Market Discussions

I recently started 7, yes seven, accounts with isk to try a venture that didn't work out as I wanted. So now I am going to use these toons to have as much fun as possible with their remaining game time which is 30-60 days. I use isboxer for training and pvp but now I'm looking to get into station trading mainly because thats one of the few things left that I haven't really mastered in this game.

I have about 2 bil in capital that I'm willing to commit to this venture split across my 7 accts. Of which I've allocated about 250mil to each toon to have about 250mil in reserve. I want to use my corp wallet as a shared wallet between all my toons. I'm currently using Mentat to try and coordinate my toons but it seems like more of a hassle then a help. Maybe I'm just not using it correctly. Having to click import for 7 characters gets tedious and don't really see the point since I have to look through the market at each order anyways for Mentat to work properly. Is there a better tool or better way to use Mentat for my purposes?

Now for my questions! How best to utilize these toons? Currently I have them each in their own hub trading random stuff that looks good. Should I be trading the same things across all my toons? Should I consolidate my toons into 1 trade hub to get more market orders for that hub? Are there universally traded items that can turn profit regardless of what region you trade in? If so, should I trade those items across 7 different hubs? I was thinking about dividing my orders up like 25% reserved for sell orders 15% to high risk items 15% big ticket items 45% to normal trades (good margin, high volume). Is this a good idea?

I'm curious to see if I can plex these accounts with there profit. Trying to plex these accounts with my current way of making isk would be too much grinding for me to bother so I don't care if these toons fail at market trading. My main goal is to have fun with these toons.

Things to note:
I'll be checking trades usually twice a day. Sometimes I'll check them upto eight times a day.
I can get more capital if needed.
These toons have less then 1m sp. current trade skills: Trade 4 Training Broker Relations 4

Your approach seems to be a bit extreme, imho.
Trading with several accounts can be very lucrative if done right (look here for an example: http://merchantmonarchy.blogspot.ca/) but I think people usually start with one account and add another when they know what they are doing.

I'd say trading is not difficult per se, yet there's a lot to learn and a lot you could do wrong. If I look back to when I started with trading, there's a HUGE difference to what I do and how I do it today (and it's only 18 months now ... who knows how I might think about it after another 18 months have passed). I believe it would be prudent to get your feet wet with one trader at first. Learn to manage your assets, to monitor your cashflow, to minimize taxes and fees, etc. - especially if you intend to do station trading.

If you do station to station/region trading you might want to work with perhaps 3 (or maybe 4) toons to cover several regions simultaneously. I wouldn't recommend more at first, because you still need to handle everything, compare prices, move goods, etc. It might help to work with offline market sites (for example: http://eve-central.com/home/market.html or http://eve-marketdata.com/)

Now about your specific questions:

How best to utilize these toons?
Please see above.

Should I be trading the same things across all my toons?
That depends. If you find something that gives good profit, trade that. Just don't put all your eggs into one basket. Keep your eyes open. The market is in constant movement and items that generate great profit today might make you suffer a loss tomorrow (and perhaps be great again the day after).

Should I consolidate my toons into 1 trade hub to get more market orders for that hub?
I wouldn't do that. It would be much easier to just train the relevant skills to give you more trade slots on one toon.

Are there universally traded items that can turn profit regardless of what region you trade in?
That depends on your competition. I'd suggest you start checking buy prices for mission loot in mission hubs and compare that with sell prices in the trade hubs. However, that market will change dramatically with the coming summer patch, so make sure you get out of that market before than.
Alternatively check the prices for LP bought items in selected mission hubs (especially items bought with Sisters of EVE LP). Many misson runners try to convert their LP to ISK instantly which gives you an opportunity if you are willing to take the risk to move some valuable itmes to a trade hub (just use the right ship and be careful to move the stuff ... don't fly a hauler with billions in cargo).

