Intergalactic Summit

Excellent news.

As CEO of Viriette MicroLabs who trade exclusively from the Intaki 5-5 trade hub I can confirm we'll be joining the efforts in Agoze. V-ML is a small corporation without a POS of our own and so we use the CAS station in Agoze for all of our manufacture. To have the basic building blocks of our drones more conveniently available will greatly improve our efficiency.


I think this is more a supply vs demand issue. V-ML is one of your potential customers for your Robotics but because because they're one of the easiest products to create on the planets we're self sufficient and so never need to purchase them off the market.

I'd bet other corporations do the same. Everyone has some products that are harder to sell. We have the same problem at V-ML. Some of our drones are less popular so we're looking to begin bulk exports to Dodixie in the future.

With the customs office tax rates I can't help you. All I know is that 100% of V-ML's planetary activities have taken place in Intaki and until very recently the entire system's POCOs were tax free. I have noticed some of the other POCOs in the area but I don't have the numbers to hand but the new tax rates being introduced are still well below the high rates charged by others.


We'll see you in Agoze. Viriette MicroLabs was already considering opening an office in Agoze and this might just be the deciding factor.

Teutonii
CEO. Viriette MicroLabs

I applaud this initiative. The Intaki Liberation Front has contributed more to the mercantile prosperity of Intaki than any other organisation, followed closely by Ishukone-Raata. Before the 5-5 trade hub, in terms of bulk sale, Intaki was languishing in the bottom of Placid in terms of gross turnover of goods by ISK value. It is now regularly in the top five, and is generally the top in lowsec Placid, allowing for month to month variations.



No it isn't.



Intaki is lowsec, and unlike Stacmon isn't gatecamped as a matter of routine. I recently put together a number of ships in Intaki and the prices of over half the goods were cheaper than both Stacmon and Orvolle, the Placid tradehubs, both of which are often too dangerous to bring goods out of due to piracy. The ILF pricing system is effective.



Why would your organisation, one which contains an individual who swore to destroy the ILF, be afforded any favours by them? I doubt the opinion of the 'Fluffeh Bunneh Murder Squad' matters to them very much at all.

I'm pleased to see that despite the efforts of some detractors here there are those who acknowledge the positive efforts panned by the IPI in Agoze for what it is and recognise the positive impact we intend to have on the immediate area.

I wanted to take the opportunity to respond to some of the questions asked to clarify some details for those interested.


While an IPI administered public ship yard or manufacturing platform in Intaki would indeed be a great improvement to our facilities in the system unfortunately this isn't possible. CONCORD imposed regulations on POS infrastructure mean ability to use the various arrays active around a tower are restricted to the point that pilots from other corporations simply wouldn't have the accessibility required.

It is for this specific reason the Agoze IX-2 station was identified as the ideal location for manufacture.

Ms DuPont, I am confused regarding some of the seeminly contradictory messages from your corporation though, so perhaps you could help me better understand your official understanding of the Intaki trade hub and the IPI's involvement.

To start there appears to be some understanding of the paradox we experience in Intaki. Wishing to be free from the pirate threat while at the same time benefitting from their custom, only for your colleague to suggest there is no custom to be had and sell orders remain without interest on the market:


Either ships are being bought and sold (by pirates or the ILF) or they are not. Incidentally, as the manufacturer and seller of ships in Intaki the ILF has no need to purchase from itself. That's absurd.

There appears to be contradiction on whether DuPont Enterprises accepts there is a successful trade hub in Intaki at all or not. We begin with commentary such as:

But despite such clear scepticism and doubt on the part of DuPont Enterprises, later comments such as the following suggest a complete u-turn in your position acknowledging both the mercantile prosperity and volume of trades:

I'm hesitant to suggest the participation of representatives from DuPont Enterprises in response to the announcements from the newly elected IPI President are intended to do nothing more than detract from the positive messages by the IPI, or negatively impact any interest we might foster in the region but they do appear that way.

