<< trading guide part 1
In the beginning, you will undoubtly be limited
both in skill and cash, to the most basic of equipment. A fast frig,
some cargo expanders and maybe an afterburner or microwarp drive. But
fear not, this will change quickly. As cash flows in, you can upgrade
to more skills, and better ships (more cargo) and higher worth tradegoods.
Alot can be said here on the "best" gear to have, but its an area I
choose to leave to you to sort out. The most important items id say
were, speed and cargo cap. Pick an industrial you wish to fly and train
the skill, and buy one. A beastower makes a good choice, as to the lower
Mark series Iterions. I started his way, using a beastower for short
hauls, making enough until i could buy the Gallente indy skill, and
started traing it. The mark V is the ultimate cargo hauler. It can't
be beat for maximun cargo, BUT, its a long skill time to train, somewhere
around 29 days, learning skills depending. Ask around. Most indy pilots
love talking about there ships, as do most other pilots. Some times
an Indy or Frig does not fit the bill either. Alot of sucessful traders
fly various types of crusiers, destroyers or even interceptors. Each
has thier usefulness, but most beginning traders have little spare time
to train these skills or the cash to buy them, much less the ships themselves.
Point is, be aware that later in your career you may (or should) be
looking at other ship options for some runs. More on this later.
Ahh now heres the rub. It takes money to make
money, but how can you make money with no money? Well you can't. You
must either do some mining, agent missions or if you are particuarliy
brave, pirating. Id recommend Agent running. In a fast ship, you can
make several million in just a few days, even at the most basic of agents.
If mineing is more your style, then strap on some miners and have at
it, but the point is you are going to need at least a few million before
you are "viable" as a trader. It can be done with less, but it takes
more time. If you have made friends, you might be able to persuade them
to part with a bit, to back your venture, however if you choose this
route, make sure you pay them back, ontime and without problems. Not
doing so may incur the wrath of some up and coming fighter pilots, people
you don't need to meet later in your career, flying that fully loaded
indy into low security systems, with your life savings aboard.
The Eve market is where you buy and sell most
goods. Some items cannot be listed on the market and are sold on escrow.
Im not going to cover Escrow, other then to say its out there, and different.
The market screen alows you to sort by the number of jumps from you
an item is, the volumn, cost, location and also if its a region, solar
system or station buy/sell order. Pay attention to that. Make sure when
you buy (or sell something) you have not bought "region/system wide"
if you didn't want to. I once bought 40 million in data sheets over
the entire Lonetrek region. There are 2/3 options available to you for
your search "scope", ie how far away you want to look from where you
are. There is also an oftne over looked but very useful history tab,
that will tell you the price and vol of an item over varying amounts
of time. Use it. It can tell you if the price you are paying (or selling
for) is on target, and just as importantly, how much of the item (volumn,
in sales) the item is moving. This is very useful in determineing if
you are in a busy area, with lots of compeditors, or have the area to
your self.
So, you have a few skills, have missioned or
mined your way to your first couple of million, and you have a fast
frigite or industrial ship. You have decided to set up "somewhere" and
found, useing your noodle and a bit of common sense, a few low cost
trade runs. Now you're thinking Ill just buy X ammount of items and
load them up and head over, yes? Well, yes and no. There are some things
you must ask yourself first. They are.. Is your cargo full? If not,
you should look again and see if theres a close (in destination) system
that requires something you can bring as well. This must be balanced
with the time it takes you both to deliver (and pickup) this "filler"
load. Is there a return trip load? In the late 20th century, Fossil
fueled delivery vehicles, called 18 wheelers, would often carry cargo
to one destination only to find nothing to carry on the return trip,
costing them both money, and time. These were called "Deadheads". Avoid
this at all cost. Sometimes you can't, but you should try. Are you using
the right equipment? If you have found a run that has somewhat high
priced items, takeing just a few hundred cargo it may be better to run
that fast frig twice, rather then the big slow indy once. Remeber the
return trip though. Time is money. Are you running into low security
systems? In the beginning Id avoid this. While some juciey runs are
in < 0.5, you are not the only person thats going to be there, plenty
of pirates know how to use the trade system to find riches too. Be aware
of this, and if you must run there, set up insta-jumps first. And use
the map.; check the ships/pods destroyed in the last hour setting. If
theres been any activity, don't go, its that simple. You have been warned.
Of note, the market supply and demand now changes with every buy and
sell order processed. When you sell something to an npc the demand price
"usually" goes down, as the orders are filled. And the buy price goes
up as more is purchased. The temptation is to deliver and sell, deliver
and sell, completeing the demand at a station, but doing this will leave
some profit behind, as the price changes with every transaction, "most
of the time". So get it all there first, and sell it together, buy the
same way, all at once.
So now you have gotten the hang of it. And
are actually making a bit of money. Not alot, but its coming in. So
what to do now to increase your profits? Well there are some.
Skills
By now you should have an idea of which skills are becoming important.
The Navigation sets, with the afterburner, MWD and handling are critical.
So is hull modifications, namely hull upgrades (better cargo expanders).
