[TC] Firefly Missiles and Silicon Wafers: What am I doing wrong

[Jallard]

I am in a quandary about what to do and/or how to sell my Firefly Missiles and my Silicon Wafers. Currently the going selling price of a Firefly Missile at an Equipment dock sell for 220 credits. I have my selling price set at 190 credits and I have been flying around for days trying to sell 3,713 of them. My missile foundry is located in Argon Prime. No one in that region of space will buy any: and they are out too. I have resorted to sending my freighter to the Onmicron Lyrae region of space to try and sell them there, but to no avail?!? The same can be said of my Silicon Wafers that I can’t sell. Their prices I have set to about 100 credits below the going average [price] and I still can sell them. Why? Thanks.

[Deadbeat_Spinn]

Supply and demand would be my guess.

[Jallard]

So, should I just set the self-destruct mechanism on these three stations and forget about it? What's your point?

[Alan Phipps]

If you don't want to compete for markets by observing the supply and demand realities of where you set up your factory and trade then there is a game exploit you can use. Find any Equipment Dock that does not actually sell Firefly and dock your missile freighter there. You will be able to repeatedly sell batches of missiles as the stock disappears as soon as you sell it. Consider this a cheat in lieu of trade forethought mind!

As to Silicon, if you cannot sell it as a resource to high tech factories then consider what you could use it for if you put another factory on your complex. Could you thereby make something that actually has a market there?

[Deadbeat_Spinn]

My point is that your supply is outweighing the demand. While I never got into the weapon market I would think being based near an EQ that is near contested sectors would be best. I did play with the Silicon/Ore market and had no trouble selling off product regardless of price, though not at max price, my buyers needed to profit somehow if I wanted them to continue buying. Granted my mines were the closest by 1 to 3 sectors but my buyers were supplying nearly 40 stations that I had built for the Pirates in Mi Ton's Refuge.
So you have a few choices,
A. Eliminate your competition.
B. Do lots of build missions that require stations in or near said sector/sectors so the demand outweights the current supply provided by NPC's.
C. Use your own ships to sell the product, either manually or using ST/UT's.

[Jallard]

I was just thinking that. When I find that I can't sell something via "sell for best price" I sometimes use "Manual Trade" or like you said, "direct sell" to equipment docks and the like.

I built a Mobile Drilling System Factory in a nearby Teladi sector, "Blue Profit," and it is holding its own and making a profit, at selling one at a time. (I am thinking about building another in Grand Exchange. However, it is too close to a Xenon sector.) I also built an Ore mine that seem to take several days before it too started to make a profit --albeit a small one. (I have an Ore mine and two Silicon mines in Herron's Nebula.)

In Argon Prime I have three complexes: a food complex, missile/shield complex, and a Wheat farm/Cattle Ranch complex. It has profited the other stations so much that the Argon Military and Police patrol in strength. In addition, I took a job placing a Drone Factory, for and NPC, in Argon Prime this morning.

I also have 4 freighters setup as "Sector Traders" in four different sectors. In addition, I have Demeter Miner working in Seizewell.