I won't suggest that any hostility people following this discussion might detect from your colleague might stem from a less than amicable departure from both the IPI alliance and our friends (and trading partners) in I-RED, though.

It's clearly in Intaki's interests to validate some of the claims of succes and so there have been discussions within the ILF leadership in recent days on how we may better do this. Market driven statistics are always preferred for this and we have recently begun to encourage pilots who actively use the Intaki 5-5 trade hub to run the publically available Universal Uploader so that the local authorities receive accurate data based on actual market activity and can report accordingly via the various Galnet portals used by Capsuleers across New Eden.

While it has been over twelve months since the last news report by Interstellar Correspondents on the ongoing success of Intaki 5-5 it is the ILF and IPI's intention to keep interested readers up to date with our progress.

The establishment of a second, heavy industry focussed trade hub at Agoze IX-2 will not only strengthen the local economy further but will compliment Intaki 5-5 perfectly and as time passes we are confident we will have the statistics to support future messages from the IPI on this matter.

You don't have to be confused. Actually, it's quite simple to understand.

According to what Vechtor stated to me once, the 5-5 Trade Hub since its inception by Apollonius Verus was never meant to be a replacement for the Stacmon trade hub, the only one of its kind in the Placid region. It seems that Apollonius Verus was quite skeptical himself with the success of his idea because New Eden NEVER registered any successful trade hubs being created ever inside low security areas. According to Vechtor records which I insisted to ask him for after his claims here at the IGS, in the very beginning of the Trade Hub constitution, people inside ILF simply had to sell whatever they could at 5-5, being manufactured by ILF or not, what was the majority of the cases.

In time, I believe this may have changed, and ILF really became the bigger seller of several goods. But not all goods... ILF was never the bigger seller of Battleships at Intaki 5-5. ILF was never the biggest seller of ammunition at Intaki 5-5. ILF was never the bigger seller of other types of combat vessels such as Tech 2 Cruisers and to be honest, ILF was never the biggest seller of anything T2 that I know of, but you can correct me if I'm wrong. Not to mention, as I stated, Robotics, among several other products being manufactured at planetary colonies and everything I mentioned before really lacks in Intaki (you apparently tried to sell mining barges in Intaki once, Hulks included?)

With that in perspective, would it be fair to claim that this Trade Hub is a success?

Let’s also think on a different approach.

A successful trade hub is one as people can be competitive. As we read such as Mr. Tafren stating that ILF is the MAJORITY of the market at 5-5, wouldn’t we be talking more about a monopoly than about a free and flourishing market?

And speaking of measures, what can you say about the innumerous amounts of assets either being lost or stolen from traders and haulers in and out of Intaki 5-5 by pirates that, unfortunately, ILF and other organizations that come here to the IGS with all the arrogance they can to claim they control the area has indeed failed to counter? Can we really think that this trade hub is a success, if the size of the richness it generates can be comparable to the size of the losses from all innocent people trying to work with that trade hub?

There is food for thought for many things here Mr. Bataav. Simply attacking Vechtor or me when we try to discuss things your organization claims to be reasonable but aren't doesn't seem to add value on that.

I think it's quite reasonable that a project like the Intaki 5-5 trade hub would evolve over time.

In it's founding days it's completely understandable that existing stocks would be donated by willing pilots to begin the process of establishing the first orders. Manufacturing on the scale it is today would take time to produce the volumes needed to satisfy local demand, especially as a number of pilots in the area have a security status so low they would struggle with access to the highsec hubs of Stacmon and Orvolle.


I think so yes. While the IPI alliance may be behind the concept of Intaki 5-5 we are by no means the only participants. The success or failure of the trade hub does not rest at the office of a single corporation and this discussion already includes responses from other corporations and alliances who actively trade from Intaki.


The IPI has never hidden the fact that the entire Viriette constellation and beyond suffers from both Serpentis and capsuleer piracy. The ILF is on record on numerous occasions here in the Summit on this very issue.

