FourSpeed

I'd agree. I'd also emphasize your crafting point. From a consistency
standpoint, this is better (imho). You get a much better feel for that
particular niche along with pretty consistent profits albeit for more
effort/legwork.

I too, usually prefer to craft for riches rather than flip for them.

However, from a pure flipping standpoint, the first quote actually helps
deal with the second quoted problem.

I emphasized Volatility as the #1 point for flipping. If you don't see that
volatility, definitely, don't jump into the niche to flip it. In fact, depending
on costs, lack of volatility is probably a key indicator for a crafting niche
(along with high throughput volume).

The idea though is that the very volatilility that leads to differing price
bands is still cyclic and recurring. If you can put times of day, or days of
week to a "band", then it's not a glitch, it's a pattern (however chaotic).

So, if the price spread is good, it's still flippable, and the wait between
logins (hopefully) gives the time for the "bands" to cycle back to the one
you identified to flip (though it could take days - hence the Patience point").

The risk (especially if your knowledge of a niche is scant), is that you hit
something that is actively trending in just one direction only. You would
clearly detect that if you were in a crafting niche, but might miss it on a
flipping niche.

In that case, it won't recycle back to the band you saw, and you could
be ending up with a white elephant in your slot that you can't sell...

As mentioned, crafting is more stable and consistent, but flipping in a
properly identified, high volatility niche can make some big gains with
minimal effort.

It's really a tradeoff between a high volume of safer sales and decent profits,
vs a low volume of riskier sales, but potentially huge profits.


Regards,
4


PS> @Misaligned - thanks...

Hehe - you must be new here...

Fulmens is our resident "Burn Expert" - by his own admssion, he's destroyed
(ie. completely removed from the game) in excess of 70 Billion inf (iirc).

Amazingly enough, and possibly even more impressive is that he's also managed
to convince a bunch of the rest of us to burn several Billion of our own influence
as well (I'm currently getting psychiatric counselling for this - wondering
how my "Ebil" has been usurped by this altruistic folly - but that's another
topic).

One million lost to a bounced email would be: A> roughly equivalent to a
piece of pocket lint to him B> an additon (albeit miniscule) to his Burn Tally.

I mention this, not to criticize your well intentioned thought in the slightest,
but only to let you know that most of the folks in this forum section barely
count a million as "loose change". In the time taken to petition such a loss,
most folks here could make it back (probably 100 fold).


Cheers,
4

LOL - I almost had a beverage mishap when I read that. Thanks for the chuckle.

She's an L2 troller - I think you'll be safe enough...


Cheers,
4

Hmmm... Let's see...

1> I keep a bounce back or two in gleemail for whenever a toon has a bad day...
No point in keeping them in tray - my toons don't die that much... But sometimes,
sh*t just happens...

2> I keep a modest amount of inf (10-25M) in gleemail for the next new toon
I roll - I used to have them market, but at this point, a gleemail slush/startup
fund is simply more convenient.

3+> I have specialty "procurement" toons, for things like AE tix, Merits (A & R),
farmed goods, crafted common IO's, etc. based on the ease which certain toons
can get those commodities.
So, if I have a guy that needs a particular rare salvage, or a shiny proc, etc.
I log in the appropriate specialist - grab the item and ship it to the guy that
wants it. It's convenient, easily organized and tracked, and gleemail makes
it work very nicely indeed.


If a player-based market is the best addition to the core game (I think so, at least)
then gleemail is the next best facilitator of it.

That said, prudence is always important, because - things change - things break.

If the item is critical, send it and retrieve it immediately (possibly after a guineapig
test mail first) - don't store it.


Regards,
4

Given that the largest detractor was Positron, good luck on getting a
meaningful response.

As for me, while I fully understood (and supported) the rationale for a merge, one
wrinkle causing me some reluctance was the fact that pre-merge, I could have
twice the workable niches (a hero and a villain each working, say Performance
Shifters, for instance). That made tracking and logistics easier for me, personally,
and also helped sate my Ebil Greed but isn't much of a justifiable reason
for keeping the markets separate, and less healthy.

But, I didn't mind twice the profits for less effort while they were separate.


Regards,
4

Guaranteed - only one account is needed.

The "rule" is that the same character cannot buy his own listed items.

Any of your other characters could however.

...and yes, that is *exactly* the approach for inf transfers via market pre-gleemail.


Regards,
4

Depending on your patience and temperment, you can work several
of these at the same time...

As Fulmen's rightly points out, some of the strategies are definitely not
worth the time past certain wealth points, and some are, of course, not
doable until you've reached certain wealth points (can't flip purples with
only 50K, and lowball SO's are a waste of time when you have 100M+)

The point I'm making? Regardless of your state of poverty, you can
easily climb the income brackets relatively quickly - even starting from
scratch.

Any amount of Inf > 0 is workable into an arbitrarily sized fortune.

All it takes is a little time, a little knowledge, and a little effort...


Cheers,
4

That's a possibility certainly, but hardly ideal for a few reasons.

1> Celerity is 5X more inf than Freebird (this morning's prices), and in my
case, it would also entail respecs (more a pita than a problem)

2> Fly & Sprint at same time (to maintain Stealth while patrolling) is pretty
spendy on End -- especially on a tightly built, staminaless stalker.

3> My travel powers have binds, and of course, you can't turn multiple
toggles ON with a 1 press bind (although OFF is no problem)

So, yeah, there's nothing major there, but all of it is irritating for a change
that appears to have been largely PvE (hostage escorts / kidnaps) driven.


