As  to methods there may be a  million and then some, but principles are  few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The quote above is from the writer of On Self-Reliance.  He wrote over 100 years ago but his words still ring true today.  I look at Entropia Universe through his lense and see that the trading we do every day all day in Entropia for success relies on principles.  One principle is markup, Markup is likely the most important principle of Entropia.  The principle is: 

Principle:  Have more markup coming in than you have going out.  

Make your investments there profitable and your avatar is profitable then you become profitable. 

 Now as for those who make the most of the platform or not.  

Principle:  There is enough money for everyone.

  

There is enough money for everyone is a principle I have been trying on for size to see if the principle is true,  The principle of money for everyone does seem true.  In fact I would assert 80% of the participants make money regularly.  Maybe not enough to withdraw $100 but above zero for sure.  There are many who have assets there that would go to the $100 withdraw mark.  The withdrawal speed at 2-3 months keeps a lot of the money of Entropia within the Universe.   With the rate of deposits that can come in daily and the rate of withdrawals that go out in 3 months there is a lot of time to make the most of what your avatar has there.  

The rate of deposits goes into how money is created and where it comes from.  Because of the real world tie/link/connection to Entropia the real world has unlimited money so Entropia has unlimited money.  However because the platform is a business there is accounting and other business concerns done to keep the whole platform going.  The business side of an avatar participant also contains losses so losses have to be dealt with.  I recommend that all avatars do accounting for their activities in the Universe to see the true picture of how they are really doing.  The accounting depends on goals of course because we participants exist in a large and diverse population.  The numbers are like x-rays that see what the eye cannot.

That the world has unlimited money seems far from reality but there is a another principle to consider.  Say you have a $1.  You trade that $1 for an item.  You then have an item and someone else has $1.  You valued the item more than you did the $1.  You then can trade that item to someone else for $1.10.  You have made $1.10 and no longer have the item.  Someone else valued your item more than they valued their $1.10.  Very quickly making profitable trades you can achieve any number of items and any number of $1's.  The dollar used is still the same dollar you started with but has been used at least 3 times creating $3 worth of value.  

There are losses on risked trades.  It happens and happens often.  Profits can come just as often.  Even more profits than losses.

There is a night and day difference between profit and loss.  The losses set the brakes on accumulation of the desired items and dollars. With enough profits, profitable trades and accounting to see where the profits come from, you can succeed with a business there. 

Using principles of business and investment and abundance the world opens up.  I speak as a participant who really cares about who's there and how we're doing.   

Have fun! Good luck. :)

Give me some comments so I can see where the concerns are.

Thank you,

Stellar

Virtual world real cash economy, VWRCE.   A virtual world, collectables, business and investment, game themed world,  Just what is entropia universe?  A MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) place to play, collect, and invest in a virtual world.  There are countless opportunities to interact with the virtual world itself and to trade and socialize with other avatars.  We have had to form our own communities and standards given the platform Mindark has given us,
There are many paradoxes to Mindark's Entropia Universe.  The world is free to play in but has the most expensive options to interact of any other MMO,  The massive multi-player aspect makes EU full of people.  Where there are people there will be trades.  So trade we do.  We trade the many kinds of loot we generate by practicing the professions of Hunting, Mining and Crafting.  Most items, collectables and investments are found and enter the world through the players' actions,  There are as many ways to trade as there are players to trade with.  We all have different goals and ways to interact with the virtual world environment.  As you find your way into our world and ways of doing things, be on your toes, adventure, explore, and find yourself.

new article outline and ideas
A how-to for people to evaluate and act on opportunities in Entropia Universe
that's it.
topics should include

1. budget, depending on goals? how much ped do you need to do what you want to do?
2. eco/level, how efficient are you at doing what you do in entropia?
3. markup, the fine line crossed that makes all the difference in a Real Cash Economy MMO.
          The difference between profit or an ever-sinking PED card.
          How much markup do YOU get for your goods?

Then on to the specific ways and means to play and profit in Entropia Universe.
All with an eye to evaluating your activities for opportunities.
I will attempt to tackle:
         Sweating
         Mining
         Hunting
         Crafting
         Trading

Cursory thoughts on the above are :
1. Sweating, for how long can you sweat and how much can you get for the sweat and sweat products?
2.  Mining, choices to make, time, and how much ped to spend?
3.  Hunting, mob choice, loot profiles, and returns?
4.  Crafting, blueprint choice, blueprint sales, and item sales?
5.  Trading, what to trade choices, highly liquid items, quick sales, suitable markup margins?

