Should You Start Trading in Entropia Universe?

It has been said that Entropia Universe is what you make it out to be. It can be your business, your playground or your social platform. There are those who met in this virtual world, and then became fast friends in real life. There is even a couple, Karen and Jetze, who met online in 2011, and actually got married in real life, even though they were living on different continents.

And then there is Jon “Neverdie” Jacobs, an actor cum entrepreneur, who mortgaged his home and bought a virtual asteroid for US$100,000 in 2005, and sold it 5 years later for US$635,000.

There is, of course, the rest of us, who play Entropia Universe for all of the above. We socialize a little, have some fun shooting mobs and curse at MA for the poor loots while secretly hoping to hit the big one some day.

If you are reading this, I daresay that while you are having fun playing, you are also looking at Entropia as a business opportunity. You are considering a business as a trader here in Entropia. You may or may not have done any kind of trading before, but are lured by the promise of some easy cash or the prospect of earning a consistent income.

Well, I have been a trader here for a few years. While I am not raking in the big bucks, I am generating a small but consistent income that can support my play and still have some PED left for a little savings and the occasional withdrawal.

So, what can I tell you about being a trader here in this universe?

Let me start by stating that trading is simply not buying at a low price and selling at a higher price. While this might be true of trading at its most basic level, actual trading is a lot more than this and if you expect to simply buy low and sell high the whole day long, you will either be out of business soon or not performing well at all.

Profits as a trader is also not as good as other players might think. I would usually buy ores and enMatters at 1% - 2% lower than the lowest buyout at the auction and sell at 0% - 4% higher than the lowest buyout. My percentage profit would be an average of 3.5%, which is rather poor by everyday standards. But once you take into account the auction commission, I would make only about 1% - 2% profit on each trade.

In other words, if I were to buy a resource for 300 PED, I would probably make only about 3 - 6 PED on the trade.

An aptitude for maths helps too. For example, if you are buying sweat and Force Nexus, making Mind Essence and selling it at the auction, you are going to have to do the following:

• Buy sweat at x PED per thousand bottles of Vibrant Sweat.
• Buy Force Nexus at y% markup.
• Refine Force Nexus and Vibrant Sweat into Mind Essence using a refiner, taking into account the cost of refining in terms of the decay of the refiner.
• Take into account the variable auction commission to determine the price you need to sell your Mind Essence at the auction to get your desired profit.

Once you have determined the various costs you would probably want to put it together into a spreadsheet so that you can easily manipulate the quantities as needed. As such, knowing your way around an Excel spreadsheet would also be a useful skill.

As you can see, being a trader in Entropia Universe is not just about buying and selling. You are going to have to do some work, and use a little ingenuity and take a little time to figure out how things work before you can start making some money. You are probably not going to make a lot of money but you should be able to fund your play in Entropia Universe or supplement your real time income.

If this sounds like it's right down your alley, or if you would at least like to give it a try, let's begin. If you would like something simpler and easier on the brain, you could try clicking ads and completing surveys.  If you are more ambitious, you might like to start a simple online business.

But, whatever you choose, if you are here to make some money, make sure you take action. You may not succeed the first time, or even the second or third time, but you would be the wiser for it and be better equipped for success.

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Your Trading Capital

Before we start getting into the actual buying and selling, the last thing you will need to consider is your trading capital. If you have too much capital, you might tend to be over zealous and take risks when you shouldn't but too little capital would also be detrimental and limit your growth and profit potential. How much capital would provide a good balance between the two?

There is no right answer for everybody but let me consider it from the point of view of a trader who is just starting out. For that trader, I would say that a starting capital of 500 PED would be a good starting point. With this capital, you would be able to place some bids at the auction, buy a few batches of resources and items and still have some PEDS leftover.

A starting capital of 500 PED or USD 50.00 might seem a lot to invest into a game but if you are serious about making some money, it is a small price to pay to jump start your trading career and get a feel of the market so that you have a good idea if this is for you and its profit potential.

If you really can't or won't invest 500 PED, might I suggest at least 100 PED? Of course you can earn your trading capital in the game by sweating, but it's boring, takes up a lot of time and frankly, a pure waste of time. Your time is better spent understanding the market in Entropia, and looking for profit opportunities, whether in Entropia or elsewhere.

