Whandall
Brotherhood Cartel Synthetic Brotherhood
7
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Posted - 2013.08.07 05:54:00 -
[1] - Quote
Recently I got an email from a player experienced in EVE, but inexperienced in the market, asking for advice on where to start. I was extremely flattered. Basically the only thing I like more than praise is sex, and I prefer to be praised during that as well. I wrote up a long rant about how to start your trading career, and I liked it enough to share it. Hopefully it will be useful for someone new out there.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah, where to start.
To begin with, a successful trading strategy is not automatically the most efficient way to make money. There are a lot of things I could do as a trader to make more ISK like becoming a station trader, doing hourly check-ins, casting a wide net of contract hauling to move my product. All of these things are smart things to do, and traders who are into them, and do them right do very, very well.
However, all of the above things severely bore my nipples off, so I don't do them. Oh, I'll do some for my corp, but that's the JOB, man. For me, I like getting my hands a little more dirty, and I like reducing the math. So yes, I could become a station trader, and I might do well at it, I have some of the skills from RL. But I'd hate it, I'd hate logging in, my performance would suffer, and next thing you know I'm losing money.
I'm over explaining again. Here are some thoughts that I hope will help:
1) FIrst, for any in depth understanding of how to trade, lurk the forum, and check out the guides. There are some great links stickied to the top of this section.
2) You are an expert on something. Work it! I know precisely Dickensian about Minmatar ships. Every single one of them looks to me like something a child would make out of a junk box with a few coat hangers. I would never get into the ship/fitting market for Minmatar, because the only things I know about them are how they look, and the sounds they make when they blow me up. But if you know your ships and fittings for a particular type you can work that knowledge.
3) Look for patterns. If you are a missioner..you probably know where some good mission locations are. Consider placing buy orders for salvage there. If you're a miner, and find a system full of miners...well, that's probably a great place to buy ore or minerals. If you gank miners....hey, I bet you have a good idea of where to sell some mining ships, right? Use your other activities to deepen the sophistication of your trading choices. Its an advantage that a station trader doesn't have.
4) Time and money are equally important, given limited cash. Market PVP does not mean "I never want anyone to make money off my behavior." It means maximizing YOUR cash flow. If I place an order, and somebody buys it all, and puts it right back on the market, that is a win for me. That means I have my cash back for the next venture. Don't obsess. Just keep churning that cash.
5) Related items will sell as a group. If you are selling energized thermic plates.....making sure energized EM plates are in that station too will help your sale. Its true of just about everything, ammo, mining crystals, drones....more variety vastly increases your sale. So you can of course go to a market hub to sell, that's a good choice. Or, you can go out into the boonies and set up a convenience store. Make your choices, and run with it.
6) Finally only do what you are willing to do. I used to overcommit to the market end of things. I got burnt out. 2 hours a day of price checking deeply sucks, in my opinion. 15 minutes a day? I can do that, and do it daily without going insane. If you try and launch into uber daytrader all at once....well a lot of people fail, and they often fail because they overcommit and stop caring halfway through the process.
That's what I have. Hope it helps someone. |