W, F or L? How to Check an Adopt Me Trade in 30 Seconds
Add up both sides on the same value list with the right neon, mega and potion versions, then adjust for demand. Within 10% is fair, more on your side is a W, clearly more on theirs is an L, and hard-to-trade pets in an offer drag the verdict down.
Someone sends you an offer: Kangaroo NFR for your Frost Dragon. The countdown has run from five to zero, the accept button is green, and they're already typing "W?". You have half a minute, and that's enough if you go step by step.
Check any trade in five steps
- Check every pet's version. Neons carry a green N icon, megas a purple M. Next to them are the fly and ride icons. A no-potion pet and the same pet in FR are different prices.
- Price both sides on one list. Put the pets into the trade calculator with their versions and it adds up the totals and the gap. Don't feed it numbers from other sites' screenshots: they use a different scale.
- Turn the gap into a percentage. Down 2 value in a 300-value trade is nothing. Down 2 in a 10-value trade is a fifth of the whole deal.
- Adjust for demand. If your pet is in demand and the offer is full of pets nobody wants, the number flatters their side.
- Re-read every slot before you accept. Any change resets the countdown to five. That protects you from swaps, but only if you're watching the window and not the chat.
Back to the kangaroo: in the calculator a neon kangaroo FR is 12.8, and Frost Dragon with both potions is 100. If your Frost has no potions, enter its real version: a no-potion one is 103, and on top pets that can be worth even more than FR.
Where fair ends and W or L begins
The game doesn't draw this line. This is the line we use for popular pets, not an Adopt Me rule.
| Difference in totals | Verdict | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| within 5% either way | even fair | accept if you actually want the pet |
| 5–10% in your favor | fair, leaning your way | take it if the pets you get have decent demand |
| 5–10% against you | fair, leaning their way | ask for a small add |
| over 10% in your favor | W | double-check the versions, then take it |
| over 10% against you | L | ask them to add or decline |
A W that looks too good deserves a second look. Usually it hides a no-potion pet counted as FR, or a neon swapped for a regular one at the last second.
Why demand matters more than the number
Say someone offers three pets for your popular one, and on paper the three are worth more. The calculator says W.
In practice you're giving up a pet that trades in a minute for three that nobody takes. That's a downgrade: several smaller pets for one bigger one. Small pets are harder to move, so people usually ask for a bit extra on a downgrade, and pay a bit extra on an upgrade. We wouldn't take three HTT pets for one easy-to-trade pet even at plus 10%.
When an overpay is fine
Overpaying isn't a mistake by itself. If the pet is your dream pet and few people have it for trade, giving 5–15% more is reasonable: you're paying not to wait for weeks. How much and when is in How Much to Overpay for Your Dream Pet in Adopt Me.
HTT pets inside an offer
HTT means hard to trade: a pet that's hard to move even at its value. If half the offer is HTT, we'd shave a tenth or more off their side in our head. How to spot those pets, and what to do if you're already stuck with one, is in How to Get Rid of Hard to Trade (HTT) Pets in Adopt Me.
What the game checks and what it doesn't
It warns about lopsided trades but doesn't block them
When a trade looks unfair to the game, one player is reminded that scamming is a bannable offense and the other is told they might be getting scammed. If both carry on, the game adds 15 seconds to think. In the Trading Hub a listing or offer that is too unbalanced just won't go through.
It doesn't track promises
A trade holds up to 18 items per side. Whoever offers more than that and promises to "add the rest after" won't add anything. It's a well-known scam.
Everything you're promised should be in the window before you press accept.
It won't catch a swap for you
The swap scam is simple: while you're scrolling your backpack, they switch a mega to a neon or a neon to a regular pet. Before accepting, check the purple M and green N are still there and scroll to the last slot. More schemes are in Adopt Me Scams in 2026: Every Trick and How to Avoid It.
You can open their backpack from the trade
Since 14 January 2026 you can ask to view the other player's backpack during a trade and suggest a pet from it. That helps a lot when age-based chat limits make talking impossible. For ultra-rare and legendary pets both players need a Trade License, or those pets can't go into the trade.
The trap: counting everything as FR
Most mistakes are about versions, not pets. Someone enters every pet with both potions when half of them have none, the total balloons, and an L looks like a W. Check the icons on every pet before you trust the result.
Pets in this guide
Shown: Normal · Fly Ride
Questions
How do I know if a trade is a W or an L?
Put both sides into a calculator with the correct versions: neon, mega, potions. Getting more than 10% extra is a W, giving more than 10% extra is an L, anything within 10% is fair. Inside that, with a 5–10% lean, demand decides.
Is a trade fair if it's off by 1 or 2 value?
It depends on the total. In a 200-value trade, 2 is 1% and perfectly fair. In a 10-value trade, the same 2 is 20%, which is an L for whoever gives more.
Why does the game say unfair when values say fair?
The game runs its own check, and it doesn't match value sites. The warning is not a block: in a normal trade you get 15 extra seconds and can still accept. In the Trading Hub, a listing that is too unbalanced won't post.
Is there a site to check Adopt Me trades?
Use the trade calculator: pick pets with their versions for both sides and it shows the totals, the difference and a verdict. It runs on our value table, so don't type in numbers from other sites.
They asked me to add. How much?
Enough to bring the gap inside the fair range, usually a couple of cheap popular pets or a potion. Adds go into the trade window before you accept. Anyone promising to add after the trade is scamming.