These forums have been archived and are now read-only.

The new forums are live and can be found at https://forums.eveonline.com/

Market Discussions

 
  • Topic is locked indefinitely.
 

Low sec trade hub.
Author
Previous Topic Next Topic
Amber Maken
Black Market Industrial
#1 - 2012-07-25 17:44:40 UTC
Hi all,

I am new to EVE and recently moved to lowsec for mining and industry purposes. But being a noob in lowsec is quite "interesting" but i digress, I recently was chatting with a pilot who is in neg sec staus and was talking about a mirade of different things when it came to buying and selling in High sec. Then i tought what about a low sec trade hub, a "Tortuga" if you will. Looking at it, pirates in EVE average about about 2 -3 ship losses a day, plus loot . So the buisness oportunity is deffinatly there. Looking at it on paper it could work very well for all parties involved, with some 2 problems. 1. it's low sec, if your in lowsec your a target (kinda #1 rule), 2. gate camps. My only thought around this would be an informal nuetral ground agreement between all players in EVE that no non agreed to pvp take place in said system, ie 1v1 duals. with the punishment for said crime would be the extermination of your ships and pod from local populus. Cuz lets face it if you could fight in Jita ganking would be less IMo. But am I complete off here or does this have promise? Flame away.
Bad Bobby
Bring Me Sunshine
In Tea We Trust
#2 - 2012-07-25 18:17:48 UTC
Many people have done this before and done very well out of it, me included.

I'm glad to see you got into low-sec early, the sooner a player does this the better in my opinion.

I wouldn't worry about the dangers of low-sec, it's really no more dangerous that hi-sec once you get used to it. Don't bother trying to get agreements with local pirates, that's unlikely to end well and is entirely unnecessary.

For setting up a trade hub you'll need to do the following:

1) Train transport ships.

2) Train cloaking.

3) Learn and practice the microwarpdrive/cloak method of warping away from a gate. This is an essential skill.

The above will allow you to stock a low-sec station with low-volume items (by volume I mean size).

For larger shipments of items you need to use a jump freighter. Assuming you are too new to the game for a personal jump freighter to be worth considering, you should look into "Black Frog". These friendly people will deliver large volumes of produce to your chosen low-sec station for a reasonable fee and this will allow you to stock your low-sec hub with the minimum of effort and risk. The cost of shipping should easily be recoverable from your market activities. One thing you must remember when using Black Frog or any other transportation service is to make sure the collateral you ask for is more than sufficient to cover the cost of the items shipped. That is: ask for enough collateral so that if they fail to deliver your shipment you still make a good profit from the items they failed to ship.
whaynethepain
#3 - 2012-07-25 22:00:55 UTC
Have you checked out around Hek?

Getting you on your feet.

So you've further to fall.
lanyaie
Nocturnal Romance
Cynosural Field Theory.
#4 - 2012-07-26 08:15:06 UTC
How about no?

Spaceprincess

People who put passwords on char bazaar Eveboards are the worst.
Davi Arbosa
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#5 - 2012-07-29 06:26:00 UTC
Since you are new to EVE, I would guess that you do not have a lot of capital to work with at present, so I would suggest trying some high-sec trading, Get used to the EVE Market, it is very complex and very different to many of the other MMO's that are around.
While you are in High-sec you can gain some capital so that you have assets to work with so that when you start establishing a trade hub in Low-sec you can do it successfully.

Like other people have said, Low-sec is not that bad once you get used to it.
Vera Algaert
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#6 - 2012-07-29 11:07:00 UTC
the problem with any sort of hub seeding is that you have to provide the full package if you want to get any of the sales:

if I have to haul one single module of my preferred fitting from Jita, then I can just buy everything there and haul it all without additional effort (avoiding the markup you charge over Jita)

I guess if you have limited capital you can just stock consumables (ammo, drones, nanite paste, ...) but once you go into hulls & fittings you have to provide comprehensive market coverage which means a lot of money has to be tied-up in slow moving items (e.g. guns) so that you can actually earn money with a few fast moving ones (most low and mid slots).

.
MinefieldS
1 Sick Duck Standss on something
#7 - 2012-07-30 06:41:34 UTC
One of the biggest low sec hubs is located in Rancer.
StacheMaster
Doomheim
#8 - 2012-07-31 02:18:09 UTC
MinefieldS wrote:
One of the biggest low sec hubs is located in Rancer.

You're not very good at the trolling thing.
Zeta Zhul
Preemptive Paranoia
#9 - 2012-08-01 02:12:27 UTC
Vera Algaert wrote:
the problem with any sort of hub seeding is that you have to provide the full package if you want to get any of the sales:

if I have to haul one single module of my preferred fitting from Jita, then I can just buy everything there and haul it all without additional effort (avoiding the markup you charge over Jita)

I guess if you have limited capital you can just stock consumables (ammo, drones, nanite paste, ...) but once you go into hulls & fittings you have to provide comprehensive market coverage which means a lot of money has to be tied-up in slow moving items (e.g. guns) so that you can actually earn money with a few fast moving ones (most low and mid slots).


In a way I agree ... and yet disagree.

In general terms yes if you start providing hulls & fittings in lowsec you need to ensure that people won't have to go to Jita to restock. Otherwise they'll just go and restock instead of buying from your vastly overinflated prices. Your prices -are- vastly overinflated right? Big smile

But the alternative when transitioning from providing consumables, ammo etc, to providing the full monty is to fill in the gaps in other people's sell orders. So check and see where and what in lowsec hulls are selling. Check to see if there are popular mods that are being sold where the hull sell orders are. This will give you spot opportunities to put in those sell orders, make that profit margin without the massive overall risk of putting everything into a single station. You can spread your sell orders to different stations and fill in the gaps in each station for those mods you want to deal in.

Meanwhile you might want to consider purchasing mods, hulls, guns, etc in bulk from the bulk trade mailing list. The price differentials from Jita aren't much if anything at all. But sometimes it is easier to buy 250 mods from the bulk list in one go rather than dealing with multiple sell orders in jita. And it can sometimes save you isk as well.

I also highly recommend that if you're going to transport stuff -to- a lowsec station that you put in buy orders so you aren't deadheading. Deadheading is when you have empty unused cargo space. That is costing you isk you would otherwise be making profits on. Sometimes you can get great deals on stuff in lowsec because of the limited opportunities other people have to sell their inventory. Sometimes it is because someone is making a quick trip from nullsec. Where you then sell those bought items is up to you. Quick sales in jita for operating cash or transport/courier to mission hubs for mission runners or even just relisting in the same lowsec station.