify every aspect of trading on smogon that sets it apart from the various other sites, and to show that smogon has one of the most solid actualizations of business over wifi.
If you’re starting your little wifi shop in one of smogon’s various trading areas, there are several things to consider when constructing your shop to guarantee business and become successful in your venture.
The Basics
First of all, there's what you should be offering. IVs are ALWAYS a must when trading on smogon. Simply, if you don't know or can't measure a pokemons IVs, no one will want it. The exact same thing goes for EVs, but that doesn't mean that all pokemon should be EV-trained in a trading shop. Several people preferred their pokemon non-EVd when trading.
Common Courtesy in Trading
When trading, there are a few general unstated laws to follow. These laws have stayed prevalent throughout not just smogon, but in several trade stations around the world.
Do not offer a hacked pokemon- It’s fairly self explanatory. Very few traders will want to trade a pokemon that they have worked on for a long period for something someone whipped up in a couple of minutes. Of course there are some morals involved such as what goes beyond the games limits, but the trader will decide what they will trade for and what they will or will not accept.
Do not redistribute pokemon that you receive- Very few people want their pokemon on someone else’s trade thread. If it is, it will usually subtract from the amount of trades the original owner will make with the pokemon. A commonly made mistake for new traders is that they believe, as long as they give away that one copy, they can trade the pokemon. DO NOT make the mistake of thinking that because, beyond personally showing the Original owner your boxes first hand, there is no way for anyone to know if you truly traded one copy.
Do not continuously ask for a pokemon- If the shop owner declines your offer, they obviously do not want anything in your shop. Don't ask the owner again until you've added a new pokemon to your shop.
What’s in Demand.
One of the main philosophies of Smogon trading is that High IVs are always in demand. No matter how many times a pokemon is presented, if someone presents it with better IVs, the pokemon will be a smash hit. However, what is considered in demand beyond that will shift for the current time. One particular group of pokemon that are seemingly always in high demand are legendaries. Since they cannot be bred for and are only available once per play through of a game, good IV'd legendaries can be very hard to find. OU pokemon also have a small niche in trading, despite being common and in most traders boxes, but incoming new traders and simply higher IVs will keep them consistent. The uncommon and yet-to-be-sold are also very valuable, so even though there might not be too much of a use for them to most people, UU’s can come in high demand.
There are two kinds of traders on smogon. There is the somewhat rarer team trader, who almost strictly looks for things to use on his or her team, and then there are the much more common impulse traders. Impulse traders adhere goal spoken many times in-game of "gotta catch 'em all". Their goal is to eventually have a competitive version of every single pokemon. Impulse traders, of course, want the stuff they don't have. The above mentioned aren't exactly in every shop, so traders will hunt down the best of the best from any trade station they can find.
If you want your pokemon to be successful in the spotlight of the trade center, there are certain IVs that you must be prepared to have to get on the pokemon. First and foremost, you need good IVs in whatever stats a certain pokemon’s strength is. No one wants a Medicham with 0 speed and attack or a Hippowdon with 0 HP. For our Medicham example, a good IV recommendation would be 20+/31/15+/0+/15+/31. It’s not recommended that you offer something with an IV going through 0-5 otherwise, no one will want it (Although if the pokemon isn’t using that stat at all, the IV for it doesn’t matter. The same goes for pokemon that need low IVs in a stat for uses such as Gyro Ball or Counter). It is highly recommended that you don't list out any of the pokemons IVs as simply "x". People will naturally be skeptic that the IV might be horrible. Even if the IV is of very little value, it's best to list all of your IVs out.
A good way to acquire parents that will eventually give your final product amazing IVs, is to hunt through smogon trying to find excellent Dittos, or parents with the right nature.
Moves Can Help Too.
There’s a nice way to boost the marketability of a pokemon with ease. Simply giving a pokemon odd moves can make it more likeable. Below are a few examples of simple Add-ons to a pokemon that can make it extremely valuable.
Emerald tutor moves- If you’re a veteran breeder from emerald, you have a huge advantage off the bat. Emerald tutor moves can provide a valuable bonus for the finished pokemon. The elemental punches are a fine example of valuable moves to put on a pokemon for extra marketability.
Hidden powers- Hidden powers are without a doubt difficult to obtain, but as stated before, rare is always an advantage. Many special sweepers rely on the move, so it is a very important aspect for some pokemon.
Strange egg moves- Although not as valuable as the first two, a strange egg move can be helpful when you breed a poke. You never know what the recipient of your pokemon will do with what you gave him, so it can be a good idea to teach one more move to the father before he goes off to breed.
XD Exclusive moves- These are the either the special moves you get from purifying a pokemon, or the tutor moves that can only be taught once per game. These are even more valuable than emerald tutor moves, seeing as how to get one you need a game cube, the game itself, and the patience to soft reset for the pokemon itself.
NYPC moves and other events with special moves- Without a doubt THE rarest pokemon to come by are ones with good moves such as the rare wish Lickitung or Chansey. Having a pokemon with one of these moves (as well as the essential nature and decent IVs) can almost guarantee good business.
Persuading the Customer
Yet another influential part when offering a pokemon is for you to have persuading methods of enticing someone to take what you offer. One of the most prevalent is writing a short paragraph of text describing how your pokemon works in combat or how you obtained it. If you’re your offering a pokemon that is strange and gimmicky with an abnormal set, nature, or IV spread, then this is an absolute necessity. Generally, people will like to see what exactly the pokemon is without reading a thing, so a visual is a great plus. A sprite is the most commonly used and most prevalent, but there are several other ways to show off, such as artwork, older sprites, moving sprites, or the pokemon from some other form of media. If your pokemon is lucky enough to end up in a warstory or on a youtube video, link to it somewhere on the pokemons page. This gives the buyer a chance to actually view your pokemon doing what it does best (of course if it’s sent out and immediately KO’d, it could be counter productive to show it).
