So I found a shipyard in singleplayer...

[Seva]

What's the point of fouding a shipyard in single player? I just lost tons of money I would say...lol...

I saw a button though "this station doesn't buy consumer goods from traders".
What's the point of it?
I can buy, but why would I buy stuff from them since I can't sell it?

I wanted to make money!

[Seva]

hmm, I suppose I could make money by setting an AI to resell the stuff, eh?
That's too much work to do though

[DipperActual]

The shipyard is the first station I build when I make a "village". From there, I make other stations. True, it may just be a matter of convenience and saving time. And at the very least, when you're building from it, it's a bit cheaper I think.

Regarding Goods, on its Trade Goods menu, you can hit the "stack of coins' button to get it to purchase trade goods. Then the population of that Shipyard will consume them and you'll get a cut from it. So it can trickle a bit of money to you passively. Also, those Trade Goods you can freely take from the Transfer Crew/Cargo/Fighters menu. So they can be a small source of certain Turret ingredients over time. Just which ingredients depends on the RNG roll when the Station was laid down. (that's true of any station with a Trade Goods menu)

Be sure to drop plenty of Cargo blocks on it so it can build up an inventory.

[DipperActual]

Originally posted by Seva:

hmm, I suppose I could make money by setting an AI to resell the stuff, eh?
That's too much work to do though

The only Order I currently give my stations is Attack Enemies, but yeah you could give it Buy and Sell Orders for things on your station if you wish. I've only seen the response "XXX couldn't find a merchant to buy YYY" though, so it got annoying. I think if the buyer and seller of a certain trade good was in the system or within the range of a Trade Upgrade, that it might be different.

[Zaflis]

NPC's could periodically buy ships from it imo. It's like a "car shop" and there's billions of travelers in a galaxy.
(This is a suggestion for developer)

[Seva]

hmm, I'll give it another try to see if it generates money passively by marking the option to buy goods. I didn't know I would gain money by that. Thanks.

By the way @dipperActual, I never saw this message "XXX couldn't find a merchant to buy YYY".
You might be doing something wrong.

[DipperActual]

I probably am. I haven't delved too deep in selling trade goods. When I set up my first deliberate Ice mine to just sell the water in a sector by itself, on the main production screen I told it to sell and then on the main map, I also told gave it a Sell Good Order in the mistaken belief it might help sell more. I believe it's from that order that I get the "couldn't find a merchant" message. I've since given up attempting Sell Orders on Mines.

[Seva]

hmm, you need to have an exotic trading system and check the demand and supply of the region.
I guess you might get that message in case the supply is greater than the demand.

[DipperActual]

The thought did cross my mind. I only put a rare one on the Ice Mine. But I have a "Salesman" frigate with a legendary trading system that I use to decide which Mines to build. The Ice mine was put down where there's zero supply of Water, and +30% profit. I think I'll hold off trying to learn how automated buying and selling is supposed to work until after the 2.0 update :)
It's made a ludicrous amount of profit for me as it is, without needing to use the Orders.