Market Discussions

Changes to Market Order Broker Fees, described by CCP Ytterbium, were expected in production in 2016-04-27, as described here: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=6384247#post6384247.

However, the actual patch notes, at https://community.eveonline.com/news/patch-notes/patch-notes-for-eve-online-citadel, describe different details, specifying that the base Broker Fee is now 3.0 % at NPC stations and Outposts, reduced by 0.5 % with level 5 in the skill "Broker Relations", and also reduced by 0.5 % with maximum "NPC standings".

The previous comparable minimum Broker Fee rate was 0.1875 %, so this new minimum of 2.0 % is a material change to this ISK sink.

The patch notes also say that the Brokers Fee is paid to owners in outposts, and is customizable and paid to owners in Citadels, and that the Broker Relations skill has no effect in Citadels. It's unclear from the patch notes if standings with Outpost owners make a difference to Broker Fees.

Aside: this post and chart are mostly about Market Order Broker Fees, but note that the patch notes also say that base Sales Tax (labelled Transaction Tax in the Wallet Journal) also increased, from a base of 1.5 % to a base Sales Tax of 2.0 %, reduceable to 1.0 % with level 5 in the skill "Accounting".

The formula to calculate applicable Market Order Broker Fees was simplified, though the exact formula is not specified in the patch notes. I understand that the effect of both skills and standings now applies linearly, and I expect that negative standings still cause an increase in Broker Fees, but, again, that is not specified in the patch notes, and I have not tested it.

Right now, the Broker Relations skill and pilot standings can be equally effective in reducing Broker Fees.

At a presentation at Fanfest 2016, CCP advised that "once extra tools (like contracts) are in place we plan to increase taxes again", so these formulas and figures may change again before long. (See the relevant presentation slide at: https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/4g3h2z/taxes_and_broker_fees_are_going_up_to_3_and_2/)

I believe the updated formula is the following, where the standings are those of the faction and corporation of the station in which the order is being set, to the pilot setting the order (ranging in this expression from -10.0 to 10.0).

BrokerFee % =
    3.00 %
    – (0.10 % × BrokerRelationsSkillLevel)
    – (0.03 % × FactionStanding)
    – (0.02 % × CorporationStanding)

Although the skill description in-game for Broker Relations says that the standings are "the player's standings toward the owner of the station", I don't know how a pilot can set standings toward an NPC corporation or faction, so I'm guessing that's just a typo, and, as was the case pre-patch, the relevant standings are those of the NPC station-owning corporation and faction toward the pilot setting the order.

These changes render all earlier editions of my Market Order Broker Fees chart obsolete, so I've made an update. The canonical home of the new chart will still be on eve-files.com: http://dl.eve-files.com/media/corp/Thoraemond/eve-market-order-broker-fees-2016-04-28.png

Because player-set fees in various Citadels may vary from structure to structure, illustrating them will be beyond the scope of my single static chart. Similarly, any variable impact of Faction Warfare mechanics in FW zones is out of scope.

Constructive feedback is welcomed, to point out any error I've made, or just to describe improvements I can make. I'd be grateful for confirmation of whether negative standings do indeed still increase Broker Fees payable, and I'm interested to know more about the impact of FW in FW zones.

Post and chart now further updated, based on Patch Note information.

Confirmation that I have this right would be helpful... as would corrections.



You're welcome.

I wouldn't assume that the final solution to the tax question will be the 5% that they first suggested.

Generally speaking, the effect of CCP's economic changes do not match their expectations. Under normal circumstances we get stuck with the results of that.

But in this situation, they are planning to use their metrics to monitor the effect of this smaller change and then use them to determine the "correct" tax levels. Given that, I think it's highly unlikely that the originally suggested tax rates will be implemented.

Can confirm that negative standings affect broker fees.

Lvl 5 Broker Relations
-0.53 Faction Standings
0 Corporation Standings

Brokers fee of 2.52%