Gacha items being flagged on MP

[Kurz Neox]

So, I have had some gacha items flagged by a user, or users, and taken down. The reason I am given is "The item has been unlisted due to Spam or Disallowed Listing Practices"

Ok so, my items were listed, and stated it was a Gacha item. It was not spam, because I only had 1 listed of that type, and no duplicates of that same type/color. I am not sure what is "disallowed", since that is completely vague and there was no comment from the Linden that OK'd removing my items.

Obviously a competitor is flagging these gacha items, because it's been the same gacha item, and I've had friends tell me they've had their items flagged, too. I don't want to keep re-listing my item just to be flagged again, in fear eventually it's going to result in a ban or something. The other issue is that the Lindens aren't doing their job properly reviewing these flags. I read in another post that Lindens actually review the flags before removing a listing from MP.. so this is extremely shady. If a Linden is going to review something to remove it, there should be an actual comment from the Linden explaining exactly why the decision was made, and a way to dispute it when it is a false flagging. Not an automated message that leaves the person 90% of the time still wondering why it happened - especially in the case when the merchant was doing nothing wrong or shady to begin with.

I have never spammed the Marketplace with gacha items. If I have the same color/style of item, I always add it to the appropriate inventory of that item listing.

Also, these people flagging need to be punished. They are the ones up to shady business techniques! SADLY we merchants do not get the name of the people who are flagging our items to even be able to report them.

 

Please get your stuff together, LL - this kind of thing shouldn't be happening to legitimate merchants and resellers who are following rules!

Edited October 12, 2017 by Kurz Neox

[Alwin Alcott]

10 minutes ago, Kurz Neox said:

It was not spam, because I only had 1 listed of that type, and no duplicates of that same type/color.

spam has nothing to do with your item but mostly irrelevant keywords, as example, giving a t shirt keywords as: skirt, pants or socks... is irrelevant, if people search on t shirts, socks shouldn't be a result.

12 minutes ago, Kurz Neox said:

Obviously a competitor is flagging these gacha items

perhaps... but could be a buyer getting annoyed by keyword spam.

 

 

[Kurz Neox]

5 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

spam has nothing to do with your item but mostly irrelevant keywords, as example, giving a t shirt keywords as: skirt, pants or socks... is irrelevant, if people search on t shirts, socks shouldn't be a result.

perhaps... but could be a buyer getting annoyed by keyword spam.

 

Then wouldn't the reason given been for incorrect keywords/tags?

Edited October 12, 2017 by Kurz Neox

[Alwin Alcott]

Just now, Kurz Neox said:

Then wouldn't the reason given been for incorrect keywords/tags?

i don't think so, if i'm not wrong thats the same category

 

as example:

Lion Horizon Eyes

twi, timber, wild, lion, feline, eye, applier, mod, pretty, cute, stunning, deep, beautiful, mystic, fantasy, scifi, horizon, colorful, color, feral, furry

perhaps think about those... are all relevant for that item? you can dispute about the keyword like... mod, pretty, cute, stunning, deep, beautiful, mystic, fantasy, scifi, horizon, colorful, color,... are those relevant?... for me not so clear it is, so could be flagged and let LL judge.

Keep your keywords short and relevant.

[Kurz Neox]

Well, it is an avatar mod/furry mod. That's what we call them in-game. Maybe you just aren't aware.

Do you not look up words such as "cute", "handsome", etc. when trying to narrow down your searches on MP? They aren't irrelevant to the item, it isn't like I listed anything those may not be used for.

If LL doesn't want us using keywords to help customers narrow down their search, then why is there a 200 character limit for Keywords?

I think it's extremely important to add relevant keywords so customers can find your product. Especially if you are dealing with something such as apparel items, which have thousands of results. I think this is another reason it is very important to give people the chance to clarify why they listed something, if it is indeed a violation, and/or be given exact reason what was wrong so they can correct it and list the item appropriately again.

That is an old item I've had on MP a while. I could probably clean it up, but I have no reason to. People find it and buy it, it's never been flagged. I've never had anything flagged, except these darn gacha items. As I said, a couple friends have also mentioned having their recent gachas from a particular gacha fair flagged, and while I do not know the keywords they used - it is extremely suspicious.

 

Edit: Also how does a user see a list of keywords on an item listing?? I'm not seeing that anywhere.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Kurz Neox

[Dakota Linden]

Greetings!

Spam or Disallowed Listings Practices is the top option, the email that was sent to you should have more detail.

Item Spam (more than one of the same item), Keyword Spam, Item is relisted, are some of the additional options that fall under Spam or Disallowed Listing Practices.