Virtual Tycoon for Entropia Universe is a incredibly useful tool available on Android's marketplace.  I get almost everything I need as a crafter to play entropia on the go.  With construction interface, storage interface, and auction interface; common tasks that used to take a few minutes now get done in seconds. 
I set up a crafting run before I drive for the fun of it, then while I drive my phone is busily crafting away in entropia.  There are a few problems with download and startup times.  Also some problems with changing power hooks and crossing in and out of wi-fi zones.  But when it works it is great.  Virtual Tycoon lets me take maximum advantage of time I have during the day and night to play entropia in a meaningful way.  By doubling (for me) the number of devices I have to play entropia  I can play even more than before and have other things to do on the spare device (such as read blogs (AxeMurderer) and forum posts).  The freedom to play anywhere anytime increases entropia's utility to me double fold and more.  So if a player wants to take crafting seriously, Virtual Tycoon is THE tool to do crafting with. 

Technical analysis of entropia calypso markets.  The idea to be explored here is one item or a small group of items represent the whole market of 3000+ items in entropia universe.  The items I choose to look at are basic sheet metal, metal residue, and sweat related items.  They meet criteria for; widely traded in entropia terms,  nearly a commodity, enough volume to represent a significant part of entropia's economy, and easily tracked (one of each needs to be kept in inventory to check prices with market value tab).
Basic Sheet Metal will vary between $500-$5000 a day.  I find it depends on time of year and current demand, and often, time of week.  Markups are also high on basic sheet metal reflecting the cost of materials to make it. As a day-to-day trading item it is difficult to trade profitably.  Manufacturing basic sheet metal, then selling it, is the way to go.  The high markups leave room for some profits on inefficiencies in manufacturing, buying and selling basic sheet metal.  Most items do not have the markups needed at 5%+ margins.  Basic sheet metal does.  The volume is among the highest in the universe. 
The technical analysis part is in comparing other component commodity items to basic sheet metal.  For example, metal mountings, standard plate, basic sensor, simple i plastic springs, simple i conductors, and a few others.  As basic sheet metal moves so do the others.  Say you notice basic sheet metal over a few days.  The markups are heading up at a 1% more a day.  There is a safe assumption that other items markups are also heading up around 1% also.  Then the markups start heading down 1% a day.  The other items will also be showing a downward pressure.  When following the maxim of buy low and sell high, knowing where the items' trend is, can be useful.
Personally the price moves affects how much I am willing to pay for resources to make the basic sheet metal.  On market highs I am more cautious as I know the price can fall fast over just a few days.  That affects how much I price my basic sheet metal at. For low periods of markup I look for better deals on resources to make basic sheet metal.  There are profits to be had being concious of the price and markup variations.  As for setting price that is a another discussion.
So on to Metal Residue.  Markups are low, it is a commodity, as a day to day item there are usually several orders for $1000 or more of residue.  The volume varies but is usually at least $5000 on up to $10000 and $15000 per day.  It meets the criteria as a barometer of the entropia economy.  Tracking residues prices' shows how much of limited (L) items are being made.  The technical analysis part is not so much that residues can be traded, though they can be, but that the sale and purchase of them represents the level of activity in end-user items where the residue is used. Markups on residues are fairly stable and won't vary more than 10% over long periods of time.  A 1/4 percent to 1% move is most common on day to day markups.  There are profits in residue trading but they are slim and better used to make end-items.
Considering the above three items, their markups, volume, and prices can be used to compare the same features as the 1000's of other items in entropia universe.  The same things can be said about the other items as about the above three items.  The markups, prices, and volumes do this, and markups, prices, and volumes, do that.  They are like individual markets to themselves for each item, though they can all be compared, aggregated, and made to get a clearer picture with comparison and contrasts of the entropia universe economy through technical analysis.
So to summarize, one aspect of technical analysis that can be applied to entropia markets is one item or a small group of items can represent a wealth of information about all items in entropia universe.

