How do you know if they are a GTN whale?

By listing all augments (for example) and seeing they are all listed by the same guy, and it happens on daily basis, they keep pushing items out 24/7. By seeing who is buying mats on trade channel and GTN (when I list them). By noticing it's always the same guy who waits til a legit player logs out and then relists his items with 1 credit less. By not seeing them do anything else in game except sitting at fleet. Those are pretty good signs. Sure, I might miss them if they list under some other name, but the pattern with the logout stalking & undercutting doesn't change.

Im not surprised. I literally only make dark projects for conquest points. I would never sell them on the GTN because they cost way more to make then you can ever hope to sell them for.

I’ve about 230 of them at the moment. I make one per day for conquest and 1 invasion force per day. I level up all my companions now using the commanders compendium from dark projects, so all my Alts have multiple lvl 50 companions.

I think I may have to start using the DPs for fleet plans as I’m running out of companions to use them on.

That is what they want you to think. Will provide 3 scenarios below and you will see they are not. Obviously, if you have any chance to compete in crafting then you need to be on your A game - max affection companions, guild perks, amplifiers, and minimizing your costs.

Casual crafter (curious, but ill prepared)

refined isotope stabilizer - 19,500 x8 (156,000) GTN

invasion force - 1,500,000 (GTN)

Iokath Recombinator - 360,000 (GTN)

Cost = 2,016,000

Sell price (as of 5/31/2021) = 1,400,000

GTN fee = 112,000

Net Proceeds - -728,000

Prepared crafter who goes with volume (lazy or GTN for mats)

refined isotope stabilizer - 19,500 x8 (156,000) GTN

invasion force - 1,500,000 (GTN)

Iokath Recombinator - 260,000

Odessen, alliance staging area vendor

Dark Project crits during crafting

Cost = 1,916,000

Sell price (as of 5/31/2021) = 1,400,000 x 2 = 2,800,000 (crit)

GTN fee = 168,000 (guild gtn tax avoidance III)

Sales = 2,632,000

Net Proceeds - 716,000

Very prepared crafter - The above, but minimizing costs by avoiding gtn or gathering/buying mats wereever possible.

refined isotope stabilizer - 15,000 x8 (120,000) private sale or other means)

invasion force - 750,000 (balance of gathering the mats or private sales and some off gtn.

Iokath Recombinator - 260,000

Odessen, alliance staging area vendor

crits during crafting

Cost = 1,130,000

Sell price (as of 5/31/2021) = 1,400,000 x 2 = 2,800,000 (crit)

GTN fee = 168,000 (guild gtn tax avoidance III)

Sales = 2,632,000

Net Proceeds - 1,502,000

As you can see it can be quite profitable, but not if you are casual or ill prepared to manage your costs, with low critical chance. Each crit cuts your costs in half (not factoring in the gtn fee). Never buy the recombinators off the gtn. People that do that are lazy or not aware they are sold by a vendor.

By listing all augments (for example) and seeing they are all listed by the same guy, and it happens on daily basis, they keep pushing items out 24/7. By seeing who is buying mats on trade channel and GTN (when I list them). By noticing it's always the same guy who waits til a legit player logs out and then relists his items with 1 credit less. By not seeing them do anything else in game except sitting at fleet. Those are pretty good signs. Sure, I might miss them if they list under some other name, but the pattern with the logout stalking & undercutting doesn't change.

If you ignore them undercutting you by one credit, you will still sell most of the time and you don’t have to relist. That’s what I don’t get about these people who relist if they get undercut.

I just listed 1000 items tonight. Every single unique item has already been undercut. I don’t mind if it’s one credit. I actually wish they would only undercut me by one credit cause they set the bar too low when they under cut by a big margin. Mine still mostly sell if they don’t drive the price into the ground and even then mine will sell and theirs won’t.

An example is I was selling “x” tonight for 30 million. People usually have price wars on this item but theirs had all sold. So I had free rein to set the price and I listed some on a couple of Alts and I sold 10 in 1 hour. Next thing the sales stopped dead. So I jumped on to see if I forgot to list more and discovered someone had under cut me down to 12 million and listed 10. It’s like these people are allergic to credits, why would you undercut so much?

I’ve left mine there at 30 million (I won’t engage in price wars because they are pointless). They will still sell and the person who undercut me by such a huge amount won’t even make half as many credits as the handful I still have listed.

That is what they want you to think. Will provide 3 scenarios below and you will see they are not. Obviously, if you have any chance to compete in crafting then you need to be on your A game - max affection companions, guild perks, amplifiers, and minimizing your costs.

