Let me start by saying that I've ABed both successfully and unsuccessfully, in both the Igloo and main shops. I was even frozen once for restocking legitly. It has all been a learning experience. I've been pulling in items without fail or freeze for several months now using Acheteur Ultime on several accounts I started myself. No transferring & self-icing, no throwing it in a usershop for 2np and insta-buying from another account.... I've just been buying items, selling them, and stacking up my chips. Will I eventually have to move items/NP between accounts? Sure. But I'll wait a good long while to do it. In the meantime, let me share what I believe are the universal keys to ABing without getting frozen, in order of importance. #1 - Understand why it is that you don't want to be frozen. Think about it and make the concept clear in your mind. You're tired of buying 4 month shells and illegitimate neopoints over and over. You're tired of starting over, over and over. You want success, but you can't hold onto it if you can't hold onto your account - plain and simple. So you must find a way to keep that account. #2 - Take whatever you think a good refresh rate is and make it 5 to 7 seconds longer. Set your refresh rate to something that, at this point, you're sure wouldn't get you anything at all. Something so long that most people on this board would laugh at it. Why? a) Because you will still hit on restocks. When I first tried it out, I was just guessing that the law of averages would almost guarantee the occassional hit. Time after time, my guess has proven to be true. In fact, I do better with AU set to a really long refresh time than I ever did sitting in front of the computer for hours on end manually restocking. Sometimes, and not as often as you might think, I run it and come up with nothing. But in my mind, if that happens sometimes, it's a good thing. Which leads me to my next reasoning - b) Because this is the guide to ABing Without Getting Frozen. This is not the guide to ABing twenty-five million neopoints worth of items in a weekend. Your greed will be your doom. Tell me what's better - hauling in 30 million neopoints a weekend, getting iced and losing everything, or bringing in 2 million and still having your account and the neopoints? Ah, the best would be to have it both ways, wouldn't it? Well, you can't. Not if you want to be sure that you won't be frozen. Most items I grab are in the range of 100k to 1.5 million. At that rate, I'd have to grab a minimum of 20 high-priced items to make 30 million. That's ridiculous. That's what TNT looks for. They made the friggin game..... they know how G-D hard it is to restock legitimately. So overdoing it is the one thing you must not do. Nothing at all says "Legit" better than slow and steady gains with occassional strikeouts, because this is not typical cheater behavior. #3 - As a frequent blackjack player, I know that your frame of mind is every bit as important as the settings on your autobuyer. If you don't believe what I'm suggesting is the right thing, then you'll do the wrong thing. So consider a few things. Suppose you run a very high-priced autobuying list and pull in around 2 million neopoints a week. Many people here would probably be dissatisfied with that figure but how many legit players make that much restocking? I've never taken a survey, but I can tell you it's exceedingly few. So you're already an elite. Then consider that after a year, even if all you've done is stuff the money in the bank, you'll be at around 100 million neopoints. If you've played the stock market and/or reinvested, you could have much, much more. If you haven't, you could retire as a cheater and start doing those things and never look back. Meanwhile, cheaters X, Y, and Z are posting "Buying legit neopoints!" for the third time. Hold onto one account for one year, and be happy with 2 million neopoints a week. #4 - Use proxies. For God's sake, learn what a proxy is, find a fast one, and use it. And don't make five accounts on the same ip address, because it's against the rules to make money with more than one account per ip anyway. Each account you use must be on a separate proxy. That way if anything unpredictable ever happens for whatever reason, you'll lose one account maximum. #5 - Don't transfer items or have any contact whatsoever between accounts until the bitter end. If you start up your own account (and I recommend this), there are a few easy ways to get up enough money to start autobuying. You can use an Igloo buyer. Only on the weekend. Once you get one or two of the 100k+ items, sell them and wait for the account to age to four months. Or you can play games or Keyquest. Once you get up to 100k, which shouldn't take more than a few days, wait for the account to