This guide will teach you about the basics of trading, this is not only good knowledge for traders, but a fundamental aspect to all professions. Whether you are a hunter, miner or crafter, your success is down to your ability to trade.
Even if you are not a trader, you should make friends with a few traders! It is always better to have a selection of people you can sell to. Even with harder to sell items, simply store them and wait for that one person willing to pay you a markup!
Traders in Entropia not only always pay a markup on items, but many resellers sell via the auction generating a revenue for the planet owners and Mind Ark via auctions fees, one of many parts sustaining the existence Entropia.
Calculator At The Ready
It is always to handy have a calculator ready, most people have a phone to hand, and every phone has a calculator, even the older phones.
Limited And Stack Items
In the places where you find traders trying to buy and sell items, you will normally see a percent given for limited and stacked items. This percent represent the amount to pay compared to its trade terminal value.
For example, if you are buying or selling 2.00 PED trade terminal value of an any item for 102%, 2.04 PED is what should be payed.
To calculated this on a calculator, you would input: "2.00 x 1.02"
"TT Value x Percent".
Unlimited Items
Because unlimited items can be repaired at the trade terminal for PED directly, percents can not be applied in the same way as limited items or stacks.
The method for selling unlimited items is simply the trade terminal value of the item plus the desired markup.
"TT Value + Markup".
If you have 30 PED and want to buy an unlimited item with a max trade terminal value of 25, buying the item for "0+5" and having to repair "25", is the same as buying "25+5" at full value. They both will cost you 30 and the outcome is the same.
Local Trade And Trade Channels
In the bottom left corner of the chat window, to the left of where you enter text, you will be able to change chat channels by clicking on the chat channel link.
[Local] chat is designed for general talking, and [Trade] is like [Local] but designed for calling out wares and trading.
There are a number of custom global channels also designed for trading, which allows you to call out to a much bigger group of people, but because many use these channels, they can be very active with other traders, and messages move up faster.
If you wish to contact someone, simply click on their name link in the chat window. To send someone your location in a way point link, write "/pos" or "/p" into the chat window.
To learn more about the chat interface, click here.
Methods Of Trade
To trade with someone once you have located them, hold right click or "F (Default Control)" for a few second on their avatar. Once the context menu appears select private trade.
When the trade window is open, drag your offer to the bottom of the trade window from your inventory. You will see what the other person is offering in the top of the window.
Once both have agree to a trade, click on the tick button at the bottom of the window. Next a confirmation screen will appear, double check what are about to trade, and if you are happy click on the tick at the bottom of the window. The "C" button will clear the window. The "X" button will close the trade.
Your PED Card is found in the the top tab of your inventory. To exchange PED, right click on your PED Card in your inventory, then click Extract PED. To put PED as coins back on your card, drag and drop the PED to your card, or right click the coins in your inventory.
PED does not go directly go to your PED Card after a private trade, they will appear in your inventory as coins. The trader terminals and auctioneers only deal with what is on your PED Card, and ignores PED in coin form.
PED from auction sales will go directly onto your PED Card. PED from land areas, shop pads, shop and deeds will go to your "PED Flow Center", which can be transferred directly to your PED Card.
Auctioneers are located at many of the settlements and outposts across Entropia. The auctioneer will display what is being sold on the auction, and for a small fee, you can have deliveries set up from other planets. You can also place items on the auction on the planet your on for 7 days for a small fee.
There are a number of shops and malls located across Calypso, at these place you are able to buy almost anything that is on display. On Calypso the easiest mall for any new person to view is at Port Atlantis, which is just east of Camp Icarus.
Shop pad can be located on any player owned land or in any apartment. Unlike shops, apartments are unable to sell what is in the apartment on display, but shop pads are able to be placed and used. Shop pads provide 20 item slots and allows the storage of any item for an unlimited time to sell to other players.
It is good to explore, even as a trader, you never know what treasures you will find going for cheap in some hidden shop pad in someones apartment on a remote part of the map. Entropia is not just a way to spend or invest PED, it is a living breathing universe.
Services
There are many opportunities to earn PED, people provide many forms of services for a fee. Healing, taxi, colouring, texturing, hair cuts and plastic surgery are some of the services that are available.
Healing
Healing is one of the easiest services to get started in as basic healing tools are provided by doing some of the beginning missions.
The cost of this profession is down to the healing tool being used, unlimited items can be repair at a console with no markup cost, for limit items, it is down to how much markup you pay.
To profit, you want to be above this cost of the healing tool, and you want to be effective with the tool you use.
Taxi
With a Quad-Wing Intercepter (L), Space Thruster (L), Oil, Vehicle RK-5 (L) and Welding Wire you have the ability to traverse space safely, and with this, the ability to taxi people to other planets for a fee.
To profit at this you simply have to cover the cost of the Space Thruster (L) and Oil consumption from planet to planet.
Space itself is a loot-able player verse player (PvP) zone, because of this, you will want to make clear to the person you are flying that everything in the "Materials" and "Resources" tabs (hunting & mining loot tabs) of the inventory can be looted in space, and if they do carry loot it is at their own risk. You also should not carry anything in these two inventory tabs.