While they are a terrible threat to the space lanes and too many industrial and trading ships are lost as they go about their business the corporations who participate in the Intaki trade hub are equally as persistant.

Speaking personally I have lost ships to pirates but I continue to trade successfully at Intaki 5-5. The ILF as a whole has lost ships but is not operating at a deficit. Nor is the IPI alliance as a whole. Earlier in this discussion the CEO of Viriette MicroLabs hinted at opening a new office in Agoze and so we can assume they are not operating with a negative balance either despite their public killboard showing losses too.

Is DuPont Enterprises in the red?


While there is nothing wrong with sensible and considered scrutiny, I believe the criticism on the part of DuPont Enterprises risks crossing the line into negativity for it's own sake, if indeed this has not already happened. By all means highlight valid concerns and factual mistakes but this "campaign of criticism" that seems to follow more recent Intaki focussed debates here does nothing good for the initiative.

In previous statements both you and Vechtor have claimed to support the Intaki economy and in the past there has been little reason to doubt that. But there comes a time when such consistent accusations towards the IPI, I-RED and others needs to stop and DuPont Enterprises needs to take a moment and make a decision.

Either you are in support of the Intaki 5-5 and Agoze IX-2 trade hubs or you are not.

If you are, then support it. Do not spend your efforts with negative messages that seek to take away from the initiative and instead focus on your successes. Look to improve and expand your trading presence and share with us the news of the positive impact you have had.

As Mammal has already said, there was a time when Vechtor was held in high regard by pilots in the ILF, myself included. It saddens me to see such a divide between us now. I'm at a loss as to what happened but I believe bridges can be built and the initiatives announced at the start of this discussion provide an ideal opportunity to do just that through cooperation and dialogue.

Following on from my earlier comments I am pleased to update those interested with some real market driven data.

Market reports for all of New Eden are available from eve-marketdata.com and following a dialogue earlier today the data for a specific region can now be presented by station.

As this particular report illustrates the Intaki 5-5 trade hub operating from the Astral Mining station is currently ranked 3rd for the entire Placid region in terms of sell order quantities. Only Orvolle and Stacmon rank higher, their hisec status reflected in the much higher volumes listed.

Though not a member of the IPI alliance myself, I have decided as CEO of a contributory corporation to the trade hub to ask my pilots to run the Universal Uploader tool Bataav mentioned in one of his responses here. I believe the IPI is requesting their pilots do the same and if DUPO traders joined in we'd see that 2% increasing.


That's a good point. It's a shame a report on buy orders isn't available.

When it comes to sell orders and how long they last you got me thinking and I came to a conclusion.

When you look at one of the core trade hubs like Dodixie or Jita I can imagine that sell orders don't last very long. But I'd expect that with the amount of focus market traders give those hubs. So many items are purchased in bulk just to resell at a profit.

I've always considered Orvolle and Stacmon to be "gateway" systems. They're the hisec/losec border and so it makes sense that some traders will buy in bulk at a core hub, haul to a gateway like Stacmon and resell to local pilots who aren't going to travel 20+ jumps to Jita for one reason or another.

Intaki 5-5 is different. It's not that kind of hub.

Intaki's customers are the pilots who will actually use what they buy. They buy the ships to fly them. They buy the modules to fit them and in Viriette MicroLabs' case, they buy the drones to deploy them when in space.

These purchasing habits will always be much slower than the fast, high volume, buy-to-sell purchases of Jita but in my own experience the sell orders will sell.

What exactly is your point? So I had some SURPLUSS mechanical parts and sold them in Intaki. How is that signficant in any way?

Yeah, I've advanced in that discussion already, replying Teutonii:



Maybe you can advance as well, and provide us with other ideas instead of focusing that much on a single example I've given.

Also, you'll probably like the project we already initiated, such as you can read here:

Project Microspread

We are having good feedback already, and minerals market around Intaki is getting realy intense now, with the spread of prices of just 0.01 ISK we are providing.

Jeane