My Current Business Operations in Eve

In this post i will discuss my current business operations in Eve.  My prior post looked at the profits and current wealth it generates.  In a future post i will look at a bit more detail into how i go about the Trading and Manufacturing.


Accounts

I still have 2 accounts each with 3 characters.


Strategy

My strategy remains unchanged.  I am looking for slow moving products to sell at high profit margins (minimum 20% before taxes, likely now rising to 25% given the rise in tax costs).

This is in contrast to other (much richer) traders out there who look for fast moving but low margin items to sell.  My style suits my play time, I feel.

I am trying to avoid the competition whereas the other traders take them on (and win).

An item that I can buy for 100m ISK from Jita and sell in Dodixie for 130m in 5 days time with no maintenance to the sell order is fine with me.  In fact, that would be just ideal.  If i had 5 products that did that then i would earn 150m ISK over 5 days for 500m ISK invested.  That is close to getting me a Plex a month.  (before taxes etc etc but you see my point)

My overriding aim is that each business venture must be able to Plex an account per month and my total time spent on my businesses each day must not exceed 45 minutes.


Business locations

I operate out of a number of locations.  The aim is to make Jita the center of operations which collects all items to have them hauled out to the selling locations.  This makes life easier - one central hub from which then distributes all my products for sale.  Similar to the FedEx model.

• Jita - this is the center of my operations.  Every item that i sell will at some stage sit in a hanger in Jita.
• One manufacturing location in Lonetrek.

• The four other main trade hubs from which I sell items bought at Jita or manufactured from Lonetrek: Amarr; Dodixie; Hek; and Rens

• Five other smaller trading locations from which I sell items bought at Jita or manufactured from Lonetrek.  These are really low maintenance.  I have no competition but not many buyers either!

Everything happens in Highsec.  I would like to expand into Null Sec or Low Sec but so far that is not proving too successful.


The Distribution Network

I contract out all my hauling of items from Jita to the four other main trade hubs.  I then transport any items myself to the other smaller trading locations.


Back in 2014 i discussed why i use Hauling Corporations to move my stuff from Jita.  Furthermore, that post also discussed why i use the express service on offer.  Contracting cost me about 1-2% of profits.  Given my profit margin is 20% then this is fine by me.  Furthermore, the premium paid to get my items moved within 24 hours is well worth it.

Following my review of the Hauling Organisations in Eve a year ago i currently use New Evolution Express.  In the slow times of playing the game i tend to haul each weekend spending 150 - 250m ISK to haul 10 - 12bn ISK of Items.

The exception to this is if i need to go and buy some Blueprints or other items from NPCs in the far corners of the universe.  In that case, i will go there myself, buy the item and haul it back to Jita myself (or, on occasion, haul it to where i need to sell it myself).

For this hauling i use my Taranis.  Since i set up with the current ship below i have not been destroyed (famous last words, i am sure i will be nailed at some point).  Plenty of attempts made on me, all the damage has come from smart bombs as i warp to a gate.

[Taranis]
Damage Control II
Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II

Republic Fleet Medium Shield Extender
Republic Fleet Medium Shield Extender
Pithum C-Type Adaptive Invulnerability Field

Prototype Cloaking Device I

Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints II
Small Core Defense Field Extender II

As someone politely observed - it will safely get me from A to B but not much else!



Business Ventures - active

Inter-regional Trading

• This is my main source of income.

• I buy items from Sell Orders in Jita to be sold in my selling locations elsewhere.  I don't place Buy Orders in Jita - the margins i work on are high enough to profit from essentially hauling the items to other Regions to sell at a much higher price.  The time taken to fill Buy Orders would merely delay the process and whilst bring in higher margins would be offset by lower actual sales volumes.

• I focus on T1 and T2 items, blueprints and a few other misc items.  I am slowly expanding the number of T2 items and high value blueprints that i sell.

• I used to sell Skillbooks and many other misc items but i have scaled back to the current list.  Not really changed it much for over a year now.

• I stock all my selling locations with all my items (exception is Amarr which is more competitive hence i tend not to stock the more competitive items).  Once an item is fully sold out i then purchase a new item in Jita to haul to the selling location.  I don't keep any items spare in stock.

• I push my available ISK to the max.  For example, at the time of writing this i am down to about 4bn ISK in my wallets.

Manufacturing

• This forms part of my Trading activities - if i can manufacture cheaper than i can buy from a Jita Sell order then i will manufacture.  It is merely a way of capturing more of the value chain.

• For the T2 items, i get all the BPCs from the Contract market - i don't do Invention myself.

• All the manufacturing is done in Lonetrek - it is very close to Jita.  I haul the raw materials to Lonetrek myself and haul the finished items back to Jita myself.

Business Ventures - not active

Station Trading

• I tried this a while ago and I could not master it.  I may rethink how to do it.  But, more likely, I will just not do it.

Planetary Interaction

• I used to do this quite a lot.  Took too much maintenance so i have put it on hold for now.
• I almost entirely produced P3 items for sale.  I bought P2 items from the market and hauled them to my 15 factory planets to produce the P3 items.

• I always had some P3 items on the market to sell.  I tended not to move their price.  So, i only produced to replace sold orders.

• I did not change the P3 item that i produce - the thought of all that clicking on the factories appalled me!

• I tried to do P4 items - but they all tend to be loss making if you start from buying the P3 items from the market.

• I don't own any customs offices so i tended to pay planetary tax.  I always aimed to have tax rates at below 10%

• In all, i suspect i made about 1bn ISK per month on this.

• Nice passive income, not overly reliable though takes up little time.

Plex Trading

• I tried.

• That went right onto the backburner almost as soon as i started it.  Felt too complicated at the time and high maintenance.  I will take another look at it in the future.

Mining

• I tried this out to see what it was all about.  I would have to say that it is useful to mine when catching up on all the Eve podcasts / videos of the week.  I imagine a fleet mining operation would be quite relaxing and enjoyable.

• It does not make me anything so i don't count it as a business venture - but it does give good time to catch up on things whilst mining in the background.
• A very relaxing way to kill several hours!

POS

• I have set up a POS near one of my selling hubs as an experiment.  Started to use it to make BPO copies as a start to move into Invention.
• Abandoned that idea.  The POS just sits there with nothing in it.
• Pondering what to do, i suspect i will abandon it eventually

Low Sec / Nul Sec

• I tried setting up in H-PA29 V in the Venal Region.
• Did not make as much ISK as i hoped.
• I am looking for another location to try again.

Freighter

• i bought an Obelisk.  Mainly used to haul my raw materials to my manufacturing location in Lonetrek and then my finished items back to Jia.