none existance profitable trades.

[Kirmit]

Rather confused by the OPs complaint about no profits.

The system you begin the game will contain an agriculture station and an extraction station

Buy meat > < Buy biowaste = 200cr /20cr return trip per tonne

PS. I dock at every location in a system and write down the prices, demand, supply, type of station.
It becomes pretty obvious, very quickly what to buy/sell based on the station type your at/going to.

Rule 6: Bigger the buy price more the profit.

 

[burzum]

I written with pen and paper sell/buy prices on many, many, many stations

That's mostly the reason why I hate trading right now. It is no 1984 anymore, I don't want to write this down by hand!!! It's no joy and a waste of time. And honestly I give a s... about FDEVs request to not read the memory and network traffic from the game. I hope somebody is going to do such a tool OR that FDEV is providing an API to do so ASAP. Either way, I don't care how it is done and who's feelings get hurt, I'm just interested in the result: Automated data collection. If you really enjoy doing it manually: Nobody stops you from continue to do so.

 

[Tigga]

Profits are easy to find. Good profits less so. The first tip is to ignore the exports/imports and look at the system type, as well as the value/supply/demand of the goods.

 

[CorBlimey]

New player here.

I found a nice little 525 cr/tonne one way, 725 cr/tonne return back for a total of 1250 cr/tonne round trip of 15LY or so.

Feels ok to me however I can see that it could seem low from what it looks like Gamma players were able to enjoy of 3000 cr/tonne per trip.

Getting to a new tier of ship is certainly a grind. The jump from 1.2M for Type-6 to 6.2M for Asp seems excessive and represents about 12 hours of grind (100 tonne Type-6 capacity * 1250 cr/tonne/round-trip by approx 15 mins per round-trip).

On the other hand, buying a second ship to go bounty hunting and so on can be used to break up the tedium and view it more as a long-term goal.

I would like to see Characters fixed to either Solo or Open but high tier commodities doubling in value or margin increasing the risk/reward and/or Bounty values or USS bounties scaling with player rating.

P.s. my method to find a route was to go to a handful of stations close to the star (so quick supercruise) for each system within my jump range from a central high tech or refinery system. For each of those eligible stations I then put a few high value commodities for just those of high value (e.g. Silver+) and being sold substantially below or being bought substantially above galactic average into Excel. Pretty easy to then match them up.

 

[DragonIV]

Step 1. Find an refinery station. Land there.
Step 2. Scout prices of the high value metals (7K+ plus). Write em down.
Step 3. Find an industrial or high tech station. Land there, see what they're buying those metals for. Odds are good that one or two will be 1200/ton, the other 700-1000 per ton.
Step 4. Profit.

One way, you can pick up that 1200 per ton. Way back, you'll probably make 100-200/ton, but no more. Mineral Extractors and Power Generators from industry are usually your best bet. High tech would probably be progenitor cells, I dunno, haven't done the high tech route in a while.

You just have to watch the prices--I've had routes going up and down all weekend. One minute I was moving gold, an hour later it was beryllium, then palladium. Had to change stations at least twice this weekend too. Disclaimer--you may end up spending a fair amount of time in the Galaxy map to locate refineries.

 

[crushdepth]

Good routes are still available, its just that you need to invest some time in scouting out places. I've been running palladium and super conductors between two systems and averaging about 820 cr per ton both ways all day.

Try using the economy and population filters on the map to locate a VERY large, wealthy hi-tech economy. There aren't many. They tend to produce high value products of interest to other system types cheaply, and often pay pay well, so they make a good base.

That's the easy half the battle. Then hard part is finding nearby systems with complementary products you can flog on the way back.

 

[zombieapocalypse]

No offence, but you don't know what systems I've explored.

I written with pen and paper sell/buy prices on many, many, many stations.

I've not found 1 single item that I can buy cheaper than I can sell at any of the stations I've visited.

Even with the trade route lines highlighted, there is nothing profitable to trade.

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I'd suspect those that are getting profits from multi-jump, 10 minute trade routes are using these 3rd party tools that just tell you where the best buy/sell prices are at?

Lol. I mostly do missions at the moment (trying to increase my imperial rank/standing) which mostly involve single jumps and i almost always find some profitable comoddities to trade at the same time. Not sure what you're doing wrong to be honest, but it's very easy to find profitable trade routes.

 

[TriumphANT]

I honestly think this must be a partial troll thread, as I had just over 1700Cr yesterday morning (did lots of upgrades to my Adder), and have played for maybe 3 hours and now have 53,000Cr. 16T cargo capacity.

