No Sales - Mainland Issue?

[Czari Zenovka]

Note: This is not meant to be a Magic Box vs DD debate.  I'm getting a new computer soon, really...hopefully....fingers crossed. ;)

So today is one straight week I have had no MP sales.  This is unusual for my normal sales pattern, even after the MP began getting wierd.  Then something occurred to me.  Due to the estate sim where my shop had been until recently, I moved my shop to my mainland home parcel.  In the past I had my MBs rezzed at the shop on the estate sim as well as backups in my home.  The estate sim owner occasionally restarted the sim.  Not sure how this works on mainland.

Today I could not log in - received the message "Simulator not available." (Was trying to log into my home as usual.  I logged in elsewhere, pulled up the map and sure enough, my home/shop sim was offline.  Lovely.  After it came back online I reset the rezzed MBs, updated them on the old Xstreet MB site, and synched with the MP.

I recall way back when people purchasing 16m of mainland just to place their MBs.  Not sure if this would be a good idea to find a tiny piece of mainland on another sim.  OTOH, *when* I get an updated PC I can then migrate to DD and this won't be an issue.

Wondered if anyone else had (or used to have) MBs solely on one sim and if that caused any interruption in service.

[phaedra Exonar]

I all ways kept MBs on 2 sim, if the sims down so is your MB, I all so tried if possible to have those 2 sims on different server channels so weekly rolling restarts would not effect them both on the same day.  Lately the sim I'm on (on mainland) is down 4 to 8 times a day, glad I'm not using MB any more.  I don't know if private islands are having the same issues with restarts as main land.  I use to have my boxes rezzed at cheap MB hosting places but many have closed down since DD started, you might want to see if any are still around.

Even with out using MBs all so had a week with no sales, which has never happened to me before, I just started getting sales again in the last few days. 

I checked out your shop inworld you have no classified for it and it's not listed in search,  I have to wonder if your were getting inworld traffic at your old shop from classified and search listing from estate it was on, if so that may be some thing to look in to doing your self for you new shop location.  I all so see that you have your items set to show in search but if you don't have your land set to show in search then the items wont show up ether.

 

[Czari Zenovka]

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phaedra Exonar wrote:

I all ways kept MBs on 2 sim, if the sims down so is your MB, I all so tried if possible to have those 2 sims on different server channels so weekly rolling restarts would not effect them both on the same day.  Lately the sim I'm on (on mainland) is down 4 to 8 times a day, glad I'm not using MB any more.  I don't know if private islands are having the same issues with restarts as main land.  I use to have my boxes rezzed at cheap MB hosting places but many have closed down since DD started, you might want to see if any are still around.

Even with out using MBs all so had a week with no sales, which has never happened to me before, I just started getting sales again in the last few days. 

I checked out your shop inworld you have no classified for it and it's not listed in search,  I have to wonder if your were getting inworld traffic at your old shop from classified and search listing from estate it was on, if so that may be some thing to look in to doing your self for you new shop location.  I all so see that you have your items set to show in search but if you don't have your land set to show in search then the items wont show up ether.

 

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Good idea on the MB hosting places for the time being.

Re: my inworld store, it *should* be set to show in search.  My landlord who owns the parcel came in world last week to specifically set it to show in search.  If it is not checked now, then somehow the rolling restart "unchecked" it...gah.  Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

I haven't used the classifieds tab for years so that doesn't have any bearing on the current issue.  I have been getting in world sales at the new location, most likely from people finding it due to the hunt I'm in.  The week of no sales is MB only, but if you have had a bad sales week as well, it could be one of those MP issues.

Thanks, phaedra.

ETA: I went in world to check on the Search listing.  Showed up for me.  Logged in an alt who is not in the land group and Search showed it was *not* checked.  Hmmmmm.  Typed in my shop name into viewer search...and it showed up.  Went to another store that I know is listed in search and when I clicked on the info for that store, the "Show in Search" was also greyed out and not checked there as well.

No idea why people besides those in the land group cannot see that, but it is indeed checked.

 

[Deja Letov]

Well obviously the best advice I would tell you is get the heck off MB's already LOL But I know your situation and I know that isn't possible or at least easy for you yet. But...until you can rectify that situation, definitely put your boxes in another location. Always have a second backup. Give me a buzz when you see me online tonight and Ill hook ya up with some MB storage on my sim. )

[Czari Zenovka]

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Deja Letov wrote:

Well obviously the best advice I would tell you is get the heck off MB's already LOL But I know your situation and I know that isn't possible or at least easy for you yet. But...until you can rectify that situation, definitely put your boxes in another location. Always have a second backup. Give me a buzz when you see me online tonight and Ill hook ya up with some MB storage on my sim. )

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I'm starting to see some benefits of DD. Arrrgggghhh...the sky must be falling!!!! :matte-motes-tongue:

That is sweet of you to offer some MB space.  I didn't post for that reason, but at this point, that is a very good idea.   *Hug*

 

[Toysoldier Thor]

I feel your pain as for the past 2 days I have not made 1 sales on MP and just a couple sales inworld. 

