Trade routes?

[Unheil]

I looked into the map to find some nice small-item trade opportunities. When having bought I realized, prices change seemingly random. So no business here by trying to be clever, or did I understand it wrong? With current trade logic, I am supposed to buy something, take the risk it gets damaged and looses value quickly, and do not know the least if abd where I can sell it with a gain. Did I misunderstand it?

[Yopt]

In the current state of things, trading by purchasing cheap, selling expensive is probably waste of time. While it's not impossible to make some buck trading, if you really need money, you are better off salvaging (which is locked behind some XP and quests, unfortunately).

If you still want to trade, make sure to purchase some storage cratest first, this will remove "risk it gets damaged" out of equation. Price changes are random yes, but from my experiene they never go from -40% to +40% in a single jump, they seem to change in a gradual manner, so you can still make some profit, even if the destination system is 2-3 jumps away.

When I only started playing, I tried hauling and grabbing some items from the shop provided that these items are on a discount and the prices are higher in the haul destination point. But it all seemed too much of hassle.

[Zalym]

Originally posted by Unheil:

I looked into the map to find some nice small-item trade opportunities...

No you're not wrong, but it's not all bad. Small trading can be quite lucrative. You might only need to change your outlook a bit.

And yes, some of this is purely mental gymnastics to work within a very randomized trade system. The "role playing immersion" helps me enjoy this part of the game more.

I'm not white-knighting anything here.

The markets in ST are not an economic system. They are just RNG bazaars. However, if you don't use them at all, you are leaving quite a bit of money on the table.
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My thoughts on it in-universe:
When playing the small trade game for your own gain, you must remember that you are not an established space trader. You are not a commodore of the lanes bringing shipping containers' worth of petty goods across the vast oceans of stars.

No. You are a scavenging, opportunistic, and cutthroat travelling merchant with a relatively small hold. You look for items being sold for bargain bin prices, stow them, and wait for that perfect moment to offload them to needy and desperate stations at huge markups.

You can't control, influence, or predict the market. However, you can and will take advantage of it.

Yes, you will be stuffing your cab to the gills with all manner of cargo that you will likely hang on to for a good while--potentially for days, get those boxes and crates ready! As long as you protect them, these purchases are not a loss. They are indeed a healthy investment and you WILL ultimately sell them for big gains.

You might salvage along the way, when you get a nearby opportunity. I mean free items are pure profit after all. But scavenging is slow and somehow even more unpredictable than the markets. Snag them if they are close, but don't go out of your way to get them unless you need a break from the lanes and want to gamble a bit.
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My method--there's no "big secret" here.
1. Grab a job from the boards, check the destination prices, and go the shop to buy the specific items that will likely sell well.

2. Then buy up absolutely everything else that is being sold on discount--even if it's not a good price along your current route. You will find a place, sooner rather than later, to drop them

Big ticket items are better for this (electronics/textiles) as they will cover their cost of transportation easily However, even a load of food/pharma can get you $500-800 and money is money after all.

3. Go drop your trailer, sell the items, and repeat. But this time, you can likely find a destination that is buying all that extra cargo laying around your truck. If you have room/funds to spare, go buy more stuff to take with you.

Over time, the process snowballs and you'll be making more money trading than hauling most days. Picking up enough big-money textiles/electronics to be worth it can be tedious. However, when you suddenly drop off a crate or two of them for tens of thousands at a time, you're golden.

5. Gravity: Eventually, you'll come to realize that, despite wisely turning it off to save money and batteries in the beginning, in-cab gravity is virtually a necessity if you really want to make some cash.

Crates are very useful, especially for your truck's resources that you need in top shape. But they are heavy, don't hold much, and not easy to stow. And you're missing out on chem tanks, wine, etc. So plan ahead and turn on that gravity generator when your holds are overflowing on the floor.

(BUT KEEP AN EYE ON THAT INFERNAL MACHINE! Be sure to swap out components at stations when everything is sold/secured) Little is as disheartening as hearing a clunk and then seeing a windshield full of damaged goods. Ask me how I know, and WHY do those UCC's not have a warning. )
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I personally like salvaging for fun sometime. However, the time it takes (in real-life and in game) when selling what I find doesn't net me any XP really destroys the allure for me.

I can get 3-4k+ for a single hauling job and thousands more with trade AND get that XP needed for progression at the same time.

With salvaging, the money can be good, and finding free filters/duracells for my truck is a great day! But in the late game I can almost always buy those without hesitation because I'm pulling in more than enough with trailers/trade. But that salvaging can certainly fill an economic gap especially mid-game!

[Growler Guy]

Just give me more pyrite in Shatterstone after the mission quest.

[Unheil]

Originally posted by Zalym:

No you're not wrong, but it's not all bad. Small trading can be quite lucrative. You might only need to change your outlook a bit....

We came very much to the same conclusion on how to exploit the trading system. I like to use crates, despite their weight, because the penalty on loosing a few % of item quality is very high. I stow the crates in the shelf and then open them, so they don't float if the grav gen should fail. Larger items I put into the airlock and close it to minimize damage. Actually, this can be optimized further when willing to take risks (like, having the gravity generator off all the time when no large items are in the airlock.

[Teckrin]

early game i became a power cell trader and never wanted for anything again lol grab cells in tank town (i find it to be usually 20% off and yes it changes but i see them cheap there regularly) and i would bring them back to atlas prime (usually +20% or more) and by being a cell trader half of the difficulty of managing power goes away entirely. it only takes a bit before you have crates of batteries on hand. install the ++ batteries as soon as you can into your core system slots. each one lasts 10 IRL hrs with all your lights off and heater blower set to low or off. while trading batteries i grab trucking contracts between those 2 locations or somewhere on route.