10 commandments of effective trading

[JanGB]

Hi all, what I'd love to accomplish in this thread is a collection of do's and dont's that together comprise a useful set of guidelines for traders (new and experienced) to get the most out of trading -- both experience and money-wise. Possible? Let's find out.

For starters, let's skip all that "buy cheap, sell expensive" rubbish that everybody knows -- rather explain how to spot good ports and devise good routes, and how to maximize your bargaining skills.

Let's put ONE guideline per post so it's easier to browse and comment upon, yes?

--
JanGB

[JanGB]

You can tell what relative price goods in a port have by their order in the sector display.
The farther to the right right a good is, the more money is associated with it (more costly to buy / more profitable to sell). In other words, you may see one port where circuits are being sold as the 2nd item out of 5, and another port nearby where circuits are sold as the 4th item --- this means that you will get a better deal bying circuits at the first port. The opposite goes for selling; the farther to the right circuits are listed the more profit you're likely to make.

[JanGB]

Don't trade ports that are right next to each other.
You may save on turns, but you'll get a much better return if you go for longer routes. But don't travel through the galaxy either, though.
I've found that the best route length is somewhere between 5 and 20 sectors (for plain routes w/o warps or jump drives).

[JanGB]

Scouts are only dangerous when the owner is playing.
Scouts are small devices that can be dropped in a sector. They notify their owners everytime a non-ally passes through that sector (via an in-game message stating sector number, trader name and timestamp).
Hunters will often put scouts in sectors with ports (good ones anyway), so you're unlikely to find a proper trade route without triggering any scouts. But since only the scout owner (and not his alliance) will get the message, you're safe as long as you are certain the player is offline.
Mind you, though, the scout owner will be notified when he logs in, albeit with outdated information. Even though you may not be there anymore when he sees the message, he may come looking for you at another time, so don't feel too comfortable.
Morale: trade across scouted sectors if you must, but be wary of any scouts in your lanes and check the Current Player List (CPL) regularly to see if any hunters could be on the prowl.

[Trigek]

[quote="JanGB"]:arrow: [b]Scouts are only dangerous when the owner is playing.[/b]
.[/quote]

Next game when lurking is back you wont always be able to tell when a hunter is playing or not, they'll be able to hide off of the CPL but still read scout messages.

[Kard]

i honestly dont think you should be able to read scout messgages and lurk at the same time, to me this is one of the worste ideas ive heard for sm/r

[Trib]

It is how the game was in SM by all accounts, whilst not actually remembering this myself, since I was not a hunter by trade, I have been told by many reliable sources that this is the way it was, it also makes sense to a certain extent. Remember that if the player does anything that uses a turn then they will show up on the CPL for ten mintues, likewise when they log in to start with, so you will know they are about. As it is, currently ppl can just click play game and go off the CPL, they can check messages and be gone again before you check the CPL!

[Skarlet]

Scouts are only dangerous when the owner is playing.

thats not true, if people notice someone trade there enough they may pass the information off to their allaince

[Pickles]

Don't forget about short routes.

Ok, so they may look useless when you're trading big and the experience is rolling in, but if you're taking too many pods, and just want somewhere quiet to get a little xp/cash then small routes can be your friend.

You won't keep up with the xp race, but give it a couple of days and you can at least get enough xp to make you through the next podding.

[SteveG]

Trading in the highest priced items is not always the most profitable in the galaxy

I only just found out about the length of trade routes affecting profits after reading this thread!! So, that helps to explain it. Anyhow, I'm currently making 100,000+ more profit (also giving me around 220 XP each time) than when I trade drugs or luxury items, in my IST