Market Discussions

Well it seems pretty basic, you buy something for a low price somewhere, move to where it's a higher price and sell it there. But the problem is Jita. Let's take for example RF High Captain insignias. Looking at the market in Amarr and in Jita it looks like an obvious trade route, the tags are being sold in Amarr for a good amount more than in Jita. But then I took a closer look at the market history and not only is the amount of tags being moved in Amarr three to 6 times less than in Jita, but also most of this movement is happening on the buy orders. People are selling their tags to buy orders more often than people are buying tags from sell orders. So it doesn't make sense to haul tags from Jita to Amarr because the market seems so slow there.

So now I'm stumped, it seems like this is going to be the case with everything because of how huge Jita is compared to any other region markets.

And then there's the problem of common sense. Who would really buy tags in Amarr when they can go buy them for much cheaper in Jita?

I've never done anything market-y before, I'm just really bored of farming lvl4s and now that I have a good amount of money to spend I wanted to try something different.

Could someone give me a rope here?

One answer is simple. Convenience. Basic economics, really.

In my area an energy drink will cost $2.50 on a corner shop along a main roadway. At a 24/7 supermarket, however, the same energy drink is $1.75. Now, I can walk to the corner shop at any moment and be back. But I'd prefer a vehicle to get to the supermarket which is roughly an hour away on foot. Though I wouldn't make that sort of trip just to buy a single drink that I might need right away to wake myself up. It's sort of the same deal in EVE.

Someone selling Item A for 5,000,000isk in Amarr space that is valued at 2,000,000isk in Jita, as an example, knows that there are people who are willing to pay more for an item if it means they do not need to make a journey across the stars. Especially if they're only buying a handful of Item A. More conscious buyers who have time to burn and are tight or careful on money, especially if they're buying in bulk, would be much more likely to make the trip.

Distance could be replaced by location, as well. Such an agreed central trading hub like Jita would have immensely driven down prices purely out of competition compared to quieter markets elsewhere.

The question the seller must answer for him/herself is if it is worth it. As there would be far fewer people wanting to buy Item A in Amarr space than over at Jita. Fewer buyers could drive prices up to compensate, as they hope to take advantage of convenience.

There are also corporations that provide hauling services (eg. Red Frog) that simply let haulers join and fulfill corp contracts. In general, the biggest hauling operations are nullsec logistics, as most 0.0 alliances cannot manufacture everything they use in their own space, and must JF it out from lowsec. Large quantities of goods flow from Jita to regional staging systems, and from there out into nullsec.

If you're willing to take some huge risks for not a huge amount of reward, you could try supplying lowsec or NPC 0.0 stations with goods, but that usually isn't advisable unless you're a member of the local corp/alliance in charge.

Maybe haul tags from Amarr to Jita instead?

Or haul them from Jita to a popular mission system in Amarr space?

I station stock. Which pretty much means: Buy stuff that missioneers use from somewhere cheap (Jita for me, normally), and haul it over to a station they frequent (15+ jumps for me).

My margin runs from 8% up to 80%. All depends on the initial price.

My money comes from people being lazy. I'm not the cheapest in the region, just the station. But you can buy everything you want in that station, for a reasonable price, rather than having to jump all round the region to pick stuff up. And would you want to jump all the way to Jita, just to save a hundred thousand isk?

so cluster your orders (provide all the armour mods, for example). and be willing to make a tiny profit on a few items, while you make a bigger profit on the others. It's all about managing their opportunity costs.

A most excellent explanation.

I should point out that this is properly called "Lazy Ass Factor".