Hey lords of war and marketeer, I beseech you
this is probably a great moment for teaching for one(some) of you so I thank you for reading.Ive been doing market stuff and various manufacturing products to fuel my pvp and other alts but i’ve never fully tracked my profit. I was never interested. I did some pen, paper, calculator maths before but nothing major. I see a lot about spreadsheets etc. I usually have seen green and have way more isk than when I started with so I am doing something right. I just want to be more…good’er at it, hahaa. So below I’ll just randomly list some stuff I need help with, point me in the right direction or just tell me what to do, thanks for your time:
**–**how do I track profit? I can google this sure but in eve how do I accurately track profit between two different manufacturing lines. For example: I need to react some stuff to make a few materials, okay I have all that…that costs stuff, plus taxes plus this and that… but I use those final materials to now make>>> another whole entire different product. That costs stuff, time, build costs, fuel, this and that…so how do I calculate that all together to know “okay i’m making a profit here” or maybe being able to bring premium prices to my buyers, or something like that? I work out of a WH, logistics are not an issue and I am not taxed on anything (in hole) so there are no issues there. I have perfect market skills so my tax deductions are maxed, or close to it (aside: would I need to get Caldari to 5.0 for perfect taxes?)
**–**Do I really need programs like IPH and such to accomplish this? I have downloaded it but it is very daunting. If it all can be done with a few simple spreadsheets…how do I do this? Should I use a spreadsheet service? I just do not know what to say, or how to code in the market pulling stuff. Basically I have no idea what to do with spreadsheets or how to use them, call me dumb dumb but I just never learned lol.
**–**If I am sourcing a lot of my own material does that factor into my profit? I know people can equate time in, correct? But what if its mostly afk and im watching netflix, my time isn’t really wasted or not used. Example; ice mining, pretty low energy.
**–**Should I get used to using buy orders for various materials? Or will I need to find this out whilst tracking profit through every nook and crany of my production line? I’ve never really done buy orders as I get most of my own material save for a few things that I feel are write offs.
**–**Is PI hard to get into to weave into a product line. Or make something completely from PI? Does it suffer from simply looking hard at the onset but in reality its pretty easy and great ISK? I have many characters I can use for PI but never have and like I said, i’m pretty dumb. Should I just find some such guide or YT vid and watch it? I was thinking about POS fuel or ammo (rocket fuel) or nanites or something. I have plenty of characters and i’ve heard tales of making like 8bil a month. This has nothing to do with the profit question but it can be connected. Are there easy ways to follow PI profit?
Thats the main jist of what I’m thinking I guess. Whoever answers my questions and helps you are blessed. I’m not asking for like your super secret tricks, i’m pretty sure profit tracking is a universal and known thing I just happen to live under a very large and heavy spod rock. I am also not asking to be told what is good or bad, I just want to know how to see profit well, easy, efficiently and then make judgments on what is good for me to sell or buy etc.
Maybe this thread can serve as a marker point for others with the same questions.
I am your apprentice, thanks!