Marketplace pricing rules?

[Kampu Oyen]

>This is abuse as well according to Linden Lab's policy isn't it?

Maybe not. According the way the policy is written, dropping the prices in-world should then obligate Marketplace merchants to also drop their prices in order to avoid having an inflated price.

In other words, in-world merchants are essentially granted the right to set Marketplace prices.

I think the whole concept is crap, though, regardless of who it favors.

Customers should be able to determine the value of an item by deciding what they are willing to pay for it, regardless of the production, marketing or distribution costs, and regardless of any commissions.

It's called "market capitalism". I should think LL would have heard of it by now, somehow.

But no?

[Kampu Oyen]

>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.

I still don't see why uniform parity is necessarily desireable anyway, as a matter of policy.

Some customers may be willing to pay more for the in-world shopping experience for some items, while others may be willing to pay more in order to avoid it for some items.

What's so wrong with letting customers decide what something is worth to them according to total context?

If you don't agree, you don't have to provide the item at that price.

The whole idea that value is essentially a function of cost or effort, rather than subjective utility to the consumer is marxist.

If LL really wants to manage their economy from that angle, it's little surprise that they've also otherwise failed to make it more profitable.

Maybe LL should just socialize the whole in-world experience and get it subsidized by registering as a nonprofit, then lobbying the US Congress for a tax on competing grids.

[Kampu Oyen]

>I agree Lasher, it's legitimate to add it..

It's legitimate on capitalist principle if customers are willing to pay it, although we've agreed not to do it by agreeing to do things the Linden way.

By having both types of shops, you sort of limit yourself in terms of your ability to charge a lower price in-world if customers aren't willing to pay as much, unless, of course, you´re also willing to sacrifice some profit on the MP in order to match the lower in-world price.

This is a major reason why I've never been very interested in opening in-world stores.

Other people tweaking or repackaging my stuff and reselling it can charge as much or as little as they like, and they've never given me any good reason to have to think about that problem at all.

I thank LL for at least not requiring that MP merchants also maintain a commercial presence in-world (yet). Just managing the cost structures would probably be creatively paralyzing.

[Kampu Oyen]

>Why on Gods green earth would anyone want to control what a person prices their products at on SL?

I can start giving you a list of possible reasons, but they're almost all "paranoid".

That is, "paranoid" and very well precedented in pertienent legal annals.

[Deja Letov]

---

Sassy Romano wrote:

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.

---

Well, this sentence right there...saying it's free but then saying they ask for a small percentage. It's contradictory. You are still paying. I think we will just have to agree to disagree on affiliate vs. another store cause I don't see the relation to an affiliate at all. But oh well, enough for this poor horse.

[Deja Letov]

---

Kampu Oyen wrote:

>'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".

 

---

What they really mean is "inflating prices on the SL Marketplace,in comparison to in-world or other e-commerce websites could make your customer purchase from your store instead of the Marketplace and that means we wouldn't make money off of you...so don't do it!"

[Paul Hexem]

What I'm getting from all this is that it IS against the rules but there are arguments that the items shouldn't be flagged because it's not really unethical and/or a lot of people disagree with the rule?

[Deja Letov]

I would say use your best judgement and don't do it for a MINOR amount. The difference between 5 and 6% is practically nothing. On a 100L item we're talking 1L. Do you really feel the need to complain over 1l? Id look for more major violations, like a minimum of a 10% increase is what I would look for. That's even IF you really feel like policing it. Personally I could care less if someone charges less in world, it doesn't affect me, it only affects LL and their 5% commission.

[Marcus Hancroft]

---

Deja Letov wrote:

---

Kampu Oyen wrote:

>'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".

 

---

What they really mean is "inflating prices on the SL Marketplace,in comparison to in-world or other e-commerce websites could make your customer purchase from your store instead of the Marketplace and that means we wouldn't make money off of you...so don't do it!"

---

 

This is EXACTLY what I think too, Deja.

[Pamela Galli]

Apparently on SL Exchange it was okay to inflate by 5% or so -- it was not a written policy but one of the mods stated it. So a lot of people have just continued to do that.

I would rather ppl buy on MP but I try to keep the prices synced. I am not going to make it cheaper to buy online, because if ppl go to the trouble to come inworld to see something I am not going to exact a penalty for buying there.

[Sassy Romano]

---

Deja Letov wrote:

---

Sassy Romano wrote:

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.

---

Well, this sentence right there...saying it's free but then saying they ask for a small percentage. It's contradictory. You are still paying. I think we will just have to agree to disagree on affiliate vs. another store cause I don't see the relation to an affiliate at all. But oh well, enough for this poor horse.

---

All I meant was:-

Affiliate: (you don't pay their mall rent, the affiliate does.  You get paid, less a commission to the affiliate.

