Trading

How Does Trading Work?

Trading

Important things to keep in mind:
In the Combine, stealing from players through trading is an acceptable In Character action and is, therefore, neither punished nor undone. As such, it is strongly advised that traders not send first to others they do not already trust. If you doubt the honesty of the other party, then use a respected middleman. If you aren't sure who to trust, the best thing to do is to consult established Trader Reputation lists or by asking someone in your faction. If you have IRC access, you may also consider asking around in the #SWC-Traders channel on irc.swc-irc.com (See IRC section below).

Known Scammers
An up to date listing of known scammers, located in the Traders Lounge and compiled from the reports of traders posted in the forum. http://www.swcombine.com/forum/thread.php?thread=9177&page=0

The idea behind trading is to buy and sell ships, vehicles, cities, buildings, and other assets in order to make a profit. At this time, most trading takes part in the IRC trading channel, in the Combine's RPG Centre forums, and on some private markets run by various factions. When visiting #SWC-Traders on IRC, you will see people using the following abbreviations:

WFS - What's for sale?
This is asking the traders in the room what they are selling.

FS - For sale
When you are trying to sell something, you would add FS as the start then the type of ships (e.g. FS: YT-1300, 2 Firesprays).

FT - For trade
This means someone has a ship they wish to trade for another type of ship (e.g. FT: YT-510).

FA - For auction
When something is for auction, normally the trader auctioning the item off will provide a link to the auction listing, or it will be online in another channel (e.g. FA: Carrack Cruiser - come to #my_room to bid).

OBO - Or Best Offer
When the seller states a price he/she could also accept other offers (e.g. BFF-1 bulk freighter, 21 millions OBO).

WTB - Want to Buy
When looking to buy a specific item, use this (e.g. WTB: Y-Wing).

WTS - Want to Sell
When looking to sell a specific item, use this (e.g. WTS: X-Wing).

U/U/U - Undamaged, Undocked, Unshielded
The entity is not under shield or inside another entity, and its stats are all topped.

When selling a ship, you may be asked to assign the ship first before making it over, and it is recommended that you ask the same of a seller if you are looking to buy a ship, if you have any doubts that they own it. Always avoid sending first to traders you do not trust, or are not listed as reputable. If the other party refuses to send first or to use a middleman, there is a high likelihood that they are trying to steal from you.

Prices and Markets

The Combine has an official market built into its interface, accessed through the 'Market' link on the right-hand menu (or through http://www.swcombine.com/members/market/ directly). To buy from or sell to the market, you must be on a trading station or inside a commerce centre facility. In case your faction cannot provide you access to such a facility, the factions Centrepoint Space Station and Baobab Merchant Fleet host a listing of public trading stations at http://www.centrepointstation.com/services/markets.php and http://bmf.force501.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=2787 respectively. It is best to purchase items as close to your location as possible, since the closer you are to the item you are buying, the less it will cost you. When you purchase it from the market, it is made over to you immediately. Not many traders sell to this market as doing so is not very profitable, so the majority of assets available at any given time are usually the former possessions of a character that has recently died.

The Centrepoint Space Station trading faction also hosts a private market on its own website (referred to as Centrepoint Market, or CPM, and located at http://market.centrepointstation.com/), and this is what most traders use. This market can be compared to eBay, in that traders can post listings for items they are selling and other traders can bid on them or buy them out, but the items are not transferred immediately. The traders must contact each other to complete the transaction, and it is strongly recommended that a trusted middleman is used. This offsite market (linked in Useful Links below) is not officially affiliated with the Combine, and as such, any problems with it need to be directed to the faction hosting it.

The Trade Federation Market (aka TFM) is another place where individuals and companies can advertise their goods (http://dot.swc-tf.com/index.php).

The prices listed in the rules section of the Combine's website are only the raw production cost of each item. This is bound to be a much lower price than you will be able to purchase the items for from other players. Prices are constantly changing depending on how desirable the item in question is, how many are available to the public, and how much sellers are willing to sell for. Faction-specific items, such as TIE Fighters and A-Wings, are generally not available to the public. In the rare instance that some are successfully stolen from their faction, they tend to sell for hundreds of millions of credits.

Useful Links

Centrepoint Market http://market.centrepointstation.com/

Trade Federation Market http://dot.swc-tf.com/index.php

Traders Lounge (for trading discussion, not for buying/selling) http://www.swcombine.com/forum/forum.php?forumID=55

Commerce forum http://www.swcombine.com/forum/forum.php?forumID=52

Gambling Hut http://www.swcombine.com/forum/forum.php?forumID=139

IRC (Internet Relay Chat)

IRC refers to online chatrooms, used to communicate with other individuals in real-time over the Internet.

http://www.mirc.com mIRC is the preferred client for the Windows platform. This is recommended for users who plan to use IRC on a regular basis.

http://www.swcombine.com/community/chat/ The Combine also hosts a Java client through which players can connect to the Combine IRC server directly through their web browser without downloading an alternate IRC client. This is recommended for users who will not be using IRC on a regular basis.

Server: irc.swc-irc.com Port: 6667

Channels

• #swc-members - SWC Members Room, for general chat with other players.
• #swc-traders - SWC Trading Room, for buying and selling from other players.
• #swc-help - SWC Help Room, for Combine-related and IRC-related help.
• #CMG- is a prefix usually used to access a specific faction's chatroom.