You now have the pokemon and are ready to trade. The question is whether or not you are really willing to trade. The Trading station is only as good as the person who owns it. If you’re almost always ready to go on wifi and exchange pokemon with someone, and happily except offers, as well as keep track of offers, you’ll be a very productive trader. If you’re uninspired to engage in many trades and think you don’t have enough time, you won’t be a very productive trader. Neglecting any aspect of what has been mentioned above can be a fatal blow to your productivity. Below are two examples. One is of an excellent trade offer; the other is of a pitiful one.
It just has the basics and nothing more, no style or sass to persuade the buyer.
This however is a fine example of implementing all of the techniques. It has a small visual, lists any special bonuses, and has a nice paragraph listing how the pokemon can operate.Weezing
- NEW!
Bold - Levitate
208 HP, 252 Defense, 50 Sp. Attack
HP: 28/Attack: 0/Defense: 30/Sp. Attack: 31/Sp. Defense: 31/Speed: 19
HP Ice 68
~Hidden Power
~Thunderbolt
~Will-o-Wisp
~Pain Split
I've always been a fan of HP Ice on Weezing as it 2HKOs all the OU Dragons 100% of the time and pairs excellently with Thunderbolt to hit Gyarados and give great coverage. The rest is standard (and awesome) Weezing - Pain Split for recovery, Will-o-Wisp to cripple physical attackers before you knock 'em off.
This is a video of me using this Weezing in action. Watch him take down that Salamence with an unexpected HP Ice.
The EV spread is for 320 HP for Leftovers, max Defense for walling and the rest in Sp. Attack.
The Breeding project
Do you have nothing to offer a trader or they do not like anything in your shop? No problem! The breeding project is when you breed a pokemon for someone else, they specify if you can redistribute the poke or not, and you receive a certain amount of pokemon from the associate. Whoever you bred it for shares or retains all redistribution rights with or without you (depending about what the two of you agree on before hand).
Other Things to Know
Most pokemon are redistributed by the original breeders, but occasionally pokemon that the owner does not care about who owns it or trades it will come up. This is simply a redistributable pokemon. Usually, the pokemon has been available for a while, it's worth has deteriorated, or the person is just flat out generous.
It is highly recommended, however, (to make it flow a little more easily) that your trade station not consist of nothing but redistributables. With them being sold everywhere else, you will have to have exceptionally low standards and will get yourself barely anywhere. This is incredibly important if you have just opened your shop as redistributables often have little to no value. Better things to ask for than a redistributable (no matter how good they may look) would be for a fancier pokemon from a trade shop or dittos to plant the seeds of what you will be offering next.
Now that you've bred the pokemon, you aren't exactly offering it as the sole copy. Cloning is commonly seen throughout the various trading areas to keep you selling it. The most common method of cloning is action replay cloning. Despite being done with a cheating device, this does not affect the pokemons legitimacy at all.
There are three other methods of cloning seen as well. The first is the GTS cloning glitch. The glitch takes a considerable amount of time to perform, and often results in error. The second is almost never seen any more, Pokesav cloning. Pokesav is an advance hacking program for the game. The reason action replay cloning is more common than Pokesav cloning is that the latter DOES affect the pokemons legitimacy by erasing a series of data. The final one is exploiting the cloning glitch in Emerald. This is known to be a safe method, put it only allows you to clone a pokemon six times a day due to the pal-park (It is possible to import more than 6 pokemon a day, but this will require two GBA version and changing back and forth of your DS's clock). On top of that, you obviously can’t clone pokemon you've bred in your diamond or pearl version.
Services or items can also be offered in exchange for pokes. Common services include, but are not limited to, Cloning, EV-training, EV-reduction, and Leveling up. If offering these services, you generally need: the above criteria for cloning, the Power items and the Pokerus for EV-Training, the EV-reduction berry for EV-reducing, and rare candies for leveling up.
How to Avoid Being Scammed.
Certain precautions must be taken when one is trading left and right with people. Although a majority of traders are good natured souls, there are several scammers that run through occasionally. Below is a simple list of things to lookout for to spot a possible scammer.
Don't be a complete sheep. This is by far the most important thing to take into account to avoid being scammed. Don't blindly trade for something suspicious. You should always be a little cautious of someone offering a near flawless legendary with an awsome hidden power.
Gather some background information. Searching for background information isn’t very difficult at all. Simply looking at a join date or trade history can give valuable background info on the trader.
Know who other traders aren’t trading with. If there’s someone a fellow trader has blacklisted, there is usually a good reason there not trading with them. Just make sure that they didn’t blacklist a person because he insulted them jokingly, or something else trivial.
Beware of continuous, massive updates. If someone adds a triple flawless Azelf one day, adds a quad-flawless adamant Arcanine and a godly timid Octillery the next, and then another assortment of awesomely High IV’d pokemon, be cautious. Sometime making a great pokemon can take anywhere from days, to weeks, to months to breed. If someone’s showing exceptional pokemon left and right, be wary.
If all else fails… The most experienced scammers can easily make a pokemon indistinguishable from a legit one, but there is one loophole around this. There is a method kept secret from many, involving the check of certain hex codes in a pokemon. The programs used to create hacked pokemon delete a string of certain data that can be identified with relative ease.
Special thanks to Anti, CaptKirby, and Mr_Goodbar4321 for their help.
