Marketing

So you have some spare ISK. Now you want to invest it, but you are not sure what to do with it or who to trust. You have been reading Market Discussions Forum and before you jump in you need to understand the risks.

Well read on.

First off:

READ THE STICKIES AT THE TOP OF THE FORUM
They have lots of good advice for the beginner.

Market Discussion Background

The Market Discussion is about business and making money.
People who read or post here are looking to make money. This forum is used to discuss and propose business ideas, raising ISK for business investment, the use of tools to run your business and to discuss markets development or effects.

Do not take anything personally, it’s just business.

A few important points to remember before you jump in:

Do not take anything you read at face value. People may be helpful, they may not. Business is like PVP. People may reply or post for a number of reasons which can include gaining a competitive advantage, to sow discord or disinformation.

Anything you post here may be used against you in the future.
There may come a time when you want to start your own business and you wish to sell shares, and you write up a nice business plan and you get shot down because someone will link your post from a year ago when you made an off-hand joke about scamming. Be careful!

There are two golden rules of investing in EVE

Only invest what you can afford to lose

There is no such thing as a GUARANTEE in EVE, there is only a level of trust. Remember as long as SCAMMING is legal in EVE anyone at any time can run off with your investment.

Investing Your ISK

You have read all the stickies and you have been reading the posts and now you have decided you want to invest some spare ISK. Where can you invest your hard earned ISK.

A couple of terms:
Interest and ROI (return on investment) = Both terms are basically interest you will earn on your money. In EVE most interest payments or dividends (ROI) are paid monthly.

What follows is a list of the types of investment you can spend your ISK on.

The Banks

There are two well known banks in EVE:

EBank

EBank website

EBank has over 1 Trillion ISK in deposits and has an excellent website where you can manage your account online. The bank has many employees and at no time can 1 person run off with all the money. This is probably the safest investment in the whole of EVE. Due to its high level of trust they only pay 1.5% interest per month.

I would recommend setting up an account, even if it is for only a few 1000 ISK. This will give you a start into the investment world and your money can be accessed at any time. EBank are also talking about releasing a host of new features such as a stock exchange. If you already have an account setup then you will be able to use the new features when they are released.

Dynasty Bank (DBank)

DBank website

DBank is a newer bank and is run by a few people. DBank has over 100B in deposits and also has a website where you can manage your account. There are a number of available savings accounts up to 10% per month. Beware that these high interest rate products will probably be removed soon and only lower rate savings accounts or CD’s will be available.
DBank carries a higher risk than EBank but should probably make up a portion of your portfolio.

The Stock Exchanges

It is possible in Eve to invest in corporations that are publically traded. These corporations can be found on one of EVE’s two stock exchanges.

Eve Galactic Stock Exchange (EGSEx)
Real-Time Eve Stock Exchange (RESx)

Links:

Eve Galactic Stock Exchange (EGSEx)
Real-Time Eve Stock Exchange (RESx) - Shutting down notice on website

Beware that some stocks that are traded are no longer active businesses. You will have to complete research to find out this information.

Most of the new corporations in EVE in 2008 have chosen NOT to list their businesses on the exchanges. The shares of some current corporations launched this year may come up for sale on the SELL or MD forums.

EBank are promising to launch a virtual stock exchange, with shares and bonds tradable on their website. All shares would be held in the players account, and dividends would be paid directly into the bank account. For further information see the EBank website.

New IPO’s and BONDS

We are now starting to head into risky territory. These are investments where players will make a post looking for you to invest in them or their corporation.

Corporate Bonds

Corporate bonds pay you a fixed interest payment each month for the life of the bond. At the end of the bond life, they will pay back your initial investment. The bond may be launched via the issuance of shares to make payment via dividend, but are often made by personal payment each month.
The bonds may be traded and is usually done via the sell forum with a link to the bond offer.

IPO’s

This is a direct investment into a business. You will purchase shares in a corporation. The business will pay dividends each month that depends on the profitability of the corporation. There is usually no set end date for a business, but the shares can be traded or there may be a re-purchase agreement from the corporation.

Both IPO’s and Bonds are typically riskier investments than the banks, and vary in interest rate or return from around 3% up to about 15% per month. Some IPO’s may return much higher amounts but that is rare.

Your decision to invest in Bonds and IPO’s will entirely rest on the amount of TRUST you place on the individual raising the bond.

General Advice

1.Read the bond or IPO document CAREFULLY

2.Complete your own background check on the character. Left click the picture and read the previous posts by that person. Use eve-search to look at their posting history.

3.How old is the character.

4.Is the character an ALT. What are they trying to hide withholding their main character?

5.If you don’t understand something in the bond or something looks wrong, ask a question.

6.If you don’t know the person that well, ask for an audit to be completed. Audits will give an overview of the character and confirm his/her skills and abilities and whether they can perform what they are claiming to do. An Audit is NEVER completed by their ‘buddy’ from their corp. An audit is completed by a trusted member of the MD forum.

7.Make sure the character asking for cash answers ALL questions. Note how the questions are answered, are you happy.

8.Remember there are NO GUARANTEES.

If you are unhappy with IPO or Bond, don’t trust the character or feel that the character hasn't done a good job explaining the plan, DON’T INVEST. There will be plenty of other opportunities for investing.

The questions and checks shouldn’t stop even when you have invested.

Once you have invested in a corporation, did they complete their goal?
Are they making their payments on time?
Are they making monthly reports?
Most importantly, was the investment successful and gave a good experience?

If the answers are no, it is likely you won’t invest with that person again!

It is likely that you will invest in a corporation that will SCAM or fail. The investment failures can be minimized. Be diligent!

I invest in less than 10% of all IPO/Bond launches.

Conclusions


For most players investing is about one thing only.

MAKING MONEY

To be successful you need to be ruthless,
Don’t get upset when you people criticize you,
Keep a clear head and have some fun.

Remember the Godfather rule:

Nothing personal, it’s just business!


Useful links:

Eve-Search

Eve-Search website

Use for background checks on players.


Eve Securities and Exchange Bureau

Eve Securities and Exchange Bureau Website

Contains lots of useful information current businesses. Has links to original offers, start dates, CEO information and returns. Very good for looking at what business plans should look like.

Copyright Notice & Source Acknowledgement

By cosmoray

This article was copied from the EVE Online website at http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=939890

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