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Margin Trading Scams Everywhere
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Bob Doshu
Royal Amarr Institute
Amarr Empire
#1 - 2015-06-30 20:55:11 UTC
I just got to amarr and it is caotic here. I have read about this scam and all i see is offers with the same amount of items being sold and at the same price (like 10 offers are the same) and im scared to buy anything here to sell at a higher price. Should i buy stuff from other places and then come here to sell?
Cyber SGB
Science and Trade Institute
Caldari State
#2 - 2015-06-30 21:01:36 UTC
Provide more info. What item are you talking about and what is the price? Maybe even take a screen-shot. People can then tell you if it is a scam or not.

I write Kindle books. Visit my author page. http://amazon.com/author/sgbynum
Bob Doshu
Royal Amarr Institute
Amarr Empire
#3 - 2015-06-30 21:04:52 UTC
Electronic parts, Enriched Uranium and vitoc
Cyber SGB
Science and Trade Institute
Caldari State
#4 - 2015-06-30 21:32:44 UTC
Electronic parts are usually sold by NPCs. Look and see if the expiration is like 364 days. If so, then it is NPCs selling them. 700 isk or so in price.

I think the Enriched Uranium goes for around 10k to 11k isk. Could be wrong.

Vitoc, meh, 8k isk or so? I'm not sure if this is used anymore for anything. Maybe someone that knows for sure can chime in.

I write Kindle books. Visit my author page. http://amazon.com/author/sgbynum
Tsukino Stareine
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#5 - 2015-06-30 23:13:27 UTC
Bob Doshu wrote:
I just got to amarr and it is caotic here. I have read about this scam and all i see is offers with the same amount of items being sold and at the same price (like 10 offers are the same) and im scared to buy anything here to sell at a higher price. Should i buy stuff from other places and then come here to sell?



You might not fully understand what it is and are just thinking some orders are scams when they're not.

Art of Explosions
ShahFluffers
Ice Fire Warriors
#6 - 2015-06-30 23:54:53 UTC  |  Edited by: ShahFluffers
FYI:

- if you are just trying to buy stuff for your own PERSONAL use... don't worry. You are not at risk.

- if you are buying stuff with the intention of reselling it to a high buy order AT THE SAME STATION... you are at HIGH risk of a margin trading scam.

- if you are buying stuff with the intention of reselling it at a higher price in some other station that is not a trade hub... don't worry. You are not at risk.

- if you are buying stuff with the intention of reselling it to a high buy order in some other station that is not a trade hub... you are at moderate to low risk of a margin trading scam.

How did you Veterans start?
Chainsaw Plankton
FaDoyToy
#7 - 2015-07-01 06:44:00 UTC
in general look at the price history and the volume. The items you listed sound like npc trade goods and/or PI goods. probably not really worth trading in anyways.

if it looks too good to be true it probably is.

@ChainsawPlankto on twitter
Elena Thiesant
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#8 - 2015-07-01 07:28:20 UTC  |  Edited by: Elena Thiesant
Electronic parts and enriched uranium are traded in huge quantities, so unlikely to be used for a margin trading scam. Market manipulation's always a possibility.

The margin trading scam relies on someone buying something at a price massively above what that thing is worth. The scam is complete once the person has bought the overpriced item, the buy order is just the bait. Because it relies on someone buying a massively over-priced item, people use rare items for it. Office modules, unusual tags, that kind of thing. Not things which trade in the thousands of units a day.
Lost Greybeard
Drunken Yordles
#9 - 2015-07-01 12:52:13 UTC
The margin scam is only in play if there are buy orders in the region sitting unfilled that are significantly higher than most of the sell orders in the region without any actual reason for the difference (e.g. shift from high-sec to a low-sec supply region, etc). "A bunch of things are the same price" isn't really an indicator, there are about 1001 reasons for sale orders all being the same, the most common one being that the item moves in such large volume so fast that undercutting risks a bidding war in the wrong direction.

That said, if you want to make money by flipping items, be really suspicious of any margins in excess of two or three times the low value pretty much automatically. And don't start out in a faction hub, find a quieter region to daytrade your way to profit initially, where people with enough capital to swamp you won't be as likely to be in the other corner on a sale.
Sequester Risalo
Significant Others
#10 - 2015-07-02 16:15:51 UTC
As a rule of thumb offers advertised in local as a "major sell blunder" or something like that is part of a margin trading scam.

Contracts advertised as cheap ships with fittings usually only contain blueprints and not the actual ship.

Buy offers for multiple PLEX above sell orders usually amount only in millions instead of billions and so on.

If someone offers to double the ISK you send, it will be a scam too.

In fact it's safe to assume that every offer advertised in local is a scam.
GankYou
9B30FF Labs
#11 - 2015-07-05 21:05:08 UTC
Just close local chat. Smile

All non-Officer items & commodities are traded at real valuations with ample liquidity in Amarr and most other trade hubs.

...And they all crave one thing - ISK. ¤

[WTS] ME10 / TE20 BPOs from Battleships/Cruisers to Fighters, Carriers, Triage/Siege, XL modules & Cap Components
Chainsaw Plankton
FaDoyToy
#12 - 2015-07-05 21:27:48 UTC
additional note: if it is a lower volume item (or maybe even a high volume order but with few players) and I see someone else with a buy order I can make some extra buy orders where I don't mind buying a few here and there, but I can raise the price each time and if someone else follows I can dump my stock on their order.

Ex. I have a buy order for 13 million, and buy a few each day and sell orders are for say 20 million. I have a decent stock and and happy making money here. I can put up a bunch of orders for 14, 15, 16, maybe even 17 mil. that way if someone else decides to match my price I can dump some stock on them and make money and cancel my orders. or better yet they see the margin go away and they leave the market, and I start canceling my high orders.

maybe a little more high effort than most would want to put in, and it won't completely burn you, but note that some people may be creating some false demand. If only 10 units move each day, you might not want to buy 1000 to go fulfill some buy order you see.

@ChainsawPlankto on twitter