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How to get started with station trading?
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Shodan McDanker
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#1 - 2017-01-26 02:30:08 UTC
Hey MD, sorry for filling up the forums with my super noobie question but I wanted to ask a question. To all you super crazy rich players, how do you properly get started in station trading? I have about ~21 mil isk and I don't know what I should be properly doing to expand it. I've read multiple guides and tried videos to understand it better, but I can't seem to get it down. Are there specific items that are good to save when you're new? Is there some magical formula to use to figure out what to buy and sell? I really am trying to get a grasp on this whole concept and it sounds fun but I'm just lost still, if I could get any tips, that would be wonderful. Thanks again.
Donna Dolore
Delirium Trigger Industries
#2 - 2017-01-26 03:04:10 UTC
short answer: my opinion, don't start out in jita, move to a secondary hub. 21 mill isn't an ideal starting point, but it can be done. try to get more liquid if you can.. you want more liquid for trial and error... buy low sell high blah blah blah ... no one will tell you items to trade, that's for you to research., whether it's faction ammo, t1 mods etc. etc. patience is absolutely necessary... hope that helped a little... there are a lot smarter traders then I, listen to what they have to say :) good day sir
Bentley Goodfriend
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#3 - 2017-01-26 07:34:07 UTC  |  Edited by: Bentley Goodfriend
I don't know where you are with your skills etc but one thing I can suggest is to start out your trader career in a busy starter system while you figure out what kind of trader you want to be. Essence got some opportunities right now that might suit you (that's about as concrete as I wan't to be) Research research research, understand your customers. Understand time management. Isk in your wallet is dead isk at this point...

Happy trading
Zad Murrard
Frozen Dawn Inc
Frozen Dawn Alliance
#4 - 2017-01-26 08:05:18 UTC
1. Identify a potential market, do research. You should have mathematics showing that it is very likely that you will make a profit.
2. Try it
3. Modify based on results, sometimes you find out your math was wrong, maybe some other assumption you made was wrong.
4. Repeat step 3 until you are happy, then go back to step 1 for a new product/set of products

Ie. it takes a leap of faith in the beginning. However leaps of faith should be based on evidence, not just hoping.
Tipa Riot
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#5 - 2017-01-26 08:41:04 UTC
Try to find a few (~5 max) profitable trades, and focus. Re-evaluate this list regularly. Don't super diversify or you will go crazy. Watch the markets, figure out when it's worth playing the 0.01 ISK game. Multiple stacks are your friend.

I'm my own NPC alt.
pinkajoo
#6 - 2017-01-26 11:06:22 UTC
-Spread out your items, so if your slow items are being slow, its just part of your overall capital thats tied there.

-Study the history and volume of your items, read up on the Burger theory from eve uni to see if items are going up or down. Of course, sell when its about to go down, buy when its about to go up...
http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Trading
http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/How_to_identify_items_to_trade

-If you locate missioning systems, starter systems, smaller backwater region markets, you might catch cheap items being offloaded, or sell overpriced items to lazy gamers. 18 jumps to Jita? Worry no more! Buy my XXXXX for the low low price of YYYY!

When I first started, I had this missioner.. er.. missioners. They've accumulated this stacks and stacks of salvage materials and modules. So I thought, hmm.. what can I make with salvage mats... oh rigs!! So I studied what was the biggest volume rig that had the biggest margin (difference between buy&sell orders). At that time, there was this Sentry drone nullsec doctrine as well, and with that in mind I chose the Large Drone Scope Chip I as my first ever BPO to market. Business was good, and I picked up rigs from other places with a fast warping frigate. Some manufacturers from other places just dumped their supplies in my Buy orders nearby their places, which I happily relisted in other places.

The thing with Jita is, I always bet on people being lazy: The bigshot whales are there, dumping their items.. they might as well shop there instead of chasing some lower priced stuff 6~8 jumps out. Too much effort for 600~800k ISK of savings, they'd rather use the time to earn more ISK.
Do Little
Bluenose Trading
#7 - 2017-01-26 17:43:58 UTC
With low skill and a small amount of working capital you are better off looking at inter-regional than station trading.

* Without the margin trading skill, you will need to put up 100% collateral to cover your buy orders -and they could take a long time to fill. Not the best use of limited capital.
* Station trading you are working the spread between the price people who have an item are willing to accept when selling to a buy order and the price others who want that item are willing to pay when buying from a sell order. With low skill you will be paying a lot in brokerage fees and taxes (up to 5% on sell orders and 3% on buy orders depending on your skill and standing with the owner of the station). If the trade costs you 8%, and you are working with a few million in capital you need an unrealistic spread to make it worth your while - you can probably earn more mining!

Another option that works quite well with low skill and modest capital is be a salvage aggregator. Use a fast frigate to collect small lots of salvage in backwater systems and sell it at one of the trade hubs. I did a quick check using Eve Central. You can buy Fried Interface Circuits from sell orders in the 3000-5000 isk range and sell them to buy orders in Jita for 5800 isk. A frigate will hold a lot of salvage - it's tiny. Your biggest risk will be getting blown up on the dock in Jita if you are carrying to much value. You can avoid this by creating an insta-dock bookmark. http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Bookmarks#Instadock