The Money Thread

[eldaec]

Datacore farming is the easiest income I know of. Unfortunately, it looks like everyone knows about this now and the price of datacores is on a long term slide.

The price of *everything* is on the slide, I don't know wtf is going on but around The Forge datacores, salvage junk, minerals, (basically everything traded in volume) are all showing big drops month on month.

[MahrinSkel]

For all the worries about inflation, there is actually a massive money flow out of the economy right now.  Some because of massive infrastructure investment in 0.0, but most of it is probably people buying NPC market items and salvaging them for the low-end minerals.  So with less money chasing more goods, everything not tied to the low-end minerals market is deflating.

--Dave

[Jayce]

Doesn't your money not really lose any buying power if everything (including what you're buying) is on the slide?

[MahrinSkel]

Actually, it gains in buying power against the items that are sliding.  However, your ability to buy things are are not sliding is reduced.  This includes all T1 ships, as much of their expense is in the low-end minerals which are not falling.  POS bits and outpost components are only available from the NPC market and are therefore fixed.

Another contributing factor is the breakdown of the embryonic capital investment markets after the dissolution of ISS.  If you're one of the people with shit-tons of money, there's no good way for you to spread it around (besides buying super-caps and funding outposts, which just takes it out of the system).

--Dave

[dwindlehop]

Here's my take. Most isk-making strategies seem to focus on maximizing isk/day or maximizing the profit margin. My precious resource, though, is game time, so my strategies all revolve around maximizing isk/hour spent making isk. If I spent 20 minutes doing something and it makes me 100M in a month without additional effort, it's a winner.

1. 0.0 exploration content with friends. Real plexes are out of my available 0.0, but when we scraped together three or four folks including covops, this compared favorably with high-end ratting systems which we didn't have access to.
2. Datacores, though these are getting less and less good.
3. Region wide buy orders at ~80% of hub price, then resell the stuff wherever it was sold to you (no hauling). Someone always eventually buys it, but this can tie up a lot of orders.
4. Scan for item exchanges or auctions with buyouts which are a bit low, pounce, and resell. Works better isk/hour-wise the more liquid isk you have.
5. Buy stuff in 0.0, resell at twice the price or more. It's going to take a while for me to extract all the money I've sunk into this, but I rarely have to modify my sell orders.

Any other ideas on maximizing isk/hour spent making it?

[eldaec]

What do people around here reckon is par profit for ratting in Providence? I seem to collect 10M per hour in bounties, then probably half as much again in salavage sales (principally Armor Plates, Capacitor Consoles, and Logic Controllers), I also hang on to N-type/modulated hardeners/lasers, but nomally it doesn't seem like there is any non-salvage loot really worth worrying about?

[lac]

You make more isk/hour not looting anyway. The problem is that you have to get a nice chain of BS spawns going, once you get that you make good isk but it can take quite a long time setting it up.
I make more money doing l4's (not looting them either) if you take the lp sales into account.

[Phildo]

If you can spare the time while killing other ships, check the BS for meta 4 neuts, lasers, armor plates and smart bombs.  The give you the best return for cargo space.

[Slayerik]

You know my answer to this ;)

[Raventongue]

Hmm...let me guess, mining?  Na, that can't be it.

[dwindlehop]

You know my answer to this ;)

Suicide ganking takes a lot of game time. Every time I sit down and say, "Ok, I'm gonna wait until a phat hauler shows up," I get impatient and wander off.

Mining takes the most game time of all? I count being logged in and afk as game time. I'm only happy if I'm making isk while I'm away, or if I'm making a ridiculous amount of isk while I'm at the computer.

[Slayerik]

You know my answer to this ;)

Suicide ganking takes a lot of game time. Every time I sit down and say, "Ok, I'm gonna wait until a phat hauler shows up," I get impatient and wander off.

Mining takes the most game time of all? I count being logged in and afk as game time. I'm only happy if I'm making isk while I'm away, or if I'm making a ridiculous amount of isk while I'm at the computer.

But very few other professions can net as much isk/hour active. I have made enough where I'll never have to worry about isk, ever again (unless i start flying faction fitted machariels with snake sets, but im not an idiot).  Now I just do it to hoard. I also hand out a lot of cash to my friends.

Also, the key is you can do other things while scanning. Half the time I'm on f13 while my windowed mode scanner sits there until something pops up. It takes patience though, you are right. Some days you will get 100 million in 15 minutes. Other days it can take hours. It is WAYYY more chill than having to rat and watch local, or running missions. You are basically fishing. When you get a bite, mostly they are shit. But every so often you score a billion+. I just like that I can be lazy and do it...walk away, play with the kids, come back...scan for a minute while im fuckin around on myspace or reading emails. Oh look, a hauler on my overview... SCAN...nope, he's got shit.

[Tebonas]

Eve - the best game you have running in the background while you do other stuff! 

[Predator Irl]

But very few other professions can net as much isk/hour active...

This is all very true, but how do you get past the "I've ganked so many people I'm KOS in all empire" problem?

[Slayerik]

Wait a month and kill rights expire.

Sure, half of eve might hate me but they can't do shit about it anyways.

[Pax]

I believe, Predator means your sec status :P

[Jayce]

Use your untold billions to pay people to rat for you 

See, it stimulates the economy!

[Slayerik]

Use your untold billions to pay people to rat for you 

See, it stimulates the economy!

What kind of lazy, rich bastard would do something like that!!?!?!?!? :)


Anyways, sec status isn't a problem...and moves back to the Money Thread question. If I weren't a ganker, I'd be ratting in Venal in a Domi. Great rats, little need for ammo, plenty of open decent systems to make money in. The problem is getting there with a BS, so instead just buy one up there. Then use your noob alt to scout you to stations when you need to go.