gmccumskey
Alpha
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2006
- Posts
- 589
- Location
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Society
- Federation of Free Wanderers
- Avatar Name
- Michael Nexus Andrews
There are a lot of posts in the forums on trading, but I noticed a serious lack of posts in helping newbies get themselves setup as traders in Entropia. I thought a nice post in the N00bs Corner might help out aspiring merchants 
Why get involved in trading?
To me, trading is the only aspect of Entropia Univers (EU) that does not rely to a large degree on luck, and also is not something you have to wait forever for until your skills get up to do. As such, it is one of the few things you can do when starting out to help bring in those much needed PED.
I, as of yet, have not paid a single dime into EU, and am still having loads of fun. I can thank trading as the reason for this.
What do you need to be a trader?
First off, lets discuss the type of person best suited for trading. If you the kind of person who has moved from Quake, or some other high action game, trading might not be your best past time in EU. Trading is very sedate. In fact, to be brutely honest, it can get down right boring. So the most important characteristic a player should have is patience ... in bucket loads.
As a trader, you can spend a lot of time, doing next to nothing. But when it pays, it can, if you are well prepared, pay big. And this is what the rest of this thread is for, to help you get prepared.
The tools you can get to help out, unlike the other disciplines, are not made available to you by Mind Ark in game. The tool in question is called PEAss, or Project Entropia Assistant. The reason this tool is good is because it can help give you access to vital information to use as a trader in EU, in game, saving you a lot of hassle. If you go to the PEAss site, there you can download the software. Essentially what it does is, if you have the program loaded and running in the background before you start up EU, give you an extra toolbar in EU with some VERY useful features, which we'll discuss in a sec.
Also, as a trader, you need level-headedness, and the ability to make an informed compromise.
So, lets get making money
Well, not so hasty my young apprentices. Lets make sure we have all our ducks in a row first. We got PEAss, which we'll discuss how to use to its full effect a bit later, we willing to stand around for a while .... Oh Shizzen. We need goods don't we.
Acquiring your goods to sell
Well, when you first start EU, the only goods you can get relatively cheaply, is to sweat. That is, find creatures and click on them once to get your concentration, then again to try and pull sweat from them. You can then, when you've collected enough sweat, try to sell it off.
One good method that might work as well when you starting out, is if you happen to get yourself a mentor, then you might be able to strike up a deal with your mentor that goes something like this (read carefully, you do not want to anger your mentor, this is not a scam method or begging, as you will see):
The reason this can work out quite nicely, is that it does many things for you. First of all, it can help you bring in some bigger value PED, since your mentor might a very busy EU player who doesn't want to stand around trying to trade those items, but still wants their tt value. It also helps build your rep within the game, especially if you do a good job of it, and at the least keep your end of the bargain, i.e. return the tt values to your mentor. Your mentor is also likely to tell people they know what a stand up, honest person you are, so you might get offers coming from others to sell their stuff for them. I would also recommend when you can to perhaps chuck a little extra into the pot for your mentor, as a way to say thank you. If, for whatever reason, your mentor declines your plan, accept it. Don't argue or beg.
The last way to get some goods to sell is the auction. The auctioneers can be found in the mobile service centres that are always available in cities. Here, you can go trawling for items that are close to closing and do not have very many bids, making it a cheap item if you can get in there and snatch it up. Often tough, because many people do that kind of thing, but sometimes you get lucky.
How can I tell how much to sell for?
Some of you might be wondering about how on earth you can get to know the values of items. If you can sell it for more than the trade terminal will give you, how much more?
Well, this where PEAss comes in kinda handy. But before we get to that, just a quick explanantion on how pricing is normally "advertised" by traders when they try to sell their wares. There are basically two different ways.
The first is by saying something along the lines of tt+5. This is a direct indication of how many PED above the tt value you are selling an item for. Why use this format? Why not give an actual PED value? Well thats because items you try to sell are often at different tt values because of damage to the item. Repairing said item costs as much PED as you gain in tt value for that item, so theres no real need to repair an item before you sell it. In fact, sometimes its beneficial not to because the buyer can purchase it from you at a lower PED value, making it more affordable, and then repair when they have the money to do so.
The other method is in using percentages. You might have seen things like Generic Leather 200%. This basically means the person is selling the item at twice its tt value. This method you normally only see on items that are sold in quantities greater than 1. Things like building materials, resources like minerals and en matter and so on.
Sounds complicated? Well its not, in fact, when you get used to it, you'll wish the real world worked this way
. To calculate the actual selling price in PED from the percentage is very easy. Say my tt value for 500 Generic Leather is 5 PED, and I decide to sell it at 195%. I use a calculator and put in 5 x 195%. There you are. Sorted.
