Hi GearHead97 ,
I feel like the question is too broad. It'd be easier to answer if you were more specific.
For example, I'd definitely buy tools but only in certain cases (if I break the ones I already bought/ if I need an extra one).

I feel like the question should be more like "what do you buy the most" that way you will find more information about what's trending around ECC. Because, personally, I'm likely to buy in all those fields and the probability that differentiates one field from another is not that big (I don't have a major preference for one field over another).

In my case, for example, what I buy the most are raw materials. That's the main thing I buy, but at the same time I'm likely to spend my money in the other fields too at any moment (except, maybe, entertainment)
Does this make sense? =)

I like the main idea though! I did something similar when I had my spawn shop and plotted the data on excel to find the trends on what was more popular (what people bought the most) and focus more on getting those materials more than others. That way I'd keep a smaller stock for wood for example while having a much bigger stock of and spending more time on getting quartz.

Hope this helps!

 

I feel like people like to do their own skins normally or get them from somewhere online (like I did with mine haha)

This are the businesses I know of that are ran on ECC:
- Building companies:
Just that. A team that will build things for a certain amount of money in a certain period of time. Success depends on how serious you are and the quality of your job. For instance, I'd rather hire a team if they do a contract saying they'll have it done by a certain date. If it's not done by the date then I'll pay a little bit less per day over. With this you can set a date you are sure you'll finish the job while attracting people that will hope to get something built by someone else for less money or people that are looking for a really professional/serious looking team.
I know most people won't just trust anyone with a big project they need help with.
If you choose this I suggest you get a portfolio; a bunch of already built stuff to show that you are good at what you are doing.

- Farms:
I feel like you forgot about this one! haha. A farm is a good way to make money. If you can build a good farm you'll be able to sell perms to it to other people. If it's a very well planned farm and it's big enough (not just one floor but multiple) you'll surely get people to buy perms.
- Spawn Shop:
I've had a spawn shop in 2 different occasions. The first one was with a partner (OnSceneReporter) who is the person I trust the most in this server. We both worked together to stock the spawn shop; we were both in charge of gathering materials to be sold while I was also in charge of re-stocking the materials to the signs since the shop was to my name. We made around 60k per day on a good day. Divided by 2 I got 30k per day for my share.
The 2nd time was an epic fail. I didn't have a partner anymore (OnScene was mod then and we had several projects going on so he didn't have as much time as before) and it was really hard to stock the shop on my own.
You have a partner, this wouldn't be a bad idea to follow!
- Insurance company.
I've only heard of this being done by one person. It's tricky and very risky. Most people won't trust a resident on this. (I'm sorry but it's just how it is =/ once you get mayor or some [$]'s you get to be more trusted by the rest of the community). I won't explain this one however.
- Material gathering (and selling):
Some people hire other people (usually builders who are paid quit a bit less for the job they are doing than what they should get) to gather materials for them. You set a price for the amount and type of materials obtained. Example: I pay you $200 for each double chest of dirt. And I'll either use it on another job (combining this with the Building Business for example) or sell it for a higher price.
I barely did any work and I'm getting profit from it. You should do contracts or something alike. Otherwise you could get "sued" (a complaint filed against you) if you don't pay someone for their job.


This post ended up being a lot longer than I thought it'd be and I'm not done listing the possible businesses available on ECC. I can't remember more right now but I know there are more haha. Also, be creative! If you find a new idea that's a good one you might be able to get some good money from it. Remember that we are trying to simulate real life economy here so you could think of something that is done in real life that hasn't yet been done in ECC. That's how casinos came to be for example.

Again, hope this helps! Sorry for the long post haha

 

Also, if you are going to make a store with raw materials, PAY ATTENTION TO THE TRADE CHANNEL! I can't say that loud enough! I made so much money in one night just from watching the trade channel and seeing what people need. But this works usually if u have a store in your town and not at the market square. And you must have tp for it to work. Someone wants quartz blocks and you sell that in your shop. You message them and then if they r interested, you tp them to your shop. It really works! My store though is 4 huge floors of almost everything on the server. You may be limited on your space. But just letting you know what works for me. Good luck!

 

- Building companies: It depends on how dedicated you are. I actually have had trouble finding people that actually like to build! Most of the residents/builders that bought permissions to my town wanted a prebuilt thing instead of building their own even if it was more expensive. Plus, you are not just building houses or that sort of stuff. You are building farms and other things people don't like to build because they are boring and tiring.

-Farms: It does take time BUT.... are you kidding? No one wants to build a 200x200 farm with multiple floors haha that's why they make money! People who actually teamed up and decided to build a farm make profit because people, like me and dozens of others, don't wanna use their time building a 200x200 farm (or bigger). So, all these people won't buy land to build their own farm because for it to be profitable (hourly based) it has to be quite big.
I understand that you are not here all the time though. But it wouldn't be a bad idea to reconsider this option.

- Insurance company: actually, yeah there are anti-grief laws/mods/admins/ etc BUT they can only ban the perpetrator. If they destroy your diamond castle they can't give it back. Also, people lose their tools. And if they can provide evidence of it happening you would have to pay whatever amount you said you'd pay for the item in the contract. BUT, obtaining this evidence it's hard most of the times.
Say you are protecting a diamond castle. They'd have to provide a mod-accepted/reviewed griefing report. If they can't do that then you can't pay them back and you keep the money they paid you initially.
Again, it's not popular because you need money to get it started AND it's quite the job. But with a team it could be profitable. Again, it's an idea though. I only know of one person doing this and so far it's working for her.

- About being creative... It's true it's sort of like that but for example, annyonion started a business doing Forum Signatures. People pay her and she will do one for you. I THINK she makes around 70k per signature. Not sure though. And I haven't seen someone copying that because to copy that you have to be quite good! (as anny is).
So it depends on how unique your idea is and how hard it's to copy and how good you are at it. I wish I could do what anny does but I'd probably fail haha

 

I started my banner business at 6-8k a banner. It's only the price it is now due to high demand and the time I spend I on them (2-4 hours a banner or more). I noticed an increase in banner businesses after I started mine and people using the same style I was doing, but most of them have either died out or lost interest in continuing business. My own business is on hold ATM. I'm also starting an interior design business soon but I'm not sure how much to charge.

There's many possibilities when it comes to starting a business on ecocitycraft and thats what I love about this server. The only thing I have to add is be creative in whatever you do, originality is my own personal standing point and one reason why I'm here the way I am today. Businesses will rise and fall though, so goodluck to you!