If you want to earn PED playing Entropia Universe then you are going to have to get involved with Trading. Sooner or later we all have to start trading. This introduction should help you get the basics down and we can build on them later on.
What Is Trading In Entropia Universe?
When you hear people talk about trading they are talking about a few different things. It could be a private trade between two players. Or if you buy or sell items from the in game auction. Trading is different from looting. Remember that you get loot from hunting, mining and crafting.
When you actively buy and sell loot you are trading. This means that trading is secondary to the main professions of Entropia Universe (hunting, mining and crafting). But if you want to earn PED it is going to be the primary way in game to meet your goals.
How Do I Earn PED Trading?
Everything in Entropia has a Mark Up. A market value above and beyond the items trade terminal or TT value. This is usually expressed as either a percentage of the items value or simply a PED value. It depends which type of item you’re looking at.
When you are trading your goal is to take items that you got for TT value, or close to it, and sell them for a price that captures that Mark Up. The old buy low sell high. In this case it’s more accurate to say acquire low and sell high since you may be selling loot. You can choose to buy and sell individual items you did not loot if you have the negotiation skills.
Ideally, if you are doing it right, the difference between your acquisition cost and the sales price you obtain should be the profit. If you can accomplish this you will have successfully earned PED by trading.
If It’s That Easy Why Does It Seem So Hard?
Most people fail miserably at trading. It’s a rather straight forward concept so they don’t understand why they fail. The truth is they are only looking at one part of a multi-part equation.
Everyone looks at Mark Up. It’s a great feeling when you get something that has a large mark up because that can mean big profits. But there’s a difference between can and does. Just because there are large mark ups does not mean you will make large profits. You also have to look at supply, demand and usefulness. This is what most people miss and why they fail.
I’ve developed a 4 category trading system that helps me determine what to trade. If you adopt this system your trading career will be much more profitable and far easier. Let’s look at each category and see if we can identify the best category to work in.
Category 1: Items With No Demand
Most people will tell you to never sell anything to the Trade Terminal. This is HORRIBLE advice. Indeed you should be selling to the trade terminal regularly. Most of the items you will sell to the trade terminal will fall into category 1. Items in this category have absolutely no demand. When you look at an items Market Value you will see that you can see both the Mark Up and Sales for the past Day, Week, Month, Year and Decade.
The sales column tells us how much of the item has sold for each period. It may be expressed as total TT value sold on auction or number of units depending on the item. A category 1 item will have either very little or, more likely, no sales. If there are no sales for the past day, week or month then there is likely very little demand for the item.
Sometimes you will see items that haven’t had any sales in the past year. This is a strong clue that you have a virtually worthless item. Some people get excited when they see an item with high mark up but if there’s no demand that mark up means nothing. If these are the items you have verify that they aren’t super rare (not likely) and then sell them to the trade terminal to free up PED.
Category 2: Items With Great Demand But Horrible Mark Up
The second category I use when trading is identifying items with great demand and horrible mark up. This is the category that most players try and operate in. That’s exactly why their trading careers don’t last. If you try and operate in this category you are doomed. You will spend vast amounts of time and energy for little to no reward.
Let’s look at an easy example: Animal Muscle Oil. This is one of the materials that almost everyone in game gets pretty easy. And it stacks up fast in storage. If you look at the chart in the sales column you will see strong demand in all time periods. But notice that the mark up is horrible. Barely 102-104%. And these are auction mark ups which are usually slightly higher than what you will get in a private trade.
Why is the mark up so bad? These are the items everyone has. It doesn’t take any special skills or knowledge of the game to get them. They are useful and people need them but they are super easy to get. If you try and make a trading career out of selling low mark up junk everyone has you will never make anything resembling real profit. You may earn a fraction of a PED but that’s about it.
Category 3: Items with Good Demand And Good Mark Up
If you want to earn PED trading this is the category of items you want to laser focus in on! These are items that have good mark up and good demand. The demand is likely less than category 2 items but that’s simply because items in this category are much more scarce. These are items that you can only get if you have the skills and knowledge of the game to properly obtain them.
These are also items that are typically used in crafting other items. Often times they are the raw materials that are needed to create an end product. They may not be the easiest to get but these items will make your trading career much more profitable!
Unfortunately I can’t just tell you a list of items in this category. It’s one of those things that you have to learn yourself. The market changes. Some things are cyclical. Look for items that aren’t super easy to get, with good mark up and good demand. The better you know the market the easier this will become.
Category 4: Trading Uber Items
This is the category we all want to trade in but very few people ever will. The rarest items in game. They are almost always in demand and have huge price tags. If you know how to find the deals they can be super profitable. You can earn a lot of PED trading in Land Areas, warp capable space ships and high end weapons.
The problem is you need a huge bankroll to even get started. This also takes a lot of experience and game knowledge. Usually there is little price history to work with. You really have to know the market and know what you’re doing. Very few people will ever reach this level but if you do you are one of the lucky few!
Where Most People Mess Up Trading
If you want a profitable trading career that earns you PED and is fun you need to focus on items in category 3. The problem is that most people fail to do this. They don’t look at demand. Few people take the time to consider an items usefulness in creating end products. They try and trade the basic stuff everyone has and they get worn out.
If you will laser focus in on category 3 items you will do well. If you have the game knowledge and skills get these items naturally. If you don’t work on a spread and buy them a little lower then resell a little higher. If you need the bank roll to get started become a Member and check out our Offers and Videos that will help you earn some PED to start your trading career!
Want To Know More?
There’s far more to trading than I can cover here. We will be following up with more tips and strategies in the near future. For now check out the video we made on looking at the four basic trading categories. We go into this subject in more detail with some great examples! While you’re checking it out remember to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to like the video! Comments are encouraged!