Two things:
1) The pricing for stations within a system can be very different. I know of one system where Grain is "IMPORTED" that has above average price at the big station, but prices are well below average at an outpost. Only at best around 110Cr/T, but it's an 80Ls SC for about 5Cr worth of fuel. Something technical (Superconductors?) makes a similar profit on the way back. Simple!
2) You need to get a feel for what the systems really need. I doubt that pen and paper is necessary, but it might help. It's as basic as "Agricultural" and "High Tech" neighbours will get you a decent profit.

I'm doing trading, exploring and missions, so have moved around 160Ly over the past few days without really doing much back'n'forth, except where I see some upgrade I really want. I actually think the feel of trading is really well balanced, but you need to take some risks with where you travel, and learn the ins and outs. I think the trade data system is totally unintuitive, but it's not anything like a deal breaker if you use your head.

 

[malicious1]

I honestly think this must be a partial troll thread, as I had just over 1700Cr yesterday morning (did lots of upgrades to my Adder), and have played for maybe 3 hours and now have 53,000Cr. 16T cargo capacity.

Two things:
1) The pricing for stations within a system can be very different. I know of one system where Grain is "IMPORTED" that has above average price at the big station, but prices are well below average at an outpost. Only at best around 110Cr/T, but it's an 80Ls SC for about 5Cr worth of fuel. Something technical (Superconductors?) makes a similar profit on the way back. Simple!
2) You need to get a feel for what the systems really need. I doubt that pen and paper is necessary, but it might help. It's as basic as "Agricultural" and "High Tech" neighbours will get you a decent profit.

I'm doing trading, exploring and missions, so have moved around 160Ly over the past few days without really doing much back'n'forth, except where I see some upgrade I really want. I actually think the feel of trading is really well balanced, but you need to take some risks with where you travel, and learn the ins and outs. I think the trade data system is totally unintuitive, but it's not anything like a deal breaker if you use your head.

small scale trading money making isnt the problem when you get to larger scale...it evaporates

 

[cptzipzap]

i dont understand elites system.

what are those stations? generators or tarders? why do production facilities (=generators) buy their own goods???

theres no way I jeopardize my hard earned money on the trading lottery

 

[Zplintz]

I can't find one single trade that is profitable. Not one.

I think the fact people are blatantly using 3rd part software to hunt for that profitable trade, while those of use that don't use them are clearly placed at a disadvantage is nothing more than a form of cheating.

If you want us to be able to 1 click a nice fancy trade route and do it all so fast, without having to explore at all in order to do it, add it to the game.

Sorry this is simply not true. I found a cluster of about 11 systems all trading with each other (using the trade routed), recorded prices and supply/demand and happily trade between them without using a 3rd party tool. I have found 3 such clusters so far.

Be wary of over traded systems.

 

[Hotsz]

Can you explain how you can spend 15 minutes finding a profitable trade route, then spend 5 minutes actually flying to it?

Takes me 5 minutes to fly into a system, FSD to a station and dock with it. That's 1 station out of many.

Thanks everyone for replies so far. It's not really helpful if people are replying with 'finding profitable items is easy' if they're using 3rd party tools to do so.

You're trolling right?

Every station i visit I can turn a profit from..... (WITHOUT using any third party tools).

It's simple really... buy products with Medium or High supply and they turn a profit at stations with low/medium/high demand. (Although i think the game is bugged with respect to stations at high demand - I don't recall seeing any). Use the galaxy map and the trade route feature to see what stations demand that product. Or commit to memory the types of products different economy types import / export.

Here is an old, but vaguely accurate chart of what types of economies import / export what goods if you can't be bothered figuring it out yourself. http://i.imgur.com/QsxScn1.png

 

[Korenwolf]

I can't find one single trade that is profitable. Not one.

Currently bouncing around a bubble centered on Priva making trading profit on each leg and mixing in missions as appropriate. No tools (not found one I like yet) just buying the trade data for the bubble systems and checking the import/export information and buying below GalAve and selling above at the other end. Mostly pulling 3-10k / run from a Cobra with 32t of cargo space.

 

[Blackat]

All economies seem to have been standarized since the new server side patch ( in 1.03) ..
only amounts / demands seem to vary a little. (perhaps 1 or 2 goods are skipped).
But no out of character goods are offered anymore.

in other words everything has become a lot more predicatble based on economy, however totally silly for finding new routes as you should be able to find a good one using Galmap nowadays. after you know what econmomy trades what..