As they say, time is money. Your small investment either shortens the time it takes for you to get started or, if this is not for you, allows you to fail faster, so that you will not waste time here and move on.

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Trading in Entropia Universe - Trading at the Auction

The market in Entropia, although dealing solely with virtual goods, still operates like a market, with its own particular idiosyncrasies, just like markets in real life. The key to profitable trading, to be able to buy and sell at a good price, would be a familiarity with the market's behavior, items and resources, so as to have a good idea of the market's future movement.

So, going straight to the point, the sections below will focus on specific characteristics of the market or media. Knowing these characteristics will help you to establish the fair price of an item, and aid you in buying or selling faster or more profitably.



Trading at the Auction

The auction is probably the most popular way of selling in Entropia. As such, if you are doing any kind of buying and selling, familiarity with the auction is a must. Do also remember to take note of the auction commission when you are selling.


Auction Buyout

Entropians are an impatient bunch. When they bid in the auction, they want their auction item or resource not 1 day later, or even 1 hour later, but they want it there and then. And they are willing to pay a little extra for it.

So, if you are selling at the auction, always include a buyout price. And if you are buying, a strategy would be to bid at a slightly lower price than the lowest buyout price for that item. There is a good chance that you will not be outbid as the bidders will buy at a higher buyout price to get their item or resource immediately.


Auction Bids are in Whole Numbers

In other words, you can bid at 10 PEDs or 11 PEDs but not at 10.5 PEDs or 10.2 PEDs. This actually opens up a good opportunity for you to buy small quantities of resources at a highly discounted price.

Take a look at the auction listing below:

Auction Bids are in Whole Numbers

The item is Animal Muscle Oil and lowest buyout at the auction is 104.61%. The first auction in the listing has a TT value of 4.92 PED. Someone has already bid 5 PED, which is 101.63%. Since bids can only be in whole numbers, the next highest bid is 6 PED, which is 121.95%!

It is quite obvious that the guy who bid 5 PED would probably win the auction at the discounted price. So, do be mindful of this possibility when buying or selling so that you might just buy at a great price or not have your item sell at a heavy discount.

Larger Quantities Sell at Lower Markups at the Auction

Select a commonly traded ore or enMatter on the auction and sort the listing by “buyout” with the lowest buyout at the top of the listing. An example of such a listing is shown below:

Larger Quantities Sell at Lower Markups

In the auction listing above, the lowest buyout for oil is at a markup of 101.06% for a quantity of 18652 units. If you are looking for a lower quantity of, say, 2204 units, you will have to pay a higher markup of 104.38%.

This creates an opportunity in which you can simply buy a large quantity for a low buyout, and split it up into several batches to sell at a higher buyout.

Note that this should generally be true for the more commonly traded resources in Planet Calypso's auction. Please do your homework as this might not be always true, especially for the less commonly traded resources, and for auctions not based on Planet Calypso.


Flooding the Auction...Don't

Know the item or resource that you are trading, and know also their typical volumes. There are many reasons that you might want to sell your item fast, but flooding the auction market, even if you are selling at a great price, usually does not help the item sell faster. Many buyers are users and not traders, so they will simply buy what they need but not much more.

In fact, many a time I have seen auctions expire with no buyers when crafters just fill the auction listings with their crafts, with no regard for the market demand.  Or, another avatar can simply list at a slightly better price, leaving the "auction flooder" twiddling his thumbs as he watches his competitor sell while his own auctions remain open.

If you want to sell items fast and you know that the auction does not have the demand for it, your best bet is to find a buyer through the Chat or Messaging System.

If you really want to try to sell through the auction, start by just listing just a few auctions, and wait for those to sell before starting a few more. Rinse and repeat. That way, you can be sure that you will not be stuck with tons of auctions with no buyers.


Lower TT Values of Unlimited Items sell for Higher Markup

I can tell you from experience that unlimited items with lower TT values sell for higher markup. For example, take Alekz Precision Scope. The full TT value is 34.00 PED and the weekly auction markup is +3.20 PED. A scope with a TT of 5 PED might be able to fetch up to TT + 5.00 PED while you you be lucky to sell a full TT scope at TT + 3.00 PED.

I think the reason for this is that the buyer would have more PED left after buying the lower TT value scope and so have more to spend on other items, so she doesn't mind getting less value for her PED.

Another reason could be that she can't afford the full TT scope and so is willing to pay a higher premium for the lower TT scope.

