EVE New Citizens Q&A

That's EvE. Like many things, I suspect that the mechanic was introduced with good intentions, and players worked out how to use it to scam others. It's all part of the game, and I don't think it needs to be changed. Remember, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is!

"You can't cheat an honest man."

The Margin Trade skill has a ton of valid uses. It allows a trader to fully leverage the isk they have, and is an essential tool to any serious market traders.

The Margin Trading Scam: The only way the scammer makes any isk at all from a Margin Trade Scam is if they trick a person to purchase overpriced goods directly from them. Any player that actually investigates teh value of the product they are buying won't fall for margin trade scams:

--- Price history gives a solid indication of how much an item has been selling for.
--- Sales Volume History gives a solid indication of how rapidly an item moves.

Both of these tell you the volatility of an item, which moreless represents the risk associated with buying an item to resell for profit. A trader willingly assumes this risk when they purchase an item (whether they realize it or not). There are many real life examples of this, and businesses deal with it all the time. Examples: Fast food orders where the customer learns they don't have their wallet. Prank Pizza deliveries. Preorders for PS4's or Movies or Games at a Bestbuy, and on and on. EvE is a dystopia, and it is very appropriate for buy orders to occasionally fail.

When an order fails, the seller keeps their item and loses nothing. The buyer's order is canceled, and they lose broker fees. This is completely fair, where both sides walk away with their assets.

IMO, the margin trade skill is very well implemented, both for legitimate uses and for scamming. There is only one failing I perceive around it: CCP needs to make this point CRYSTAL CLEAR:



It is that simple.... Put it right on the market interface.... perhaps add it to a tutorial, and then everything would be perfect.

Also.

Compressed Spodumain...exotic item...when is compressed spod an exotic item.


Buying stuff with money you dont have:
Also, uhm. Isnt that how much of RL works too. Or did you actually bought your house with your own money.

My rule is "Never trust anyone in EVE unless you are sleeping with them IRL."

Even then you need to be careful.



The best thing about the margin scam is that, like other scams that prey on greed (my "help I got ganked in a storyline mission, need Elite Drone AI to finish it, paying 400m" scam where the contract is a want to sell not a want to buy is another one), you can only steal from people who have enough ISK that they can afford to lose it.

So you never need to feel bad about utterly breaking someone in-game because you just can't do it, you can only get their liquid investable ISK.

Its your fault/ You were greedy OP and now you know better. Greed is a capsuleer worst enemy right next to ego.
Let us reflect on that while we bring offerings to Bob (pro tip he likes corpses).

They aren't encouraging it. They've actively been seeking a way to avoid this exploit with input from the player base without wrecking legitimate trader tactics.

It's in the F&I forum.

Fixed it for you.

It's NOT an exploit.

People are just using a loophole in something that works as intended.

The margin scam is the one scam that I feel I can really wholeheartedly support. The person who falls for it, does so because of their greed; they feel that they are taking advantage of another persons stupidity or mistake, when in truth it is their own greed and lack of knowledge that puts them on the hook. The margin scam is merely karma coming home to get you.

Difference is that that scam more preys on people not paying attention / not knowing the mechanics.

Margin trader scam purely preys on people with more ISK then brainmatter.