I was thinking about dividing my orders up like 25% reserved for sell orders 15% to high risk items 15% big ticket items 45% to normal trades (good margin, high volume). Is this a good idea?
I don't think so. What is a "high risk" item? What qualifies as a "big ticket" item? You will notice, that your perception of those things will change a lot with experience and ISK earned. And don't put too much emphasis on the margin. Don't forget to add in time and look for items that move fast enough.

I'm curious to see if I can plex these accounts with there profit.
Don't bet on it. To plex 7 accounts at current prices you would need to generate roughly 5 Bn profit. As a beginner with only 2 Bn trade capital that's very unlikely.

Trying to plex these accounts with my current way of making isk would be too much grinding for me to bother so I don't care if these toons fail at market trading. My main goal is to have fun with these toons.
Considering this is MD and not C&P I probably shouldn't suggest this, but did you try ganking blingy mission runners?
Use a scanner alt to scan down a mission runner (I'd suggest to look for T3 cruisers as those often give great loot) and then get everyone into a gank Catalyst and try to get him (keep an alt ready to warp in and grab the loot).
EDIT: Of course this needs some research, too. If you go down this road you should learn about CONCORD response times (that's why you'll want a 0.5 or 0.6 system for your gank). Also get your Catalyst fitting right (you should find numerous posts about that, if you start looking). And don't forget to learn how to bring your security status back into positive standings.

With 7 characters... thats over 3,000 slots if skilled up in trade. you will probably go insane trying to manage anything over 1,000, probably anything over 500 if you are new. That is a lot of clicking.

You have about two billion, that is decent to start out with. Since you have multiple characters it might be easy to do region trading (hauling to/from trade hubs), rather than station trading (flipping items in 1 station.) Station trading tends to require constant monitoring or updating. Region trading requires less updating ( you can get by with 2-8 times a day). Some items require more updating than others.

Eve Mentat will help you greatly for updating orders. Eve Mentat will help you greatly for updating orders. Eve Mentat will help you greatly for updating orders.

Depending on what you do, try to get 5-20% profit margins. Be aware of tax's that east into that %. If you average 3-5% profit on investment daily, that is very good. So with 2 bil that is 50-100m/day = 1.5-3b per month. This about doubles your isk every month. Note: this is easy to do with low amounts, when you get into tens of billions it is a lot harder to maintain it.

I would recommend going through a popular killboard and finding common pvp mods to start out with. These are high demand items and usually are cheap enough to not lose a lot if you mess up (~10m max) Then branch out from there. Faction items and ship hulls are tricky due to taxes and how the lp market works.

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Suicide ganking is fun and can be profitable. Look into highsec wardec corps (ex. marmites or the new order) to meet people in the business. Wardec corps also get great payouts from stupid people who dont understand wardecs. There are so, so, so many dumb freighter and JF pilots, trust me.

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Also manufacturing can be a steady source of income if you don't mind spreadsheets. Most items have a consistent profit margin that is easy to predict. Combine this with market stuff to increase profit.

I have never used more then 4 characters for my trading purposes so since you just starting out in trading the use of 7 toons would not ease your trade but quite the opposite , specially in regards to efficiency.


One line in your story stood out for me : ' I use isboxer for training and pvp but now I'm looking to get into station trading mainly because thats one of the few things left that I haven't really mastered in this game. ' . That line made me spill my drink .

Isboxing pvp is a good challange. If you haven't isboxed anything before don't knock it before you try it. Its a game changer. I only got it to make skill queing 7 toons a breeze but then a whole new world opened up. Just imagine if you could clone all your main's movements and actions! What could you accomplish then?

Ok isbox spiel over. I'm pretty bored with eve so I'm looking for effort/fun ratio. I don't want to be hauling things cause that will just burn me out even more. I've taken advice on trying to find my niche and focus on the major hubs and things are going much nicer now

oh wow good to know! I am using the corp wallet just wish mentat would have cool graphs for corp wallets like it does for personal wallet