Vehicle RK-5 (L) and Welding Wire are essential for space flight. It is not a matter of if, but when you will get shot down, and it will happen if you fly in space enough, you will need to be able to repair your ship and continue with your passenger. Without this tool, you and your passenger are in real danger of getting trapped in spaces needing a rescue. Just as importantly always check your Oil!
No skill is involved in simply flying from location to location, only time, as space is big.
Although a Sleipnir (C, L) can fly in space, it is not recommended to taxi people in space in it. The Sleipnir (C, L) is a very slow vehicle and will take longer to reach your destination. You are also more likely to be shot down due to its slow speed.
Crafting And Customisation
Crafting items to orders, and customising items for a fee is not only a way to make PED but it is also a way to add visual content and expression to the world, allowing people to have their own unique look. Many items offer the ability to customise, if a (C) exists in the items name, it can be customised.
The cost of this profession depend on the costs of the paints, textures, and the degrade of the tools. Painting and texturing have their own separate tools. People can provide their own paint, which can cut back on cost. Skill is highly involved in this profession.
Hair And Beauty
With an apartment or land and the particular chairs designed for hair cutting or plastic surgery, you can charge people for hair cuts, hair colouring and provide plastic surgery. This allows people to adjust how their avatar looks under all their cloths and armour.
The resources required and the cost of the degrade on the chair and tools are the main costs to this profession. People can provide their own hair colour, which can cut back on cost. Like colouring and texturing skill is heavily involved hair and beauty.
To Be A Trader
To be a trader is easy in concept, you just have to keep track of what you spend and earn. Earn more than what you spend, and your winning. All the usual phrases would apply here, like "Buy low, sell high!". If you are good at trading in other MMORPGs, you will easily slip into the role as a trader in Entropia!
You have to be smart with what you can get for what you got, you will need to be pro-active yet patience, and your prices will need to firm yet flexible.
The prices for any item can fluctuate over time, not only this, but there is a vast difference between buying on the street, buying bulk amounts, and buying retail amounts.
Another important aspect to trading is being social and making friends, with out letting people know what you want to buy and sell, how will people know what you want to buy and sell?
There are many types of people in Entropia, from people who just like to hunt for fun now and again to people who are serious full time players. More than often people tend to return to people with friendly helpful attitude for trading.
Here is a real example of how the social aspect can effect trading:
"A few years ago I sold Oil at Camp Icarus when I had a constant supply of it coming in, while I was advertising that I sold Oil, I repaired peoples vehicles for free.
Not only did this help people to continue using their vehicles, consuming more Oil in the process, but also people saw me as a friendly face, and was more likely to return to me for Oil.
The amount of Oil sold covered the cost of repairs and also led many people to return and continue to trade other items with me."
Common Trading Questions
Do people really pay that much markup?
The simple answer is yes, they do. The more complicated version of this answer is down to supply and demand, markets values can fluctuate over time and there is a price difference in the amount sold on the auction. Just like in real life, buying in bulk is cheaper. Just like a shop selling chocolate bars, you do not pay the value based on the whole box, just the bar, and the shop must make enough for
What is a good resource to start trading in?
Animal Eye Oil and Animal Muscle Oil are perfect to start trading, not only are they the most traded items in Entropia, they do not need refining before crafting and can be brought and sold directly as they are.
The next step up from that is Lysterium Ingots and Belkar Ingots, These two are the next most traded items in Entropia, just below Animal Eye Oil and Animal Muscle Oil. Ingots are easier to sell than ore, and any ore brought will need to be refined.
Iron Ingot and Caldorite Ingot are the next most sold out of all the resources. These resources are harder sell than the above resources, not only because less are brought, but each single unit has a bigger trade terminal value, this makes it harder to to adjust the percent in the auction. These resources also need to be refined if brought in ore form before selling.
Because of the high market activity of these resources, all these resources are perfect to get started with a small quick turnover, the profit on these will be small, but constant. Other resource tend to be sold in bigger bulks due to their slower market page.
What is what percent?
The best way to get a good idea of the current prices is to look on the auction, the auction with the lowest buyouts on an item is the bulk price of that item. These stacks tend to be the biggest on the auction. Street price is always below bulk price. Smaller stacks on the auction tend to go for higher prices, this is retail price.
What is not good to resell?
Items that are valueless to the system, some of these for an example are: Vibrant Sweat, Blazar Fragment, Nova Fragments, Calypso Bone Samples (Mission). If you intend to buy valueless items, it is best to buy to use, not buy to resell.
If you are looking to invest into something, you will want security, this is provided by the system,
if you spend 101 on 100 PED of resource at trade terminal value, at worse you will lose 1 PED.
If you spend 101 PED on Vibrant Sweat, and the price suddenly drops to half its value, you will lose 50.50 PED.
There will also be a period where both the new and old systems will be in place at once, during which kills on qualifying creatures will result in progress on both the old and new system.
