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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 10:47:00 -
[1] - Quote
The
Arcelor Capital A-Sheet
January 27, 2009
The Complete, Multi-Purpose,
Manufacturing Toolbox
Executive Summary
Purpose:
The profits in manufacturing have never been stronger, but with production costs constantly shifting, it is difficult to elucidate those products with the strongest earning potential. The Arcelor Capital A-Sheet is a dynamic excel spreadsheet that allows up-to-the-day analysis of the best opportunities to make ISK.
Features:
Nearly 700 Tech I Items are listed, along with their manufacturing profitability.
Tools available include: Per-Day Profit, Per-Unit Profit, Runs-per-Day, Profit Margins, Total Daily Cost, Total Per-Run Cost, Dynamic Sorting, Category Sorting, and more.
All manufacturing costs and times are also perfectly customizable to character skills, production environment, blueprint levels, implant bonusesyall the variables which can affect manufacturing profits.
The Blueprint Data Sheet, with nearly 700 items and their production characteristics, is worth the entire one-time fee!
Product:
The A-Sheet is an excel spreadsheet which fuses raw manufacturing data and daily EVE Market data to produce an attractive, comprehensive, easy-to-use spreadsheet capable of finding the biggest profit opportunities EVE has to offer.
The A-Sheet is a two-part package, a user-interface (the fA-SheetF) and an update file with up-to-the-day data on the EVE economy.
The Service:
A-Sheets are sold with a 10 million ISK startup fee, and an ongoing subscription of 10 million ISK per month after. Clients receive their A-sheet along with a biweekly updated data sheet which will update the original A-sheet automatically.
ISK is paid to Joseph Shephard in-game. Clients should simultaneously send an EVE-mail to Joseph Shephard listing where they would like the update file sent. We also ask that clients send along what version of Excel they have on their computer. When paying subscription costs, they simply give ISK with the reason fsubscription feeF in the reason line.
VISIT HTTP://WWW.ARCELORCAPITAL.COM TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE A-SHEET |
Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 10:48:00 -
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reserved |
Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 10:49:00 -
[3] - Quote
reserved |
Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 12:28:00 -
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Edited by: Joseph Shephard on 27/01/2009 12:28:11
It wouldn't be overly easy to pirate the sheet. This is for a few reasons:
1) To help clients prevent accidental changes to the complex formulas, we locked all of the cells that should not be changed. As a result, all inputs can be altered (such as your skills, your POS modifiers, what BPOs you own and what their ML and PL are) but the cells that are purely computational are locked. Hence, it is not possible to just copy the sheet or copy the formulas.
2) Some items have consistently positive profit margins but many others oscilate between being money-makers and money-losers. Without updating your sheet with our mineral price and product price updates, all of the data on the sheet will become inaccurate.
To a certain extent, it is impossible to guarantee the complete pirating of the sheet. If our clients purchase it and consistently spread both the Master Sheet and the Price Updates to others, we will be very sad. Hence, at a certain point, we must rely on the morality of others (and the fact that -- if you spread this information around for free -- you are giving up your own strategic advantage).
Any other questions or comments, please let us know. We're very excited to have finished this (it took several long nights) and look forward to seeing what you all think!
J. Shephard
Arcelor Capital
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 12:59:00 -
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 Originally by: Ricdic
It would have been more awesome if your first name was John btw.
However based on the service you are offering, Dr Rodney McKay is a far wiser choice of name.
Having seen the show and knowing the two, I take that as high praise :)
As long as you cut out the weird anti-social qualities of the later.
Originally by: ricdic
How accurate are those prices btw? Are they pulled from Eve-Central or updated personally by you guys? And are the price updates covering just raw minerals? Moon minerals? components?
The majority of price data is pulled from Eve-Central and is, as a result, prone to some of the same problems Eve-Central is prone to. For instance, very low volume items and items that are not frequently exported to Eve-Central will be less accurate.
