Paul Hexem Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 I found a store on the Marketplace that also has a store in world. However, the prices on the marketplace are inflated just over 5% higher.For example, an item in world is 600 L$. The item on the marketplace is 635 L$.Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that against the listing guidelines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ry0ta Exonar Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 If you flag them, they will be removed by review team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Hexem Posted April 23, 2012 Author Share Posted April 23, 2012 Can you flag an entire MP store...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ry0ta Exonar Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 I don't think there is a flag button for the whole store. You'd have to flag the items one by one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Orellana Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 I have seen plenty of such stores and I flag them. It bothers me so much that some merchants still do this. It only makes me not buy from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lasher Oh Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 A marketplace markup of L35 for a inworld object that costs 600 is just under 6% which would cover the 5% commission charge that LL levy and help towards the cashing out costs they also charge. So in straight marketing terms I don't really consider that an excessive differential and find it odd that folks object, afterall a slightly lower price in world encourages inworld shopping. Many many folks have cussed the marketplace for killing off the inworld shopping experience, so an in world discount at point of sale seems a very reasonable marketing tactic to me. There was a time in the old days when xstreet had a policy that said there could be no more than about 5% differential either way but today the policy is deliberately vaque and states that.... 'inflating prices on the SL Marketplace, in comparison to in-world or other e-commerce sites' is Anti Competive and abusive behaviour. Rather than striking out at the merchant for trying to cover marketing costs I'd have a go at LL lab for inflating the dollar value of all the items we sell - now that almost verges on daylight robbery. ^L^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Hancroft Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 I agree with Lasher. I see no problem and no "abuse" in charging just under 6% more to purchase from the marketplace compared to the inworld store. Every retail store in the real world increases prices to offset costs in advertising, payroll and other uncontrollable expenses. The commission that Linden Lab charges us is an uncontrollable expense so why can't we do price increases to offset that cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy Romano Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Marcus Hancroft wrote: I agree with Lasher. I see no problem and no "abuse" in charging just under 6% more to purchase from the marketplace compared to the inworld store. Every retail store in the real world increases prices to offset costs in advertising, payroll and other uncontrollable expenses. The commission that Linden Lab charges us is an uncontrollable expense so why can't we do price increases to offset that cost? Not necessarily picking on your post Marcus but I don't understand the inflating the price argument at all. Do the same merchants who do this also add a bit on to their advertised price to cover a % of tier cost? I've NEVER seen anyone do that so why add it on to a MP listing price? If they don't, why not? It's a cost of doing business, just as a mall rent spot is, each of which has a different rate, do they charge "a bit more" for each mall, based around that mall cost? Nope. Do they charge a bit more to cover LL's commission on exchanging L$'s when they cash out? Nope. Do they charge a bit more to cover any commission given away to an affiliate? Nope. MP is effectively an affiliate, nothing more and an incredibly cheap one at that, most affiliate programmes are between 20% to 50%. It's a very controllable expense too, there are two ways to guarantee no marketplace commission costs:- Sell for less than L$10 Don't list on Marketplace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Hancroft Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Sassy Romano wrote: Marcus Hancroft wrote: I agree with Lasher. I see no problem and no "abuse" in charging just under 6% more to purchase from the marketplace compared to the inworld store. Every retail store in the real world increases prices to offset costs in advertising, payroll and other uncontrollable expenses. The commission that Linden Lab charges us is an uncontrollable expense so why can't we do price increases to offset that cost? Not necessarily picking on your post Marcus but I don't understand the inflating the price argument at all. Do the same merchants who do this also add a bit on to their advertised price to cover a % of tier cost? I've NEVER seen anyone do that so why add it on to a MP listing price? If they don't, why not? It's a cost of doing business, just as a mall rent spot is, each of which has a different rate, do they charge "a bit more" for each mall, based around that mall cost? Nope. Do they charge a bit more to cover LL's commission on exchanging L$'s when they cash out? Nope. Do they charge a bit more to cover any commission given away to an affiliate? Nope. MP is effectively an affiliate, nothing more and an incredibly cheap one at that, most affiliate programmes are between 20% to 50%. It's a very controllable expense too, there are two ways to guarantee no marketplace commission costs:- Sell for less than L$10 Don't list on Marketplace Good mornin, Miss Sassy! :smileyvery-happy: Yes, I see what you mean. I guess there's always two sides to