Note that this happens only for unlimited items and limited items would usually sell at their fair value.


Unrefined Ores and EnMatters

Most trades for ores and enMatters are for the refined version. As such, unrefined ores and enMatters tend to go for a lower price than their refined versions, even after taking into account the refining cost. And many listings of unrefined ores and enMatters tend to have low TT values, possibly allowing you the chance to win the auction at a heavily discounted price, as described in the section above.

Tip: If you are regularly refining ores and enMatters, it is advisable to get a top of the line refiner. They cost a little more than the TT or lower end refiners, but they do pay for themselves over the long run.

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Trading in Entropia Universe - The Chat and Messaging System

The Messaging System in Entropia opens up a whole new dimension to your trading business. It is here that you can talk directly to your buyers and sellers, set up custom channels so that your message goes out only the the intended recipients and tap on channels already existing for particular buyers and sellers.


Existing Chat Channels

There are already existing chat channels that you can use for your trading activities. A search of all chat channels that contain the keyword “trade” yielded more than 10 channels. Filtering out the channels with few members, you get the following channels:

• #arktrade - 3140 Members
• #calytrade - 3830 Members
• #cyrene-trade - 563 Members
• #cyrenetrade - 762 Members
• #rookietrade - 422 Members
• #trade - 3972 Members

You can join the channels and have ready buyers and sellers for your trades.

You can also search the channels with keywords specific to your trade strategy and you might just find a channel with a highly targeted audience for your needs.

Local and Trade Chats

The local and trade chats are channels that are visible to everybody in the immediate vicinity. The local chat is used for general chatting while the trade messages should be restricted to the trade chat.

The trade chat is very useful in places where traders gather. For trades of anything under the sun, Twin Peaks is the place to be. For sweat and sweat related stuff, you can try Nea's Place, Boreas and Port Atlantis. Those places are also good for selling gear for beginners.

Custom Chat Channels

You can actually create a custom chat channel. This is very useful especially if you have a lots of stuff to buy and sell and don't want to clutter up the general trade channels with your messages.

I would suggest setting up custom channels for the following purposes:

• Trades of highly specific groups of items like enhancers, socket components and paint cans.
• Discussions of a specific service that you provide.
• Any other type of chats that has high traffic and does not really belong to the general chat and trade channels.

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The Fair Price of Sweat in Entropia Universe

Introduction

If you have just started your adventure in Entropia Universe, your mentor or the other players would probably have encouraged you to gather Vibrant Sweat from creatures to make some PED for hunting or mining.

You dutifully equip your VSE Mk 1, your trusty and extremely robust sweat extractor, and run around Port Atlantis or Boreas gathering sweat.  You get killed a lot, but the other players tell you that it's good for you, so you suck it up and take it like a man.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, you finally managed to get 25,000 bottles of Vibrant Sweat, enough for a gun, a full set of armor and some ammo.  It's pay back time!  Gonna look up every single mob that chased you around and show them who's boss.

But, as you are trying to sell the sweat, you face another problem.  On one side, you have the other sweat sellers, telling you to never sell sweat below 2 PED/k.  On the other side, you have the buyers, bidding at 1.3 PED/k for sweat.  You tried selling for 1 hour at Twin Peaks at the recommended price of 2 PED/k, but didn't even get a nibble.

You are thinking of selling to the buyers at 1.3 PED/k, but don't know if you are getting cheated at that price.

So, before you sell, you decided to find out the fair value of sweat, and that's why you are here.

The tables below might take a little getting used to.  I have created another simpler sweat tool that you might find easier to use.

How the Fair Price of Sweat Can be Determined

Vibrant sweat cannot be traded at the auction, so there is no chart or record of the present price of sweat traded.  There is also no way to know the price or quantity of sweat that changes hands between players in face-to-face trades.

However, sweat is a component in the manufacture of Mind Essence or ME, and ME is traded on the auction and its price is available.

So, one way of determining the fair price of sweat is to work backwards from the price of ME.  The weekly sales of ME at the auction stands at 6,500 PED, a relatively large quantity, so the price of ME should be a good guideline for the fair value of sweat.

Determining the Fair Price of Sweat Based on the Current Price of Mind Essence, Force Nexus and the Decay of the Refiner Used

The following section will detail how I arrive at a fair value of sweat based on the price of ME, the price of Force Nexus and the decay of the refiner used.  If you like, you can skip to the end for charts that you can use to determine the fair value of sweat.