However, we have added a few steps of our own to try to get a more accurate figure. This involves using different aspects of both buy and sell prices and -- for very specific products -- using a price-of-last-resort determined by prevailing mineral prices. For most items, the prices are very good. For Titans, Carriers, and rigs that have never been purchased in the history of the game, you might want to add some research of your own to bolster our calculations.
Originally by: ricdic
Also by buying this package will you include an expansion to cover t3 production when it becomes available? 
We use this sheet ourselves when looking at manufacturing, so our hope is to keep it as updated as possible. Whether or not we can expand it to include t3 depends partly on how t3 manufacturing works and whether or not it is conducive to being modeled. It's definitely on the "to do" list if at all possible.
As for the issue of it being included with this purchase, I would say we hope so but it's not guaranteed. Our hope was that the A-Sheet could be widely used so that we could keep costs low while still making enough ISK to do further programming in addition to the promised price updated. However, if there are few users the possible upside might not be worth the level of pain it would take to expand the sheet into t3.
So... tell your friends to buy a copy and you increase your chance of a free t3 upgrade! (innocent smile)
J. Shephard
Arcelor Capital
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 13:05:00 -
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Originally by: Zakalwe Staberinde
I order one copy. Sounds like an awesome job!
Zakalwe -- What version of Excel are you running? We have different versions of the file depending on whether or not you are running Excel 1997-2003 or an Excel version later than 2003 (such as 2007).
Anyone interest, please make sure that your Eve-Mail to Joseph Shephard includes: (1) The email address you want the files sent to and (2) What version of Excel you are using.
Thanks!
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 13:33:00 -
[7] - Quote
Originally by: Muscaat
Any advice on OpenOffice compatibility?
I happen to have Open Office so I opened it up and poked around the file. At first glance, it seems to be 100% functional for everything that really matters. However, a lot of the "extras" such as conditional colorings have been stripped away.
My impression is that users of Open Office could use this program and be entirely happy with the results. If that proves to be untrue, we are more than willing to work to fix the problem with you and -- if that proves to be impossible -- return your payment.
J. Shephard
Arcelor Capital |
Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 13:34:00 -
[8] - Quote
Originally by: Damien Jax
What are the differences between this and Dedfal's spreadsheet?
Damien, I'm not all that familiar with Dedfal's spreadsheets. A quick eve-search didn't bring up any hits for "Dedfal" so could you provide me with a link? I'll take a look sometime today between classes and let you know this evening when I get back. |
Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 14:18:00 -
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Edited by: Joseph Shephard on 27/01/2009 14:18:58
Originally by: Damien Jax
What are the differences between this and Dedfal's spreadsheet?
Ok, I got to look this over before I went to class.
Dedfal's tool is a really nice little app, but it doesn't quite do what the A-Sheet does (unless there is a part of Dadaf's tool that just escaped me). Think of it this way: If you know what you want to build and you want to know exactly how much it will cost you, it seems you could use Dadaf's tool. What our A-Sheet does is that it instead calculated exactly what it would cost you to make 700 T1 items all at once. Hence, our sheet will help you identify markets you want to get into in addition to telling you the time and mineral requirements associated with the production.
Theoretically, if you entered the data for every single item into your saved content for Dadaf's tool, it would be nearly the same as my sheet, but mine saves you the trouble of entering about 10,000 data pieces into the tool manually.
If you want more details on differences I can look some more, but my first impression is just that: Our tool analyzes nearly all t1 items without needing any input other than your skills, Dedaf's analyzes products only as you enter them.
As for the reprocessing calculator, that is on the "short list" of things to add simply because of how easy it would be to do. The only reason it's not in this version is that I worked all night on it, got it working for manufacturing, prettied it up, and decided I just didn't want to do a reprocessing calculator at that moment. :)
J. Shephard
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 17:11:00 -
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Originally by: Juyfne
You said that prices can be off due to Eve-Central inaccuracies..is there a way to update prices/costs manually?
