Market Discussions

Trying to build my alt into a trader, and slowly learning the ropes.

I thought it'd be cool to aim for something like a Viator, and run some Low-Sec trades. Maybe even try fitting a cheap indy like a Sigil, to see what I could get away with while training up. As I kind of imagined the best and most lucrative trades/hauling would be in Low-Sec.

But the more I use tools like EVE Central, the more I'm starting to think Low-Sec offers nothing against the trades that can be made in High-Sec. Am I right? Is staying safe in High-Sec really the most lucrative place to be?

I checked contracts to see what was available, and even that seems pretty poor. Well tbh, I couldn't afford the collateral on anything that would make me a decent amount of money anyway.

Either I'm still too new to fully understand trading and hauling enough to know how to make more money in Low-Sec than High. Which is entirely possible. OR, anyone in living in Low-Sec are already self sufficient, with their own corps or alt haulers, and the like.

So, is aiming to trade/haul in Low-Sec worth it?

There really is no safe place in New Eden, man.

Say there is a group of pirates that scan your cargo and decide that losing a few ships to concord is ok because they will make the money back on your cargo and modules... You are as good as ganked.

Read this...

http://themittani.com/news/plunder-sveipar

Fly safe...

Most of those who produce anything worth trading in lowsec just move their own stuff to highsec for sale. Most lowsec markets are low enough volume that its not worth the wait for a sale. Likewise, there are often not enough items on market in lowsec to fully fit a ship, and if you gotta go to highsec for some of the fittings anyway, why not buy the rest there to take advantage of the generally lower prices.

There are certain items in lowsec that are in constant demand. Cyno generators are a great one. Due to common player practices, they are most treated as an expendable item, (most cynos are lit on rookie ships/t1 frigs, which are very easy to kill, and many players like popping cynos) and many players are willing to spend a substantial premium to buy a cyno gen in the right placed. (Being willing to pay 10x Jita isn't that uncommon if there are no other cyno gens in a few jumps) You just need to figure out which stations receive alot of capital ship traffic.

Cheers guys for all the replies.... It's sad in a way, coz I guess it means it's a pointless exercise. Unless of course you're just in for the thrill of the chase, or you're in a corp which requires blockade runners for their own needs.

And with the new tags for sec system, anyone trapped out in Low can now get back into High to get their stuff. Can't see much of a market in those tags either, maybe I'm wrong.

So, I guess I'll stick to High-Sec. But I do think more needs to be done to encourage players out of High-Sec, out of their comfort zone. Coz you're not gonna do it if it aint worth it.

There is little avaliable because the fact of the matter is, the lowsec haulers right now demand excessive hauling fee's either cutting deeply into my margins 75% or more or exceeding my margins, therefore I simply find no use for lowsec.

if I could find some one who will haul at 1M isk per jump for every 10K then I would be interested, something tells me those numbers would work well for so many other merchants out there looking to peddle their goods.

On a side note, if you had say 50B isk, you could simply buy goods from Jita outright and haul into area's that see lots of combat, like ammo, Cap charges rigs and related fittings worth moving, but dont go crazy, the local sellers that sell at 50%+ markups will not tolerate competition, avoid being tracked at all costs if you want to do this on a consistent basis.

Excessive? Hardly. Considering the hassle and risks, the market for those services has found its proper price point. It seems odd that anyone would expect the hauler, who is doing all the actual work, to make less from the process than the station trader. The clicky market part is actually the least time consuming part of the process, which is exactly why those markets in losec and nosec are hard to break into—the haulers figured out that it was more profitable to cut the station traders out of the equation. Since the haulers have dove-tailed their hauling operation with their industrial and trading operations, the real competition isn't on the trading side, its on the hauling side. If you're not willing to haul your own stuff or willing to get into the business and offset your costs with hauling income, you're at a serious disadvantage.

OP, if you really want to get into the hauling/trading side of things, I highly recommend setting a skill path for freighters and JFs and joining Red Frog. Keep in mind that most low sec systems, excluding Aridia and Solitude, are relatively close to hisec (approximately 10 jumps or less), which means that even though losec seems like a separate land, it really isn't. Hisec meets most of those needs. Also most residents of those areas protect themselves from price gouging and spotty availability by securing their own logistical needs. The same is true of selling items, because so few people will venture into losec to make the buy in the first place. As I mentioned above, the haulers that are already visiting losec/nosec for their hauling endeavors use that opportunity to cherry pick the best stuff available to fill their holds on return trips or they bring items for sale with them if they are picking something up. No one likes flying empty.

Best of luck!

Great thanks guys

You are not going to pick any single area in eve and get good trading there.....eve is too dynamic for that. You really have to seek out a niche and build on it. Being a blockade runner (which is what you are talking about OP) is highly lucrative, but you need to think a bit bigger. As mentioned before Pirates bring thier own logisitics, but not always. I made a quite a bit of coin supplying full fits to my local pirates. They would lose something and not have time to pick up a new one and so they paid me. I would mark up the total by 25% and I delivered. Another thing is PI in lowsec, if you can get 0% tax its great money. Granted, you need to work your connections.

Simply station trading will net you plenty and require no risk. If you want to move goods in lowsec you will probably have to create a market. I would suggest finding a pirate hub and supplying it with common mods and ammo. Basicly you are talking about being an active trader. So do it all.

So basically asking Low-Sec pirates what fitted ships their after, and supplying them with a markup. While trying not to die to them on your return with what they've asked for. Cool sounds like a plan.

@Andres I guess you guys kinda depend on blockade runners out in Raha! Been following BNI since it began. Thought about joining with my main, but RL at the moment means it would be pretty pointless right now. But I'm enjoying reading about your "little" adventures :D

It should be noted that BRs cannot haul more than a few frigates at a time and, depending on which BR, maybe 1 cruiser. That would all be packaged, not prefit, which would mean you'd need to do the fitting at your destination. That will also require that either you or an alt you can fly to the station have the appropriate skills trained to actually sit in and fit those ships.

Mynna may have made a fortune supplying fit ships, but I'm willing to bet he didn't fly them to VFK in a BR.