Crime & Punishment

Whatever you do, please don't join the "Nerf Margin Trading" bandwagon. Better off quitting the game if you're going to take that route.

Some practical advice: Learn the actual market for an item before you try to trade in it. Best way to avoid getting beaned like you did. Oh, and don't pay attention to any "deal" spammed in local chat. 99.99% of that stuff is scams.

I like to think of Eve as a good way to prepare for your first stay in prison. Basically, every other player is just waiting for you to drop the soap so they can bend you over. My advice, get some soap-on-a-rope. The usual scams:

1. I will double your isk. The scammers actually help each other and post on each others threads how this is legit and they really did double their isk. NO ONE is going to double your isk. They may do a small bit to entice you to drop that soap but once you do.... BAM! You feel something you shouldn't.

2. People spamming about contracts in local with prices that are too good to be true. Most of the time they "forget" to plug in a number. They say you can buy this ship for 100mill but when you look closely at the contract you see it is actually listed for 1000mill. They are hoping you don't see the extra zero which makes you drop your soap and then BAM!

3. Pretty much anything in local is a scam. They do the margin thing and then post in local what a great deal it is. They post about a great website that they were able to buy something at really cheap, they say how much money they made from some isk gambling thing. The greedy side of you starts to look into it and then suddenly the soap gets very slippery.

Pretty much EVERYONE not in your corp and even a few in your corp are just waiting for you to drop that soap. They are sending you presents of grease and slick hand lotion hoping you use it and drop that soap. Sadly, they wont be using that lotion on your backside. You are gonna get full UN-LUBED penetration.

Dont get greedy, work for your money and do research before doing anything.

2.7380952381 times more efficient than loosing 2.3b

Nobody's stated the obvious: When in highsec, close local and never ever open it. Jesus it's not that hard really.

So what iv had no issues. Let them try eventually I will have the skill to defend myself. Besides I don't fly what I don't want to lose.

ATM I am sitting in wormhole space in a venture. If I die ooooo 100k is all I need to rebuild basically.

Happens to a lot of us, just have to take what you can from the experience and move forward. You got a lot of value of this transaction is a way of looking at it. From now on, you will read and review everything very carefully and take it slow before proceeding with any Contracts. This is a great thing, you can chalk up this loss and move forward with greater experience.

In terms of the “greed” comments, It’s a staple response that in most cases doesn’t fit the situation that actually happened. Basically efficiency, intended purpose, = misguided interpretations of greed.

Examples:
A miner - I got ganked in my hulk “You had a MLU fitted, GREED”.

Space trucker - “You had over 100m worth of stuff in it, GREED”.

Gambler - “He double my isk 6 times, so I increased the amount and took a gamble” “GREED”.

Me “ I ordered hot wings an…. “GREED”


Edit: Something I wanted to add. Majority of things posted in local is always a scam. "WTB 2 plex 1.2B" You look at the contract and it shows you'll receive 1.2m and exotic dancer. "I wish I had the money for this" tons of those that's always a scam.

It's extremely rare I click a link in local, if I do its a scam. I'd avoid them. That's not to say there isn't a deal to be had but the chances are slim. Finding deals in contacts take a bit of work. Before you do anything you want to review the inventory and cost and use eve appraiser to ensure the value is there for your time. But not before checking how fast those products sell, again to identify the time vs investment.

You lost your isk because you based the value of a good on an anomalous buy order, rather than any knowledge of the inherent value of a product. You took a huge risk trading in something you knew little about, and this is the pitfall. If you examine what you actually buy (ie what it actually does for your ship), and examine the available price history, it should be abundantly clear that the item itself is worthless. You broke a cardinal rule of trading, which is to know your product. You relied on the advice and reports of others to make your decision, and lost because they were intended specifically to mislead. You were excited by the possibility of capitalizing on the mistake of another, and walked right into a trap because of it. You have no one to blame but yourself.

No, it's this kind of attitude we don't need. If you guys don't wake up and start finding ways to quell your troll impulses and help bring the noobs along, this game will continue its slow decline. We've finally gotten a big pulse of new players; please don't **** it up for everyone else.

Raw seems to have struck a nice balance. If the guy keeps whining even after the situation is explained to him, THEN jump down his throat.

Wait... 'slow decline'... What?
http://eve-offline.net/?server=tranquility
Looks to be holding fairly steady for quite a while to me...

Then again, EVE has been dying since I started playing back in 2005, right?

Almost all eve scams work by harnessing the marks greed. Market scams especially. Margin trading one in particular.
I hope this settles the first part of your question.
3 weeks into the game you will have very few SP. Most people will be either improving their skills for a cruiser /BC and moving gradually to a T2 fit or mining in a retriever. Maybe flying around in a heron and scanning. Possibly flying a t1 frig in fleet warfare or possibly flying a firetail as tackle in PVP. Maybe even ganking in a destroyer.
All these options require a few tens of million at most. I honestly can't think of a ship that a 3 week old player should even think of flying that costs more.