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A scam ?
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Tsibelman

Garoun Investment Bank

Gallente Federation

Likes received: 1

#1 - 2013-12-01 08:26:36 UTC | Edited by: Tsibelman

http://eve-central.com/home/quicklook.html?typeid=28392

As you can see somebody is buying 6 Compressed Crystalline Crokites and paying 1.3 B each while in the same station someone is selling 7 items for half price. Hi can anyone explain to me how this possible ? Or more precisely how this scam is supposed to work ?

Is it a bot that will cancel buy order the second the sell orders are fulfilled ?

Roxi Dyskinesia

Republic Military School

Minmatar Republic

Likes received: 1

#2 - 2013-12-01 08:49:46 UTC

Margin trading scam.

The Margin Trading skill lets traders intially put up a portion of the ISK needed to cover a buy order, and the rest when the order is fulfilled. If the amount needed to complete the order is not in the buyer's wallet, then the order fails. Buyer gets the escrow back minus fees and the seller doesn't sell the items.

The min volume on that buy order is 6. When you buy the 6 or more items listed on sell orders and try to sell to the buy order, the process will fail because the buyer doesn't have enough ISK to cover the rest of transaction. Thus, you are stuck with over priced crap.

Nerath Naaris

Pink Winged Unicorns for Peace Love and Anarchy

Likes received: 1,070

#3 - 2013-12-01 08:58:51 UTC | Edited by: Nerath Naaris

Yes, it´s a scam, the notorious "Margin Trade Scam".

It works like this:
Player X has an Alt (Y) that sets up this ridiculous Buy Order which won´t be immediately filled because he is buying in bulk (minimum quantity 6 pieces). Having trained the Margin Trade Skill, he only has to pay a part of that sum in advance while the rest will only be subtraced from his wallet once the Buy Order is fulfilled. However, he immediately empties his wallet by transferring any remaining cash to his main. So, once the Buy Order gets served, it automatically fails (since there is no additional money in the wallet to complete it).
This alone doesn´t make him any money yet.

However, his main (X) also SELLS individual pieces of Compressed Crystalline Crokite - at a vastly inflated price (over half a Billion whereas a price of perhaps 20 Million ISK would already be generous).... and that is where the profit from this scam comes from.

How to counter it:

1) Ignore it. Duh. Since probably around 99% of all Buy Orders that ask for more than one quantity are Margin Trade Scams that one is pretty easy. You can set up your trade window to show minimum quantity.

2) Outsmart the Scammer: Even with Margin Trade V, the scammer still has to pay about 24% of the Buy Order sum in advance. So you can still fulfill that buy order by selling for just that part percentage (instead of the full price which makes the order fail).
WARNING: This is not foolproof, there are ways to lower even this sum.

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Tsibelman Garoun Investment Bank Gallente Federation Likes received: 1	#4 - 2013-12-01 09:24:29 UTC Thank you guys it a great stuff to know, is any one aware of a good wiki for such stuff ?


Nerath Naaris Pink Winged Unicorns for Peace Love and Anarchy Likes received: 1,070	#5 - 2013-12-01 10:02:55 UTC Try this for a start. Also, "If it looks too good to be true it probably IS too good to be true." Je suis Paris // Köln // Brüssel // Orlando // Nice // Würzburg, München, Ansbach // Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray Je suis Berlin // Fort Lauderdale // London // St. Petersburg // Stockholm Je suis [?]