Regards,
4

My very first thought at that comment was - what those prices told me
was that the niche is volatile... What that means in practical terms is A:
With a little patience, I can probably get it at the lower price (the time
span was only 2 weeks), and B: I can probably flip a couple and recoup my
investment and/or turn a profit besides... btw, "flipping" *never* means
"crafting" to a marketeer.

My point isn't intended as a knock - it's intended to show that with more
time, you learn more, and see more things... You summed it up excellently
later ---> Options, Options Options.

Bid Creeping:

ALWAYS throw out a ludicrous lowball bid first - for salvage, my fav is 111
and 1K to 10K for a recipe. You may well be surprised at how often it fills.

From a creep increment tradeoff viewpoint, you're always trading time for
inf. Suit the increment price bump to the range of the item you're
purchasing. Creeping is good for two things: A> Giving you a good idea if
the Last 5 is "real" (ie. that IS the going price or just what the sheep are
paying instead of thinking) and/or snagging you a bargain if there is one.

Saving 500 inf on a 1111 piece of salvage isn't worth the time to creep bid
6 times (Yes, I know you were just illustrating the technique). My point is
saving 150K on a rare salvage covers a boatload of cheap salvage overpays.
Keep the point, the time, and the scale in mind when creep-bidding.

Frankenslotting: I'm the self-proclaimed poster child for this technique.

You need know just one vital comparison here: +3 SO = 38.3%
L25 Dual Set IO = 20% in each category. So, 2 L25 Acc/Dmg set IO's will
give you +40% Acc and +40% Dmg ... forever ... This beats a +3 Acc SO
and a +3 Dmg SO hands down for the same number of slots. On top of
that, it exemplars better, and costs less than replacing SO's and is much
more helpful than waiting to slot L50's. The rule of thumb is you can max
core attributes of a power in 5 slots with L25 set pieces, and get some
nice secondary attributes as well, and you can use these IOs as soon as
you're eligible for SO's, without replacing them for the toon's entire career if
you wish. 'Nuff Said.

Market Yoga & the next two points: I *like* your thinking here and I'd
emphasize a couple more points. Unless you truly are building for a specific
(I mean really specific) purpose, most Set IO's can be interchanged - esp if
you Frankenslot... That can mean huge savings with little/no loss of
performance. Next, there are many ways to buy things, and some toons
are better at some than others. I have some stealth toons with thousands
of merits - why? Because they can get them easier than AE tickets. My
brute, on the other hand - *never* buys rare salvage - 15 mins in an AE
mission and he can get 3 pieces for "free". He pretty much always has max
AE tix. One of my toons has all the common IO's memorized - guess what I
do if I want a cheap common IO?

In short, apply the strengths of your toons, not just against Mobs, but in
terms of item acquisition as well... Balance Time, Inf, Tix, Merits for your
toons to get them their shinies in the easiest, most effective way possible.

Extending that idea out a bit further - determine what toons can get what
resources easiest and make them "specialists" for them - need an IO, see
my crafter, need orange salvage, my Brute will gleemail it, need a LotG, my
merit "specialist" will grab one. Let altitis work for you.

Unless you collect inf for inf sake alone, "efficiency" is largely meaningless -
equipping your toon is really what you wanted all that cash for in the first
place, right? Sure - 200 merits for LotG isn't best use (in inf terms) for them,
but if you have a task force guy that runs QuaterField's, he's probably got
more merits than he can shake a stick at - use them effectively (if not
efficiently). 540 AE tix for a 2.5M Pangean Soil is only ~4600 inf/ticket
(not a good return), but if the toon has 8500 tix and can get another 1500
in 10 mins - it might still be a Good use of those tix for your crafter toon.

This borders on blasphemy for an Ebil Marketeer but it's not *always*
about inf (shhhhhh).

Ultimate Build: Buy 2, slot 1, sell 1, is good advice... Buy 5, slot 1, sell 4
can be even better... In other words, don't be afraid to sell enough of an
item to make back the cost of it - Volume beats Pricing. You don't have to
sell one at an inflated price. Instead, sell 3 or 4 at a decent price, and you
may find this works better, and you may develop a profit center as well.


Ok... I better stop here - this is getting nearly as long as your guide.

For the readers, there are a lot of valuable insights in here... Sure, you can
spend billions on a build (and many do), but you sure don't have to just to
get a fun and effective toon to play. A little attention to these points can
equip your toon nicely, and provide additional fun and riches for your next
one as well.

Once again, Good Stuff, OP!


Regards,
4

LOL - Logic isn't your strong suit, is it?

At no point or place did I divine the Goat's intent. I am merely commenting
on the result of his post. Whatever the intent, the result is it evoked a full
supply of "pure stupid" in just a few short days...

Personally, I find that highly amusing and worthy of kudos, since, as was
pointed out by someone else early, the OP appeared to have been a
simple, "lighthearted" post...

Who knew how epic it would turn out? Certainly, not I.

GG - Carry On...

Nope. If buyers had infinite patience and only bid 1 for everything, sellers
would very soon be vendoring or deleting any drops that weren't useful to
themselves (or SG mates etc.), and buyers would get bupkiss....

As for the rest of this thread - Kudos to the Mighty Goat - you really stirred
up the Moron's Morass with this one...

Oh, and I also bow at the alter of Ron White, The All-Knowing...


Cheers,
4