To manufacture 1001 X ME, 10 X Force Nexus is combined with 10 X Vibrant Sweat in a refiner.

The TT values of Mind Essence and Force Nexus are as follows:

• 1 X Force Nexus = 0.01 PED
• 100 X Mind Essence = 0.01 PED

There are many refiners in the market, with differing decay values.  The decay does contribute to the cost of manufacture of ME, and thus does affect the calculation of the fair price of sweat.  In the following example, let's use the basic Genesis Star Basic Refiner, with 0.031 PEC per unit decay.  For the refining of ME, 100 X ME refined is equivalent to 1 unit decay or 0.031 PEC decay in the Genesis Star Basic Refiner.

In our example, let's assume the following MU values:

• Force Nexus = 101.50%
• Mind Essence = 124.88%

And let's use 2000 X Force Nexus and 2000 X Vibrant Sweat to make 200200 X Mind Essence.

The refined Mind Essence is worth: 20.02 PED X 1.2488 = 25.00 PED

Subtracting the cost of the Force Nexus and the decay cost will give us the value of 2000 sweat:

Price of Vibrant Sweat = Worth of ME - Worth of Force Nexus - Decay
                    = 25.00 - 20 PED X 1.015 - (200200/100)*0.00031
                    = 25.00 - 20.3 - 0.62
                    = 4.08 PED/2k
                    = 2.04 PED/k

Not a bad value for sweat.  But if a buyer of sweat were to make ME and sell it at the auction, the auction fee, which comes to 0.74 PED, would have to be taken into account:

Price of Vibrant Sweat = Worth of ME - Worth of Force Nexus - Decay - Auction Fee

                    = 25.00 - 20.3 - 0.62 - 0.74

                    = 3.34 PED/2k
                    = 1.67 PED/k

There is still the small matter of a profit for the sweat buyer, but let's not consider it here.

So, given the above prices, for a buyer of sweat to just breakeven, he'd have to buy sweat at no more than 1.67 PED/k.

Note that the buyer can squeeze a little more profit by using a better refiner and by selling bigger stacks at the auction.

Sweat Tables (Price of ME and Nexus to Fair Price of Sweat)

The following are held constant for the tables below:

• ME Quantity Sold at Auction: 200200
• Auction Commission: 0.74 PED (at 124.88% MU for ME)

You can use the tables below to determine your breakeven sweat price if you are buying sweat, making ME and selling at the auction.  You can also use it to determine how much profit your seller actually has at the price that he buys from you.  Main assumption here is that the sweat will be sold at the auction.

Price of Sweat in PED/k

• Refiner used: Chikara Refiner Adjusted - 0.015 PEC decay
• Buyer Profit per 1k of sweat: 0 PED

Nexus(%)/ME(%)	120	121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130
100	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99	2.09	2.19	2.29	2.39	2.49
100.5	1.44	1.54	1.64	1.74	1.84	1.94	2.04	2.14	2.24	2.34	2.44
101	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99	2.09	2.19	2.29	2.39
101.5	1.34	1.44	1.54	1.64	1.74	1.84	1.94	2.04	2.14	2.24	2.34
102	1.29	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99	2.09	2.19	2.29
102.5	1.24	1.34	1.44	1.54	1.64	1.74	1.84	1.94	2.04	2.14	2.24
103	1.19	1.29	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99	2.09	2.19
103.5	1.14	1.24	1.34	1.44	1.54	1.64	1.74	1.84	1.94	2.04	2.14
104	1.09	1.19	1.29	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99	2.09
104.5	1.04	1.14	1.24	1.34	1.44	1.54	1.64	1.74	1.84	1.94	2.04
105	0.99	1.09	1.19	1.29	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99

Price of Sweat in PED/k

• Refiner used: Transformer T-105 - 0.021 PEC decay
• Buyer Profit per 1k of sweat: 0 PED

Nexus(%)/ME(%)	120	121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130
100	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13	2.23	2.33	2.43
100.5	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08	2.18	2.28	2.38
101	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13	2.23	2.33
101.5	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08	2.18	2.28
102	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13	2.23
102.5	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08	2.18
103	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13
103.5	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08
104	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03
104.5	0.98	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98
105	0.93	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93