Gotta love the SL economy and its extreme volatility.  I suspect or hope it will pick up again soon.

[Josh Susanto]

Sim function has to be manipulated in order to again convince people that the magic boxes are a problem, so that they can finally be shut off on 1 October.

Why?

Because, if the magic boxes are working OK when they get shut off, too much user focus will be put on the fact that DD still will not support a very large number of items.

But LL wouldn't really shut off the boxes while DD is incomplete, would they?

YES, they WOULD and the WILL. Just in time to mess up your whole 4th quarter marketing plan. 

But, again, why?

So that they can say "we're sorry that you have to pay more for land in order to sell your items in-world instead of on the SLM, but those boxes are just not working anymore for some reason. Getting them shut off has become a more pressing matter than getting DD to support your product."

The real reason for the "box failure" being, of course, that sim function has been tampered with, specifically for this purpose. 

But doesn't tampered sim function also stand to disrupt in-world sales, at least in the short term?

Yes.

So what's the justification there?

The justification is: "F### you".

 

 

 

[Czari Zenovka]

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Josh Susanto wrote:

Sim function has to be manipulated in order to again convince people that the magic boxes are a problem, so that they can finally be shut off on 1 October.

Why?

Because, if the magic boxes are working OK when they get shut off, too much user focus will be put on the fact that DD still will not support a very large number of items.

But LL wouldn't really shut off the boxes while DD is incomplete, would they?

YES, they WOULD and the WILL. Just in time to mess up your whole 4th quarter marketing plan. 

But, again,

why?

So that they can say

"we're sorry that you have to pay more for land in order to sell your items in-world instead of on the SLM, but those boxes are just not working anymore for some reason. Getting them shut off has become a more pressing matter than getting DD to support your product."

The real reason for the "box failure" being, of course, that sim function has been tampered with, specifically for this purpose. 

But doesn't tampered sim function also stand to disrupt in-world sales, at least in the short term?

Yes.

So what's the justification there?

The justification is:

"F### you".

 

 

 

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Honestly, this has a ring of truth to it.  This is the second (or third) time in a couple weeks that my home sim has been "unavailable" as opposed to maybe 1x every 6-9 months for the past 5 years for a rolling restart - and then it came right back up.

*Sighs*

 

[Czari Zenovka]

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Toysoldier Thor wrote:

I feel your pain as for the past 2 days I have not made 1 sales on MP and just a couple sales inworld. 

Gotta love the SL economy and its extreme volatility.  I suspect or hope it will pick up again soon.

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Based on phaedra's response as well we might be in "the group" that doesn't get sales this week.  Maybe our number will come up next week.

 

[Spica Inventor]

My Marketplace sales are up a great deal since many of you reported sales dropping precipitously. Maybe it's that 100% commission cycle through thing that L.L. seems to do regularly. My inworld sales seem to have dropped off a bit however. Anyone else having an unexplainable jump in sales recently?

[Czari Zenovka]

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Spica Inventor wrote:

My Marketplace sales are up a great deal since many of you reported sales dropping precipitously. Maybe it's that 100% commission cycle through thing that L.L. seems to do regularly. My inworld sales seem to have dropped off a bit however. Anyone else having an unexplainable jump in sales recently?

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Interestingly, I'm getting in world sales during this time and I rarely had in world sales as compared to the MP in the past.  I'm also in a hunt currently and been doing more in world marketing, so that might play into it.

I think the theory someone came up with awhile back is as good as any:  Groups of merchants on the MP are on a "rotation" so while some merchants are having low, or no, sales, others are reporting increases.  In a week or so another group of merchants are the chosen ones to get MP sales, and so forth. :matte-motes-tongue:

[Josh Susanto]

>My Marketplace sales are up a great deal since many of you reported sales dropping precipitously

If you're using DD, that's what I would expect.

LL needs to not mess with you so much for a while in order to again try to convince everyone that the boxes are a problem.

 

[Josh Susanto]

>Interestingly, I'm getting in world sales during this time and I rarely had in world sales as compared to the MP in the past. 

If you have no magic boxes on the same land, there would be every reason to assure that nothing goes wrong for you.

Does that happen to be the case?

[Czari Zenovka]

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Josh Susanto wrote:

>

Interestingly, I'm getting in world sales during this time and I rarely had in world sales as compared to the MP in the past. 

