Need help trading!

[Ray Nova]

Im giving trading a try because ive seen some people talking about 1 million + credits per hour which sounds very nice but so far i have failed miserably with 2 runs without profit.

obviously im doing something terribly wrong so maybe you guys can give me some advice as to what i need to be looking for and what ill need to keep in mind.

i bought the Type-6 Transporter and upgraded to max power plant, frameshift drive, cargospace and shields (just to be safe) as far as it was possible in Ervate.
the i looked at the commodoties market and picket a random article that appearently was exportet to a near by system. i filled my hold with said item and took of to the target system only finding that the market there would buy the goods at a lower price that i bought them. same happened on the way back... bought bauxit at tried to sell it in ervate with the similar result: NO PROFIT!

what am i doing wrong? do i need to trust the galaxy map more instead of the local comodoties market at my current station?
I also bought some trading data of the surrounding systems but that didnt seem to do a lot...

please be gentle with me as im a dumb bounty hunter looking to get some quick credits

 

[Dukov Nook]

Go to Yembo. It's the closest Hi-tech planet to Erevate.

Find a refinery near by (if your Galaxy map is set to economy, they will be the systems in red)

find a place that sells paladium for a good rate. Buy that paladium, sell it at Yembo. (there are a lot of places around there but I don't want to make it too easy on you). Figure out which Hi-tech item Yembo sells that your Palladium location will buy at the best price. Bring that back with you to maintain 2 way profitability.

the key is, I never started a trade route I didn't research first. I spent about 2 days flying around the systems near Erevate trying to find the best deals.

It helps to make a spreadsheet.

 

[Shude]

There is almost always something to trade between two systems, or even two stations within-system but before spending any money at all on commodities please check the prices and supply at either end! The in-game market data is ropey at best but you can't beat a pencil and paper - make some notes about what is bought above galactic average and what is sold below - find a match and you're laughing! If the supply is less than a few thousand then it might not last for long.

 

[Ray Nova]

allright will try that

 

[A Titan]

Scout it out first, never fill up till you find a good route. Grab few of each metal or ore and take it to surrounding system and find the one that makes the most money.

Start small also don't jump straight into palladium, start with like Coltan or silver to build up some money. Also one over looked stared routes is doing food runs, biowaste one way and coffee and tea on the way back. Biowaste will cover fuel with profit and coffee and tea have decent returns starting out. Ease you way into it and before long you will be making the big money.

 

[mossfoot]

One bit of advice I heard was to see what a station was in demand for first, not what they had a lot of supply in. Look for high demand in expensive products, make a list, then explore and take note when you find a place where it can be bought cheap in nearby systems.

 

[v01i0]

obviously im doing something terribly wrong

Others given fine instructions. Basically it is about supply and demand, then the market type of given system. Usually the large population systems have better supplies and higher demands. The further it is from the core systems of Alliance, Empire and Federation, better the profitability.

Besides of trading common goods, you could try rare goods as you're flying a shielded Type 6. Fly to Lave, visit all neighbouring systems there (Orrere, Uszaa, Diso, Zaonce and Leesti), buy those rare commodities available there. Then travel some 100-200 LY away from their point of purchase, and end up doing some 1-1,5 million credits per trip (just watch the pirates in Orrere and Uszaa, they can be persistent). And by the way, if you try trading rare goodities, I recommend fitting a decent fuel scoop in order to save time and credits when travelling.

-v

 

[djbrianw]

Welcome to space trucking.
Try the following: http://www.elitetradingtool.co.uk/
But in essence, find an extraction system with a high supply of beryllium, gold or palladium, then find a high tech system with a high supply of consumer tech, progenitor cells or superconductors, then do runs between the two. The profit margin is important, but so is the distance between the systems (ie how many jumps you need to make) and how close the stations are to the nav points. If either station is more than 1000ls from the nav point find another as you will spend too much time in supercruise to really maximize your profit. You should be looking to get 1000-1200+ profit per item each way, but as I said the distance is just as important as the margin. If two systems are next door to each other and the stations under 100ls then 6-800 profit per item will make you just as much. Clearly the bigger your cargo hold is, the more you will make, my Anaconda has 434 cargo and I make around 5.5m an hour. Its a great way to build rep with a faction too so if you really want to reap the benefits, find two in space controlled by your preferred faction and watch your rep soar.
Forgot to say, the higher to population in each system the better.

