Chasing deals in the slow lane

Its been a busy week with real life stuff and so really didn’t have much time for EVE till the weekend to catch up on things. Ended up spending much of the weekend traveling the space lanes in the slow lane hauling and moving stuff around often for some possible gain in profit. Some days life as a Trader keeping New Eden supplied can be unusual days compared to what most capsuleers are used to.

This week things was changed up a bit from the usual routine. There was no Invention as the labs have sat idle for almost a month now taking a long break from Invention activity due to not much need to do any Invention. There was no manufacturing activity as I just couldn’t be bothered to think about what to make let alone stock up on minerals and supplies and crunch numbers. Needless to say no new T2 was produced either. I have enough on the market already for now. So just spend time on the space lanes.

The Investment from the beginning of the week finally paid off but took a few days to give it some real attention. Had bought up almost 16 M units of Heavy Water in Khanid region while making my rounds checking up on my regional orders. I bought at what I considered a deal in one huge block which made it more enticing to consider. Someone in Agil had put up almost 16 M units of Heavy Water at what I consider a good deal. I guess more like dumped it on the market really as that was a lot of Heavy Water for a slow region that can barely absorb that amount Heavy Water. When I saw it I immediately saw a deal in my mind on something I often buy. I knew what the Buy Order prices were in Jita and figure I could resell it. I could sell it elsewhere besides Jita though it would take time. Re-selling in Jita offered Immediate liquidation at a decent profit.

Then I had to do a quick calculation and figure how much it would cost me to buy it all up. Just over 1.5 Billion ISK to buy it all up. In less than a minute I had bought it all. Had the Corp Trade Div buy up 5 M units and bought the rest of the block with my own funds. Now had to figure out the logistics of getting it all to Jita. Made several Corp contracts to get most of all the stuff to be courier to Jita. Agil was a long way to Jita about 18 jumps and somewhat a remote region Trade hub in Khanid region. First was recovering the Investment of Corp funds Invested. Less of a concern was my own funds invested.

So made several courier contracts to get the Corp investment in Heavy Water buy to Jita from Agil. Made a few contracts to get my load couriered as well to Jita after hauling the first load myself of about 2.2 M units. Re-sold the water in Jita for immediate liquidation at for about 17 points gain so prices was still good. Got the other 2 loads couriered to Jita and resold at around 17 points or something like that. So Corp made around 95 Million on the deal.

Got most of my Heavy Water courier contracted to Jita by the weekend and that was after hauling at least 1 load myself. Buy Orders had risen to 20 points up in Jita as compared to what I had bought the water for days earlier. For selling the entire lot of my share made 220 M profit. However was interesting hauling the last load as was able to sell the last load to Buy Orders as prices of Heavy Water was sinking fast as the difference between Buy Orders and Sell Orders was now less than 1. So sold off my entire lot before the crash set in.

Making the Freighter haul from Agil to Jita was about exactly 1 hr each way and realize just how slow a Freighter really is as well time-consuming to haul stuff. But the slow haul in the Freighter gave me time to scour the various regions looking for a good deal and checking on various things as well update Trade Orders. So was far from boring haul. It just took some time though.

After hauling all the Heavy Water it was time to pickup some my Buy Orders in another region that was sitting in a few stations. Hauled those back to hanger station and placed on market which all sold later in the day for nice profits. On way flying back noticed an entire region I frequently travel was almost out of Liquid Ozone. That gave me a thought that I kept in mind. On way back to local region I saw a huge block of Liquid Ozone all in one place on the market at not so cheap a price. But figured at the price can still make a decent profit. So spent just over 500 M and bought it all up and moved it to the region that was in short supply and resold at higher price. So far sold over half of it and not too worried about selling off the rest. But if all sells will net me about 105 M on that deal.

Hauling consumed much the weekend to say the least. But it allowed me to overlap most my trade region and check, update orders as well as make a mental image map of what was selling where and at what prices. If you sell the same things often its fairly easy to remember prices. Often I can retain that in memory as it’s just day-to-day usual business. Flying back thru Forge region noticed Oxidizing Compound was rocketing to almost 1000 a unit on market run up in prices in Jita. All the Oxidizing Compound as well as some other PI material I had on local market region had sold off some earlier re-checking things. So figuring maybe can make some profits on finding some cheap Oxidizing Compound.

So went searching several regions for some cheap Oxidizing Compound which took some amount of time. Market was bare in every region I checked besides in Amarr market and barely any to be found anywhere in 6 regions. Needless to say didn’t find any Oxidizing Compound to Trade. But word was some market manipulation was at work in Jita affecting other regional supply as well Self Harmonizing Power Core is hot commodity using up lots of Oxidizing Compound.