 

Casual crafter (curious, but ill prepared)

refined isotope stabilizer - 19,500 x8 (156,000) GTN

invasion force - 1,500,000 (GTN)

Iokath Recombinator - 360,000 (GTN)

 

Cost = 2,016,000

Sell price (as of 5/31/2021) = 1,400,000

GTN fee = 112,000

Net Proceeds - -728,000

 

Prepared crafter who goes with volume (lazy or GTN for mats)

refined isotope stabilizer - 19,500 x8 (156,000) GTN

invasion force - 1,500,000 (GTN)

Iokath Recombinator - 260,000

Odessen, alliance staging area vendor

 

Dark Project crits during crafting

 

Cost = 1,916,000

Sell price (as of 5/31/2021) = 1,400,000 x 2 = 2,800,000 (crit)

GTN fee = 168,000 (guild gtn tax avoidance III)

Sales = 2,632,000

Net Proceeds - 716,000

 

Very prepared crafter - The above, but minimizing costs by avoiding gtn or gathering/buying mats wereever possible.

refined isotope stabilizer - 15,000 x8 (120,000) private sale or other means)

invasion force - 750,000 (balance of gathering the mats or private sales and some off gtn.

Iokath Recombinator - 260,000

Odessen, alliance staging area vendor

 

crits during crafting

 

Cost = 1,130,000

Sell price (as of 5/31/2021) = 1,400,000 x 2 = 2,800,000 (crit)

GTN fee = 168,000 (guild gtn tax avoidance III)

Sales = 2,632,000

Net Proceeds - 1,502,000

 

As you can see it can be quite profitable, but not if you are casual or ill prepared to manage your costs, with low critical chance. Each crit cuts your costs in half (not factoring in the gtn fee). Never buy the recombinators off the gtn. People that do that are lazy or not aware they are sold by a vendor.

If I’m not making 200-1000% mark up, it’s not really worth my time. You might be happy with the profit you get from them, but I’m not even interested unless they’re at least selling for 5+ million a pop. Then I’ll get excited to list. 1.5 million is like loose change at this point.

That is what they want you to think. Will provide 3 scenarios below and you will see they are not. Obviously, if you have any chance to compete in crafting then you need to be on your A game - max affection companions, guild perks, amplifiers, and minimizing your costs.

 

Casual crafter (curious, but ill prepared)

refined isotope stabilizer - 19,500 x8 (156,000) GTN

invasion force - 1,500,000 (GTN)

Iokath Recombinator - 360,000 (GTN)

 

Cost = 2,016,000

Sell price (as of 5/31/2021) = 1,400,000

GTN fee = 112,000

Net Proceeds - -728,000

 

Prepared crafter who goes with volume (lazy or GTN for mats)

refined isotope stabilizer - 19,500 x8 (156,000) GTN

invasion force - 1,500,000 (GTN)

Iokath Recombinator - 260,000

Odessen, alliance staging area vendor

 

Dark Project crits during crafting

 

Cost = 1,916,000

Sell price (as of 5/31/2021) = 1,400,000 x 2 = 2,800,000 (crit)

GTN fee = 168,000 (guild gtn tax avoidance III)

Sales = 2,632,000

Net Proceeds - 716,000

 

Very prepared crafter - The above, but minimizing costs by avoiding gtn or gathering/buying mats wereever possible.

refined isotope stabilizer - 15,000 x8 (120,000) private sale or other means)

invasion force - 750,000 (balance of gathering the mats or private sales and some off gtn.

Iokath Recombinator - 260,000

Odessen, alliance staging area vendor

 

crits during crafting

 

Cost = 1,130,000

Sell price (as of 5/31/2021) = 1,400,000 x 2 = 2,800,000 (crit)

GTN fee = 168,000 (guild gtn tax avoidance III)

Sales = 2,632,000

Net Proceeds - 1,502,000

 

As you can see it can be quite profitable, but not if you are casual or ill prepared to manage your costs, with low critical chance. Each crit cuts your costs in half (not factoring in the gtn fee). Never buy the recombinators off the gtn. People that do that are lazy or not aware they are sold by a vendor.

This is amazing but it's too much math for me, especially for a game lol

I only craft black/deep red dye which is basically free to craft (all but one component can be changed through jawa junk and the only one you need to buy/craft cost something like a couple hundred credits) and it sells steadily for 225,000 in GTN and 5-10 pieces per day. It's not big money but the C/P value is great for casual players who want to earn some credits. Plus, black/deep red dye looks fabulous on almost every outfit, I use it all the time, which saved me a lot of credits from having to buy it lol

Or for super casual players who don't want to craft stuffs and don't care about PvP/NiM Operations, just sell RPM-13 that can be exchanged with 10,000 tech fragments. Its sell price is >14,000,000 on GTN. If you have no use of it like me, it's free credit every week.

If you ignore them undercutting you by one credit, you will still sell most of the time and you don’t have to relist. That’s what I don’t get about these people who relist if they get undercut.

 

I just listed 1000 items tonight. Every single unique item has already been undercut. I don’t mind if it’s one credit. I actually wish they would only undercut me by one credit cause they set the bar too low when they under cut by a big margin. Mine still mostly sell if they don’t drive the price into the ground and even then mine will sell and theirs won’t.

 

An example is I was selling “x” tonight for 30 million. People usually have price wars on this item but theirs had all sold. So I had free rein to set the price and I listed some on a couple of Alts and I sold 10 in 1 hour. Next thing the sales stopped dead. So I jumped on to see if I forgot to list more and discovered someone had under cut me down to 12 million and listed 10. It’s like these people are allergic to credits, why would you undercut so much?

