Moving your items
Since EVE University is often at war, it is necessary for members to have a way to move their items, so they do not risk hauling on their EVE University character and potentially losing them to a war target. This page sets out some of the available options.
Creating an Alt Hauler
Since EVE University finds itself at war most of the time, a lot of students find it beneficial to set up their own dedicated hauling character to move their possessions. This makes it easier to go on shopping runs, because your alt character can move more safely to trade hubs and back whenever you need items.
You do not need a second account as each account has three character slots. If you are using a character on the same account you will just need to log out of your EVE University character and in with your alt hauler. You will also need to pause your skill training queue on your main character while you train up your hauler if they are on the same account (unless you have paid for Dual Character Training).
The page Creating an Alt Hauler sets out the process, including what skills to train to maximise your hauling capability without taking away too much time from training your main character.
Campus Hauling Services
Probably the most common method of hauling items within EVE University is by using the EVE University Sponsored Campus Shipping Service, available for nearly all campuses.
Expert Hauling List
For Assembled Ships and jobs that would not qualify under the Campus Hauling Service, please review the Expert Hauling List and ask for assistance under the #uni-hauling Discord channel.
Hauling Basics
As a Sender
Preparing your items
In order to ensure your courier contract is completed smoothly it is sensible to prepare your items first:
- Your items should be in the same station. If you are moving items from multiple locations you will need to issue multiple courier contracts
- To keep the size of your items to a minimum make sure you repackage them. To do this right click on the item in your hangar and click 'Repackage'. Be aware that if you repackage ships any rigs will be destroyed
- Make sure you calculate the value of your items first to ensure you set the right collateral (see below)
Setting up a courier contract as a sender
Each of the campus hauling services will have their own instructions and rules, so ensure you read the thread properly and follow the instructions on setting up the courier contract.
You will see that the campus hauling services generally have set routes they follow on a regular basis, so to make use of them your items will need to be in one of the stations on the route. Most of the campus hauling services are free to use, because they are subsidized by the campus, but unless you are very space-poor a tip is recommended to thank the hauler for their time and to offset their costs.
Since the haulers are volunteering their time for little to no reward, most of the campus services operate on a "no collateral" basis. What this means is if their ship is destroyed and your cargo is lost, you will not be compensated for it, so you essentially bear the risk. This is of course something to bear in mind and you should ensure you are able to cover the cost of replacing your possessions in the worst case scenario.
For steps on how to create a contract, see the below sections Creating Courier Contracts
Calculating collateral
Collateral is incredibly important with courier contracts. The concept is that the person moving your items pays over an amount of ISK which you specify. If they successfully complete the contract and deliver the items to their destination then they receive the collateral back. If, however, the contract fails they forfeit the collateral and it is paid to you instead. There are many reasons why a contract may fail, for example the person moving your items may be ganked and the items destroyed.
For this reason it is very important to ensure that the collateral you are asking for covers the cost of your items. Otherwise if the contract fails you will have to bear the cost of replacing them personally.
To calculate the approximate value of your items you can use a valuing site such as Evepraisal. To use it, go to your item hangar and make sure you are organising items in 'List' view in the top right. Then either select all of the items (Ctrl + A) or just the items you will be sending by contract (Ctrl + click the items you want to select) and copy them to your clipboard (Ctrl + C). Go to Evepraisal and paste the items into the box (Ctrl + V) then press submit. It is normal to value items based on their price in Jita. This will list all the items and their value, and at the bottom will give you a 'Total Sell Value' which is how much your items would be worth if you sold them. Your collateral should be at least this value.
Within the University as the Campus Hauling Services program has a 0-ISK collateral requirement, it is recommended that Unista-hauled jobs should likewise have a collateral of zero, although this is not required as this would be a private agreement.
How much to set as a reward
It is up to you how much you wish to offer as a reward for completing the contract. EVE University advice is:
- "Student contracts are free to pay whatever they wish, but are encouraged to provide a fair rate. The payment should assume a fully hisec route if one is available. You may need to pay more to encourage people to haul through dangerous space, but it's up to you".
As a Hauler
Getting ready to do Courier Contracts
Before you start accepting corporation courier contracts make sure you are well prepared. EVE University is at war almost all the time and while we are at war our war targets can shoot you anywhere in space without intervention from CONCORD. It is therefore just too dangerous to run courier contracts on your EVE University character.
Before you even consider doing corporation courier contracts you should create an alt character and train it up as a hauler. See the page on Creating an Alt Hauler for more information on how to do this, and what skills to train to be ready to haul.
You will also need some ISK spare to use as collateral when accepting the courier contract, so make sure you have some set aside.
Finding hauling contracts
Finding contracts as a hauler is easy. You just need to do the following:
- Open your Contracts window
- Click on Contract Search and click the Courier tab.
- Select the dropdown under "Availability" and select (and search) under Corporation, Alliance, and Public.
Creating Courier Contracts
Making a Private Courier Contract
Before you start see the sections on Preparing your items, Calculating Collateral and How much to set as a reward
In order to set up a public or private contract, you should do the following:
- Click the Contracts icon on your Neocom, which looks like:
- Click the 'Create Contract' button at the bottom of the window
- Set the contract type to 'Courier'.