calypso population estimates

Other ways to gauge active population on calypso.  Active population is at least 200000 people at a time.  Take samples from the radar map.  Go to a busy area such as port atlantis or nea's place.  count up the green dots on the radar.  typically in the two areas, I count 40-200.  And the average would be (40+200)/2 or 120.  Now add in swamp camps, areas close to the first two, and twin peaks.  Twin peaks is it's own place with typically 100-300 at a time.  And from sampling different times of day, (every 3 hours is what I did, on 5 separate days) there is not much variation  for an average of 200 people in twin peaks.  Count people in buildings with auctioneers also. Surrounding areas amount to another 100 people per area.  For 80 areas of high population averaging 160 people per area.  Which brings the total estimate to  12800 active players at a time for populated areas.
Now for the less populated areas, such as outposts, mining grounds, hunting grounds, and wide open spaces.  Take there are at least 2 active players at a time in a desolate area.  Yourself and one other player. Sometimes three and sometimes 4 even.  Which average is 2.5 players for out of the way and on most of the planet, areas.
To figure the total areas under consideration consider the area of calypso as a whole.  1500 square kilometers in all.  Consider 10% is water though sometimes that counts also, a lower number over the whole 150+ square kilometers of water, leviathan hunting is fun, 1 person per radar area.  The other 1350 square kilometers includes the low areas of 4.5 players per radar screen and the high areas of 160 people per radar area.  So take out 80 times a radar area or 10000 square meters (I took this from range of my Murdand Groover) for a radar area. 
Now convert that to square kilometers, for .01 square kilometers.  For 80 times 0.01 or .8 square kilometers of high population of 12800 people.  1500 sqaure kilometers minus 0.8 sq. km. leaves 1499.2 sq.km. to account for.  Water is another 150 sq.km. at 2.5 people per radar area or 15000 radar areas and 37500 people.  Now for the rest.  What is left is 1349 sq.km. at 2.5 players per radar area or 134920 radar areas and 337300 players at a time.  Add the figures up (12800+37500+337300) and get 387600 players active at a time. 
Seems incredible that many at once.  But yet the figures are there.  Don't like the estimates?  Cut them in half, still 193800 players active at a time.  Take out times there is no one but yourself.  Another 30% trim and still 135660 people at a time.  So I have some confidence in saying there are at least 130000 people active at a time, anytime, on planet calypso and more likely over 200000 active people.  Similar figures can be obtained for other planets and areas.  The figures only go up during busy seasons and special events.  Hope you enjoyed this estimate of population on calypso and hope to see you sometime, (right now) www.entropiauniverse.com on planet calypso. 

skill implants sales item limit discussion

The sales item limit is a problem when there are 100+/- skills that can be implanted or chipped out. Multiple sizings and number of different skills encourage specialization in professions; hunting profession skills, mining profession skills, and crafting profession skills. With approximately 33 skills per profession, the item sales limit of 30 at a time is reached. And selling multiple skill implants of the same skills limits the scope of activity further.  And the actual practice of each profession is also limited when doing skill trading.  Too many profession items and skill items for sale and not all the items can be sold at once.
On another note, skill trading is a key part of the effort expended, benefit created, and compensation for lost PED balance, in playing.
A colonist/settler trying to raise PED has many options that spill over from real life to entropia life.  I will try and stay with the in-game ways to make or earn PED.  Stuff for the budget minded includes sweating.  For time constraints, depositing is the most perferable.  For people with time, sweating is preferable.  Mining in the game, when beginning, is not recommended because mining has a 25% hit rate.  If an avatar catches the wrong swing of luck, mining will be a bust and it's back to sweating.  Hunting however is a bit more reliable though low margin for loot returned.  It becomes a game of break-even to:  I lost a little less this time than last time. 
Skills are being built however, but cannot really be cashed in until reaching high enough skill levels to overcome what I call market frictions.
 The 10PED limit on empty skill implants is one friction.  The implant will pack in as much as you specify of skill and if there is any left-over, it returns the amount below 10PED as PED and not another ESI.  A loss of the, usually, x7 to x8 markup.  The uncertainty and calculations that go into making filled skill implants are somewhat complex but can be done cautiously.  So to do a good count with skills trading, there is a website that does wonderful for figuring the numbers needed. jdegre.net/pe/unlocker.php
Auction fees and ESI decays when filling them are another friction shaving another 10% of the potential amount gained. 
But that's for when the avatar's skills are high enough to chip out and you properly see, hear, read or know how much goes into each.  Sweating builds enough skills to chip out. (but not sweat gathering skill).  Skills such as athletics, courage, dexterity, alertness, and evade can be chipped out.  A sufficient amount takes a lot of sweating.  Becoming a skills trader is difficult as the 20%+ of market frictions means an avatar needs to have greater than, markup, higher than 20% times whatever implant is being sold. 
Say the implant is a Courage implant at 5 PED.  Marked up x25.  Puts it at 125 PED market value.  Then once it's out or in, turn around and how much can it be sold for to first; breakeven?, then make money?, then lose less money?  Market frictions reduce the implant to 100 PED value.  So with current markup would have a TT value 4 PED implant.  Started at 5 PED.  The way to make the money back is sell at a higher multiple of the PED TT value which would be x31 markup. 
That's how to break-even and recover 125 PED spent on it.  Right at x31 is breakeven.
Above x31 markup and profits are possible. 
Anything below would be a loss.  The way to lose less next time around is play skill markets like a real market.  Buying low and selling high.  It takes time but can be done.  Inefficiencies also exist but because of the financial world equivalent which I call: market frictions, the spreads, of 20% or more, limit the number of profitable transactions that can be done.  Overcoming market frictions, then the sales item limit is a concern with skill implants. 
Be careful, be smart, and your time and money may multiply when a player in entropia universe.