Why demo products are sold for 1L$

[Leffe Levenque]

Since some time I have been wondering why it is that some merchants sell their demo for 1L$

I know it is a small amount, but if looking for hair or skins one might buy loads of demos to try out to see which fits best.

Hundreds of lindens are spend the last couple of months to find some new hairstyles and after a while I just gave up looking at shops where they charge that 1$L fee to try on some hair.

Customers will most likely pay a linden for a demo, if it doesn't look any good, leave the shop. On the other hand when demos are free, they might try on other styles then the ones they are looking for and purchase things they actually didn't came for in the first place, which happens to me all the time

I never got charged in any rl shop either for trying out clothes

So tell me, is there a specific reason, other then trying to make profit on selling demos?

[Irene Muni]

I totally agree with your reasoning and your question. Thanks for asking.

[Darkfyre Algoma]

Cause the people charging 1L$ are the nimrods who helped come up with the 99L$ free posting.  They new it was coming because they helped create the mess.  Just boycott their junk.  I'd only pay the 1L$ if I got a discount on the total # of demos I tried out of the end product I bought.

 

I.E. I try on 23 hairs and the one I finally buy is 250L$  I want to only pay 227L$ But since it doesn't work that way, I walk out of shops charging me money to try a demo.

 

I'd leave a heaping turd behind if it would't end up in my lost and found, I have enough crap in that folder already.

Just rate these folks down , they are the source of our problems.

 

Greedy green bums.

[Ghosty Kips]

It's the same rationale that drives some business owners to put tip jars in their stores.

[Marx Dudek]

I do think this is a bit much.  Some creators charge L$1 simply because it makes it easier to track trends.  Since most hair and skin designers use non-scripted vendors, they rely upon LL's transaction history to tell not only what people are buying, but what people are thinking about buying.  By charging L$1, they are able to filter out L$0 transactions (which includes every notecard, every landmark, every resident-to-resident inventory offer, etc. etc.).

Designers certainly are not getting rich off of demos, trust me.

[Leffe Levenque]

I had suspected that tracking could be a reason.

But honestly, there are much more 'customer friendly' ways to filter out transactions you don't need, it can even be done with a very simple excel file and a small macro that downloads transaction info including 0 values.

I could be wrong but if you would update this daily I would doubt that it would exceed 500 transactions.

Or you just download the csv and filter out whatever you want.

It somehow ruins the shopping experience when you would have to consider trying out demos or not to stay within a budget's limit.

[Harris McCallen]

There are two reasons. One, that it makes tracking easier, has already been answered. The other reason has been around a few years and has nothing to do with the new "roadmap" being discussed. Simply, the reason is that you can't use the "Deliver as Gift" option with FREE items. Obviously selling an item at 1L$ has little to do with greed or squeezing every possible bit of money out of an item, as the actual value of 1L$ to a seller, is almost inconsequential.

That said, merchants face a related problem by not pricing demo products at 0L$. Their work doesn't show up in the FREE ITEMS category and won't be discovered through random browsing.

But the years-old reason for the 1L$ pricing on demos, is simply to unlock the "Deliver as Gift" option. It allows you to shop and purchase items for a friend.

[Leigh Baily]

I can understand the reasoning behind wanting to track what customers are interested in and what they are not interested in but, after awhile the $1L demos does add up.  Is there not a better way for them to track, than charging for the demos?   I have started to steer clear more of the designers that do charge because it has started to really add up now and I wish they would come up with another method of tracking.

[conor Kaligawa]

I don't think  making it easier  for one to filter   their transactions is a good enough reason to charge 1L$  for demos, thats just  stupid  and selfish . Not very smart at all . The OP  has a very good point ...  a RL shop doesnt charge  for you to  try on clothes .  why should  people do it in SL??

And if it was  simply to bypass  the dDeliver as gift option not  being available ... why not  refund the 1L$ to the customer?  does that  happen?

Btw ...  what's a green bum ?  PMSL @ that one

[Ghosty Kips]

While what you say is true on XStreet, it has nothing to do with demos sold for 1L inworld, which is where the vast majority are sold I'd imagine. Also, since anyone can download their transactions as a database file, they can then sort them any way they'd like. In fact the larger merchants certainly do this, since the web site is limited to the last 500 transactions.

[Leffe Levenque]

The deliver as gift only applies to Xstreet, I do like to browse those pages, but I was actually referring to inworld shopping which I enjoy much more.