 

[Dukov Nook]

Others given fine instructions. Basically it is about supply and demand, then the market type of given system. Usually the large population systems have better supplies and higher demands. The further it is from the core systems of Alliance, Empire and Federation, better the profitability.

Besides of trading common goods, you could try rare goods as you're flying a shielded Type 6. Fly to Lave, visit all neighbouring systems there (Orrere, Uszaa, Diso, Zaonce and Leesti), buy those rare commodities available there. Then travel some 100-200 LY away from their point of purchase, and end up doing some 1-1,5 million credits per trip (just watch the pirates in Orrere and Uszaa, they can be persistent). And by the way, if you try trading rare goodities, I recommend fitting a decent fuel scoop in order to save time and credits when travelling.

-v

Rares are wasted on a type 6. You will make more money doing resource runs.

 

[Ray Nova]

well i scouted and noted and made all kinds of lists and actually made some profit... not sure if it is much more than bounty hunting but it sure is more relaxing and i have always a target to pursue plus i dont spend money on ammo.

ill be doing it until friday. i think then ill be able to talk about whats more profitable

 

[v01i0]

Rares are wasted on a type 6. You will make more money doing resource runs.

It really depends on how you perceive things and what is important. Yes, you can strip the shields and maximize the cargo space to make that T-6 as profitable as is possible in theory. But if you want fun and still make some credits, there is no much sense in that. I have 192 cargo in my Python, but I still rather do rare-runs than resource runs. But again, it is what matters to you. For me, I am simply fed up with 2-system trade grinding after I made enough for the Python

-v

 

[bootsam]

T6 is great for rares. T7 is where you need to do commodities instead. IMO.

 

[djbrianw]

T6 is great for rares. T7 is where you need to do commodities instead. IMO.

Agreed, once you have 200+ cargo you will make more money doing runs of high value "regular" commodities such as palladium/consumer tech etc, once you have a 3/400 cargo, you will make ALOT more money this way. The rare runs are more enjoyable though as you get to see different parts of the galaxy and gain some exploration rank at the same time (if you sacrifice cargo space for both planetary scanners). It's all about what the priority is....

 

[evilquesadilla]

Some great advise already. Sorry if I'm repeating.

Learn to use the galaxy map. Buy trade data of nearby systems via the galaxy map (or visit the starports yourself). In the map, you can find trade routes for the selected commodity between systems. You'll see lines with a glowing center slowly moving from buy systems to sell systems. It's not fool proof, and isn't the most profitable, but gives you a good guideline.
Then, you select a number of commodities that you think the target system would like from your starport, based on those trade lines in the map. Pick the ones that are in high supply and low in price compared to the galactic average. Buy one of each. Travel to the starport, sell each one and remember the highest profit one. This is the commodity you should trade going this direction.
You do it again going back to the first system to establish which commodity to trade the other way.
Now you have a possible trade route going, although it may not be the most profitable. Personally the best I've done is about 1000 cr per ton one way, I haven't been able to find the same going back to the first system. If you are a dedicated trader maybe you can do A -> B -> C -> A, a three system trade route. Usually trading gold or other precious metals from refinaries/extractions to high tech systems is a good bet.

Another thing you can do is technically smuggling but none of the risk. Go to a system and buy performance enhancers, then go to those "seeking luxuries" ships. If you fly close enough, they will buy all of your performance enhancements at I believe 7600 cr per ton. So based on the purchase price, you can figure out the profit. It's usually more than 1000 cr per ton. Although on the way back you'll be empty handed.

Alternately you can write down/create a spread sheet of every system you visit, and do a comparison. I don't even know why they don't have this feature in game -- saving data of each starport your visit.

Or, you can find plenty of trade tools online where people have already entered the pricing information.

But beware of pirates and murderers. If you are flying a transport you have a giant target on your back.