Price of Sweat in PED/k

• Refiner used: Genesis Star Basic Refiner - 0.031 PEC decay
• Buyer Profit per 1k of sweat: 0 PED

Nexus(%)/ME(%)	120	121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130
100	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13	2.23	2.33
100.5	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08	2.18	2.28
101	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13	2.23
101.5	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08	2.18
102	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13
102.5	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08
103	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03
103.5	0.98	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98
104	0.93	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93
104.5	0.88	0.98	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88
105	0.83	0.93	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83

Price of Sweat in PED/k

• Refiner used: Chikara Refiner Adjusted - 0.015 PEC decay
• Buyer Profit per 1k of sweat: 0.1 PED

Nexus(%)/ME(%)	120	121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130
100	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99	2.09	2.19	2.29	2.39
100.5	1.34	1.44	1.54	1.64	1.74	1.84	1.94	2.04	2.14	2.24	2.34
101	1.29	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99	2.09	2.19	2.29
101.5	1.24	1.34	1.44	1.54	1.64	1.74	1.84	1.94	2.04	2.14	2.24
102	1.19	1.29	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99	2.09	2.19
102.5	1.14	1.24	1.34	1.44	1.54	1.64	1.74	1.84	1.94	2.04	2.14
103	1.09	1.19	1.29	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99	2.09
103.5	1.04	1.14	1.24	1.34	1.44	1.54	1.64	1.74	1.84	1.94	2.04
104	0.99	1.09	1.19	1.29	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89	1.99
104.5	0.94	1.04	1.14	1.24	1.34	1.44	1.54	1.64	1.74	1.84	1.94
105	0.89	0.99	1.09	1.19	1.29	1.39	1.49	1.59	1.69	1.79	1.89

Price of Sweat in PED/k

• Refiner used: Transformer T-105 - 0.021 PEC decay
• Buyer Profit per 1k of sweat: 0.1 PED

Nexus(%)/ME(%)	120	121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130
100	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13	2.23	2.33
100.5	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08	2.18	2.28
101	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13	2.23
101.5	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08	2.18
102	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13
102.5	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08
103	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03
103.5	0.98	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98
104	0.93	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93
104.5	0.88	0.98	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88
105	0.83	0.93	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83

Price of Sweat in PED/k

• Refiner used: Genesis Star Basic Refiner - 0.031 PEC decay
• Buyer Profit per 1k of sweat: 0.1 PED

Nexus(%)/ME(%)	120	121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130
100	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13	2.23
100.5	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08	2.18
101	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03	2.13
101.5	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98	2.08
102	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93	2.03
102.5	0.98	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88	1.98
103	0.93	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83	1.93
103.5	0.88	0.98	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78	1.88
104	0.83	0.93	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73	1.83
104.5	0.78	0.88	0.98	1.08	1.18	1.28	1.38	1.48	1.58	1.68	1.78
105	0.73	0.83	0.93	1.03	1.13	1.23	1.33	1.43	1.53	1.63	1.73

Conclusion

If you are selling sweat, I would suggest using the last chart as a guide as to the price at which you can easily sell your sweat.  This chart assumes your buyer has a standard refiner (the higher end refiners have MUs exceeding 100 PED), and assures your buyer of a small profit.

Of course, there are always buyers willing to buy at a higher price.  If you are trying to sell at a higher price:

• Don't Expect a Quick Sale.  The higher your price, the rarer the buyers will be.  And the longer you are going to have to wait for them.  And they might just want a few k of sweat.
• Be Prepared.  Always have a few k with you and not in the storage.  Keep your eyes peeled for any buyer on local chat advertising to buy.  If it is the price that you want, or if they don't advertise a price, just right-click on the avatar or avatar's name and select "Avatar - Private Trade"  The idea is to be the first to trade the avatar but I would suggest to have at least 1k with you before doing that.
• Don't Sell Ice to the Eskimos.  And don't sell sweat at the sweating areas.  At least, I think it's useless to try to do that at higher prices.  Twin Peaks would be a much better place.

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Related posts: How to Sell Your Sweat at 2 PED/k - With a little strategy and patience, you might be able to get a good price for your sweat. Is the Fair Price of Sweat Really 2 PED/k? - If you want to be fairly compensated for your time and effort in gathering sweat, what should the price of sweat be? Sweat Tool - Sell Your Sweat at the Best price - This tool will tell you the most profitable way to sell your sweat.