Flying back thru Domain space checking things a quick random glance at Amarr market realized that Helium Isotope was selling at not too low a price, but a bit lower than in Buy Order price in Jita earlier. Someone had placed about 3.4 M units of Helium Isotope on market  and figured at the price I could make a profit. No profit to be made on Oxidizing Compound but maybe can make some on exploiting Helium Isotope prices. Calculating roughly how much it would take to fill out a Freighter I bought up somewhere around 2.64 Billion ISK worth of Helium Isotope.

Packaged it for safe transport and got it to Jita. Got it there to Jita just in time before the market crashed on weekend sale of Helium as it was indeed crashing when i got there. Market price was now less than what I thought it was and competition was driving the price way down.

But was able to still make 145.6 M on the transaction due to all the units.

Wallet was really up and down buying and selling on the space lanes chasing a good deal. But chasing a good deal can at times be a time-consuming affair even it works out to be a good deal. Sometimes it can often be easier to use contracts, but the market is always in a constant state of flux especially with heavily traded items. Some things just don’t always get things to where you need it in the time you always need it before things change and have to do some of it yourself. Sometime things don’t need to get here all that fast depending on item. You can save a lot of time just having someone else doing the heavy lifting though with courier service to save time. Yet if I never travel would I always be finding the next good deal to keep me busy as well as something else new to find and Trade as a Trader.

Corporate Trading & Investing

Word is the suits up in the glass office at  corporate headquarters have somehow taken notice of my activities. I guess I’m probably one of the few rank and file that engage in my usual activities as well. Some weeks ago as well the CEO and I somehow ended up in a friendly chat about possibility of making some money for the corp engaging in my usual activities. I can’t remember how or why the conversation started, but it was a good conversation and was reluctant at best about it all.

From time to time I donate funds to the corp probably allot over and above what I would normally pay in Taxes if I was actively missioning per say. In 2011 I think I probably donated around a Billion ISK to the Corp for whatever the Corp does with the funds. That’s probably allot more than most casual members pay in corp taxes i would guess. So at best I wasn’t really that keen on making money for the Corp specifically. I figure I can manage my funds well enough to make a profit and donate to the Corp at best some extra funds for general use by the Corp. Its much less complicated that way and easier to do.

So again recently in Corp channel communications somehow again the conversation came up I can’t remember how or why but it pertained to making money for the Corp. Maybe using some the Corp funds as well to play with. I was a bit weary to do so and very reluctantly at best. I’m already busy enough managing my little Trade business. But somehow and for some unknown reason I can’t think of why I reluctantly agreed to take up the duty and make some money for the Corp engaging in usual activities. Maybe I see it as a new challenge and something a little different from just increasing personal profits.

And so the CEO offered to make the necessary arrangements I’d need for corporate roles to get things started for me in my new role that I accepted reluctantly. Two new Corporate Wallet Divisions were created for Market and Trade of which I both now manage. I initially asked for no funds be added to any the Wallet Division so I could start things out seeding it with some of my own funds to start things off. However the CEO decided on making the Wallet Division for Trade and added 500 M ISK to the account to use as I see fit for the new venture. So the Corporate Wallet for Trade Div started with 500 M ISK as seed money and Market Div started with 0.0 ISK. I now actively manage both Wallet Div for Market Trade and Investment activities.

So I guess this is now my new Project for Corporate Trade & Investments helping increase corporate profits. It’s been a bit busy since things have gotten started and have quietly settled into my new role. Invested in a few various thing and placed them on the market on behalf of my Corporate Divisions using my own Trade Sell Orders. Some the investments have sold and so far Market Div which started with zero is up 90+ M ISK and mostly use that to sell things on behalf of the Corp. For Trade Division I initially used most the funds to make some purchases and resold some the items on the market. Also added some extra funds from my own for making purchases. That left just around 24 M ISK in the fund to cover Taxes and Fees on making all the market Sell Orders. So far Trade Division has made back its original funding balance of 500 M ISK to almost 590 M ISK. There are still about 20 various active Corporate Sell Orders on the market that should account for some good profits if everything sells.

