Stokes Supplies Folks in Dal

Interview with Alex Stolkes, local entrepreneur in Dal.

How did you get in the business of selling pre-fitted ships?

I can’t do the same thing in Eve for a long time, if something starts to be boring I just´stop doing it.

I like to try new things from time to time. Example, my lottery and my (german) financial service.

I’ve currently started selling pre-fitted ships in Dal.

I got the idea from the forums, where there was talk about another low sec trade hub. In the thread, someone stated that he missed a service which was offered by someone who had stopped it: pre fitted ships.

I began to do the math on this but cancelled everything, because I had no desire to look for a place.

Why have you chosen Dal over Faction War hubs like Huola or Auga? 

One month ago I talked to a friend about this and he agreed that it was a good idea. He suggested Dal. After running the math and checking dotlan, etc, I agreed and started to move in.

Other low sec trade hubs aren’t selling completely fitted ships, so in fact there is no “other” trade hub compared to my offers in Dal at the moment.

It simply makes no difference for the customer if you fly one jump to an existing low sec hub or if you do one jump to Dal for everything at once. And Dal is simply a quiet place. I’ve never seen a gate camp in contrast to those other hubs. So I have no competition to those other hubs and therefore must not rely on the demand at those places.

How long have you been selling fitted ships in Dal? 

The first ship was sold on 2011.07.31.

Do you sell elsewhere? 

Not yet but we’ll see.

What all do you have for sale? 

The most common ships in Eve I guess: Drakes with heavy missiles and heavy assault missiles, a nano-shield Hurricane and an armor Hurricane (where I am tweaking the fitting at the moment from 425mm Autocanons to 220 mm Autocanons to get two medium neuts online); a triple rep Myrmidon (I plan a dual repair too), and an armor Harbinger.

All Ships are with ammo, drones, cap boosters, and rigs so all anyone has to do is accept the contract and start fighting.

Can customers pre-order ships?

Sure, but there should be a decent amount of ships ordered. I won’t fly for a single cruiser or battle cruiser. For example I sold eleven Moas as a single order. Those were delivered in under 24hours.

How do you choose your fittings for your pre-fit, contracted ships?

I just looked up the fittings at a forum and chose the most common small gank fittings. I’ve also been given advice from the locals in Dal and Auga to optimize; thanks to those who have helped me improving my fittings.

How do you advertise?

At the time just in local. Sadly it looks a bit like Jita and for those who are online at one system for a long time it might be annoying. To those: please excuse me. I try to catch ganks coming through those systems. So when the local spikes, I send my advertisement.

Loosing a ship at the beginning of a roam, maybe in the first fight, is frustrating, because flying to a trade hub and buying a new ship takes some time, even if you are close to one. Time the others might not want to wait.

So knowing that there are pre-fitted ships in Dal could save your evening.  You can go on flying with your gang in your pod until you reach Dal, wait the 30 sec session change after docking and go on roaming.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Yes. If you see my prices please think one moment about it before you scream. It is Jita + about 20 % – 30 % without mentioning the transport! Everything is transparent. If you have any questions, just ask. But for that 20 % – 30 % you save:

*the way to a trade hub
*the time it takes to click-through the market and buy everything
*the risk to undock and forget the damn drones
*the way back.

A shield-nano Hurricane costs about 56 M ISK in Jita and I sell it for 73 mil ISK, which is about 30 % without transport.

If you think this is still to expensive for the benefits you get, then don’t buy it. I just want the people to know that the offer is there. The rest is up to supply and demand 🙂