age. It is too easy to make the start-up neopoints for cheating, so there is no reason whatsoever to have to transfer to or from your account until you're ready to be done with it completely. #6 - Don't waste your time busting your hump getting avatars, playing games, decorating your petpage and whatever else is commonly thought to help make your account look legit. I was once frozen on a very legit account for restocking legitly. I had time-stamped diary entries written while I restocked, and TNT froze me and refused to give the account back. The accounts I was frozen on for (really) ABing were similarly legit-looking. It's all in the ABing method. If you refresh too quick, or get too much too fast, you're done, 75 avatars or not. #7 - Don't talk on the NeoBoards. I look at it this way - everyone there is either a newb or a cheater. I have no reason to talk to either one under my pet's name. A lot of cheaters are malicious; that's why we don't post pet/account names publicly here. If they don't know your name, they can't do you any harm. Remember that false accusations will still bring attention to you and you don't want any attention at all. As far as selling an item itself bringing attention to you, I've never had a problem with it. Theoretically, someone could see your trade offer, visit your userlookup, see that it's all plain, and report that a person with a plain lookup is selling a 2 million neopoint item.... but it's never happened to me. I think that TNT has frozen more than their share of people with very nice lookups and lots of trophies and avatars (because that's what we always suggest doing) and that doesn't really mean very much to them one way or the other, even if a user bothered to say something. #8 - Don't visit other people's lookups or shops. Cookie grabbers. You hit one on someone's page and it's all over. I almost never visit any other user's page or shop but if for some reason I must, I logout right afterwards, clear everything, login again, and change my password immediately. Some call it paranoia; I call it safe. I've never been CG'ed. So, to sum it all up - Create your own account(s) using a proxy(s) Build up 100 to 200k neopoints through Igloo buying or games Wait until your account is four months old Use AU with very slow settings and a high-priced list On their website, be an isolationist. Do not talk on the boards or visit petpages or usershops. Watch the money pile up As an example of what I mean by very slow settings for AU, perhaps "refresh every 9 to 17 seconds" and "every 60 to 75 minutes wait for 45 to 60 minutes". I've gone even slower than these numbers, and slightly faster as well, and had the best luck I've had since I started playing this God-rotting game. XD In the Igloo, your refresh rate hardly matters. Fast is good. Just remember, only on the weekend, and only until you have 100 to 200k worth of items. P.S. Don't thank me now - thank me a year from now.
Those are slow numbers With such numbers, how many hours per day do you let AU run... also, when you say you use AU on multiple accounts... do you just many instances of it open at once, or do you just alternate which account is using it?
It depends... I check on it about once an hour, so if I pulled in a nice item right away I'd shut if right off. For me, max time I'd let it run would be around six hours. I also don't run anything in between main shops refreshes. No Igloo, no spiderer, no nothing. You go for more and faster, and you get iced. I do use the spiderer feature but again, I don't AB or anything else when I'm doing that. The only safe way to go for more is to use multiple accounts, which brings me to your next question - I've tried it both ways, and alternating accounts has worked best for me by far. When I have multiple instances of AU running, I get crashes from errors on at least one after an hour or so and sometimes the whole thing goes down. And since I only use proxies, I think it makes most sense to use one account at a time anyway. They're slow enough as it is without you taxing the computer any more.
Nice guide! 99% complete, short and concise ! It's very nice to share your experience with everyone and making a guide out of those it's WAY better! We shouldn't trust in other sources or make standards such as "if you refresh over 5 seconds and less than 10, you're safe and cannot be frozen" You're right except about this thing : "Don't talk on the NeoBoards" . I think talking there or/and advertising your trade is making you less suspicious because most of the people there don't expect to hit a cheater chatting nicely or being kind in any way. In their view, cheaters are on the same level as scammers. Overall, good job with this guide. I know it will be useful for anyone who doesn't want to get frozen again.
