Grismar's EVE Wiki : TradeBasics

Trade Basics

This article explains the very basics of trading using the market in EVE.

Any pilot in EVE can trade. You can buy and sell on the market, without requiring any TradeSkills. It's not very complicated, but it won't hurt you to read this article carefully, as it may be somewhat overwhelming at first.

On this page:

• Market Window
• Orders explained
• Buying Items
  • Quick Buy
• Selling Items
  • Quick Sell
• Canceling orders
• Other trade tools

Market Window

To buy or sell something, you can look it up in the browse section of the market window, or you can look it up in the search section if you know part of its name. Note that the 'browse' section will only display items that are actually for sale if you have the show only available checkbox checked. Uncheck it to see all possible items on the market. Also note that the range filter at the top will determine where the browser will look for items, if you have the 'show only available' checkbox checked.

If you select a group of items on the left, the details of the items in the group will be displayed in the 'groups' section to the right. This include a listing of the 'best price in system' for each item and you can select 'place buy order' from there, to buy it.

If you select a specific item on the left, you are shown the 'details' section for that item. In the 'details' section, all the buyers and sellers in the region are listed on the 'market data' page and you can see detailed statistics on previous sales on the 'price history' page.

There is no way to extend the view of the market window to other regions, unless you physically travel there. Many traders keep alt characters in other regions, but you can also join channels like price_check to ask for a PC on an item in another region. Make sure to be clear about what you need (full item name) and whether you want to buy (WTB) or want to sell (WTS).

Orders explained

All trades in EVE are handled with so-called 'orders', also known as 'market escrow' (not to be confused with the now extinct EscrowSystem). Sellers offer their goods with sell orders and buyers put up buy orders for the items they are interested in. The market matches buyers and sellers and completes the deal. So, if someone has put up a sell order for 10,000 tritanium for 1.80 isk per unit in a station and you put up a buy order for 8,000 units of tritanium for 1.80 isk per unit in the same station, the order is filled immediately and the tritanium will end up in your hangar.

Note that if you put up a buy order that matches an existing sell order, the trade is completed immediately. This is usually refered to as 'buying directly'. Same for selling, if you put up a sell order that matches an outstanding buy order, the sale is completed immediately, you've 'sold it directly'.

The only exception to this, that may confuse you, is that you can set a minimum volume for an order. If you're trying to sell something to a buyer that is showing green to you, but you are trying to sell less than the minimum volume mentioned in the order, you will be selling to the best buyer that does want your smaller amount instead.

Buying Items

If you are looking at the 'groups' section or the 'details' section of the market, you can hit the 'place buy order' to create a buy order at the station you are at. The simple interface for buying will allow you to specify how many you want to buy, or it will tell you there are none available at the station if that's the case. Of course, you already knew that from looking at the list of sellers and sorting it by 'jumps'.

You can setup a more specific buy order by switching to advanced with the button in the lower right of the buy order window. It allows you to set a price at which you want to buy, how much you want to buy, in what (minimum) batch size, for how long you want the order to remain active and what the range of the order should be (see TradeSkills for more on range).

Note that, if you setup a buy order, the money is taken from your wallet immediately, even if the order can't be filled immediately. If you cancel the order, the money (minus the broker's fee) is returned to you. This way, you cannot put up buy orders you cannot afford (see also TradeSkills, SkillMarginTrading in particular).

Quick Buy

A quicker way to just buy something is to rightclick one of the available 'sellers' offers and select buy this. The buy order window will pop up again, but notice that it can now show another station as the location, if you selected an order at another station. If you buy from this seller, the item will appear in your hangar at that station. The buy order window will, by default, be filled out with the details to buy the item as offered by the seller. If you just fill in a quantity and hit buy, the deal is completed immediately. Alternatively, you can go to 'advanced' mode and edit the buy order (see TradeSkills for more on remote buy orders).

Note that you can buy items from all over the region, without requiring special skills. This also means that if you're selling something at a station, people from all over the region will be able to buy it, without you or them requiring skills.

Selling Items

Selling items is similar to buying them. However, without TradeSkills, you can only sell items at the station you are in. If you rightclick an item in your hangar, one of the options will be sell this item. It will open the sell order window.

The simple interface for selling will automatically match your item with the best offer available to you (shown in green in the buyers list), or it will tell you there are no buyers at the moment if that's the case.

You can setup a more profitable sell order by switching to advanced with the button in the lower right of the sell order window. It allows you to set a price at which you want to sell, how much you want to sell, and for how long you want the order to remain active and what the range of the order should be (see TradeSkills for more on range).

Note that the EVE market is a player-to-player market for the larger part. Some of the sellers and buyers on the market are npc's, but if you ask too much or aren't offering enough, chances of an npc appearing that will make a deal with you are slim. Be realistic, try to set competitive prices and don't get too greedy.

You can see a list of buyers of an item in the market browser in the details for an item. The buyers that can actually buy from you at the station you are at, will be highlighted in green. You can fill these green orders if you have enough to meet their minimum volume requirement.

Quick Sell

Unlike with buy offers, you can't make a deal at a distance, unless you have the proper TradeSkills and the item you want to sell is already at the station where the buyer is. There is no way to 'magically' transport goods in EVE, so if you see a lucrative buy order, you will have to haul your goods to a station within range of the buy order to sell them.

Canceling orders

The 'my orders' section of the market window shows you all of the outstanding buy and sell orders you have. Remember, these are the orders that you set up that didn't match a seller or buyer immediately. They will stay up until someone takes them, or until the time you specified runs out, or you cancel them, in which case the item will be returned to your hangar (or the deliveries hangar in case it was a corporation order, see CorporationTrader).

If you cancel an order, you get whatever is left over of your possible investment back (in the case of a buy order), but the entire broker's fee is lost. Afterall, the broker already did their work, right? Ofcourse, no taxes are deducted for anything you didn't sell.

Other trade tools

If you rightclick an item in the hangar or market window, you also have the option to add it to your Quickbar. This is a useful tool if you check prices on the same item regularly.

In the same rightclick menu is the option to show market details, this will open the 'details' section for that item directly without requiring you to search or wade through the 'browse' section.

Useful ingame resources:

• http://www.eve-central.com
  A Market browser to find the best prices across regions.
• http://eve.grismar.net/explorer
  Find npc trade locations.
• The price_check channel for price checks and the several Trade channels for finding specific trade for hard to get items.

Also check the escrow and the forums for T2, BPO and rare item trading.

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Current EVE version: 2.09.3913 (Bloodlines)