But then again, how do you know these percentages or tt+'s. Well, on your PEAss toolbar, you'll see icons for a site called PEAuctions and MyTwoPecs. These two great resources can help you determine quite quickly what values things are currently worth in EU. Clicking on the PEAuctions icon opens a window to the PEAuctions site (while you are still in EU), where you can then type the name of the item you want to sell, and it will give you the current market value for that item by averaging all the latest sales that happened in auction. And it never fails.
But to be truly competitive, you might think about making your prices slightly lower than the one stated in PEAuctions. For example, Generic Leather (as of this writing) is listed at 205% in PEAuctions, so I might sell it at 190-200%.
Location, Location, Location
This a very important aspect of trading in EU. Theres no point trying to sell in a city that has no one that can buy. So below is my list of best places to trade and what items to trade there.
1. Port Atlantis: You should have known this, even if you have spent only a few hours in EU so far. Port Atlantis is good for selling, well, virtually anything. But it is a prime spot to sell to newer players, as this is where most new players start and try to build up their skills.
2. Twin Peaks: This area is pretty hard to discover by yourself, so perhaps ask a skilled player or your mentor if you have one, to help you get this TP. Twin Peaks is great for selling the higher valued items, or even your materials and resources, as this where higher level players tend to hang out, the crafters and the like, who want to buy that kinda stuff.
3. Camp Phoenix: Might surprise you, but there are almost always loads of people here, and its a mixed bag normally of higher level and newer players as well.
What I tend to do is stay at one location repeating my "advert" for about an hour or so (did I mention it can take a while), and then move to another place if I haven't had any luck.
Advertising
Now you've got the goods, you've found a perfect spot. Now to type that text that will tell everyone what you selling. Here's a few pointers:
1. Always state clearly whether you are selling or buying.
2. List only a few items at a time, not your entire inventory, as you dont want to gobble all the space in that global chat window.
3. Just like 2 above, don't try to get fancy and creat "eye-catching" artworks with your punctuation too much, you dont want to use up all the space in the gobal chat as it will anger other traders, and trading is all about relationships.
4. Don't repeat the message too often. My rule of thumb is once every 10 -20 seconds.
5. Always include where you are, and try not to say your at the boxes if there are three different spots for boxes. Pick somewhere unique.
Heres an example of a good message, only a few items, short and brief:
==SELLING== Jester D1 tt+1 -- Goblin thighs (F) tt+1.2 @ Boxes
Wrap up
So, I hope this little guide has helped some people out. If you have any questions, please PM me, or even feel free to respond to this post. Catch you on the street.
Why get involved in trading?
To me, trading is the only aspect of Entropia Univers (EU) that does not rely to a large degree on luck, and also is not something you have to wait forever for until your skills get up to do. As such, it is one of the few things you can do when starting out to help bring in those much needed PED.
I, as of yet, have not paid a single dime into EU, and am still having loads of fun. I can thank trading as the reason for this.
What do you need to be a trader?
First off, lets discuss the type of person best suited for trading. If you the kind of person who has moved from Quake, or some other high action game, trading might not be your best past time in EU. Trading is very sedate. In fact, to be brutely honest, it can get down right boring. So the most important characteristic a player should have is patience ... in bucket loads.
As a trader, you can spend a lot of time, doing next to nothing. But when it pays, it can, if you are well prepared, pay big. And this is what the rest of this thread is for, to help you get prepared.
The tools you can get to help out, unlike the other disciplines, are not made available to you by Mind Ark in game. The tool in question is called PEAss, or Project Entropia Assistant. The reason this tool is good is because it can help give you access to vital information to use as a trader in EU, in game, saving you a lot of hassle. If you go to the PEAss site, there you can download the software. Essentially what it does is, if you have the program loaded and running in the background before you start up EU, give you an extra toolbar in EU with some VERY useful features, which we'll discuss in a sec.
Also, as a trader, you need level-headedness, and the ability to make an informed compromise.
So, lets get making money
Well, not so hasty my young apprentices. Lets make sure we have all our ducks in a row first. We got PEAss, which we'll discuss how to use to its full effect a bit later, we willing to stand around for a while .... Oh Shizzen. We need goods don't we.
Acquiring your goods to sell
Well, when you first start EU, the only goods you can get relatively cheaply, is to sweat. That is, find creatures and click on them once to get your concentration, then again to try and pull sweat from them. You can then, when you've collected enough sweat, try to sell it off.
One good method that might work as well when you starting out, is if you happen to get yourself a mentor, then you might be able to strike up a deal with your mentor that goes something like this (read carefully, you do not want to anger your mentor, this is not a scam method or begging, as you will see):
- Ask your mentor if there any items that they might loot that they tt often, i.e. dispose of in the trade terminal (tt)
- Find out from them, in the most gratifying way possible, if they would be willing to let you try and trade the items yourself to try and get more for it than the tt value, and that you will give them the tt value back when you do sell it
- If you do sell the item, make sure YOU ABSOLUTELY keep your end of the bargain, and give the tt value back to your mentor. Not nice seeing all them PED go out, but honest trading is the best policy in EU.