- Set the Availability to 'Public' or type the name of the person who will accept it (setting to public is not completely necessary but will give your contract a better chance of being fulfilled because people can then accept it on their alt characters)
- Click 'Next'
- From the drop-down list at the top, select which station your items are in at the moment
- Check the box next to all the items you want moved (you can also use 'Select All' at the bottom)
- Click 'Next'
- Select the station you would like your items shipped to - If you type in the first three letters of the system you can search for it by clicking 'Search'
- Set a reward, which is the amount of ISK the person moving your items will received for completing the contract. See below for a guide on how much is reasonable
- Set your collateral, which is how much you will receive if the contract fails. It is very important to ensure that the collateral covers the cost of all your items. See the section on Calculating Collateral for more information. If it is with a fellow Unista, it is likely best to leave this as 0, but with Public it is very important as the pilot could simply choose to fail the contact and keep your stuff!
- Set an Expiration, which is how long the contract will be up for. It is sensible to set it for as long as possible, unless you need your items moved urgently
- Set a Time to Complete, which is how long the person completing your contract has to actually complete it
- Click 'Next'
- Review to ensure all the information is correct and then press 'Finish'
Making a Corporation Courier Contract
In order to make a corporation courier contract you should do the following:
- Click the Contracts icon on your Neocom, which looks like:
- Click the 'Create Contract' button at the bottom of the window
- Set the contract type to 'Courier'
- Set the Availability to 'My Corporation'
- Click 'Next'
- From the drop-down list at the top, select which station your items are in at the moment
- Check the box next to all the items you want moved (you can also use 'Select All' at the bottom)
- Click 'Next'
- Select the station you would like your items shipped to - If you type in the first three letters of the system you can search for it by clicking 'Search'
- Set a reward, which is the amount of ISK the person moving your items will received for completing the contract
- Set your collateral, which is how much you will receive if the contract fails. It is recommended that within the University that you set this to 0, but you may choose to add one if you wish. If you do, it is likely that it will take a long time for it to be accepted.
- Set an Expiration, which is how long the contract will be up for. It is sensible to set it for as long as possible, unless you need your items moved urgently
- Set a Time to Complete, which is how long the person completing your contract has to actually complete it
- Click 'Next'
- Review to ensure all the information is correct and then press 'Finish'
Accepting & Completing a Corporation Courier Contract
In order to accept and complete a courier contract you should do the following:
- Using your EVE University character, click the Contracts icon on your Neocom, which looks like:
- Under where it says "There are XX contracts assigned to your corporation" it will say "Courier: XX" which shows the number of corporation courier contracts available to accept. Click this
- This will show you all the current available courier contracts for EVE University. You can either browse all of the contracts or use the search bar on the left to narrow down the contracts shown (make sure you select the 'Courier' tab at the top
- Double click on the contract you want to accept and it will bring up the full details, including the starting and ending station, who issued the contract, the volume of the items, any collateral required, the time scales and the reward. Make sure you are happy with all of the information, then to accept it click 'Accept'
- The collateral will be deducted from your wallet and the items will be placed in your hangar in the starting station within a special container. You can look inside the container but do not unwrap it of the contract will be failed automatically
- At this point you should use a contract to transfer the container to your alt hauler who will actually be moving the items. To do this:
- Click the Contracts icon again in your Neocom
- At the bottom of the page select 'Create Contract'
- Set the Contract Type to 'Item Exchange'
- Set the availability to 'Private' and type in the name of your alt in the 'Name' box
- Click 'Next'
- Use the dropdown list at the top to select the starting station for the contract (which is where the items will be) and select the check box next to the container
- Click 'Next' twice
- Click 'Finish'
- Log on to your alt hauler and accept the contract by going to the Contracts icon on the Neocom, selecting the contract assigned to you and clicking 'Accept'. This will move the container into the hangar of your alt hauler in the starting station
- Go to the starting station with your hauling ship and place the container into your ship's cargo hold
- Travel carefully to the ending station for the contract and dock up
- Once you have arrived at the ending station you will need to do another item exchange contract to transfer the container back to your EVE University character, as they will need to complete the contract. Follow the same steps in number 6 above
- Log back in on your EVE University character and accept the contract as in number 7 above
- You can then complete the courier contract in the Contracts menu ()
Commercial Hauling Corporations
As well as the above options, there are corporations which specialise in running courier contracts for paying customers. EVE University do not endorse any courier corp in particular, but a couple of possibilities are Red Frog Freight or Push Industries (PushX).
Each corporation will have its own instructions on how to use their service and how to calculate the reward payable to their haulers. Before using one of these services it is advisable to research the corporation thoroughly to satisfy yourself of their trustworthiness (as much as you can in EVE, at least!).
EVE University members are welcome to join commercial hauling corporations with their alts if they choose, and it can be a good way of earning some extra ISK with your alt hauler.
EVE University's Out-of-Corp Student Hauling Program
Full information on this program and the rules for using it can be found on this forum post. This information is out of date, and the above information should be used instead. If you have any questions, please ask in #uni-hauling on Discord.