Right now, you can expect the prices to be accurate for every item that is sold in a respectable volume on the Market (excluding contracts, of course). So, if you are interested in anything other than Motherships, some Carriers, Titans, Capital Doomsday Mounts, you should be great. For all of those items (and there are very few of them) our spreadsheet calculates all of the material costs, buy taxes, time it takes to produce, etc but it will leave sell price as zero.
If you want to manually enter a price for these items -- or for any other item -- it's not currently possible. However, you can take the calculated figures for cost to produce (inclusive of material costs, taxes, and slot rentals) and simply subtract that from whatever you would have used on a basic scientific calculator to get profit per unit.
The reason you cannot manually update the prices is two-fold: The primary reason is that if we didn't lock the cells, inevitably, 30-50% of people would accidentally erase at least one formula and the errors would propagate through the entire sheet. The secondary reason is that if we leave everything unlocked, there is really nothing that stops anyone from stealing the spreadsheet, its formulas, and even the updating system. If you have special reasons to add prices manually instead of automatically, send me an Eve-Mail and maybe we can work something out for the specific case.
Originally by: Damien Jax
Things in the Last Post
It's the second case -- the extremely useful one. All prices are updated automatically every time I send out a price update file. As of right now, that is planned to be two times per week at minimum but quite possibly more if you want (it takes about 15 minutes to create the update files and probably another 5 minutes to email them -- I just don't want to clog people's emails with Eve Price files if they don't want them that often).
That way, all you have to do is open our files, it will calculate the cost to produce everything automatically, it will update the sell prices automatically, and then it will spit out the profit per unit, profit per day, and profit margin as well as a dozen other statistics. Then you can sort them by whatever you want, filter them by various groups if your version of Excel allows, etc.
Our sheet also does what Dadaf's does -- tell you how much minerals you need for production given your skills, POS, BPO ML, etc, but has slightly less functionality on that end (mainly, it only gives you the material costs to produce one unit, not "x" units). However, ours has the added bonus that any BPO specific information you input such as ML and PL will be automatically entered into the overall profit analyzer, so you don't have to compensate for that manually.
Keyser and Others -- I just wanted to clarify in case there was any confusion. Purchasing the A-Sheet costs 10 Million ISK and it comes with data loaded into it as of today. Every month in which you want to receive updates costs 10 Million in addition and purchases you between 8 and 16 price updates for the month (prices update for every product and every material input). So, Keyser, your scenario of sending 20 Million ISK gets you the sheet and the full update service for one month (which I think you understood but I just wanted to make sure). Those who send 10 Million can get the sheet, take a look at it to see if you like the quality and functionality, and then decide if you think it is worthwhile to send another 10 Million ISK per month for the 8 to 16 updates.
J. Shephard
Arcelor Capital |
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 19:55:00 -
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I am back from class, so anyone who has ordered a sheet so far today should have it within the next 30 mins. Please let me know via Eve-Mail if you do not have it after this time.
Hopefully those of you who are looking for reviews before making a decision will hear one way or the other soon.
J. Shephard
Arcelor Capital
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.27 23:57:00 -
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Edited by: Joseph Shephard on 27/01/2009 23:57:49
Originally by: J Carreg
Is there any way to make the font smaller maybe? or the grids alittle smaller. I think would help a long way towards solving this.
I understand what you're saying. There's a lot of information to wade through on the summary page. I played around with font sizes, and in my opinion it's hard to read on any font size lower than 11. I'll look to see if there are ways to legibly condense it though (maybe I can turn the headers sideways so they take up less space and pack the columns 33% closer together.
Originally by: J Carreg
I think it would be nice to allow me to put in my own working price so that if I get the minerals for lower than the working price I can see exactly how much profit I have made.