- If you happen not to sell it, then you can tt it yourself and give that money back to your mentor.
The reason this can work out quite nicely, is that it does many things for you. First of all, it can help you bring in some bigger value PED, since your mentor might a very busy EU player who doesn't want to stand around trying to trade those items, but still wants their tt value. It also helps build your rep within the game, especially if you do a good job of it, and at the least keep your end of the bargain, i.e. return the tt values to your mentor. Your mentor is also likely to tell people they know what a stand up, honest person you are, so you might get offers coming from others to sell their stuff for them. I would also recommend when you can to perhaps chuck a little extra into the pot for your mentor, as a way to say thank you. If, for whatever reason, your mentor declines your plan, accept it. Don't argue or beg.
The last way to get some goods to sell is the auction. The auctioneers can be found in the mobile service centres that are always available in cities. Here, you can go trawling for items that are close to closing and do not have very many bids, making it a cheap item if you can get in there and snatch it up. Often tough, because many people do that kind of thing, but sometimes you get lucky.
How can I tell how much to sell for?
Some of you might be wondering about how on earth you can get to know the values of items. If you can sell it for more than the trade terminal will give you, how much more?
Well, this where PEAss comes in kinda handy. But before we get to that, just a quick explanantion on how pricing is normally "advertised" by traders when they try to sell their wares. There are basically two different ways.
The first is by saying something along the lines of tt+5. This is a direct indication of how many PED above the tt value you are selling an item for. Why use this format? Why not give an actual PED value? Well thats because items you try to sell are often at different tt values because of damage to the item. Repairing said item costs as much PED as you gain in tt value for that item, so theres no real need to repair an item before you sell it. In fact, sometimes its beneficial not to because the buyer can purchase it from you at a lower PED value, making it more affordable, and then repair when they have the money to do so.
The other method is in using percentages. You might have seen things like Generic Leather 200%. This basically means the person is selling the item at twice its tt value. This method you normally only see on items that are sold in quantities greater than 1. Things like building materials, resources like minerals and en matter and so on.
Sounds complicated? Well its not, in fact, when you get used to it, you'll wish the real world worked this way
But then again, how do you know these percentages or tt+'s. Well, on your PEAss toolbar, you'll see icons for a site called PEAuctions and MyTwoPecs. These two great resources can help you determine quite quickly what values things are currently worth in EU. Clicking on the PEAuctions icon opens a window to the PEAuctions site (while you are still in EU), where you can then type the name of the item you want to sell, and it will give you the current market value for that item by averaging all the latest sales that happened in auction. And it never fails.
But to be truly competitive, you might think about making your prices slightly lower than the one stated in PEAuctions. For example, Generic Leather (as of this writing) is listed at 205% in PEAuctions, so I might sell it at 190-200%.
Location, Location, Location
This a very important aspect of trading in EU. Theres no point trying to sell in a city that has no one that can buy. So below is my list of best places to trade and what items to trade there.
1. Port Atlantis: You should have known this, even if you have spent only a few hours in EU so far. Port Atlantis is good for selling, well, virtually anything. But it is a prime spot to sell to newer players, as this is where most new players start and try to build up their skills.
2. Twin Peaks: This area is pretty hard to discover by yourself, so perhaps ask a skilled player or your mentor if you have one, to help you get this TP. Twin Peaks is great for selling the higher valued items, or even your materials and resources, as this where higher level players tend to hang out, the crafters and the like, who want to buy that kinda stuff.
3. Camp Phoenix: Might surprise you, but there are almost always loads of people here, and its a mixed bag normally of higher level and newer players as well.
What I tend to do is stay at one location repeating my "advert" for about an hour or so (did I mention it can take a while), and then move to another place if I haven't had any luck.
Advertising
Now you've got the goods, you've found a perfect spot. Now to type that text that will tell everyone what you selling. Here's a few pointers:
1. Always state clearly whether you are selling or buying.
2. List only a few items at a time, not your entire inventory, as you dont want to gobble all the space in that global chat window.
3. Just like 2 above, don't try to get fancy and creat "eye-catching" artworks with your punctuation too much, you dont want to use up all the space in the gobal chat as it will anger other traders, and trading is all about relationships.
4. Don't repeat the message too often. My rule of thumb is once every 10 -20 seconds.
5. Always include where you are, and try not to say your at the boxes if there are three different spots for boxes. Pick somewhere unique.
Heres an example of a good message, only a few items, short and brief:
==SELLING== Jester D1 tt+1 -- Goblin thighs (F) tt+1.2 @ Boxes
Wrap up
So, I hope this little guide has helped some people out. If you have any questions, please PM me, or even feel free to respond to this post. Catch you on the street.