A Question for Customers - Do you prefer boxes or folders for your Marketplace purchases?

[Rya Nitely]

We've had DD for over a year now. Some items are boxed while others come in folders - this depends on the merchant's preference and views on boxes and folders.

This topic is being discussed in the merchants forum. The responses indicate that most merchants prefer to use boxes. 

It would be interesting to know how customers feel. How do you prefer receiving your Marketplace purchases - in a box or in a folder?

[Sidnella Riler]

I like folders

[Freya Mokusei]

Prefer folders. Can just right-click wear.

 

Boxes mean inventory bloat, extra hassle (finding somewhere to rez), dealing with the one of a dozen ways to unpack (is it touch, right-click?). Boxes also seem prone to adding extra junk, like posestands or scripts that govern the way the box looks (this is especially crazy), or worse, unpack scripts that give you THEMSELVES as well as the box contents. Also noobs leave junk boxes EVERYWHERE, but ideally at sim landing points.

I also like the boxes that IM the creator every time they're rezzed; those are great fun if they're Copy.

I don't see a reason to use boxes at all, really.

ETA: Like Qie, I don't really use Marketplace. Great for browsing, terrible for spending.

[Pamela Galli]

One major reason merchants "prefer boxes" is that most of us don't sell just on the marketplace, but inworld as well. Many vendors/rezzers/updaters require boxes; you can't use folders with these.

Redoing two packaging versions -- folder and box -- every time you update a product would get even more complicated than it already is.

 

As a customer I prefer boxes as well. 

[Qie Niangao]

As a consumer, I much prefer folders, whether purchased from Marketplace or in-world.

To be honest, though, I avoid purchasing anything on Marketplace, so my opinion may not count that much. I would point out, however, that the few things I'm forced to buy via Marketplace almost always arrive when I'm nowhere near a place to rez and, compounding the issue, somewhere that would be worse than inappropriate to wear a delivery box.

To the seller perspective, I'm a bit puzzled by the idea that rezzers require boxes. Unless they're rezzing the delivery box itself, I can't think what this could mean, unless the box is the rezzer and the product includes the rezzer in the box.* It is, however, quite correct that networked vendors cannot deliver folders, unlike standalone vendors, because llGiveInventoryList() doesn't work across sim borders. I can also see that an updater script might be a bit simpler if it has fewer inventory items to manage, so packing into boxes could save some work there.

* ETA: On reflection, I bet that is what is meant by "rezzer" in this case, something like Rez Faux (in contrast to how I'd first understood "rezzer": what's sometimes called a "holovendor"). In that case, yeah, the product is the rezzing box and its contents, and it doesn't add much to put that rezzing box inside a folder, too.

[TristanMercer]

Folders. Having to unpack things can be a pain in the butt. Since the Marketplace is now all on direct delivery the need for boxing items has been eliminated.

[Ceka Cianci]

folders are nicer..

but i understand when there are lots of things in there..

like in fat packs of things..

 

folders for convinience but boxed for bad asset server days lol

 

the thing i hate about boxes..

when i unbox a box and then there is another box inside that box..then unbox that box to get to the product hehehe

i'm like Oo why? lol

 

 

[iCade]

I prefer folders.

Boxes only annoy me if you actually *have* to go to your own land to unpack. I don't mind boxes that you can wear and click to get the folder or if the store has an unpacking area. Also don't mind boxes during hunts as I'll open everything at once at my place once the hunt is done.

 

But if I am shopping and have to go back to my own place to open a box to try on a demo or a new wearable...yeah I'll be mildly annoyed.

[Lucretia Brandenburg]

I much prefer boxes. As for boxes containing what are considered extraneous items such as pose stands, LMs, notecards, etc. I get those in folders from the marketplace as well as in boxes. Boxes keep my inventory from getting overrun, since I can unbox them when I want and that creates a folder. I can also keep a back up box in storage, so an outfit with over a dozen parts is just one thing in my inventory and one thing in my inventory storage until I choose to unbox it. Items that come in folders, unless they are absolute favorites I wear daily, I will box up to unclutter my inventory.

However, for what you sell, Rya ... anyone who sells landscape items, home decor, boats, houses, other buildings ... folders don't make much sense. I mean, the purpose of folders is so that someone doesn't have to be bothered with finding a place to rez a box and unpack it in order to access the contents. But if you are going to put up a house or set down a tree, you'd have to be somewhere you can rez regardless.  So until it becomes fashion to wear rez faux boxes as jewelry and trees on top of our heads, I'd say go with boxes for nonwearable items.

 

--||-

[Teagan Tobias]

Folders.

In world I like folders because a LOT of merchants do not show the permissions on items they sell, and I do not purchase no copy items. If I can look at the items offered and see what the permissions are there is a 100% better chance I will make the purchase.

Also, what the frell is with the, pay this amount, and never showing what you are paying that amount for. No way to see anything, just, pay this amount sucker and shut up. I don't like that at all, looks for another store.

[Perrie Juran]

I prefer boxes. 

They make sorting and storing my back up copies easier and with less inventory clutter.

The problem with having to find a place to unpack a box has a simple solution if all Merchants both knew about and used it.  There is a wear to unpack script.

This is the current thread in the Merchants Forum where all this is being discussed.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Merchants/Why-do-items-come-in-boxes-when-they-don-t-need-to/m-p/1988625#U1988625

[Lasher Oh]

LOL - I guess there is nothing particularly important going on in the world these days !

 

^L^

[Fayette Charron]

Folders are nicer, but Boxes make more sense for most sellers. I just hate the folders that contain a box, it makes no sense to me.