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Is the Fair Price of Sweat Really 2 PED/k?

Ever wondered why some people keep insisting that sweat should not be sold below 2 PED/k?

As someone who is working very hard at sweating, I'm sure that you have asked why it should be 2 PED/k.  In fact, you have heard that in the days when Calypso was young, when vehicles and spaceships and welding wire have yet to be invented, sweat changed hands at the princely sum of 6 PED/k!

And not too long ago, you may have heard of a sweat union hoping to acquire enough funds to stabilize the price of sweat at 4 PED/k, by buying unlimited quantities of sweat at 4 PED/k.  They had a founder, a CEO, a business plan and all that, but it seems that nothing came out of all that.

It seems that there is no real agreement as to what the price of sweat should be.  But, rather than pick an arbitrary price for sweat, is there a way that the price of sweat can be determined objectively?

There are a few ways that you can use to determine the fair price of sweat. For this post, let's just use one of the ways.

The people that keep insisting on the 2 PED/k price for sweat would usually mention that it takes time and effort for you to collect sweat, and as such, you should be reasonably compensated.  So, following this reasoning, let's come up with a price for sweat that is reasonable compensation for your time and efforts.

We will need to come up with 2 figures:

• A reasonable financial compensation for each hour of your time.
• The amount of sweat that you can gather for each hour that you sweat.

The Amount of Sweat Gathered Per Hour

The amount of sweat that you can gather per hour depends on many factors including:

• The Skills of Your Avatar.
• The Sweat Group.
• The Mob that You are Sweating.

Through personal experience, and from the comments that I have read in chat, I think a figure of 500 bottles of sweat per hour should be a fair estimate and is probably on the high side.


Financial Compensation

How much do you think is fair for your time and effort in collecting the sweat?  This is an extremely tricky estimate and you probably would want to insert your own figure if you disagree with mine.

I would consider a figure of USD5.00 per hour as fair.  While this figure is rather low, the product in question is quite easy to make and does not require any specialized skills.

Sweating is not "full time" work, in that you can be afk some of the time and still be able to sweat efficiently.  Again, estimates will vary, but I will go with an estimate of 25%.  In other words, you can be absent or afk 75% of the time, and still be able to sweat efficiently.

I think it is fair that for each hour that you are paid, you are paid only for the time that you spend actively sweating and not for the time that you can be afk.

So, a reasonable income for your sweating time would be (USD5.00 X 25%), coming to USD1.25 per hour or 12.5 PED per hour.


Fair Price of Sweat

Finally, we have it.  The fair value of sweat is 12.5 PED for 500 bottles, or 25 PED/k.


Conclusion

Well, it seems that the guy insisting on 2 PED/k for sweat got it wrong.  2 PED/k for sweat is definitely not fair compensation for the time and effort that you have spent in gathering it.  So, the next time you see someone insisting on 2 PED/k as the minimum sweat price, tell him that he got it wrong   Tell him that if one is to be fairly compensated, the price must be at least 25 PED/k, and not a PEC lower than that.

This post is not to state that the fair price of sweat is 25 PED/k nor to encourage you to sell sweat at this price but rather, to highlight that the idea that the price of sweat is determined by the amount of time and effort spent gathering it does not work in Entropia.

The sweat buyer does not care about how hard it is to gather the sweat or the time needed.  The sweat buyer is only interested in the market price of sweat, and how he can buy it at the lowest price possible.  The market in Entropia is a free market and just like in all free markets, virtual or in real life, the buyers will try to get what they want for as low a price as possible.


Note:

In some cases, sweat is looked at as a special commodity, a product that is produced by those just starting out in Entropia,  Thus, in an effort to help the newbies, there is this idea that sweat should not be priced at lower than 2 PED/k, or some other arbitrary figure.

Want to start a simple Internet business based on the ClixSense PTC website? This ebook can help!

____________________________________________________________________________

Related posts: How to Sell Your Sweat at 2 PED/k - With a little strategy and patience, you might be able to get a good price for your sweat. The Fair Price of Sweat in Entropia Universe - A way to estimate the fair price of sweat through the market price of Mind Essence. Sweat Tool - Sell Your Sweat at the Best Price - This tool will tell you the most profitable to sell your sweat.

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