 

[DaveB]

Can you explain how you can spend 15 minutes finding a profitable trade route, then spend 5 minutes actually flying to it?

Takes me 5 minutes to fly into a system, FSD to a station and dock with it. That's 1 station out of many.

Thanks everyone for replies so far. It's not really helpful if people are replying with 'finding profitable items is easy' if they're using 3rd party tools to do so.

The 15 minutes are spent clicking around the map, looking at system data and identifying likely candidate pairs of stations to trade between - ones where there is almost guaranteed to be profit to be made on something - at this stage I don't know what - between them. Then I try and string these candidate pairs into a circular route. If that comes together, only then will I consider going there. I will fly, without cargo, to the nearest system on that circuit (string the jumps without ever docking until I'm there) - that's the "fly there" part. Then I'll run the route empty to scope out the true state of the markets. Only after that will I consider investing credits in the run. It's not unusual for me to modify my candidate route after this stage, maybe cut one station out of the loop or look for a nearby alternative, but it is rare that having got as far as actually scoping out the markets with a dry run that I ever have to completely abandon it as not worth my time.

 

[alisterwallbank]

Worthwhile routes do exist but they take a little exploration to find yourself a nice cluster with varied economies. I just use my own simply excel spreadsheet to note down buy and sell price from the stations I frequent. You can use logic to take metal from A to B and food from B to C but will not always maximize your profit if you have a cluster of 20 plus systems as I fly between. I pick up a steady trickle of missions from the bulletin board as well as I hop around my cluster. I don't keep doing the same a to b to c to d to e and back to a station routes. That gets a bit tedious sometimes. I don't see using my own simple spreadsheet as cheating at all. I've a terrible memory at the best of times and I believe we've moved on a little since the original game using calculator and notepads. There should be some basic in-game trade monitor for those systems you have visited and maybe keep the data active for set periods of time, decaying as you don't visit a station for so long. You still have to 'get out there' and explore to find them in the first instance. Here's some trade returns I was finding in my trade cluster as of yesterday....
View attachment 5994

 

[Googol]

Worthwhile routes do exist but they take a little exploration to find yourself a nice cluster with varied economies. I just use my own simply excel spreadsheet to note down buy and sell price from the stations I frequent. You can use logic to take metal from A to B and food from B to C but will not always maximize your profit if you have a cluster of 20 plus systems as I fly between. I pick up a steady trickle of missions from the bulletin board as well as I hop around my cluster. I don't keep doing the same a to b to c to d to e and back to a station routes. That gets a bit tedious sometimes. I don't see using my own simple spreadsheet as cheating at all. I've a terrible memory at the best of times and I believe we've moved on a little since the original game using calculator and notepads. There should be some basic in-game trade monitor for those systems you have visited and maybe keep the data active for set periods of time, decaying as you don't visit a station for so long. You still have to 'get out there' and explore to find them in the first instance. Here's some trade returns I was finding in my trade cluster as of yesterday....

Spoiler

View attachment 5994

The moral being that if you put in the hard work, the rewards will come. Sounds suspiciously like real life to me
-
Hopefully the market problems are a priority for the devs to sort out. We do need a bit of logic imposed so that counterintuitive trading and profits (like food to agricultural stations) are eliminated from normal play while still allowing for the occasional spike due to local circumstances. In the meantime if profit per ton is low then maximise the tonnage you can carry based on the level of risk you want to work with (at the extreme, no shields = extra capacity). At the very least you can get rid of the Discovery Scanner to carry 2 extra tons.

 

[Im_Lost]

I don't trade very often, but I have been using a trade tool. I can say there are LOADS of profitable routes and some are systems that are right next to each other.

I saw one a couple of days ago that apparently paid 1.7 million for a 1 way trip (but it was a long trip). The routes are not static either, they do change.

 

[vicwarrior]

I recommend you try rare good trading, find a cluster of stations with enough rares to fill up your cargo hold, go to another cluster around 160 ly away and cash in a minimum of 16k profit/ton fill up in rares and repeat.

 

[Unpleasant]

Since making this thread the trading has been patched and fixed.

From what I read in the patch notes, one of the problems was with npc traders not having trade caps and over trading, there was also circumstances where traders would flip the import/export goods.

Odd so many people replied there wasn't a problem, only to get the non existent problem fixed with a patch.