While going about business as usual in space earlier, saw what looked like a good deal on the market in something I regularly buy and trade. Invested 550 M ISK from Corp Trade Division and bought a good chunk of what seem like a good deal about 5.6 M units. Then spent 1.1 Billion ISK of my own funds buying the rest of what seemed like a good deal to buy at the price it was at about 10 M units. I already knew what it sold for elsewhere on Buy Order for the price spread. If I can resell the purchase at or close to the price I have in mind if the market is good, I figure I can possibly make 90 M ISK increase profit for the Trade Div on the money Invested. For my own personal purchase of the deal if re-sold should maybe net 170 M ISK assuming things workout as planned. It the market goes higher it becomes an even better deal. I’m not desperate to sell if it prices goes south either. But will have to see how things go.

Another Milestone Achievement

Another milestone in my EVE career achieved as a Trade Industrialist finally breaking and surpassing the 20 Billion ISK barrier. Currently now well over 21.2 Billion ISK and growing. A milestone achievement I quietly had in my mind and was finally glad to achieve as a full-time Inter-Regional Trader and part-time Research Industrialist in Highsec space.

I started the beginning of the year at 19 Billion ISK and steadily my Trade Investments and Industrial production sales grew. There is now some 10 Billion ISK sitting on the market in Sell Orders across 7 regions and over 1.6 Billion ISK in various regional Buy Orders across 3 empire regions. Its taken some work and was not all as easy to reach as many like to say its easy to make ISK. Try and do it sometimes as a steady process growing ISK it’s not always as easy as people like to say it is. Most people in New Eden often just want the quick road to riches with the sale of one or two modules to make several hundred million or a billion ISK one or two times. Its harder to do day after day steadily.

In EVE Traders come in many different kind and in how they operate to provide commerce and liquidity across New Eden. The vast majority of Traders station trade in Jita or any of the 4 other major market hubs. Everyone’s different. Some Traders have been said to Trade in Jita for years and have never undocked in years and amassed large fortunes. Some Traders station and regional trade in the smaller regions away from the major trade market hubs. Some Traders make a living scamming in major market hubs. Other Traders operate in the various areas of empire space and make a living trading and selling things across and between the various regions moving goods back and forth to service the economy of New Eden and keep capsuleers supplied to do their dirty deeds. And I guess that’s me a Inter-Regional Trader somewhat.

So I’ve enjoyed the steady growth of things. Vast majority of sales were all made up of lots of small sales vast majority being below 10 M ISK of most items. Very few items actually sold for over 10 M+ yet never over 40 M ISK at most. So wasn’t like I sold several items for several hundred million ISK in a few sales and made a lot of fast ISK. Just steady growth of Trade Investments, Re-Investments and growth. Can almost seem boring at times how that all works. Some days its just finding a good deal.

Even though the month isn’t quite over as yet business is up just over 10%.

On the long road to this milestone achievement I didn’t steal, scam or rob anyone anywhere in New Eden. It’s a rough place living and trying to make a living in New Eden, as well as having a good reputation. Not that the vast majority in New Eden really cares about their reputation anyway. Many in New Eden just as quickly try to shoot you to earn a reputation for the kill.

Wondering what next on the road ahead, living and trying to get ahead in New Eden.

Quick update

Been trying to work on a blog post rewriting it to get one out when i can, yet often require me to be in a good blog writing mood to do so. Trying to avoid writing a long blog post which is so time consuming to do as well. However things are a bit more busy than usual also.

With the job change transition mid last year had decided to go back to school a bit and something somewhat made much easier to do since also now work for the University on campus as well. So last week started my course semester back at the University and already got plenty of work to do. So things are just more busy than normal trying to do stuff.

Maybe I can get a post out late tonight, and probably won’t have any much time for playing much EVE today either.

Why so few Non Pirate, Low/Nullsec, WH EVE Blogs?

I wish I could have phrased that question better, but it just gets straight to the point of the question in EVE Online. And its a question I’ve had in my mind since I started in EVE almost 2 years ago.

I have my own opinions and so ideas why playing EVE over the course of that time, but rather than try to write about it I rather have the readers try to answer or comment about it for a change in their own opinion and perspectives.

The way I look at it is like this. If I was to wake up out of a coma today and read say 100 of the most popular and easily found/linked EVE Blogs I would get the overall opinion that the very vast majority of players and life in EVE are either about life in Low/Nullsec as Pirates and represents Low and Nullsec Alliances, as Pirates that live in WH’s doing the dirty deeds. That would be my overall impression of the vast majority of Blogs about EVE Online.

Yet the very heart of the Economic Engine of EVE is somewhat supported by a very different kind of capsuleer.

The amount of EVE blogs that don’t fall into that category is very few. So where are all the other blogs and why so very few as well?