I haven’t written much about trading lately, but not because I haven’t been trading much. Actually, I have quite a few trading projects going on, and have been debating about whether to write about these new secrets or not. The last time I divulged trading secrets, the competition suspiciously went up in my own trading markets. Kind of funny how that happens! I was mildly surprised that people actually read through those long, mildly nerdy trade posts.
Anyway, I have been thinking and experimenting with a few things lately:
First, hardwirings. They are hard to find sometimes, outside of main hubs, and I’m starting to think it might be an underutilized area of the market. I’ve only played with a few types in one or two low-sec stations, but the results have been pretty good. Also, as a pvper, I’m always annoyed after getting podded how hard it is to find all the implants I’ve grown addicted to. I could shuttle my flashiness to Amarr and get plugged up, but I’m lazy, you see. Just saying.
Second, drugs. I’ve been using drugs off and on in Susan’s pvp, and I’m curious at how they’re made, where they come from, who deals with them. Some are really hard to find in some regions and abundant in others. And the prices! The prices are all over the place! They could be several times as much in one region as another. I have been experimenting with a very little drug dealing, but wonder how much it takes to actually make the things. Do you have to have a pos, or can you build them in stations? I’ll find out, and let you know
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Third, skillbooks. I hate traveling to get skillbooks. I haven’t experimented with trading much on these, but I’m sure there are people out there making a killing. After all, many of the main trade hubs aren’t schools so someone, somewhere brought all those skillbooks over from a cheaper market. And, who wants to travel to a school when they’re already at a trade hub buying other stuff? I just wonder how much of a demand there is for skillbooks in low-sec trade hubs. Especially in my area where the nearest school is in Amamake—not a very safe choice for many people. It probably depends on the skillbook. Worth looking into.
Fourth, the miscellaneous stuff. Yeah, the stuff that doesn’t really fall into a trade category, and people subsequently forget about sometimes. Except when you really need it bad. Things such as scripts, sister probes, salvagers and tractor beams, expanded cargoholds, giant secure containers, certain types of rigs, etc. I have had relative success in some of these areas, though most of the time I’ve been selling small, non-trade acquired stacks because I had them kicking around randomly.
Anyway, just a few things I’ve been thinking about and playing with. Of course, there are many other things, but I can’t share all my secrets all at once now, can I.
I traded full +4 implant set contracts for a while at the border to nullsec. At a 25% profit margin they went over the counter like hotcakes.
ReplyDeleteSkillbooks are also profitable, but the profit margin is smaller due to lower costs.
Rig production and sale is easy and suprisingly profitable in lowsec/0.0 hubs.
Drug production is a VERY convoluted and drawn out process.
ReplyDeleteFirst: the gas needs to be mined from particular low sec/null sec regions.
Second: BPC's have to be obtained from exploration sites.
Third: Booster reactions need to be run in a POS.
Odds are there are some steps I missed. Been a while since I was involved in a booster manufacturing corp.
Drug production requires a POS with a reactor, and thus a vacant moon in a 0.4 or lower sec system: http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Combat_Boosters#Manufacturing_combat_boosters
ReplyDeleteHTH :)
Skill books are just like any other NPC item. If you have to travel a long ways to get it, pick up extras to sell in your home region.
ReplyDeleteIt is also a relatively low risk venture, because you can always sell it for what you paid for it.
Region-specific BPOs - rig BPOs, for example - are another good item.
Disagree with LuckyLuigi about profit margin on skill books. It all depends on supply & demand. 50 to 100% markups are often possible.
ReplyDeleteAlso, never forget that players are lazy, and players with more ISK than patience are your best customers.
I often sell items at better than 100% markup, even in systems adjacent to a major hub. It all depends on the cost of the item, relative to how much ISK a player has in his/her wallet.
For example, a player with 10M ISK in wallet isn't going to bother wasting time undocking, and flying to another station (even in the same system), just to save 10K ISK on an item. Similarly, a player with 100M ISK in wallet isn't going to care much about saving 100K ISK, and a player with 1B ISK in wallet isn't going to care about saving 1M ISK.