I guess I can add another column to the calculation of mineral prices where each person could enter their own values and then they could turn on and off whether or not they want their custom input values or the auto-updated data. I will add it to the short list of upgrades that will hopefully take place in the next 7 days.
Originally by: J Carreg
The second would be that I can you only take price data from the forge region. I would seriously think this is limiting your user base as different people operate in differnt regions. I understand why the forge was chosen, however having the option to change would be awesome. Are there any further plans to change which price sheet you get or even to be able to change the region on the sheet itself? going further on this, what about getting prices for just one system (probably only the market hubs) or even getting the buy prices from the forge, but selling in Lonetrek?
The short answer is that there were no plans to do this in the near future. And the reason isn't that I love the Forge, it's actually very different from that. Because of Jita and the surrounding systems, the Forge typically has the lowest sell prices on almost anything. This means that you typically cannot buy minerals for cheaper than the Forge without venturing into lowsec. Also, the products you sell are typically are also at the lowest.
"Why," you ask, "do I want to calculate using the lowest sell price for the items I'm manufacturing?" The reason is that this spreadsheet is supposed to capture the value created by the process of manufacturing. If you are traveling around to buy cheaper minerals and then manufacturing with them, you are no longer just manufacturing. You are hauling minerals and then manufacturing. Just like if you manufacture rigs in the Forge and then sell them in Domain because you get a higher price, you are manufacturing and then hauling rigs.
This isn't to say you shouldn't buy the cheapest minerals and sell at the highest price possible because clearly you should, but the change in value derived from moving minerals, components, and final products is trading profits and not really manufacturing profits.
Also, Jita/Forge has the highest resistance to manipulation in popular markets and more people export Forge data to Eve-Central than the other regions. Hence, from a completeness standpoint the Forge is vastly superior.
Might we add other regions in the future? We might but unless a great many people call for it I don't think its on the short list for now. I think allowing you to enter custom mineral/component prices will allow you to do most of what you're looking for as a compromise.
Originally by: J Carreg
...add them both to a list and be able to view the figures next to each other...
I have an idea for how this might be done. I made a sheet that does something very much like that in first version of the A-Sheet I tried to make. I'll fix it up, add it back, and see what you guys think at the next update.
Originally by: J Carreg
Will continue to play further later. However from me its a big thumbs up so far.
Glad to hear it :) |
Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.28 00:10:00 -
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Originally by: ksc1226
Looks Interesting. I sent u the isk looking forward to checking it out.
The file is sent. Please let us know how the compatibility issue goes for you. Like I said, my quick glance showed almost everything working, but be careful -- in the Open Office compatible version it is very easy to accidentally delete formulas here and there. Just make sure to hit undo before you lose track of it. :)
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.28 16:11:00 -
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Having made and sent the first update file, I'm upping the number of update files per month from 8 to 15 for those that subscribe in addition to purchasing the sheet. The first post has been updated to show this.
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.28 16:54:00 -
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Edited by: Joseph Shephard on 28/01/2009 16:55:00
Ricdic, can you do me a favor? I have a feeling the data is hidden but that it's all working just fine. Simple way to check though -- if you could -- please open the new A-Sheet Price Updater file, open your A Sheet 2007 file, and then go to the sheet called "Material Costs." If the listed Working Price of Megacyte is 2868.88, isogen is 54, and... ward console is 66000, then everything is working right. If you have different values (or no values) then I can send you a new file.
The A-Sheet Price Update file will always look empty when you look at it, but actually isn't. It's read by the A-Sheet 2007 or A-Sheet file we sent you. ie, other than needing to have it open, you never need look at the file. Everything is displayed through the A-Sheet file.
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.29 04:37:00 -
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Edited by: Joseph Shephard on 29/01/2009 05:17:53
Originally by: Hapenburg
Still waiting for that email.
