As I wrote last week in the post Strategy Debate: ROI vs Reciprocal Buying, I’ve become about as much of a reciprocal buying purist as you’ll find on EAv. If you buy my shares I will buy yours no matter what your ROI or share price and I’ll hold regardless of what happens to your ROI or share price as long as you stay active on Empire Avenue. I realize that not many others use the same strategy, and that’s cool.
I have a new idea that will help to connect reciprocal buyers with each other but in order to implement it well, I need to better understand the conditions various EAv players put on reciprocal buying. Some of the ones I’ve heard include:
- Can only match up to your max (as determined by how much pie you’ve bought)
- Will match up to a certain number of shares immediately and work towards matching the rest later.
- Will only match if the player has an ROI above a certain threshold.
- Will only match if the player’s share price is trending upward.
- Will only match if the player is active on EAv (above a certain # EAv actions in the last week).
- Similar to the last 3, some people will only hold as long as the players ROI stays above a certain threshold, sin’t trending down, and stays active on EAv.
- Will match and hold based on a bunch of factors but have no hard and fast rules. So basically it comes down to gut feeling.
If you do reciprocal buying of some sort, what are your conditions?
Empire Avenue Tips 
Dec 29, 2011 @ 18:38:47
Only two, can only reciprocate as eaves allow, and prefer active on EA..
Dec 29, 2011 @ 18:54:11
Thanks for your input Anne. So, what do you do if eaves do not allow? Do you match buys until eaves run out for the day and then not buy back? Or do you start doing partial buy backs when eaves get low with the hopes of coming back and buying the rest later?
And when you say “prefer active on EA,” do you mean you might not buy back if a shareholder is not active?
Need your input on reciprocal buying strategy-via Empireav.wordpress.com « Empire Avenue Blog
Dec 29, 2011 @ 18:39:49
Dec 29, 2011 @ 18:56:50
I tend to buy most people who purchase me. I have softened my postion as my daily eaves have risen to where I can buy as much as I want daily.
I purchase dividends first. If they are above .80 / share I buy and keep. If the ROI is above .90 I buy and keep. After that it depends on where what I spend will provide the most eaves.
I sell if you don´t own any of my stock and you are peaking … tending orange or red. I sell if your activity has gone negative, espeically for weeks and I am showing no profit. I have so many stocks I it time consuming to see where the worst sliders are. There are many this week who I own 500-700 shares. It is a gut feeling at some point.
Thank you.
Dec 29, 2011 @ 19:18:21
Thanks Michael. I appreciate your input.
Dec 29, 2011 @ 19:16:05
In general, I invest everything I have each day. When I am reciprocally buying and when I am low on eaves, I invest as much as I can and go back each day until I am maxed out in them as eaves allow. I am often running low on eaves so people who have higher share prices of over $100 will get two or three buy backs instead of just one buy back.
Dec 29, 2011 @ 19:21:30
Thanks Erin, that sounds like a good way to do it.
Dec 29, 2011 @ 22:31:15
My strategy is to buy back what I can afford to buy. But I buy back on all purchases and hold onto those whose have shares in me. I have added one little twist now, if someone buys a few shares in me one time but do not continue to invest Meaning I have bought more shares in them and it has been a month or more since they have made any investments, I may sell off excess shares above their investment that I hold to reinvest in those who do invest or have maxxed out in me.
Dec 31, 2011 @ 14:09:29
Thanks Cheryl!
Dec 29, 2011 @ 23:14:47
I have no real limitations. I will buy back any who will buy back with me. I hate to fall behind – ie. someone has 125 of mine and I have 75 of their shares. I try to stay a few shares ahead. Of course with the major players, those above 100e/share it is harder, so I am usually playing catch up. For the major players, I buy in increments of 10 or 15 shares at a time. For the others I will buy in increments of 25 or 50. I generally will hold unless it has become apparent that the individual has left the game. I am currently holding 200 shares of a player who has dropped significantly. I think she indicated computer problems, so I would not put her in the category of leaving the game.
Regarding buying power, I am limited to 200 shares. I guess I have to spend a week or two of saving eaves to get a bigger piece of the pie.
Dec 31, 2011 @ 14:09:59
Thanks Rich!
Dec 29, 2011 @ 23:16:51
For me, I had a hard & fast rule of No Buy-Backs. I did not even think about reciprocity until I was earning 100,000e/day in Div income.
At that point, I did a complete change of tactics that was not as much about reciprocity as it was Loyalty. Reciprocal buying AND selling were key factors in my Loyalty strategy. I would rather hold 600 shares of someone who has 600 shares of me and ZERO Divs than someone who has ZERO shares of me & a HUGE ROI.
My goal changed to be matched/maxed in EVERY ACTIVE shareholder. If someone stopped being a shareholder, I would sell them & use the eaves to get closer to my goal.
