Science & Industry

o7

Hello friendly forum readers. William Ormono here, back again with more questions about how to get rich quick. My focus has recently (like an hour ago) turned to production, as it is another activity that I’ve heard can facilitate the making of semi-passive (mostly passive) ISK.

To date, I’ve had almost no exposure to production in New Eden. I’ve made some ISK building/selling the odd faction mod from a BPC that I found for cheap in a contract, but that’s about it.

Is anyone aware of any generic products that are always in need and that can be produced for a profit? I’m not actually looking to get rich quick (joking earlier), and would be happy finding an industry that allows for a 3-5% return per week above and beyond the cost of the materials/station fees for that same week.

As an example, I heard in the past (2012 maybe) that fuel block production was a profitable endeavour as the blocks were in high demand and the cost of the materials / station fees was less than the selling cost (hence, profit).

I’m not looking for anyone to reveal their trade secrets here. I’m just such a production noob that I don’t even know if there are general items people typically deal in. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated (provided it is constructive).

Thanks all!

A fuel block print run for two weeks requires about 1.6-1.8 bil to put in the oven but returns about 445-470mil, so that's not bad. So yeah, such items are out there for sure.

In Jita production is not need based. Its only about what you want to build, and the cost / profit associated with it.

If you are more interested in meeting the needs of the locals, you will find yourself manufacturing and selling "far" from Jita. Whether its a different trade hub, a mission hub in high/low, or a null alliance's staging. Figuring out the need is difficult, but usually more profitable because you don't have a hard cap on price like Jita.

Great ideas here! Big thanks for that! It's reassuring to hear there at least a few items with healthy margins between production costs and selling costs

I'm hoping to use my Jita trading alt for the majority of the production. I also not familiar with any good staging systems, or where they are located. For these reasons, I'll likely be doing most of my trading in The Forge (unless I find a juicy market and can establish a reliable supply chain).

Maybe I'll do a little research and see if I can find a good staging system - I do like the idea of supplying those who need it instead of just piling more products into an already crammed Jita market. I'm guessing there are probably some pretty good FW staging areas either in or close to HS, so that might be a good place to start.

Thanks again everyone! You guys are awesome!!!

I do some popular rigs. The margins are OK-ish but even at smaller hubs the 0,01 ISK war is tedious. It smells like automated input and scripts in some cases to me.

I'm sure there is no one answer to this question, but how long are the typical market cycles and how much do they fluctuate?

I've reviewed the history for no shortage of items and I can't seem to find a clear cycle that applies to all of them. Some items have HUGE up and down swings over the course of several months - Would these be "cycles" or are they caused by changes in the meta?

And how much of a swing do most products typically have. Are the low swings half the price of the high swings, or a much smaller margin?

Again - I'm guessing the answers will be item specific and not the same across the board, so I'm not expecting a very useful answer, but maybe someone will surprise me. If I don't ask I'll never know

I found the two best ways to make a profit with production is build something that has a high barrier to entry or is rare. The third best way is produce widely used consumables as others have mentioned.

I used to make T2 light drones from invented BPCs I made and buy the materials direct from Jita, making it in Jita, and selling it - was making a few hundred thousand profit per drone. All from the station.

The second route, scarcity, is more a big group thing. Join a corp out in nullsec. Build basic things everyone will need, from doctrine ships to strip miners. If you're the only seller you can set higher prices, but obviously don't go crazy on it as they are your buddies. Establish yourself as the go-to guy to build things and over time you'll be pumping out capitals for a waiting list of buyers.

William,

As you correctly note, "What to build?" is the essential question. The cost of raw materials, the sale process, system index etc, are the necessary but rudimentary inputs to profitability. The most rigorous answer to how to answer your question was provided by SJ Astralana in this thread: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=6680425#post6680425

SJ has taken his leave of the game and the tool he built, Eve Production Manager. The code is still available on GitHub and I was able to make it work locally. It is a master work of C# code. One need not use his tool but the critical element is this:

"...the limiting factor [to profitability] is the number of items that can be produced in a day multiplied by their profit. The maximum factor is the daily average volume multiplied by profit, divided by active competitors. The lessor of the two will tell a producer what to build, and what BPOs to research. Every factor is available through CREST. Advanced concepts include managing capital, logistics, and price change strategies."

In other words, one might find items that sell at 50% profit....and sell rarely. Or, one might find items that sell at 15% profit and sell every day, at high volume. Knowing which to build is the output of SJ's narrative above.

Ken