Market Discussions

To be fair to both companies I have made them aware of this "test" and this forum post. so they can respond.

Seems a rather pointless exercise. If you were comparing Jita to Amarr or Jita to Rens over a large sample people might be able to draw some conclusions, though I would generally go for the cheaper offer if time wasn't important.

There are so many factors that apply to low and null sec that are not applicable in high sec e.g. that the safety of the courier pilot in his 7 bill ship is more important than meeting some arbitrary deadline.

Well the facts speak for themselves, Black Frog have delivered and I have the items up for sale already PushX have still to collect the contract..

For high volume short-haul contracts near Amarr, PushX can't touch RFF. RFF 49 days out of 50 will deliver 15+ contracts within 24 hours. I've trialed PushX three times this year, the first two times I cancelled the contracts which were untouched after 24hrs, and the last time I got told off for creating contracts with 24hr expiry, which then I had to cancel because they didn't get picked up. I even explained my volume and expectations and got a big silent F-U in response. RFF meets this timeline not on rush jobs, but on regular.

You might think my expectations are unreasonable, but RFF meets my unreasonable expectations the vast majority of the time, and that's why they get over 1500 of my contracts per year.

having used push iirc they do state that they have a certain time to complete the contract and how you should set it up, iirc its 3days for normal contracts to be accepted and 24h for push all delivered within a day of accepting (may have changed correct me if it has) so you requesting things outside of these requirments isnt going to go down well.

like jerry said its a game you cant expect everything to be done at your convienace if you want that do it yourself,,


as for red frog ive never really used then so cant realy comment on them

In my experience, PushX costs marginally less than RFF but is much less predictable in how quickly contracts get picked up/completed. For comparison I've been essentially spamming RFF with contracts and have had all of them completed within 24hr essentially without exception. Both have their places, but for me personally RFF's a much better fit for my needs.

I use RFF regularly and find they generally are 24 hours or so but certain remote stations (such as a regular PI shipment that I send once a month from a particular out of the way khanid station to amarr) can be more like 48 hours. Nothing has ever taken longer than 48 hours.

I have done dozens of contracts to each courier service as well as posting contracts in the open for any hauler minded player to fulfill, my general impressions from the service are as follows;

1) Red Frog has never let me down in terms of fulfilling a contract in the times specified. This has held true in hub-to-hub transfers as well as obscure-to-hub and obscure-to-obscure. The feeling I get is that they have sufficient man power to handle large numbers of orders. The down sides are their frequent price jumps (3x in the past year by my count), and the punitive collateral ratios in use (its more expensive to ship 1 shipment worth 2B than 2 shipments for 1B each)

2) Push X has been a little spotty in completing contracts in the timeframe they specify, multiple times I have had contracts exceed the acceptance time and had to cancel/re-issue them. Multiple times I have had to keep an expired contract open to allow the hauler time to reach the destination. I have found that low m3 contracts are picked up much faster than high m3 and that high value contracts are the same. Numerous times I have had to pay Red Frog more to deliver the high m3/low value contracts such as low end minerals and ores because Push has ignored them. On the plus side Push offers a true "Rush Service" and does not penalize you for higher collateral values in the manner that RFF does, additionally Push's Low/Null service is head and shoulders better than RFF and substantially cheaper.

3) Posting contracts for public acceptance has been very sporadic, the isk savings has been spectacular but the dependability is non-existent.

Summary: If I have to have my goods moved on a consistent time schedule then I use RFF and build the additional cost into my COG's, if I need high value stuff moved (or service to NPC Null) then I use Push, I just go into it expecting them to push the limit on the acceptance and delivery times. If I need short haul service within 3-5 jumps from a hub and have the time I post my contracts for public acceptance at dirt cheap rates.