Why is Second Life supporting users that scam others?

[Nakira2ca]

I reported a seller that uses false advertising to make sales.  I requested a refund from the seller but he hid behind SL policy.  The seller even deleted his product and relisted it so I could not leave feedback warning others of the scam. Relisting is against the rules of the marketplace so I flaged the item yet no action has been taken.

My help request to SL has been answered and closed basically saying I have to deal with the seller.  They have taken no action to my 'in world abuse claim', they have taken no action to the product FLAG and his misleading proucts are still ilsted.

It sickens me that SL would tollerate and support these criminals becasue they profit off their wrongful sales.  If it were not for the fact that I have spent thousands on in-world produicts and made so many frinds here, I would leave and there in lies the problem.  SL does not care about this kind of abuse becasue they know no one will do anything about it.

[Freya Mokusei]

Second Life doesn't support anyone. It equally witholds support to all users.

Second Life also operates upon a Buyer Beware policy, which means all business conducted within SL is done at your own risk - all sales are final and it's your responsibility to determine levels of trust - Second Life never legitimises anyone and having an unrestricted account in Second Life does not mean the user is a 'good person'. This is not new, and all residents are linked to the Community Standards (which explain this policy) when joining. Now might be a good time to refamiliarise yourself.

Given that no-one's been convicted of anything (let alone breaking a 'law'), it seems like misrepresentation to call them "criminals". "alleged criminals" seems more appropriate. It's not possible for anyone here to guess why your appeals to the Commerce team were rejected, but lack of accuracy and misplacement of responsiblity are two prominent possibilities.

Hopefully this vent has done you good and your next experience with the SL economy ends more positively.

P.S./O.T: I notice you belong to a group ran by a well-known IP thief (I can't mention names but it rhymes with "tweedy messy-hair"). Is this related to your dispute?

[Nakira2ca]

Second life has 3 sets of actions people can take;  1. a case file you can open.  2. in world abuse/scam report  3. marketplace product FLAG.

I submitted all 3 and no action has been taken.    I also included a screen cap of my chat with this seller where he admits the description was false but still refuses to refund my money.  I was just told by SL that I have to take it up with the seller.

So if SL takes no sides why do they bother to give the appearance that they are going to do anything by providing these 3 services?  Also by doing nothing they are taking the side of the criminals that are scamming people.  How can a 'buyer beware' if the sellers deletes their products and relist them (which is against the rules (that SL doens't seem to enforce)) so no negative feedback can be left?  SL makes money off these sellers so why would they do anything that might cost them more money?

 

   

[Amie Kaestner]

Sadly, the Second Life marketplace is essentially the Wild West when it comes to online transactions.However, I would assume there is an SL equivelant of a "buyers beware" blog somewhere that would name and shame fraudulent vendors much like the "artists beware" blogs. It may be particularly effective if multiple people have been ripped off by this person.

[Qie Niangao]

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Nakira2ca wrote:

SL makes money off these sellers so why would they do anything that might cost them more money?   

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This misses the truth by jumping past a healthy skepticism into a cynical paranoia.

Firstly, it's important to realize that the Lab makes at most a negligible profit from Marketplace sales. This is bound to change in the new "Project Sansar" product, but for Second Life, nearly all profit comes from Land, with a much smaller amount from LindeX transaction fees. Marketplace more or less breaks even (although it does also drive LindeX volume).

Hence aggressive enforcement of Marketplace rules doesn't "cost them more money" in the sense I think the post meant, but it's nonetheless valid to "follow the money" here: The reason there are any rules, and the reason they're ever enforced, is that doing so helps to preserve an environment that is profitable to the Lab. It's very important that people have just enough faith in SL commerce that they continue to buy, so sellers continue to sell, so somebody ends up owning land and some LindeX transaction fees get paid along the way. That's why there's an ability to review Marketplace products at all. Otherwise, there's nothing to justify the overhead of providing for reviews or ratings -- let alone the tremendous cost of enforcement against violators.

Looking forward to Project Sansar, perhaps enforcement of rules about commerce will get more attention, inasmuch as commerce is supposed to generate a much more significant share of revenue in the new platform. (On the other hand, considering the Lab's track record for protecting the value of their main SL revenue stream from Mainland griefers, I wouldn't expect too much.)

[ZoeTick]

Don't buy anything.

You won't be able to take it with you.

[DatBlackKitty]

LL won't do jack squat about resident to resident disputes because they're lazy.

[Nakira2ca]

"It's very important that people have just enough faith in SL commerce that they continue to buy"

Exactly.  This is why they should be taking these scamming situations seriously instead of just blowing off their user base. 

[Perrie Juran]

We'd be interested to see the chat log.  You can post those as long as you redact the name(s).