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Fleshbot
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Posted - 2009.07.29 17:11:00 -
[1]
Pardon the open ended unresearched question but generally speaking, how is the business of character selling?
I'm trying to determine if people do it as a business (selling pre-made trader/industrialist/freighter pilots, maybe even training up characters to order) or if it is exclusively a market for characters people no longer want/need, like a way of recycling some value out of the characters.
Any thought on profit margins on character trading?
I'm just finishing up some alts and wondering if I should start trading one for sale, or just keep trading marginally useful skills on my main.
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Mechanogrin
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Posted - 2009.07.29 17:29:00 -
[2]
Have fun spending 20 bucks every time you want to sell one. Other than that, I've thought of that too.
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Carniflex
Caldari
Fallout Research
Fallout Project
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Posted - 2009.07.29 17:31:00 -
[3]
As general rule of thumb training characters for sale is not quite worth it when compared against buying PLEX with the RL money that would be involved and selling those. Ofc you can get lucky sometimes with some specialists (like maxsed pos gunners or whatever) but I would not hold my breath over it. SP is relatively cheap nowdays at sub ~50 mil SP levels.
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James Tundra
Gallente
Tash-Murkon Prime Industries
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Posted - 2009.07.29 17:49:00 -
[4]
As part of a research project for my corporation, TMPi, I researched the feasibility of doing such a program.
Heres what we found:
At roughly 2000 sp/hour of training, 17.5m SP can be achieved in one years time. The average sell price for a Hulk too with 16-18m SP, on the character Bazaar, is 5-6B ISK. At 300m/plex, this represents a total of 3.6B ISK for a year of game time. The cost of books is negligible for a Hulk toon.
The problem is, the amount of profit sways heavily on the price of plexes for example.
300m ISK Plex:
Expenses:
3.6B Plexes
Income:
5B ISK
Profit:
1.4B
1.05B/$15
400m ISK Plex:
Expenses:
4.8B Plexes
Income:
5B ISK
Profit:
.2B
150m/$15
Not to mention if you can't sell the toon, it's even more worthless!
Another problem spotted with this plan was that if you plan to do anything other than Hulk or Orca training, the price of books is no longer negligible, often adding as much as a billion to total expenses.
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Kazzac Elentria
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Posted - 2009.07.29 17:52:00 -
[5]
You can attempt to trade in existing characters, Ie picking some up and then attempting to offload at a profit. But the 20 transfer fee will cut into your profits obviously. So the key factor is how much isk is 20 dollars worth?
...and then if you can turn a profit... is it worth the hassle? |
Yarinor
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Posted - 2009.07.29 18:14:00 -
[6]
 Originally by: Kazzac Elentria
profits obviously. So the key factor is how much isk is 20 dollars worth?
...and then if you can turn a profit... is it worth the hassle?
2 plexes cost $35, lets say a plex is around 350. (which they were not to long ago, now i'm just assuming so i can do the math in my head) that means 700m/$35 = 20m/$1. Which means that $20 is worth 400m.
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Fleshbot
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Posted - 2009.07.29 18:17:00 -
[7]
Originally by: James Tundra
Heres what we found:
Thanks for sharing James, I guess that pretty much answers that as I was just looking at a freighter/Hulk/Trader with all learning skills at five selling for 4.2 billion (auction still open).
it looks like skill points are too cheap, which makes sense as characters can be recycled easily, and kept forever.
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Kazzac Elentria
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Posted - 2009.07.29 18:38:00 -
[8]
Originally by: Yarinor
Originally by: Kazzac Elentria
profits obviously. So the key factor is how much isk is 20 dollars worth?
...and then if you can turn a profit... is it worth the hassle?
2 plexes cost $35, lets say a plex is around 350. (which they were not to long ago, now i'm just assuming so i can do the math in my head) that means 700m/$35 = 20m/$1. Which means that $20 is worth 400m.
Well there is the break point then. You have to resell something for at least half a bil more than you initially purchased more or less. |
Czanthria
Caldari
Tadakastu-Obata Corporation
The Honda Accord
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Posted - 2009.07.29 19:57:00 -
[9]
I've bought one character and sold four so far and while I think there is isk to be made there, I wouldn't consider doing it for the sole purpose of making isk. I've only done it as a way to get isk out of characters that I no longer wanted.
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Knowledge is Power! |
Salpad
Caldari
Carebears with Attitude
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Posted - 2009.07.29 20:38:00 -
[10]
What about growing and selling generic characters?
I mean, come up with a fairly reasonable name, then training learning skillz to 5/4, and training Racial Frigate/Cruiser/Battleship to 4, Destroyer/Battlecruiser to 4, Engineering/Electronics to 5, WU to 5, AWU to 4, Navigation to 5 and then perhaps not much more than that?
It would make for an excellent starting-off point for a new player, compared to starting with 50K SP and not being able to do anything. Especially since it is such a hassle to have to train the learning skillz.
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Salpad |
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Breaker77
Gallente
Reclamation Industries
New Eden Research
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Posted - 2009.07.29 21:00:00 -
[11]
Originally by: Salpad
It would make for an excellent starting-off point for a new player, compared to starting with 50K SP and not being able to do anything. Especially since it is such a hassle to have to train the learning skillz.