Thanks for the kind words As far as talking on the Neoboards goes, it's a precautionary measure. At the very least, you can't go wrong by not talking on them. And I'd offer this to you: since the reverse of what I said is usually recommended - talking on the boards to make friends/dull suspicions/etc - we can deduce that there are plenty of cheaters following that advice and thus there are plenty of cheaters on the boards talking nice-nice to one another. They're all playing the same silly game and probably not fooling anyone, because who can read a cheater's tell better than another cheater? lol.... No offense intended, my friend, but I stand by what I said - IMO, talking on the Neoboards is an unnecessary exposure to risk, and the chance of someone tattling on you is FAR greater than the chance that you'll make everyone chatting believe you're a saint. The only people who see my name are the people looking to buy my items. That means they found me because I have something they want. Minimal exposure, and only to people who have a reason not to want to start trouble. I like it that way.
Ask and I shall receive! I literally just started using an ABer today, and so far it's been working wonders. I've started with the smaller shops/profit items so I don't look suspicious right away, and I'll probably slowly move up to the bigger ticket items, that way it looks as if I am growing and learning what to go after. I am trying to cover all of my bases as to try to look as legit as possible so this guide is amazing!! To most people on here, 2 mil a weekend might not be that great, but to a newbie... that's a lot!!! lol Thanks again!! <3 <3
Nice guide, but think of it this way: Would a person play neopets JUST to restock? That's why I'm unsure about 4 and 5..
I'm very new to this forum, to cheating, I'm just very new so please pardon me if this question is ignorant. So in my mind we cheat to make neopoints, we make neopoints so we can spend them to get fancy pets, items, avatars, etc., and these items make us "elite". So if we don't make any contact between any neopians, what is the point in doing all of this? Or am I mistaken and you mean that you shouldn't talk on the neoboards on the account you cheat with?
That's an intelligent and valid question, Diamond. To start off with, and answer both questions, I happen to play Neopets for three reasons - 1) My girlfriend plays 2) I actually enjoy a lot of their games & challenges 3) I want to sell Neopoints & items eventually There is NO way of telling what anyone is in it for. I'm not the least bit interested in being a recognized Neopian "elite" and bragging on the Neoboards. Firstly, because I don't trust anyone not to report my account, and secondly, because it's all a sham anyway. As I said in another post long, long ago, I don't see the point in bragging about something that a computer program obtained for you. However, that doesn't change the fact that people do it. So if that's what you're in it for, all I can say is, examine your options and pick the safest one. Since it goes contrary to what I recommend, I don't know what would work best.... chatting on a side account from a separate ip would keep your main account safe, but what would you say? "On my other account, I've got this, that, and the other thing..." Sounds like BS, unfortunately Best of luck to you, Diamond.
Hmm... I didn't mean it like that really. I wouldn't and do not brag about anything I have made legitimately. And I have made nothing illegitimately...yet. I guess I just would take advantage of the social part of neopets. I do take advantage of that, I join guilds, have neofriends, and stuff. I couldn't stay stealthy, I don't think... If I begin to cheat, I will probably just not have any contact with my main. It would be too terrible to lose that account in which everything was gained legitimately. I'm still sitting on the fence with this. Whether I want to risk it or not. I am by no means a very greedy neopian, I set my goals and meet them. And for the past 8 years I have been playing Neopets, these goals have been met fairly and justly. I don't have quite the cynicism that you have toward people on the forums :| But I think I know what you mean by, the fact that bragging will ultimately draw attention to you by unwanted visitors. But yes you are right, the whole reason why I want to even AB is because I want to look rich. >.< I'm so new. Like I said, pardon me.
Heh... the cynicism extends far beyond Neopets forums, my dear. But yes, you've got the jist of it. And if you choose to risk your ill-gotten gains for some conversation, I truly wish you the best of luck.
Hi I have yet another question (sick of me yet? lol ^_^) So when you and many other ab guide writers say, "You should only AB on weekends because TNT staff don't work that day.", does that also apply to holidays, when TNT notifies that its a holiday in the US and that they won't update?
Yes it does! Any day that an accountant haves off of work, TNT probably haves off of work as well! But don't buy into that weekend thing, you can AB on weekdays, just not in super-ritzy shops!