everything, huh? I've never inflated my marketplace prices to cover the percentage Linden Lab charges in commission and I don't inflate them either inworld. I guess my biggest thing about this subject is that Linden Lab expressly forbids us to do that. We can't set our own prices differently than our inworld stores?? I see inworld store sales all the time (albeit temporary sales) that are not available on the marketplace store. This is abuse as well according to Linden Lab's policy isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy Romano Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Marcus Hancroft wrote: We can't set our own prices differently than our inworld stores?? I see inworld store sales all the time (albeit temporary sales) that are not available on the marketplace store. This is abuse as well according to Linden Lab's policy isn't it? Yes it is and in this instance since LL offer no method of facilitating that sale on MP to match and any edit of the listing is detrimental to the search positioning of the listing, LL should think about rectifying this, oh wait, we did get a Facebook button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Hancroft Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Sassy Romano wrote: Marcus Hancroft wrote: We can't set our own prices differently than our inworld stores?? I see inworld store sales all the time (albeit temporary sales) that are not available on the marketplace store. This is abuse as well according to Linden Lab's policy isn't it? Yes it is and in this instance since LL offer no method of facilitating that sale on MP to match and any edit of the listing is detrimental to the search positioning of the listing, LL should think about rectifying this, oh wait, we did get a Facebook button. Oh yeah! I forgot about that! LOL! Except...I don't have a Facebook account with my SL account. I don't think Facebook allows accounts with Second Life Avatars do they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy Romano Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Marcus Hancroft wrote: I don't think Facebook allows accounts with Second Life Avatars do they? They don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argus Collingwood Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Sassy Romano wrote: Marcus Hancroft wrote: I don't think Facebook allows accounts with Second Life Avatars do they? They don't. They have changed that policy and allow Fictional characters https://www.facebook.com/pages/Argus-Collingwood-in-SL/216928874992957 You may also tie your SL avatar to your main page with the nickname option. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=645124019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Orellana Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Lasher Oh wrote: A marketplace markup of L35 for a inworld object that costs 600 is just under 6% which would cover the 5% commission charge that LL levy and help towards the cashing out costs they also charge. So in straight marketing terms I don't really consider that an excessive differential and find it odd that folks object, afterall a slightly lower price in world encourages inworld shopping. Many many folks have cussed the marketplace for killing off the inworld shopping experience, so an in world discount at point of sale seems a very reasonable marketing tactic to me. There was a time in the old days when xstreet had a policy that said there could be no more than about 5% differential either way but today the policy is deliberately vaque and states that.... 'inflating prices on the SL Marketplace, in comparison to in-world or other e-commerce sites' is Anti Competive and abusive behaviour. Rather than striking out at the merchant for trying to cover marketing costs I'd have a go at LL lab for inflating the dollar value of all the items we sell - now that almost verges on daylight robbery. ^L^ Something you are forgetting is that inworld you must pay tier regardless of whether or not you make a single sale. In the Marketplace you do not pay anything unless you DO make a sale. For this pro price inflation argument to be valid LL would have to be charging us per listing rather than per sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deja Letov Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 I'm not sure I would report listings that are just over 5%. Ok if something was say 10% over then maybe, but most likely they are just covering the cost of the MP fee. Reporting for it being just barely over the threshold just seems...I don't know, pointless and causing unecessary grief for the merchant. It's not exactly what I would call abuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy Romano Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Deja Letov wrote: I'm not sure I would report listings that are just over 5%. Ok if something was say 10% over then maybe, but most likely they are just covering the cost of the MP fee. Reporting for it being just barely over the threshold just seems...I don't know, pointless and causing unecessary grief for the merchant. It's not exactly what I would call abuse. What "fee"? It's a cost of doing business, same as tier, advertising and all the others. I don't see marginal price increases broken down for each of those per location, there's just no justification for it at all. Hmm, let me think... maybe i'll charge some customers more because on the day they purchased, support staff were on duty in the shop and I had to pay them. It just doesn't wash. or like I referenced in my other post, for all those who offer affiliate vendors, does the product price go up "to cover the commission" that creator pays the affiliate? If not why not (using the same justification). "Buy from an affiliate or get it 40% cheaper at my store!!". Won't fly will it? That affiliate program would never even start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deja Letov Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Well