Whats the deal with this? I have some loot in my ship that I just want to get rid of, so I head to market to sell. And some of these modules which I am using right now on my ship, have buy orders -99.7% below market value, or so the game tells me.
When I bought those same modules from that same trade hub for 1000-3000% of that price. Like did some consortium take over the market or something? What’s the deal? This seems to be everywhere, like, it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in an online game market? Whats the point or doing anything if everything you can pick up is trash, and then suddenly solid gold after you sell it to some guy?
This is typical of low value T1 items. It’s often worth more to reprocess them back into their mineral components than to sell them. In fact, the people with those low buy orders are frequently buying up cheap salvage to do exactly that. This disparity largely disappears with higher priced items that cost much more to manufacture.
The reason for the disparity between the buy and sell orders on these cheap items is a little complicated, but it’s still just basic economics (with a little behavioral economics thrown in). Far from being “the stupidest thing ever in an online game market”, it’s actually the closest thing to real life economics you’ll find in a player driven game. It’s the same principle that makes dollar stores or scrap recyclers profitable.
Well yeah if I only have 17 open orders it just seems like a better deal to reprocess everything i have in my hangar, and then never pick up anything again. When I could be just earning bounty money instead of wasting time looting wrecks.
There’s a definite time/benefit analysis to looting and salvaging. Some people get satisfaction from doing full clears, while others focus on the isk/hour ratio. If you’re just blowing up belt rats or doing L1-L3 missions, looting and salvaging is rarely profitable from an isk/hour standpoint. On the other hand, if you have the space and you’re right on top of the wreck, why not grab the loot and get whatever you can for it? Even if that’s 0.3% of its buy value.
If you are salvaging anyway, pick up some T1 rig prints and start building small & medium rigs. You will find some go for good prices, particularly in/near faction warfare hubs. Spread them out in small orders and watch the isk trickle in continuously.
Same can be said for mining crystals. Put some of each in every mining system outside the trade hubs for 10% over market value. Cost of convenience will see them sell out over time. It’s not about the big sale it is the cumulative sales over time that will keep your wallet filling.
I feel your pain. I toggle the amount until it’s a bit below the regional average and just assume someone will float by and snatch it up. Someone cared enough to put the buy order up, after all. Make a long sell order and let it sell off at its own rate.