Marketplace: (you don't pay directly for a listing fee which funds their hosting costs.  You get paid, less a commission to MP).

So in that sense, that's why I'm saying it's similar in operation and nobody prices their items to affiliates by an increase equal to that which goes to the affiliate do they?

Buy direct from me for L$100 or via an affliate and it costs L$140 (while they get 40%) but if they want to they can try that model, it'll fail but it's up to them.

I do agree that anyone should be able to charge whatever they want, including on MP, what I find odd is merely the argument that mechants *have* to charge 5% more because 5% goes to LL as if LL is suddenly the only cost out there while forgetting all the inworld costs and associated other sundries.

If LL want to compete, they should try making MP such an incredibly compelling place to shop rather than an underhand forced one, that way if people want to charge more and it's purchased via MP, LL get more commission anyway.

[Marcus Hancroft]

Let's have a look at the math:

Item Cost - $100L  marketplace commission - $5L  Amount to Merchant - $95L

Now...let's add the 5% to the item cost:

Item Cost $100L + 5% = $105L  Marketplace commission - $5.25L rounded up to $6L (cause you know they don't round DOWN)  Amount to Merchant - $99L

Even adding the 5%, you STILL don't get the full $100L that you originally wanted.  The pricing gets even interestinger with items at like $79L or something.  LOL!

[Kampu Oyen]

>Well, this sentence right there...saying it's free but then saying they ask for a small percentage.

The listing is free, and they only take a percentage if the total order is over 9L.

This is one of the few areas where I think LL walks the walk as much as they talk the talk.

[Kampu Oyen]

No one is paying me to flag the items or threatening to punish me if I don't.

So I won't flag them, EVER.

I wouldn't even flag a shameless and abusive direct competitor for such a thing.

Having a stupid rule we have to agree to is one thing, but expecting us to do anything to enforce it for them is another.

 

[Ry0ta Exonar]

---

Deja Letov wrote:

What they really mean is "inflating prices on the SL Marketplace,in comparison to in-world or other e-commerce websites could make your customer purchase from your store instead of the Marketplace and that means we wouldn't make money off of you...so don't do it!"

---

Yeah, I've always been thinking this is what that clause means. If anything, it's unethical only to LL. By inflating prices the merchants are running the risk of losing sales opportunity due to the uncompetitive prices comapared to their competitors' prices. If customers still find their products worth of the prices, they would buy them though and that means the customers are happy with paying that price, so it's unethical at all IMHO. So personally I don't care if some sellers are inflating the prices on the marketplace cuz either way I always try to buy from in- world store if available to support merchants.

[Madeliefste Oh]

I think its a rule that limites merchants too much.

This rule makes it impossible to participate in initiatives that are there to stimulate in world shopping. Basicly it makes initiatives like 50 linden fridays and such illegal, unless the participating shops also change the price on their items on the marketplace.

[Deja Letov]

I participate in those and I don't change the prices, it's just too much. I guess I figure, let them flag it while it's on sale, Ill just relist it in a day or two when the event is over.  Honestly, I agree with you 100% that it limits us. How about real world stores who send us coupons in the mail that let us save 20% when we use it online? It's sad we can't offer any sort of sale to people when they purchase in world.

What I'm really waiting for is for them to say we can't contact MP customers after the sale. I am HEAVILY marketing to that crowd and contact everyone who purchases from my marketplace store. I would imagine if they saw my notecard where I thank the customer, invite them to my store and remind them that promotions and discounts that are held often in store, are NEVER on sale in the marketplace and they should always check in store before buying on the MP. Plus...I can guarantee delivery in my store, I can't do that on the MP.

[Camron Solo]

---

Deja Letov wrote:

I would say use your best judgement and don't do it for a MINOR amount. The difference between 5 and 6% is practically nothing. On a 100L item we're talking 1L. Do you really feel the need to complain over 1l? Id look for more major violations, like a minimum of a 10% increase is what I would look for. That's even IF you really feel like policing it.

Personally I could care less if someone charges less in world, it doesn't affect me, it only affects LL and their 5% commission.

---

This is my thought exactly about this. As a customer I'd gladly purchase something in-world especially if it was less. But customers seeing an item greatly over priced on the Marketplace could turn away a customer or have the opposite effect and push them to go see the item out in world to see if it is any cheaper. I can understand being put off by a 10% or so difference from MP -> in-world. I don't think I'd bother to flag, but it wouldn't affect me either if I seen a 5%-6% difference.

[Kampu Oyen]

I think you can expect your competitors to care a lot more about such price differences than your customers will.

If I should ever get flagged for such a thing, I would just assume a merchant had done it... or a Linden alt.