I've been playing around with the Trade Assistant plugin and I'm not sure I'm being the most efficient with it.
If I have understood it correctly:

     1.  By docking at a given station I establish the selling price of an item (which will always be the same)
          so if I were to visit all stations in the galaxy once, I would then have a record of all selling prices (I buy, station sells me) - I hope that's correct

     2.  Station buying prices change with supply and demand (so to speak), to know this I have to launch into space and then I would know the buying prices in that given system. (I sell, station buys)
         Of course, I understand, that price might actually change in the time it takes me to get there (supply/demand).

     3.  For the "Station" tab to work, I would need to have purchased one of each item and have it stored at the station (??), so then I would not need to have a ship with each item (??)
          then I could compare my selling options, provided that I've been in space to know the price (??)

so then the TA plugin really only helps me in knowing the selling prices of goods, which is still a very good source of info to have handy.

I sense greater potential for the plugin, however, I feel I'm missing something, I think I got lost somewhere along the way.

Hi Muskrat, the public version of TA is the most stripped down personal database for commodities, ships and ore. There is massive potential for this plugin, some guilds have done just that, but they keep those locked to guild membership. You got it pretty bang-on, for the first two points.

I haven't used TA in a long time, so I cannot comment on the third point you made.

Thanks for replying,
That makes sense.
I've read other's comments on how the plugin has helped them, but I just couldn't make it work that efficiently, so this being a "sample" version makes sense.

Hello Muskrat,

If you haven't already done so, please see our trade tutorial at http://www.tgft.org/tips.html.

TA pulls all the data that the game will allow it to. This includes station sell prices of all items, whether you possess them or not, and station buy prices of anything that you possess at that station when you dock, either in storage or aboard your ship.

Station sell prices are static, and buy prices are dynamic. Buy prices change as players sell specific items at specific stations. It takes several hundred units of most commodities, but only a few units of most add-ons, to significantly affect buy prices. Depressed buy prices drift back upward over about a day or so if no further sales occur (of that item at that station). Buy prices normally will not change in the time it takes you to arrive at a station. Player trading activity isn't that intense.

Your #1 is correct.

On #3, buy prices are actually pretty stable most of the time, unless someone has sold a huge quantity of something within about a day after you last updated the price. So whether you use your stored TA data or the in-game optimum price pulled in space, you will usually get about the same result. My technique is to leave 1 unit in station storage every time I sell something. That way, I pull an up=to-date price for that item every time I dock at that station, and I'm always pretty well informed about the prices that I really care about, everywhere and all the time. The key is to do a lot of flying and docking.

Now imagine what would happen if a group of players had a system for sharing TA among themselves ... oh never mind ...

-- tsreknor

Thanks, that is very helpful.

I did read through the trading tips, that is what encouraged me to use the TA.

I've put many of the suggestions into practice with great results, I've also made some big gambles, I lost almost half-mil one day, some to bots as I was attempting to sell anywhere at a profit (and I could barely move my ship - too heavy), and some through bad decisions. Yet thanks to your suggestions I still had credits left over...

You have really got something here.

Lost to bots ... do you mean in a storm?

Storms are easily avoided. They occur only in asteroid or planet sectors. Nav around those, and you will never hit a storm.

Of course, a well-organized trade guild that consistently flies heavy trade ships throughout VO would be expected to have some sort of shared system for avoiding ... oh never mind ...

-- tsreknor

yes... ... I'm ashamed to admit it... to bots...

I had been through the whole galaxy trying to pawn off my cargo, (hoping to at least sell it at par at this point) except for grey space, so I ventured in, got caught in a storm, I did have a weapon but in all fairness it was of no use.
My ship was so heavy I couldn't even steer it straight, much less attempt to shoot back, and turbo? what turbo?

I was too far from the escape point...

If you're in a storm in a heavy trading ship, 95% of the time you will be propelled to the storm exit point.

Simply turn off F/A mode, and your ship will float towards the exit point at max speed until you can turn your ship and engage turbo.