I believe I sent you an evemail asking for what version of excel you were running. If not, I apologize and meant to. I'll send it over as soon as I know which file I'm sending. :)
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.30 22:23:00 -
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Originally by: Marcus D'Eriellius
I assume the OP doesn't do this because he wants the "security" of his locked cells in Excel, however, password security in Excel is non-existant
Yes, we said in the first few posts that what security we had could easily be overcome. In response to Ricdic's question (first post other than ours on the thread) we admitted that to a certain extent we had to trust the people who purchased the A-Sheet not to hack it and give it away for free. We also were thinking that anyone who had the ability and desire to manufacture items other than ammo probably did not consider 10 Million ISK a back-breaking fee.
Originally by: Marcus D'Eriellius
You can also import EVE-Central data directly into Google docs using the ImportXML() method which would save having to send out update files, that's what my sheet does. The OP's revenue model would still be secure as you can revoke read access if people stop paying.
If you know of a way to transfer the data more easily that still restricts access to only subscribers, we would be very interested in talking to you in game.
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.01.30 22:24:00 -
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Also, we have a few dozen users now. If anyone wants to write a review of the A-Sheet, we would welcome that. So far, people really only have our description and screenshots to go off of and I think some might appreciate hearing the opinions of those who did not design and built it.
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.02.03 08:16:00 -
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Taryn,
Apologies for not getting back to you earlier. If you wouldn't mind, can you email the two files you are using to "Arcelorcapital@gmail.com" and I'll go over the files to see if I can figure out where the issue is coming from. If I can't find it, we can try sending you another new copy of both files to see if that works. If that doesn't work, we can either keep trying or refund your original purchase.
J. Shephard |
Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.02.05 12:06:00 -
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We were wondering if any of our subscribers had any thoughts on the A-Sheet, or might be willing to post a review. We really do appreciate your feedback.
J. Shephard
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Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.02.09 02:00:00 -
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Sorry to disappoint, but we won't be the first Spreadsheet scam. For those of you who ordered your A-Sheets over the course of the last three days, they should be sent. I just was forced to take a few day Eve-break this weekend and didn't have time to get on and check orders.
One person ordered a sheet but didn't send ISK. I'll contact you outside of the game to follow up on that.
J. Shephard |
Joseph Shephard
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Posted - 2009.02.11 02:08:00 -
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More price updates and the next batch of new subscriptions sent. For some reason, we keep getting more and more subscribers without anyone doing a review, but if anyone wants to post a customer review of the A-Sheet we would welcome it. Anyway, on to other matters:
Originally by: Junkine Da'Trunk
Learn to read, and stop buying stuff for double the price it is offered for:
"A-Sheets are sold with a 10 million ISK startup fee, and an ongoing subscription of 10 million ISK per month after."
The general view of pricing by our customers so far has been correct. The first 10 Million purchased you the actual A-Sheet with that day's pricing information loaded into it. You receive updates only if you subscribe. The updates are 10 Million isk per month and you receive an update about every other day. Those that have sent 20 million isk have purchased the A-Sheet along with 30 days worth of subscription time. So far everyone who we have spoken to has understood this, so we feel no compulsion to change the language. Sorry if there was any confusion on that Junkine Da'Trunk.
Originally by: Junkine Da'Trunk
Neither this spreadsheet, nor any other program, even ones that are yet to come out can make you a profit.
We politely disagree on this issue, Junkine. Just like knowing what items are best to station trade and what items are profitable to haul, knowing what manufactured products make the most money clearly aids you in making profit. For instance, we were making a series of products that were indeed profitable, but while testing the A-Sheet we were made aware of a whole group of products that made significantly more profit per day. We've switched our production and make an extra 20 million isk per day now (which, if you compare that to the price of the A-Sheet subscription, pays for itself 30 times over).
I'm sure before you manufacture anything you take out a calculator and determine whether your possible product would be profitable at current prices and, if so, by how much. We're doing the same thing but we're doing it automatically for 700 manufacturable items.
J. Shephard
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