Market Discussions

I was curious how the market is for researched BPO's and if it would be worth my while to churn them out regularly? I'm guessing that the only real way to sell them is to list them in the forums or by contract? Should I just make copies and sell them? New to this market and I'm trying to decide the best course of action. Thanks all

-Gert

Have a look at the sell orders forum and search for finished blueprint sales. Compare the sell price to the NPC price for that blueprint and calculate how long the research took. Do some research (hahaha) and you'll find profitable blueprints!

Popular ammo BPOs seem to do brisk business if you're looking for the low end. I'm not sure how they compare to other items though.

I have access to reliable research slots so that's not an issue (thankfully), I just don't have big money to drop on the expensive BPO's. I'll do some digging on the low end BPO's....my next questions is how much do you research? Do you go until there is no wastage at all or minimal waste? Not sure how to gauge the amount I should sink into the research

dont just guess do youre research on what is best to research them.

http://zofu.no-ip.de/bpo

spending 3 weeks longer on an already maxed out ME researched BPO is just a waste of time for you and cuts into your profits.

I agree that it can be profitable. I would not say it is extremely profitable.

Early on in your EVE career, when you have a lot of time and enthusiasm to devote to the game but very little wealth, flipping low value BPOs is a viable way to earn some isk while you are learning the game. It is not a path to quick riches, but you must find a way to bypass the "peasant trap" of mining, mission running or ratting for your income and this will serve well enough.

Later on in your EVE career, as your wealth tends towards the infinite while your available time and enthusiasm remain strictly finite, you may find that your expectations of ROI drop somewhat and you may focus more on maximising the amount of profit you generate relative to the effort you put in. A single digit monthly ROI may not sound so bad when all that is required is a few mouse clicks.

Producing researched blueprints at the high end is significantly more profitable than producing from a T2 BPO in the short term, but lacks the longer term payoff. I find blending the two gives me a steady income on my portfolio without requiring me to spend more than an hour a week keeping it running. Even 2% on 1000b is a plentiful income as long as you do not have "world domination" scale ambitions.


Supercapital BPC production used to be good, but no more.

I find producing copies is a perfectly reasonable way to generate 2-3% monthly on your investment with very little effort. I would not recommend it until you get to the later stages in your EVE career.

There are still some niches of more profitable BPCs, but these markets tend to be temporary. For someone like me that spends most of their time in the BPC market it is easy to spot the FOTM BPC and push extra production in to that market while it lasts. It is possible to change up your BPO inventory continually to reflect the most profitable portfolio, but you will need to learn the market and the pitfalls by trial and error before you can do that effectively.

Having crested a trillion isk almost entirely on the back of the blueprint market I feel there is plenty of opportunity there. But I would have to say that more opportunities have been lost to the past than still remain and I would not wish to take the challenge of earning my fortune again starting from scratch in the market of today, even with my accrued market knowledge.

I have somewhat limited time, still a pretty healthy enthusiasm, and very limited funds. I have no world domination ambitions, just PLEXing an account, both if possible. I'd like to be able to do that and be able to afford to go out and have a bit of fun with PVP or WH exploration and lose a ship without it being catastrophic for me and cause me to halt everything to get back in a ship and grind out isk for modules. I have yet to get too far into particular aspect to make any real isk other than the short time I spent in nullsec mining and ratting. That opportunity has passed so I am looking for other ways to earn some coin.

Blueprints are a strange animal to sell (for me.) I'm not entirely sure anyone can put a value on researched prints. You would be surprised what people pay for the convenience of being able to build "asap/while the market has room for the build to be profitable", further to this,

Its quite often the case the purchaser/builder knows the numbers better than the seller, and has actually worked out its cheaper to buy researched prints + get builds for 2 months, than lock away an asset into research and try to project/guess/prey for future profit once the ME is done. these 'educated buyers', are few and far between.

Its also quite often the opposite case, New players joining eve, buy plex from site, cash up, and get into production "now", & blindly pay anything for any "Big round number ME 100 PE 50 or the like prints", and buy them from public contract, with no maths.

So with regards to your buyers, or audience, its very much random.

I Idle in the 'blueprints channel" like many of you, i quite often talk in Private with sellers, when i intend to make a purchase. i always ask the seller "what is the blueprint worth to you". or "how much does it owe you", some of the responses i have had will startle you. I had a very interesting chat with a fellow who was selling Cruiser BPO's & Frigate BPO's, when i asked him how much it cost him to research, he didn't know, so i turned the tables on him and lowballed and he sold. (eat or be eaten)

1) Know your cost base, it is entirely possible to calculate fuel costs in a pos to a per-slot, per day/hour basis, much like a RL production line, DO this BEFORE you start research.
- Check contracts, for the BPO, its research + its mark-up, if it seems viable to research one and sell it, (including you costs)
- Check Sell order forum for sales threads on your BPO's
- The variable cost of the fuel, is negligible once a build has started.

2) Know that your competition, is most likely not accounting for cost to calculate profit properly. (I research my own prints its free crowd)

3) Check Jita for volume of the finished items, if only 2-3 move per day then its time to find another. high volume, IMO means a greater chance at someone wanting to buy your BPO/s

4) Check the build cost at optimal research (now) & plot the mineral prices from a few months ago

5) Go into every sale with the current build cost, prove the print is profitable, and prove it can be "paid off" with builds.

If you are going to get into this game, i'm by no means an expert, these are only observations over the years.

Good luck!

Should I group ammo damage types or ammo sizes together do you think? Such as all EMP projectile grouped, or group all the medium projectile ammo types together? I think I will be able to make some decent coin doing this if I can build the capital up to get some ship BPO's and research and sell those. I'm hoping to build some relationships and be the go-to guy for corporations, build some clientele, ya know? Probably dreaming thinking that is going to happen anytime soon, but it is good to have a long term goal I suppose.

I can really only afford about 30 mil in liquid isk to put in this at the moment. Sad but true, please hold your laughing to a low guffaw.