Idris Helion
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
80
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Posted - 2012.09.21 01:01:00 -
[1] - Quote
Ana'song wrote:How do you manage to make money being an industrialist? I've got all the relevant skills but it seems like anything I make I'm either selling to buy orders or I have to constantly babysit my sell order so they don't get 0.01 isk'd. I'm not operating out of Jita (Rens instead). Should I be staying away from trade hubs and seed my products on station markets in between? or am I doing something completely wrong.
All my items seem to be showing good profit but they don't move -- despite their respective markets moving many thousands of units a day.
Being an industrialist is a tough gig. You're basically competing with about 85% of the rest of the player-base. In PVP or PVE missions, you're only competing with five or ten at a time.
Volume is the name of the game on a lot of stuff, especially T1 stuff. Low margins on large volume. That's the only way to do it. Unfortunately, a lot of dummies sell below their own manufacture cost because they think that if they mine the minerals themselves it's "free", so you're competing with idiots who don't mind taking huge losses.
There are some ways to make money, but it means using contracts rather than the market. First, manufacture to contract: contact a corp or alliance, and give them a favorable price on a bulk purchase of some module. Work out an arrangement that gives you a decent profit but allows the purchasers greater convenience or flexibility. Second, watch the "bulk trade" mailing list and find out what's moving in bulk. You might be able to make a deal with a middleman to manufacture goods to fill orders on that list in case the primary can't fill a large order right away. Third, and this is vital, make sure your BPO's are researched enough to limit waste but not *over*-researched. Too many manufacturers over-research their BPO's when it's not really necessary. Finally, don't just "shotgun manufacture" whatever module seems to be the flavor of the month (like ASB's are right now). Instead, try to figure out what'll be big a month or six months from now. (What modules will the new mining frigate or destroyers use the most? There's going to be a spike in demand for that stuff over and above the ship hulls.)
You might also set up your own POS and do your manufacturing there, but that requires a large up-front investment and is a pretty high ongoing cost due to fuel needs.
Unfortunately, you can do all this stuff and still find it impossible to make a living by manufacturing stuff. That's why diversifying is good: do PI, mining, missioning, researching, and other stuff to keep your income flowing for when your manufacturing income is slow.
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