Market Discussions

Hello Eve producers,

I've been readying a web application for public consumption and would like to get an idea whether there is any interest in using such a tool. To summarise the daily workflow, a producer will:
- Download EVE API data
- Export market data, which is uploaded by a desktop agent to the web service
- Make a quick decision whether a change to a minimum markup is warranted
- Make a quick decision whether material inventory levels need to be adjusted upwards in response to information provided
- Start production jobs in order of profitability
- Create contracts to haul materials to the factory
- Create contracts to haul produced items to market
- Create and update sell orders
- Create and update buy orders
- Log for 23.86 hours :)

The current configurable parameters are:
- Minimum markup
- Undercutting strategy for sales
- Overcutting strategy for purchases
- Broker fees and sales tax percentages
- Per-material stock adjustment factors
- Per-item build increments
- Range buy order # of jumps
- Location of your buy and sell order stations
- Threshold for identifying when to haul from remote hangars

Current reporting meets general needs, but aren't fantastic:
- Application dashboard showing wallet balance and rolling-7 figures for sales, profit and GP%
- Item sales over a date range
- Daily sales over a rolling-7 period
- Item cost trends
- Material cost trends

Any number of character and corporate API entries can be set up to integrate into your configured account. The software is geared to manage a single region, but if you produce in multiple regions, multiple accounts can be created.

Built into the software are quite advanced business rules that allow for well-considered supply side management. For instance, buy order price update rules will look at inventory levels compared to current production needs and overall inventory health to automatically switch from overcutting buy orders to a configured range to competing directly against the hub, as well as using current cost trends to influence pricing strategies for items which may be over- or under-heated.

The benefit of my application is that all decisions are automated and instantaneous. Back when I used to use a free asset management tool which I imported into spreadsheets, I would spend about 30 minutes a day managing my production interests. As my application has matured, I've found my daily time investment is now 10 minutes a day, and my isk/hour of production clicking has steadied at 1.2-1.4 bil/hour.

I'll be shortly producing two videos, one walking through the daily work flow of an established producer (me), and another providing a quick start to a new producer interested in getting started.

There are significant costs associated with providing this service. First, it requires a Microsoft Stack web service to host the application, which means out of pocket expenses. Second, it provides producers with the ability to use my own tools to compete directly against me. As such, I plan to transition this service to a commission-based model; it will not in any sense ever be free. After an initial grace period, I plan to sell the service for 5% of recorded profits per month. Whether the pricing is worth it will come down to your time savings and profit levels, of course. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Beta testers will receive a liberal free period, as they will no doubt be vocal about their business needs in comparison to the assumptions that have been built into the software, and I will apply that feedback toward making EPM the go-to production software used by Eve producers.

About me: I'm a consulting web services developer working for one of the top consultancies in Australia. I've been working in the Commercial/Enterprise web space for a number of years, and for the past 18 months this application has been my playground for architectural exploration. It's been fun, but it's matured to the point that it deserves to be raised to a new level. Would you like to jump aboard?

I'm interested to hear who's interested. The more forthcoming you may be in describing your business model, your volume, profitability and time investment, the better I will be able to get you started in a productive and successful fashion. If you're not an established producer, then the beta program probably isn't for you, as sanity checking what an application tells you to do is obviously essential.

Looking forward to hearing from you, either here or in game.

In before the perma ban

Unlocking this. The tool does not actually create anything in the game itself, merely shows what sort of numbers a player should use to create contracts and the like.

A demonstration video can be seen here. I'll be posting a second video walking through setting up a new account shortly.

There's a good chance software like this can eliminate the technical barrier to entry into production, as it obviates developing yet another EOL spreadsheet, so I believe there's a strong case for an aspiring producer to get his feet wet with under a month of training and researching.

I would also be interested in participating in beta testing, if there will be any.

After the intro video, I'm a bit confused on some of the functions and how exactly they work. I'm not sure if you'll be releasing that information or not though. I'm a spreadsheet nerd, I like being able to see how each thing operates :)

SJ A,

This sounds incredible, I have only dreamed of ever being able to produce that kind of return (2 PLEX an hour?!). My questions are: is it sustainable? And will increased participation (say from interested folks here...) dilute the market for various items? How many market heavyweights can this application support?

I'm totally strapped for time in real life, and so badly want to participate in EVE... yet I have lacked the ability to generate any serious ISK toward my goals without a massive in-game time commitment.

Also, as a "rookie" producer (total newb here), what type of initial capital do you envision someone like myself needs to begin generating decent returns: 10M? 100M? 1B? And is there a barrier to entry on skills that should be achieved before trying any of these methods?

Thanks for posting your info, I look forward to watching the videos!

signing up for beta here as well...... sounds really amazing!! Kudos for you sir!

Why have you not expanded into a new product in over a year, particularly given that you 1) apparently have spare capital and 2) ostensibly have a tool that would make finding profitable products and the optimal market+manufacturing operations behind them trivial?

Any updates? How are things coming along with your next video?

I deployed to a Microsoft Azure web host a few days ago, which went very well, but of course found a couple of things to look into. I should be able to publish the video by Monday.