How do you traders make profit?

[golly]

Take the time to check out systems.Found a sweet run Friday that is still going,at best 1k per ton each way drops in the day though.
Wake up back to 1 k per ton,and faction boost trading is sick,none to baron in 4 hours,hello clipper.
1 jump and both systems 42ls -250ls bonus
1.5 mill per hour at 100 tons over 3 mill in type 7 or clipper depending.

 

[RadBlaster]

I really don't care how much I make per trip. I just look at picking up one delivery or BB mission and then fill in the rest with what can be exported to the destination. In my type 6 standard stock. I think I making 5-15k profit. I like getting my rep up with the factions or the locals.

BTW I do not use any pen & paper, spreadsheet or 3rd party tools. Just the trade data, galaxy map, system map and common business sense.

PS - Both the Tortoise and the Hare are running a race but no one wins because there is no finish line.

 

[Samu]

Just find the right trade route, I'm currently pulling 126k per hour when I want it.

Bounty hunting is still waay more fun for me anyway.

 

[TheNut]

Pulling in 100K profitsss hauling superconductors and power generators between Thiin and LHS 1942 (or is it 1914? bah, whatever). It's a very short distance between the two stations, roughly 7-8 minutes round trip. If I'm lucky, a random transport mission will popup on the bulletin and net me an extra 30-50K for little effort (though these are rare). You need money to make money. Once you roll a 100T Lakon hauler and you fill it up with 600K of superconductors, you just see the numbers fly. I'm not shooting for anything crazy here. Just want to secure enough cash to enjoy horsing around in my Cobra. Not aiming for anything more than that.

 

[Rearden]

I am making 600cr/ton each way but it is black market 15mn round trip. To be honest I have no idea how this compares to open trade after all the changes... can you guys get me numbers per ton instead of raw profit as that is dependent on too many variables.

I would still expect the open market to be doing the same or better than me.

 

[TheNut]

From my post above, it's 800 credits profit per superconductor sold. That's buying high in LHS 1914 and selling at medium in Thiin. For the past while, I have not seen any high/lows so I've been sticking with that setup.

 

[DB Cooper]

I made 30K profit one way a few days ago hauling 44 T of gold ---- the problem is the cargo was worth more than my ship (Cobra) I was sweating getting interdicted all the way --- it would have set me way back losing that cargo --- the last few days have been a struggle just filling up the cargo bay with hauling missions or station need missions -- not knowing what to pick up to fill up cargo bay that will turn a profit on the other end-- seems I can't find high demand and high supply matching items that turn a lot of profit. on a couple of runs I made a guess based on the station description but didn't even make enough to pay for the fuel.
I ended up giving up a 4T cargo hold for a fuel scoop, figuring that since the cobra is such a fuel hog that not having to pay for fuel would offset the lost cargo space

 

[EpicExecution]

i make about 1.2 mill per hour on rare commodities, just set the route to "fastest route" and you'll be making loads

 

[Christopsy]

figuring that since the cobra is such a fuel hog that not having to pay for fuel would offset the lost cargo space

You think? Well, maybe... I have been flying the "Explorer" cobra and its 16T fuel tank takes me a looong way without refuelling. Also short jumps are much less fuel-expensive.

I have a feeling a better drive is more fuel efficient too, but I can't be sure of that. In any case, I recommend an upgraded scoop when you can. My C(?) class (iirc) loads in at 54T/s max.

 

[Shintai]

Made now about 5 trades with my new lakoon type-6 transporter with 100t of cargo hold and I always got 12'000 to 20'000 credits profit... which is not really much. So what's the trick behind this one?

Find better trades and do trading/supply missions the same time. That adds a lot to the profit.

 

[Memnoch]

Making money with any ship via trading is all about finding the right situation. For instance, by blind luck I found two systems next to each other that allowed me to ship Silver one way and a variety of minerals back the other way. I was getting around 70k from Silver and 30k from Bertrandite, with the occasional lucrative mission thrown in so that I am now Allied with one of the governments there.

I've seen some small drop off in that over the last few days but its still a pretty healthy route for me. Now I could certainly make more money by hunting around looking for places selling the higher value commodities if I wanted but I tend to be quite lazy so when I find something like this I just latch on!

Since I just got an Asp last night I intend to continue for a bit to upgrade and build up a safety net, as the rebuy cost has now jumped from 31K to about 160K or so, and then work on my Federal career for a while. The great thing is that I can continue with trading with this ship while I do other more dangerous things and not feel as vulnerable as I did in the T6.

 

[matt1974]

In my type 6 I make 850 credits per ton one way, and 400 back again. One jump, 12ly. Not fantastic but good enough. You'll make higher margins on more expensive items. There's no substitute for spending an hour or so travelling around local systems noting down prices in a spreadsheet - you don't have to write them all down.

 

[Wicz]

I'm concentrating on rare items atm in my cobra and I make upwards of half a million each way on a 220Ly route.

 

[Papanowel]

I'm concentrating on rare items atm in my cobra and I make upwards of half a million each way on a 220Ly route.

On my side, 289 000 Cr. per run.

But I sometime have to wait for resupply.

I can jump for about 15ly in my cobra and take me around 15 minutes to go from one station to the other one.

 

[NEUR0]

More likely around 600-800k

Got a 32T Cobra with A4 FSD and other "lightest" D modules, makes 540k per run, duration is between 15 and 20 minutes.
Minus few for fuel cost, and few pluses from adv discovery scanner.
Trick is to find 2 or 3 nearby stations so you can fill up the hold fast.
Hourly income is around 1.5M when it's nicely optimized.

 

[MaJiC]

I broke 100K last night (would have broke it sooner, but spunked some credits on lighter equipment/better FSD for my hauler), after finding a nice little two hop back/forth jump, making >500cr/t each way, so I'm maxing my hauler (16t) out for 10k profit each time. I could use some other modules to get additional rack space, but I like free fuel and my shields have helped more often than hindered.

I'll get me a cobra, start upping my game some more and move into the higher profit runs/anarchistic systems!

 

[Im_Lost]

Basically...Slopey's trade tool. Without it you have no chance if your going for the £1000 prize

Anyway, if your in to trading the first ship you should save up for is a type-6 with upgraded cargo holds (after a Hauler or Adder ofc).

 

[Whiterose]

Sometimes the bulletin boards pay well. Other than that the key thing is to buy when supply is high, usually metals or mineral offer the best profit. The more cargo space the more the profit, sell your scanner and fit a nother cargo unit. Use the galaxy map to see where to trade. If there are three trade lines the system is well supplied, I have found (although it could be coincidence) that if there is just one trade line the profit is higher.

 

[Mikey2305]

When im in my T6 im quite happy with 20k to 30k per load for 100t . I dont see a problem with that and i dont fret chasing the ultimate trade route. Im allies with all the systems i serve and get quite a few well paid missions out of them as a reward for my loyalty. I make enough cash to stay comfortable and finance my cobra which i use for rare goods runs and exploration. Im in it long term and whether it takes an hour or a week to make a million does not concern me much.

 

[Scienti5t]

Those of you with the rare goods runs: how many tons are you carrying?

I rarely see more than 6 on offer and out of laziness I tend to go about 10LY and sell them at 8K per ton.