[conor Kaligawa]

I really dont  see the point in charging 1L$ for anything  unless  you're gonnae sell a million of them

[Unklebob Hotaling]

If anyone plans on giving me demo hair for christmas, please don't lmao.

[Harris McCallen]

In that case, since the discussion is about in-world stores, I'm not sure what the L$1 incentive would be. I certainly wouldn't want to pay for an in-world "demo" or expect many others to, though clearly some people do. Is it for statistical reporting? Getting money from a named vendor, since FREE vendor "sales" don't show up in any reports? That would be the only reason that makes sense - and would allow merchants to see which items are looked at and have more sales potential than others.

I suppose also the argument about cost-of-prims could come in, but I would think if a mercant sells a good product, people will spend money on it, and demo items needn't be the source of their tier payments.

[conor Kaligawa]

Marx.Dudek wrote:

 

I do think this is a bit much.  Some creators charge L$1 simply because it makes it easier to track trends.  Since most hair and skin designers use non-scripted vendors, they rely upon LL's transaction history to tell not only what people are buying, but what people are thinking about buying.  By charging L$1, they are able to filter out L$0 transactions (which includes every notecard, every landmark, every resident-to-resident inventory offer, etc. etc.).

Designers certainly are not getting rich off of demos, trust me.

LOL i dont  think anybody is  saying that designers are getting rich  from selling 1L$ demos . They're simply saying its  very off-putting  to be charged  just to try something on .

[Johnny Mann]

I remember back when I joined SL over 4 years ago there used to be issues with selling items for 0 Lindens. Back then this is why demos were sold for the lowest possible amount... 1L. I think this started the trend that continues today.

Being a merchant in SL, I guess I never thought about going to a 0 dollar amount. As others have said it's a great way to track in a quick fashion. I can tell you this much, the last thing we are trying to do is screw someone out of a linden...hehe.

[Leffe Levenque]

I would be happy to build a trackin spreadsheet, including graphs and other features if it would make demos being sold for 0$L.

I'm also confident that selling demos for 0$L would eventually increase sales.

[Jeanne Mehrtens]

Hi, maybe I can bring some light into this since I am a creator/merchant. I can't speak for all others and there might be different reasons for it, but yes my demo sells inworld at 1 L$. I just made the first demo I needed today, because it's for shoes and I know from my own shopping experiences that I barely buy shoes without trying them. I wanted to sell it for 0 L$ but simple put, the vendor system I use didn't let me sell it at that. The quickpayment popped up but was blank, so in order to provide demos I needed to set the selling price 1 L$ and.. guess? Now everything worked just fine. I think there must be some workaround but I didn't find it yet, atleast it's not at the website configuration. The system I use is pretty popular and I'm sure other merchants have the same prob too. (btw. at xstreet I sell the demo for 0 L$ because I don't think that someone sends demos as gifts when it's so much easier to send a link)

[Ryker Jacobus]

Harris.McCallen wrote:

 

There are two reasons. One, that it makes tracking easier, has already been answered. The other reason has been around a few years and has nothing to do with the new "roadmap" being discussed. Simply, the reason is that you can't use the "Deliver as Gift" option with FREE items. Obviously selling an item at 1L$ has little to do with greed or squeezing every possible bit of money out of an item, as the actual value of 1L$ to a seller, is almost inconsequential.

That said, merchants face a related problem by not pricing demo products at 0L$. Their work doesn't show up in the FREE ITEMS category and won't be discovered through random browsing.

But the years-old reason for the 1L$ pricing on demos, is simply to unlock the "Deliver as Gift" option. It allows you to shop and purchase items for a friend.

Amusing rational A+ for effort. My friends love to receive demo items as gifts to further clutter their inventories??? Nup. If your rationale is serious, as a merchant I think you need to better understand your customers and how they more usually shop. Most people I know buy beautiful complete items as gifts for their friends and personally I have NEVER received a demo from a friend. Usual demo products are generally personal items that customers like to purchase themselves. If they're reluctant to pay your fees, you loose their custom AND the possibility that they'll consider buying a gift for a friend. If some one wants a friend to test one of your products, it's likely they'll pass a landmark and invite them to come and look for themselves. The landmark is likewise a free item that could potentially increase your traffic. Though in the interests of tracking, perhaps there’s a way to charge a buck for these too.

