“That is correct, Colonel; we’ve profited another three billion isk this month.” Minara said over the secured comm. Roc Wieler made sure he checked in with his trader regularly, monitoring her progress on the market out of personal interest; he trusted her abilities completely.

Minara Dawn thought she had the better of him, he knew, sub-contracting some of her work to a third party, but with the resources at his disposal, it was easy for him to find this out, though discovering the name of the sub-contractor had proved more elusive.

He also had recently employed a dedicated trader, who continually was refining her skills through implants and practical training; one day he may rely on her only. While their relationship was new, Roc had a good feeling about Piktun, a feeling of much profit, which was always a good thing.

—

I’ve often held my market techniques very close to my chest in the past, as there is a simple principle to adhere to regarding the market; the more people you enable, the less profit you make.

Recently, with the changes to Apocrypha, this is no longer the case, and here’s why.

It used to be that you could use a default, out of the box, alt trader, and relying on their inherent skills, profit billions of isk without any additional training time. Now all new characters are pretty flat, skill wise, requiring months of  real life time investment to bring them up to a level of usefulness as a trader. As such, I don’t mind sharing a couple of basic concepts that have worked for me on the market, conscious that some may split their training time anyway when they see how easy and profitable the market can truly be.

MARKET PVP TIP # 1

In real life, traders follow the mantra “Buy low, sell high.” In New Eden, it’s just the opposite. Let me explain how market mechanics work in Eve Online.

When you right click and choose “Sell item”, it retrieves the current highest bid price for that item within your area. So when you sell the item, most of the time, it’s going to a player. Similarily, if you just choose an item category and buy from the default pane on the right, the price shown is the current lowest sell price in your area. So again, when you make your transaction, you’re more than likely buying from a player.

So what does this mean for a successful trader? It means, buy high, sell low.

But Roc, that makes no sense. How am I going to profit if I am buying high and selling low? The answer is profit margin, my friend.

Profit margin is the difference between what you buy an item for, and what you sell an item for.

For example:

1. Open up the market and find yourself an item in your area where the difference between the highest bid price and the lowest sell price is at least 100k isk. Place a buy order for that item.
2. Let’s say the current highest bid for that item is 100,000 isk. Bid 100,001 isk for the item. You are now the current highest bidder. When a player sells that item (whether through default “sell item” or a manufacturer purposefully trying to get the most isk for their time and effort), you are awarded the item (if you are still the highest bidder).
3. Go and pick it up, bringing it back to your base of operations.
4. Open up “Market Details” on the item. This will show you what other players are selling this item for. Remember, we wanted an item with at least a 100k profit margin. 
5. The current lowest sell price for this example item is 250,000 isk. So, sell yours for 249,999.99 isk. When a player buys the lowest priced item, they are awarded yours (if you are still the lowest priced seller). You just profited 150k roughly.

This may not seem like much to go on, and as I write those steps, there are many other little tips I could share, and perhaps over time, I shall. 

But for now, noble trader, this should be enough to get you started making isk for minimal effort.

On that note, I have three traders currently, and spend a total of 20 minutes per day on them. Their combined income is just over 3 billion per month, give or take.

Not bad for 20 minutes effort per day, eh?