 

I’ve left mine there at 30 million (I won’t engage in price wars because they are pointless). They will still sell and the person who undercut me by such a huge amount won’t even make half as many credits as the handful I still have listed.

No, I usually don't craft augments to sell. I'm far too lazy for that and crafting is a mess now. I buy them, but skip the whales and buy from someone who only listed a few of them, and didn't undercut anyone with 1 credit. And yeah, I could craft them myself, but I'm too lazy for that too. And if something crits, I would have to sell it and I can't be bothered.

But yeah, I get what you're saying. I used to craft and sell tons of 228 augments, but those whales made it pointless. Before certain names started to undercut mine with 1 credit, I was selling 30-50 per day and I didn't have to sit at GTN to relist. When I noticed I have inventory full of items and nothing is selling anymore unless I keep relisting several times a day, I quit crafting them. I guess a lot of other people quit too, because soon there was only the whales selling them, and prices skyrocketed. I only craft them for myself now if I need any.

If I’m not making 200-1000% mark up, it’s not really worth my time. You might be happy with the profit you get from them, but I’m not even interested unless they’re at least selling for 5+ million a pop. Then I’ll get excited to list. 1.5 million is like loose change at this point.

As I indicated in a prior post you should do what you like to do or at least tolerate so you do not burn yourself out. I provided the post to counter the statement about them selling for less than they cost to make. Only basing value on unit mark-up is short sighted, but if you are happy with what you have more power to you. One of the benefits of the dark projects is that they stack. You can get 250 million a pop for a stack that only takes up one spot on the gtn.

As I indicated in a prior post you should do what you like to do or at least tolerate so you do not burn yourself out. I provided the post to counter the statement about them selling for less than they cost to make. Only basing value on unit mark-up is short sighted, but if you are happy with what you have more power to you. One of the benefits of the dark projects is that they stack. You can get 250 million a pop for a stack that only takes up one spot on the gtn.

I’m not arguing your math or that you can’t turn a profit. But DPs are a really bad thing to specialise in to make credits from. Try and consider it from this perspective and you’ll possibly see where I’m coming from.

How many mats are required and how much time it takes to go through all the steps to craft Dark Projects. There are quite a lot and you need at least 3 crafting professions and 4 gathering professions.

The time it takes to get all those mats together, craft the precursor mats and the dark project is also extensive.

Thats at least 3 or 4 characters worth of work that could be used to make other crafted items that sell for way more than DP’s do (even if they are doing it at the same time with crits).

It’s a question of resources (and I don’t just mean mats). It’s too much of my legacies resources (craft time, mats, potential crafting, playable time) to specialise in DPs to make credits on the GTN.

Especially when I can make just about anything else with that same quantity of mats and resources/time and make many more credits.

As for how many spots on the GTN things take up. That’s inconsequential because I can list 100 items per character and I have over 50 characters.

I’m also not saying I wouldn’t sell DPs on the GTN to make credits if the profit was higher. I most certainly would if I was making 5 mill profit. I may also off load a few DPs in the future if I can’t find something better to do with them. But at the moment, I’m happy to keep stock piling them.

The reality is, I only have so many DPs and the precursor mats to make them because I use to craft for conquest. But since that’s been Nerfed, I no longer need to make more than one a day and I’ve enough precursor mats pre-crafted to last 400 days.

The only good thing that came from the crafting nerf is I can now concentrate my crafters on making items that I make the most profit vs resources/time and that isn’t Dark Projects.

No, I usually don't craft augments to sell. I'm far too lazy for that and crafting is a mess now. I buy them, but skip the whales and buy from someone who only listed a few of them, and didn't undercut anyone with 1 credit. And yeah, I could craft them myself, but I'm too lazy for that too. And if something crits, I would have to sell it and I can't be bothered.

 

But yeah, I get what you're saying. I used to craft and sell tons of 228 augments, but those whales made it pointless. Before certain names started to undercut mine with 1 credit, I was selling 30-50 per day and I didn't have to sit at GTN to relist. When I noticed I have inventory full of items and nothing is selling anymore unless I keep relisting several times a day, I quit crafting them. I guess a lot of other people quit too, because soon there was only the whales selling them, and prices skyrocketed. I only craft them for myself now if I need any.

Ive become lazy too. It’s why I’m mostly buying other peoples goods to relist instead of crafting them all myself. I’m becoming more and more like the big brand retailer who pays someone else to manufacture, warehouse and wholesale my brand before I sell it at full retail.

What’s amusing to me is the people I buy off are the ones I use to have price wars with. They haven’t learned in 18 months and are still working themselves to the bone and listing way too many at once. They are volume sellers that make a tiny amount on each item and often below GTN mat costs. I can sell one of their items and make the same amount of credits they make off selling 100.

The crafting I still do is for the highest profit items or things my wife and I want to use. They may not be the fastest movers on the GTN, but when they sell, my patience pays off. I’m not bragging (too much) when I say in the last few months my profits per week have been escalating significantly. I’m close to reaching a billion credit average per week and I’m doing less and less work to get it. Such a shame RL money hasn’t come as simple.

How to convert Fleet Commendations to credits?

I seem to recall being able to purchase some sort of crafting materials or decorations with Fleet Commendations.