[Curious Hazelnut]

Folders. That's what the box usually does anyway and it's what I do if the box doesn't.

[Valen Serpente]

Folders are nice, but most thing I just put back into a box to save my bloated inventory, lol.

I was going to go folders with my market place store, but unless I wanted to relist every item from scratch (50+) I had to migrate with the boxes. So now I just add boxes for new items for consistency.

[Janelle Darkstone]

I prefer folders.  I love it when a vendor also includes a box in the folder of the outfit or toy so I can rez another complete set when I mess up or misplace the first one.

[Czari Zenovka]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

One major reason merchants "prefer boxes" is that most of us don't sell just on the marketplace, but inworld as well. Many vendors/rezzers/updaters require boxes; you can't use folders with these.

Redoing two packaging versions -- folder and box -- every time you update a product would get even more complicated than it already is.

 

As a customer I prefer boxes as well. 

---

Would like to add to this that most of the people I see that prefer folders are talking about clothing items ie, "I can just click and wear."

How about home furnishings that are not wearables?

[Solar Legion]

Personaly? It depends on the type of item and the permissions that have been set.

Anything at all that is set to no copy, I prefer in a folder - there's just no point to the thing being boxed.

For copiable items?

Clothing: Folders.

Avatars (Non-human): Boxes.

Avatars (Hybrid parts): Boxes.

Avatars (All others) Boxes.

Shapes/Skins/Eyes: Folders.

Houses/furnishings: Boxes

Vehicles: Boxes

Weapons: Boxes.

HUDs/General Devices: Boxes.

I think that about covers it.

[Conifer Dada]

As a vendor I've stopped packing SL marketplace items in boxes now.  

Also, if people are still going to pack sale items in boxes, I wish they'd stick to using single-prim boxes and stop using complex multi-prim packaging such as carrier bags wirth ribbons and flowers on, which often means I can't rez it on my land to open it because I haven't got enough spare prims.

 

[WolfsMaiden]

Boxes for houses and items like that but folders for the clothes and wearable hate searching for what ever it is I want to wear not remembering what it was named.

[Kenbro Utu]

Briefs are too constricting, I prefer boxers...  err, nevermind, misread the subject.  :smileytongue:

[Rya Nitely]

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Lucretia Brandenburg wrote:

However, for what you sell, Rya ... anyone who sells landscape items, home decor, boats, houses, other buildings ... folders don't make much sense. I mean, the purpose of folders is so that someone doesn't have to be bothered with finding a place to rez a box and unpack it in order to access the contents. But if you are going to put up a house or set down a tree, you'd have to be somewhere you can rez regardless.  So until it becomes fashion to wear rez faux boxes as jewelry and trees on top of our heads, I'd say go with boxes for nonwearable items.

 

---

hey Luc :smileyhappy:, I tried hard not to let my preference show in the original post, so you probably have no idea that I prefer folders, LOL. We've been using folders since we transferred to Direct Delivery a year ago. I might sell landscaping packs and boats etc. but I want customers to be able to use the Contents tab to see what they'll get.

I find folders more convenient as a merchant - After updating an item I click on 'view contents' to make sure the update is correct and includes all parts. For updating inworld sale boxes, I just shove the same DD folder into the vendor box and set it to 'buy contents' - which gives customers a folder.

And as a customer, if I was to buy landscaping items etc., I would find it more convenient to receive it in a folder so that I can start using it straight away - no unpacking required.

So, folders are my preference both as merchant and customer.

 

[ImaTest1488314069]

I much prefer boxes. I don't think I have any specific reason why though. I'm just stuck in my ways and don't mind admitting that, I guess. It's really hard to pinpoint a specific reason.

Wearables make perfect sense in folders, for the most part, though.

Most items that need to be rezzed don't make nearly as much sense. Being able to see contents isn't always as reliable as you think. There are plenty of merchants who still have those items, in boxes. I bought some stuff not long ago that I thought was foldered, because I could see the contents on the mp listing. Was a bit surprised to see it was a folder with boxes in it. Not saying this is how all or even a the majority of merchants do it. But I do know that being able to see contents, or thinking you can, isn't always what it appears to be. This wasn't the first time I've encountered that. It's happened several times.

I'm no longer a merchant, haven't been since 2012. I had both boxes and folders, depending on the item itself. When I first migrated to DD, everything was still boxed. Because that's how you loaded the magicbox. The lab was pressing forward with the migration and made it seem much more urgent to migrate than it really was, too. Yes my boxes could, and many did, have an unpacker script of some sort, but they still came boxed. When I migrated I had 850+ things to move. Taking each and every item, to make a folder some with an ungodly amount of items in it, to upload to mp, to edit the listings would have taken me ages. It was far easier to move the boxes and then slowly folder as needed. It still took me ages and by the time I shut down my shop, I still hadn't finished. My customers didn't seem to have a preference either way. It's probably because I didn't cater to a niche market. I had a bit of everything. I did ask once, when completely and utterly frustrated with DD early on, in my group. I asked people if they preferred foldered or boxed and I got mixed answers. It might have been the thread here that inspired that query of mine. So I'm guessing that's probably how most of sl is too. You'll find varied answers that depend on not only the customer, but also what it is they're buying, what they plan on using it for, whether or not they themselves are merchants, things like this.

[Madeliefste Oh]

Fan of folders.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Prefer boxes.

You can't draw any valid conclusions from this survey on the subject,  The number of results, even if everyone on the forum replies, will be statistically  tiny compared to all SL customers as a whole.  You can only conclude what the people that post want as individuals. It proves nothing about the vast majority of customers.