I look at it like this. The prices I set are based off my in world fees. So my tier, cost of employees, etc. Those are all in consideration when I set my prices and are already included in the in world price. It's just like if you were to open another store location, if you doubled your tier, etc you would most likely up your prices to compensate. MP is like another store in my eyes, not an affiliate because affiliates do all the work, do the advertising for it and pay the tier that the affiliate vendor sits on, the Marketplace is all you. My store was in place and selling long before I made a Marketplace store. So when I created a Marketplace store, that is a new fee that was never worked into the cost of goods. And since the fee only applies to marketplace sales I see nothing wrong with it. Now, I admit, I don't mark my items up to cover the 5% commission fee, it's negligible to me, but it would be considered an expense that wouldn't need to be there if it were an in world sale. I get what you're saying, and some people, myself included, do run business just based on one price, but the point I was making was the difference between a 5% marketup and a 6% markup seems a little rediculous to go through the trouble to flag every item. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lasher Oh Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Well they nearly hit us with that baby (per Item Fee) a couple of years back and I wouldn't be surprised if they come back with it again before too long. In which case we will be paying a listing fee and commission and we will still not be getting any extra cut from the hugely inflated dollar comparison charge that LL make. I still hold that it is legitimate to add a 5% surcharge to cover the commission charged - it's a normal business practice. As I've discovered many a time I've used my credit card to make a flight booking or buy a bottle of wine. ^L^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deja Letov Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 I agree Lasher, it's legitimate to add it...IF your business chooses to do so, some will and some won't, but there is nothing wrong if they do, since it's allowed. I think the main question here since the original poster made the thread is should you report the listings for being between 5%-6% since 5% is the limit. Do we punish someone for being slightly bad at math? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lasher Oh Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 "do they charge "a bit more" for each mall, based around that mall cost?' Actually back in the day when I used to rent Mall spots I did actually 'test' different pricing for different Malls and markets. And if I rented in a particularly high priced mall yes I would try bumping up my prices. It was all useful research that helped me to evaluate the best market rate. Every major retail chain I have ever come across has a similar pricing policy it's not uncommon to find certain goods higher priced in more affluent areas and marked down in others. I personally don't actually bump my prices up for marketplace sales I just take the hit and don't pass it on but I'm sure that LL would love to see me increase them. ^L^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spica Inventor Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Why on Gods green earth would anyone want to control what a person prices their products at on SL? In addition when you increase your prices on the marketplace over what they are in world the only person you are abusing is yourself because you are causing yourself less sales on The Marketplace which will mean lower rankings on the very important relevance search and creating a vicious cycle. I don't even have an in world vendor anymore as I redirect people to my marketplace store instead. I notice that some merchants make you come to their in world store to buy copy versions of their products? How does that help their business? It would be better to sell all the versions on The Marketplace it would seem to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanara Zenovka Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Maybe instead of regarding a slight increase as compensation for the MP 5% commission, it should be viewed as a PITA surcharge. But then once you account for the extra hours of support and maintenance involved, a much higher % seems appropriate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy Romano Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Deja Letov wrote: MP is like another store in my eyes, not an affiliate because affiliates do all the work, do the advertising for it and pay the tier that the affiliate vendor sits on, the Marketplace is all you. Well taking just this part, if the item sells, MP bumps it up in search, it provides the advertising platform (at no cost to you), provides the product hosting environment (at no cost to you) and the only thing they ask for is a small percentage if the item sells. Sounds just like an affiliate to me! Anyway, no I wouldn't bother flagging someone for it, I just wouldn't buy at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kampu Oyen Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 >'inflating prices on the SL Marketplace, in comparison to in-world or other e-commerce sites' is Anti Competive and abusive behaviour. There's no real logic behind it. When LL uses the term "anti-competitive" they actually tend to mean "demand-driven"; that is: "competitive". By contrast, price-fixing would seem to be just fine. In fact, by LL's standard, price fixing would seem to be the very model of "competition". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann Otoole Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Is that rule still in the listing guidelines? That was an xstreet rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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