“ACTIVE” depends on looking at the account and making a gut decision.
Matching vs. Maxing depends on the numbers generated by the account & their method of investing in me. Again, a lot of times it just came down to a gut decision. When EAvs allow, I like to have 500-600 shares in every active shareholder regardless of how many shares they have of mine, so again, it’s not really a “buy-back.”
Life has kept me from being active on EAv for the past month or more. In that time, my share price has gone UP. Loyalty just feels right to me, and it’s a lot more in line with my personality. It has also PROVEN to be an effective STRATEGY.
One note about reciprocal buying and selling: People often talk about how folks should not take it personally when they are sold. If someone sells me, I DON’T take it personally, but I’m amazed with how someone who has just said it’s just a business decision & nothing personal becomes ENRAGED when I reciprocate the sell. As I’ve said, my reciprocal selling is all about strategy & not personal, but when I get a nasty response from a sell, it DOES become personal in that I am now laughing pretty hard. =D
TL;DR: Loyalty is more important than ROI, but I only did reciprocal buys when my account was strong enough to do so. In my case, Reciprocal Buying has PROVEN to be an amazing strategy.
Dec 31, 2011 @ 14:08:36
Thanks Jake, I think you’re right that loyalty works and sounds a lot better than reciprocity. We all have down times on EAv and in life. I want to surround myself with people who are going to stay with me and not bail on me when I’m down.
Dec 30, 2011 @ 05:31:06
I usually match and even overmatch immediately if the eaves allow me and hold their stocks as long as they are active on EA.If someone sells my shares i try to hold them as long as their graph shows upward trend.For Matching people like Chris Voss i use eaves from inactive players.
Dec 31, 2011 @ 14:05:33
Thanks Rohit!
Dec 30, 2011 @ 05:46:36
I try to match as soon as possible, my always limited Eaves permitting. If someone maxes on my shares instantly. I work over time to get to my max of 200. I believe firmly in reciprocating, regardless of ROI (which I don’t care about), and regardless of share value going up or down. I believe completely reciprocation meets my preference of making wonderful new connections with fantastic people better than any other way. Building friendships and connections outweighs ROI a trillion to one for me.
I have zero interest in keeping track of such peripherals (to me, anyway) as ROI. There is no way that my reciprocating decision should ever come down to percentages or pennies. If a player is interested in purchasing my shares, I am more than happy to buy their shares back. If I am short of eaves, as is usually the case, I buy as many shares as possible and return later to continue the purchase. I don’t build wealth in eaves anywhere close to as fast as other players; and I don’t care. I prefer to build relationships as the real ROI for me.
Dec 31, 2011 @ 14:05:05
Thanks for explaining your investment philosophy Wayne!
Dec 30, 2011 @ 18:29:53
Paul I posted this to your topic in John’s community but I also thought I’d paste it here.
“I do reciprocal buying but I’ve gotten to the point where i’m matched with all my shareholders and so now it’s who do I buy? I’ve been buying newbies with share prices increasing 1e or more on a constant basis. I only go back and check them each morning. Anyone who hasn’t increased 1e by the next morning gets sold off unless they’ve bought some of my shares. Have experimented with them by using shoutouts vs non-shoutouts to see who buys back. I did find that if a shoutout was left they tended to buy back something. If I didn’t shoutout they didn’t buy back. If after going through the newbies for the day and I still have eaves in the bank I check out those shares who have divs/share greater than 1. I don’t base my buying on ROI because alot of time I found that just cause someone’s got a GREAT ROI doesn’t mean they make me the money I want. Yes (e)Pirillo sucks on ROI but as someone on your blog post replied he makes me over 1200 eaves a day (3.48 divs/share a day). Which is another 1200 a day I can spend on someone new who invests in me.”
My newbie strategy is based on this post http://www.empireavenue.com/community/page/discuss/?c=2418&d=61974475
So in all I believe Divs/Share are more important than ROI. I also sell off those who have NO activity on EA who make me no divs.
Dec 31, 2011 @ 14:00:18
Thanks April! I appreciate you explaining your strategy.
Jan 02, 2012 @ 13:17:16
Paul I have experimented with various buy back strategies and rules. Currently I match 50 with all but the major players that have very low divs, hold 600 in me, and have high prices. For those players I buy a few when I can, but they really don’t need my eaves. Everyone else gets the first 50 matched. Then I match with everyone above 0.5 ROI starting with the highest ROI and working my way down. I do have my newbie strategy and they are the first sell and purchase orders of the morning. What’s left after that goes to matching, then finding other players to invest in. If we are doing the reciprocal buys, I like to do it within a few days otherwise I sometimes forget. Especially if I’m working my way up with 20 to 30 people. It can get lost in my 650+ portfolio.
Jan 02, 2012 @ 13:51:34
Thanks Dana. That’s a very well thought out strategy.