I suppose when you first started Eve you started with a billion ISK or so??
The idea sounds nice, but I highly doubt anyone would loan a character out with payment being sent later.
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io0olilo0oi
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Posted - 2009.07.29 21:23:00 -
[12]
I think the best Time to Isk is the freighter pilot. They r allways in demand and allways seem to sell quickly.
Taking about 22 days to train from nothing, average selling price at 1.2B you end up with 20+15=35 =1.2B VS 60day GTC costing about the same dollar but only gettin you 700M
if you buy 3 months game time at 38$ (12.66 per 30 days)you could make 4 pilots
20x4 + 38 = 118USD to bring in 4.8Bisk bringing the cost of the isk down to 40M isk per Dollar
Better return then a GTC that averages about 18M per dollar spent.
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Veritech knight
Envoy Corps
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Posted - 2009.07.29 22:35:00 -
[13]
if you are the type to buy GTC with real money, then character selling is definitely worth it
(you get more for your $20).
it was even moreso when monthly timecards were 150m...
still, you can identify some types of chars that sell well with only 2 months of training (freighter pilots, hulk pilots, etc)
gl
o/
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Zamaranth Sesta
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Posted - 2009.07.30 00:28:00 -
[14]
There is another flow of value...
...the value of having a second account paid for by the spell points. You get 3 characters paid for and only need to sell one.
It seems like lots of people value being able to simultaneously play two accounts.
One of those might have a limited role.. a hub trader, a scout, a hauler, and you might not need more than a week or a month of sps in them to serve your purpose adequately. Train, sell and buy plexes and be able to use that character with out real money cost and not a huge time effort.
For that matter, I suppose at some point you might begin to reach diminishing returns for your main, at least in terms of its enjoyment, and ~15$ savings a month might bring more game play benefit buying flowers for your wife/gf etc to reduce game time agro.
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Salpad
Caldari
Carebears with Attitude
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Posted - 2009.07.30 00:44:00 -
[15]
Originally by: Breaker77
Originally by: Salpad
It would make for an excellent starting-off point for a new player, compared to starting with 50K SP and not being able to do anything. Especially since it is such a hassle to have to train the learning skillz.
I suppose when you first started Eve you started with a billion ISK or so??
The idea sounds nice, but I highly doubt anyone would loan a character out with payment being sent later.
I didn't start out with a billion ISK, but I'm sure some would want to be able to buy a ready-made alt, with a fairly generic name, and the most basic skillz covered. Skipping the first 3-6 months of skill training, so to speak.
--
Salpad |
glas mir
Reaction Scientific
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Posted - 2009.07.30 01:29:00 -
[16]
The value of $20 in isk depends on your own personal ratio. If you buy GTCs it is less than 400M isk. If you don't then it is likely more than that.
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Mova B
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Posted - 2009.07.30 08:55:00 -
[17]
It's highly profitable 
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Nitecom
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Posted - 2009.07.30 14:30:00 -
[18]
Using a buddy invite you get 21 days.
I used this to train all my basic learnings to V and advanced to IV (obviously took a little longer than 21 days , about 28 I think)
Anyway, activated the account for ú20 I think, this of course gave me 30 free days on my main so I didnt have to pay for that for a month.
For the rest of the month I trained the new char towards a Freighter and eventually I sold him on 4.2m sp's for 2.5b.
So I paid ú10 to activate the account, ú10 for another months game time and then ú20 to transfer it.
So ú40 for 2.5b ISK. A 60d GTC costs me ú20 which goes for 680-700m? Two of those ammounts to 1.4b. So in answer to your question, for me, yes it is worth training up chars to sell 
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Secant
Gallente
Galactic Defence Syndicate
Slightly Inappropriate.
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Posted - 2009.07.30 14:57:00 -
[19]
In my case, I have several ALT accounts that I use for trading and mining/industry. These accounts are self sufficient in that they make enough profit to pay for their PLEX as well as supporting my Main's PvP habit. They do not require any additional skill training.
So on the empty slot's I train characters up and then sell them. I tend to go for higher end characters that can be used for PvP or mission running. Level 5 tanking and level 4 Missile/Gunnery/Spaceship Command. The end character has around 12M SP. That way the $20 transfer fee is amortized over a longer period of time.
Just a way of maximizing profit over time...
Secant
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Claire Voyant
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Posted - 2009.07.30 16:03:00 -
[20]
Here's a business plan I'm giving away for free, because I'm too lazy to do it myself. A few months ago I was looking for a production and lab alt and would have gladly paid 3B for something with decent skills. There were just one or two available and the bidding was competitive, and I gave up around 3.5 billion.
Instead I decided to make my own. I got a buddy account with 21 days free and then added another 30 days with a plex which gave my main 30 days free. So that is 51 days free right there, since I would have used the plex on my own account anyway.
I got +3 Mem and Intel implants and trained up the basic and advanced Mem and Intel skills and the learning skill to level 4. At the end of 51 days my alt had 3.5 million skill points, for a total cost of 60 million in implants and skill books.
With 3.5M SP you could easily have a 10 slot lab rat with maxed skills or a 10 slot factory alt with maxed skills. Throw in another 30 days and you would probably have both maxed out.
So I would think you would be easily able to get 2 billion profit for your $20 transfer fee.
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