Basic Trading
The
simple facts of buying and selling. Work out your profit
per unit, weigh the risks and haul some freight.
Or just skip to the summary points.
Buy
Low, Sell High
The
whole idea of trading is to make a profit. If you can't sell it for
more than you bought it, sell it somewhere else. Get maximum profit
with minimum loss of time, effort and equipment.
 |
StevenKeel:
"Once
you find a decent trade route, don't forget
it. Write it down and remember it.
Sometimes the best trade routes are discovered by accident
so keep watching your database for Best Known Prices and remember
how much you bought it for!" |
Building
a Price Database
Dock
at as many places as you can, because once you've
docked, you have their trade info on your computer, so in future,
all you need to do is check their Information (f9) or select the cargo
in your cargo bay and click Trade Routes to open up your database.
Example
of trade database. Look for the 'Best Known Price'.
Profit
per Unit
The
profit you make on each unit of cargo is your profit-per-unit or
PPU. Use this when you note down trade routes, as it gives you quick
and easy info on how good a route is. Here's an example: "cons.goods
Houston, Texas to Fp2, Bering 114ppu". This tells us Consumer
Goods from Houston Texas will get us 114 profit per unit if taken
to Freeport 2 in Bering system. You can even add notes like "1sys",
meaning the sale is only one system away.
Example of
selling 60 Polymers at Newark Station, note the green trade circle
icon means a good price. A $24840 total sale price is definitely good.
Hauling
Freight
To make
really big profits you need a freighter with a lot of cargo space,
such as a Drone, Humpback or the Dromedary. With these ships, a 300
profit per unit can turn into $82500 total profit for the sale, more
than enough to make up for travelling across a few systems.
 |
ChoiceofWeapon:
"Without
a freighter, you will make less profit, but at least you can loot
more successfully with a fighter, and looting is 100% profit,
baby!" |
Running
the Risk
Look
at the factions most common to a system, and figure out how much trouble
you'll run into on your route, and don't forget to check to see if
you could get the same profit (or better) closer
to home, otherwise you'll waste valuable time and credits.
 |
Knuckles:
"Sometimes
its quicker and easier to do some missions instead of run cargo.
Trade routes give you an excuse to see what else is out there,
though." |
 |
Chilli:
"Discovering
decent trade routes is pretty rewarding, but if you get a good
route from someone else, at least give them
some credits or cargo for the information. It's the honorable
thing, dammit." |
Points
to Remember
Dock at lots of different places to put
more info into your trade database.
The difference between buying price and selling price is the profit
per unit. Multiply that by the amount of cargo space you have..
and the result is the total profit for each trip.. simple.
If you lose your ship, you lose your cargo, so stay
in one piece.
Looting means free cargo, but it's dangerous.
Remember to pick and choose what you tractor beam up, some stuff is
so cheap it's not worth selling anywhere. Target
the loot you want and use shift+b to tractor it in.
Pirates will sometimes demand your cargo, and they can even cruise
after you, so be prepared to escape by a trade
lane or fight.
If you're carrying Illegal goods, make sure
the police don't scan you. If they finish their scan, they
will demand your cargo, so hurry to the next lane before any cops
can start or finish their scan!
Click
here to go back to the top!