 

[Yuriko Nishi]

long ago 0 L$ transactions didnt show up in the transaction history, but that was changed long ago, so there is no real excuse for the ripoff anymore ^^

if your vendor system doesnt like it, put up a box

[kakaue Yoshikawa]

asking why not charging 1LD for a demo

 

okok i dont charge 1ld or any  for a Demo and all my demos are for free but really if someone will charge for a demo 1ld i think its ok

following reason:

1. demos also take work and need to be special made

2. demo is for thoose who will try much dotn have demos then you need buy and see then if it fits you so 1ld isnt worth

3. demos takes prims and this is the main reason i think, i have a friend she has to all her products a demo so she has around 300 - 500 demos this demos need have space too and so she need get bigger land to can make demos, she invets many work and prims in demos so i think charging 1ld to covering the tier for this demos so you cna try before isnt really much, i dont think anybody  who charge 1ld will get rich just covering the tier and this is fair i think

 

be honets you will a demo too but you also need see the inbvestment of the designer to giving you a demo it cost all and better waste 1ld then 300 ^^

[Claireschen Hesten]

RL stores don't charge you to try on clothes or to demo or get a sample of something so i don't see why SL sellers should the transaction history shows up all L$0 sales as does xstreet and you can buy vendors that IM you every time a L$0 items is sold i'm hardly likely to send a demo as a gift i'm guessing the idea for selling demos at L$1 comes from a time when SL probably didn't show up L$0 transactions

unless it was something i was desperate to try out i'm not one of these people that would pay to try out a demo product

[Merlynn Draken]

Marx.Dudek wrote:

I do think this is a bit much.  Some creators charge L$1 simply because it makes it easier to track trends.  Since most hair and skin designers use non-scripted vendors, they rely upon LL's transaction history to tell not only what people are buying, but what people are thinking about buying.  By charging L$1, they are able to filter out L$0 transactions (which includes every notecard, every landmark, every resident-to-resident inventory offer, etc. etc.).

 

Exactly...its just easier to track what's more popular.

1L is about $.004.

Considering that decent skins aren't cheap, asking 1L for a pack of demos seems reasonable to me. If someone can't spend 1L for a demo, how likely is it that they will spend the (on-average) L1,000+ for the actual skin?  Each of the three parts of a demo skin costs the standard L10 upload fee -- so that pack of demo skins with say ten different makeup options cost the designer at least 100L to make.

Blame whomever you want to for the new xstreet pricing policies -- but I guarantee you that it is not the designers charging a measley 1L for a demo who wanted or asked for these changes. Each 1L listing will now cost them 10L each -- and who would buy a skin without a demo? If they give them away for free on xstreet, that freebie listing will cost them 99L per month. Direct your vitriol at the ones who deserve it,

Marx.Dudek wrote:

Designers certainly are not getting rich off of demos, trust me.

 

They aren't getting rich at all, for the most part.

[Unklebob Hotaling]

"1L is about $.004."

omg no doubt... tough getting upset by this actually.  Even in my earliest days without payment method or a means to get a sl salary it took me mere minutes to camp long enough to earn 5L; and if someone can't afford one linden there's still lots of total freebie places and stuff around.

[Leffe Levenque]

Personally I wouldn't mind at all paying one linden and get a box with all the demos in the shop.

However the fact is that you pay 1 linden per demo which you have to trow away. I would most likely end up buying all the demos in a shop of which I like the products and surely end up buying not one but most of the products in which I can find myself.

If paying 1 linden and the shop has 150 products, it starts to count ^ ^

It's a way to promote your products and if it adds up any prims than the vendor needs to consider if he wants to invest in it.

It's fairly simple, no demos for most is less sales, I doubt that any will argue about that.

Having a vendor system that doesn't allow a zero price is possible, but this is most likely solved by improving the script.

I don't beleave that someone who is capable of making a popular vendor system, can't get his script to work with a zero value.

and indeed you can always place a box.

I pulled a list of the past 30 days and I summed up 428 lindens waisted on demos, it might be not that much money. but then again why don't you just refund it if it's not much money, it's easy to track as I read in the previous posts ^ ^

I'm going to look for a new skins today, I already know which shops I can't go, as realy don't feel like uploading lindens to try all the demos

Cheers at the merchants that are able to charge zero lindens.

If one can do it, all of you can do it, just need to think out of the box

[Unklebob Hotaling]

I'm sure they all could do it, but for their own various reasons (tracking, vendor/script preferences, etal) they prefer not to.  Granted it does all add up, but 1L muliplied 500 times still totals about 2 real dollars, a substancial amount of 'free' stuff for the price of a coke.

Some wouldn't spend a linden and valid point, but by the same token alot of people inworld realize as a general rule bought stuff is better that freebie gear so maybe paying that linden gets them past the 'ewww' factor lmao.  Everyone's different.