My time in Eve Online recently has been largely focused on trading. I’ve been around some wormholes, my alt is gearing up for PvP. But the bulk of my time is spent sitting in Amarr buying and selling things. If there’s anyone out there that’s just getting into the game and wants to know how to play the market like a wizard — look elsewhere! I am but a simple trader that focuses on the number one rule: buy low, sell high.

To get started with some basic trading you’ll need to get some basic skills: Trade, Retail, and Broker Relations.  Once those are up you can get Accounting, then Margin Trading and some of the others as your business grows. Making sure you can lower the costs of trading as much as possible is key to getting the most profit. The other key is knowing the trade hubs.

Jita, Amarr, Dodixie, Rens… there’s several trade hubs in Eve and all are worth sitting in buying and selling. To make the most out of your profits, however, will require some movement. Buying in the lowest buy order system and selling in the highest sell order system. These will vary with time and with goods so it is important to keep track of what is going on. This can be done with trial alts. (alternativley you can use eve-central)

You’ll need to set your market window up to view the information you need most. Typically this will have your buy orders sorted by the lowest prices to highest and your sell orders sorted by the highest price to lowest.

So, you’ve got a couple mill from mining/missioning and are looking at starting a trade business, what do you buy? Starting out might not be very easy, especially without some capital to get rolling. In the beginning I’d say go for modules, T2 if possible. Check out the various trade hubs and find some items that have a decent profit margin — the difference between your buying price and the selling price. (remember to calculate any extra fees or taxes into it) Once you’ve found something, place a buy order that’s just above the highest for the station. If the items you are buying can easily be transported around, and you have the skills to do so, you may want to increase the buy order range out a system or two — this will help speed things a long. (also, be sure to check that there are no low/null sec systems in the range — unless you don’t care) Once the items are bought and sitting in your hangar, it’s time to sell. You have some options here. You can sell them back in the same station or look at some other trade hubs and sell them there. Often this could include a long 15-20 jump trip but the profits may be worth it. Once sold, profit gained, it’s time to begin the process anew. 

For more market fun check out Eve’s Market Discussion sub-forum: Market Discussion.