Does selling commodities to Lei Cheung actually work?

[JustPete82]

I recently unlocked him and want to get a G4 or G5 Shield Upgrade.

I shuttled in the 200 Gold for the final unlock criteria for him and that worked fine. And now I see the Commodites market in the menu at Trader's Rest. I then flew off and bought another hold full (320T) of Gold and bought that back and sold it, but it didn't seem to make any difference to my level with him. Does this actually work or do I just have to create lots of upgrades to work my way trough the tiers??

 

[Comrade Error]

Get 9 phsopherous and make 9 level 1 upgrades.

Find some Magnetic Emitter Coils via EDDB (6 min) (I assume you have the materials for a level 3 upgrade as they are fairly easy). Make either 3 level 3 upgrades and 3 level 4 or make 9 level 3 mods (which will require 9 emitter coils total) and bam, level 5.

Selling commodities will take longer than that as the increase of rep depends on the profit gained of the sale.

 

[Divine Cerinian]

Get 9 phsopherous and make 9 level 1 upgrades.

Find some Magnetic Emitter Coils via EDDB (6 min) (I assume you have the materials for a level 3 upgrade as they are fairly easy). Make either 3 level 3 upgrades and 3 level 4 or make 9 level 3 mods (which will require 9 emitter coils total) and bam, level 5.

Selling commodities will take longer than that as the increase of rep depends on the profit gained of the sale.

Errors on point, making mods is always easier because of how much rep you get for the mods.