The Starship skills you have chosen should meet the goals you have set
for the types of delivery ships you wish to use, and you should be on
your way to a "bigger" Industrial. So what of the rest? Well, now we
are going to concentrate on the ability to use trade skills to or upmost
advantage. You have probably noticed by now that you are getting socked
with a hefty sales tax and broker fees. These can put a dampener on
your bottom line, every day, every trade. You should have trade V by
now, if not get on it. At least to lvl 3. Now go get marketing, broker
relations, and Accounting. Broker relations and accounting will decrease
the fees you pay when you place a buy order for items not yet listed
to sell, and the tax (10% per lvl ) for each and every sale you make
(Acct) Why marketing you might ask? Ok ill tell you, but under the market
section.
Upgrades, Upgrades, Upgrades! Price better
cargo expanders and buy them if you can afford them. Buy them one at
a time, if you must, but get more cargo capeability. Remeber you are
selling your cargo space, and if by expanding your cargo, you can shorten
the number of trips you make per run, then do it. Also, buy some GSC's
(giant secure containers), as many as you can fit in your hold. They
can be a "poor mans expander" if you get them cheaply enough. All cargo
containers have the special ability that allows you to put more volumn
in them then they take to carry themselves. It isn't a whole lot but
every little bit helps. Another bonus is, should you meet an unfortuneate
demise, a secure can (password protected) can be anchored wherever you
died, prohibiting the offending party from scooping the cans and opening
them, getting your cargo. Corp management and anchoring skill is required
for this though. It doesn't always work (high security regions, cans
too close to each other) but it can save you some if you are lucky.
Ok the "new" Shiva market. And new stragities.
Pre-shiva, you were limited (forced) to buy your goods, deliver them,
and sell them while you were there, or put in a sell order and hope
someone else docked and wanted that very item. Not any more. Now theres
a whole new world of buying and selling, and some VERY creative ways
to do it. The marketing skill allows you the ability to buy (and sell)
remotely! ie: you don't have to be in the station, or even the same
system. Now with a high enough skill you can manage your profits without
ever having to leave the station.
Strategy One
Lets say you find a good deal on those antibotics we talked about earlier.
But, they are wanting over 100k of them, and you find yourself looking
at 17 differnt stations selling just 8k vol each. Do you spend a day
flying around and gathering them all to one station? You could, but
chances are someone will beat you to it, or at least part of them, dropping
the buy price by the time you get them all there. What to do? Stockpile.
Don't sell them for less just gather them. The market rises and falls
with every order filled, remeber, so they will go back up and you can
still make the money you intended. With the marketing skill you can
login in a day or so, check the market, and if your number is met, just
open assests and click sell. Assuming you are in range (level dependent)
you never have to undock.
Building on the above you can take it a step
further. Pay people to haul those scattered assets for you! Set up courrier
missions (you must be in target station unfortuatley) and pay those
young indy haulers just a bit of your profits to move your stuff for
you. Now you are saving tons of time to do other things, make the "commisions"
back that you pay for this service, or whatever. Point is you have others
doing you hauling for you, and you just sell it when it arrives. You
must be in a good position cash wise, and be prepared to wait for your
orders to arrive, but for those with alot of cash and better things
to do with thier time, this is a viable option.
Minerals, the life blood of all production
corps. Volumns could be written on tradeing minerals. Some regions don't
have access to noxcium, others have probelms finding Isogen. Learn what
is in demand and the current prices. And stay current. Mineral prices
rise and fall like a nun in a cucumber patch, so just because you sold
iso one day at 100 doesn't mean you can do it a week from now, or tomorrow.
Mineral tradeing takes alot of effort and time (research) but the rewards
are huge. Module tradeing. This I liken to speciality tradeing, a nich
market, takeing even more research and time to effectively manage. Some
modules can cost millions and millions for just one item. For those
brave enough, with enough cash, this is probably the highest tier of
tradeing in EVE. Its not for the faint of heart. As of this writing
I have yet to dabble in this and I have a sizable bankroll. While the
rewards are great, the risk is even greater.
Contraband. Ileagal stuff. I don't do this.
I value my corperate standings too much to risk getting caught (and
my wallet size) and its still so new I can't speak with authority on
any of the methods and risks associated with it. There are others out
there that do, and some have written up tidbits to this end, but you
won't find this info from me. Seek out others if you wish to travel
this route.
A few lessions to learn, and reinforce. They
are:
Don't fly empty, ever, if you can help it.
Do you research, your homework, and especially the math, do not forget
these three points if you want to make it worth while.
Train skills towards the future. Lean towards bettering your ship, setup,
and profits. Check your route for security concerns, never fly into
ships/pods destroyed unless you KNOW you will be safe doing it, ever.
Never "Gang" with anyone that you do not trust. Many an Indy have been
ganked by pirates spamming gang invites and killing you, gang memebrs
don't take sec hits. Use cargo cans to increase your hold space
Upgrade your gear.
He sat back in his chair, completley drained,
trying to digest, to remeber all she had put before him. So much to
know, so much to learn he thought. This was going to take some time.
She watched him as he stood, thanked her for her time, and exited the
observation deck. Draining the last sip of her Quafe-Ultra she stood
herself, and headed towads the hanger deck. The loading was surely completed
by now, she had spent far too much time already. Still, 10 million ISK
was nothing to sneeze at, she had worked harder for less. And as she
climed into her pod on the deck of the hulking Iteron Mark V, she couldn't
help but give him another thought.
"I will have to keep an eye on this one.." she mumbled under her breath
as she eased the massive ship away from the docking clamps, out of the
hanger and towards the warpgate beacon.
<< trading guide part 1 