If you have no magic boxes on the same land, there would be every reason to assure that nothing goes wrong for you.

Does that happen to be the case?

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I'm not sure what the inference is, but to answer your question everything connected with my business (until this evening) is on my land - my store and all Magic Boxes.  This has been the case since I have had no MP sales.

Due to the kindness of a sister merchant I placed copies of my Magic Boxes on another parcel so it will be interesting to see if things change sales-wise on the MP this coming week.

What is your theory about if I had no Magic Boxes on my land nothing would go wrong for me? 

[Deja Letov]

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Spica Inventor wrote:

My Marketplace sales are up a great deal since many of you reported sales dropping precipitously. Maybe it's that 100% commission cycle through thing that L.L. seems to do regularly. My inworld sales seem to have dropped off a bit however. Anyone else having an unexplainable jump in sales recently?

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I wouldn't say unexplainable but like you I also am not experiencing any issues with MP or in world sales. My sales typically increase ever so slightly every month. I honestly, don't think it is anything except an issue with the search.

I know people like to throw around conspiracy theory's and say it's due to being on a MB still or thinking that SL is targeting them. I think that's just paranoya. I think SL has much better things to do than to mess with one or two people. I have days, even weeks when my sales drop considerably and then they pick up the very next week. But I'm also a very active marketer of my product. I market the heck out of my products both in world and on the MP. When I release new products for example, I always send out the MP link to my customer base (which is over 1200 now) and that pushes my "new" listing off the last page, closer to the front which means more people will see it. What I see happening is sales going down because they aren't being found. And I doubt VERY seriously that SL is going through and saying "ok I choose you" and then taking their time to filter out all search results based on you. Delivery issues is one thing...I do believe there are still issues happening there with MB (which is why I'm not sure of the reason not to switch) but to not be foundin the search to have your products bought...I don't think that's a conspiracy, I think that's just the crappy way our search works. And competition on the MP is fierce right now, with all the stolen mesh available now, people are buying it up and pushing other content creators down the list with comparable items.

 

[Spica Inventor]

My post did not imply discrimination to anyone in particular this time Agent Letov. ;-)

 

And I don't market or advertize anything (or change prices for that matter) and havent made anything new for a couple of months now so It couldnt be any of that. Most merchants are unwilling to bring their prices down over time to compete with the newer lower price stuff, so I'm sure that is the main aggregate when it comes to gradual sales fall off for most, but such sales jumps (like doubling) all of a sudden after a couple of years of much more stable sales volume can only be explained by L.L. messing with things. ;-)

[Spica Inventor]

"I think the theory someone came up with awhile back is as good as any:  Groups of merchants on the MP are on a "rotation" so while some merchants are having low, or no, sales, others are reporting increases.  In a week or so another group of merchants are the chosen ones to get MP sales, and so forth. **Only uploaded images may be used in postings**://secondlife.i.lithium.com/html/assets/emoticons/mattemotes/tongue.png" border="0" alt=":matte-motes-tongue:" title="" />"

 

Yes, and it would be a clumsy attempt at deception, but we are talking about LL arent we? hehe

[Deja Letov]

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Spica Inventor wrote:

My post did not imply discrimination to anyone in particular this time Agent Letov. ;-)

 

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Not sure what you are referring to? Who was being discriminated against? Sorrry you lost me on this one. or maybe you are thinking my entire post was related only to yours. It wasn't, i just try not to spam multiple posts when replying to a general thread thought...you just happened to be the one I initially replied to. Thought I'm still not sure in my response where I said anyone was discriminating against anyone.

[Josh Susanto]

>Due to the kindness of a sister merchant I placed copies of my Magic Boxes on another parcel 

That also makes sense for now.

I just hope you don't have any boxes on box rental sims, though.

When The Malefactor finally gets down to the business of messing with those, their malfunction actually will disrupt the behavior of your other boxes (as it did a year ago).

[Czari Zenovka]

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Josh Susanto wrote:

>

Due to the kindness of a sister merchant I placed copies of my Magic Boxes on another parcel 

That also makes sense for now.

I just hope you don't have any boxes on box rental sims, though.

When The Malefactor finally gets down to the business of messing with those, their malfunction actually will disrupt the behavior of your other boxes (as it did a year ago).

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My MB copies are on an estate....and...I made a sale today from that particular box location, after a solid week of no sales. 

Does anyone know how the Magic Boxes "decide" which box to check first?  When my store was on an estate, the MBs there were always the ones that delivered even though I always had backups on my mainland parcel.  No sales once all boxes were on mainland and now getting a sale the day after putting copies on another estate.