If you are not sure why the item was removed or unlisted, please submit a support case under Marketplace - Marketplace Listing Issues and we are happy to help!

https://support.secondlife.com/create-case/

[Alwin Alcott]

7 hours ago, Kurz Neox said:

 

Do you not look up words such as "cute", "handsome", etc. when trying to narrow down your searches on MP? They aren't irrelevant to the item, it isn't like I listed anything those may not be used for.

 

Edit: Also how does a user see a list of keywords on an item listing?? I'm not seeing that anywhere.

word as cute and those others are totally not relevant for a search.

what is relevant?  ... it are eyes, and meant for a certain body/head/usergroup... but THAT is it.. cute and handsome ( and the others is spam, and so not relevant.

To see the keywords simply rightclick and look at the page info.

7 hours ago, Kurz Neox said:

I think it's extremely important to add relevant keywords so customers can find your product.

so do so and skip the subjective marks as cute and handsome... a majority of SL users isnt into furries, for them it's not cute or handsome at all, and those words say nothing, not even on a mile distance, something about the product.

Instead of the subjective irelevant words, use Furry

 

[Kurz Neox]

34 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

word as cute and those others are totally not relevant for a search.

what is relevant?  ... it are eyes, and meant for a certain body/head/usergroup... but THAT is it.. cute and handsome ( and the others is spam, and so not relevant.

To see the keywords simply rightclick and look at the page info.

so do so and skip the subjective marks as cute and handsome... a majority of SL users isnt into furries, for them it's not cute or handsome at all, and those words say nothing, not even on a mile distance, something about the product.

Instead of the subjective irelevant words, use Furry

 

This is all just your opinion and not fact. You can use your keywords as you see fit, but if LL wanted people only using a small pool of keywords, they would only let us pick from a predefined list (like categories).

I'm not going too keep arguing with your opinion. I came here looking for real answers, and Dakota Linden helped. 

[Alwin Alcott]

1 hour ago, Kurz Neox said:

I'm not going too keep arguing with your opinion. I came here looking for real answers, and Dakota Linden helped. 

it's no opinion, and not arguing .. it's fact and only want to show what's being the advice/guidelines for MP...

also by Dakota:

. Keywords:  Keywords should be inclusive for the item being sold in the listing. Your should include words that help tag the item.  So if your item is Red, then red should be in the keywords. If the item is Mesh, then the word Mesh should be in the keywords.  If your item is not something, you should refrain from saying that in the keywords.  If your item is not mesh, then you should not say No Mesh, in the keywords.  Your item will show up when someone types Mesh as a keyword search.

 

the whole post,( because you know it so well perhaps worth reading it:

. Product Listing Title:  Make sure the Product Listing Title is effective. If your title is something like "BD-200-Red" it doesn't mean anything unless a buyer is looking for a very specific item with that name.  So you will want to make sure your Title really stands out.  If you are selling Lipstick, make sure that is in the title of the listing.  Using the example in this thread. "Just Kissed Lipstick - Fatpack" would be a perfect title.  The name of the item is included "Just Kissed", buyers know immediately what it is; Lipstick, and they also know immediately that the item is a Fatpack, so they will get multiple colors.

2. Product Images: Try to make sure your images are clear and specifically show the item you are selling.  If you use a standard format for images for your store that include your store name, product, information, permissions, etc., try to also include additional images that show a close up of the item you are selling.  So, again using lipstick as an example, try to include images of an avatar wearing the lipstick itself so that it shows off the color. Try to make sure the image is either a face shot, or a shot of the lips with the color.  As we all know, graphics cards and monitors can have shade differences in the actual rendered color. Offering a few different pictures of what the buyers can expect will help them better to decide if they would like to purchase that particular item.

3. Item Description:  This is where you have the chance to really set your item apart from other products.  The Item Description should spend at least 50% of the space to describe the item you are selling. Is it for classic and mesh items?  What are the permissions?  If you are selling a fatpack, listing all of the items in the pack can be done in this section, so that your potential customers will know all of what they are getting with their purchase.  Watch for spacing in this area.  The information should be clear and easy to read with paragraphs, etc.  A wall-o-text will make it harder to read and understand.  Try to limit information about your store itself, but it should certainly be included. Short and concise about what kinds of items you sell, an invitation to visit your inworld location, if you have one. If you have any restrictions on the specific item in the listing, those should be included here too.  If the item is No Transfer and you do not offer a refund on No Transfer items, this should be noted, etc., 

4. Features List:  One of the Tabs that is available, but is extremely underused by sellers is the Features List.  This list is included in search, and acts as a type of Keyword search for your item.  The name of the item should be listed, the permissions should be listed, if the item is Mesh, it should be listed. If the item has multiple colors, a Hud, etc., these should all be listed on separate lines on the Features List to help generate additional views.

5. Keywords:  Keywords should be inclusive for the item being sold in the listing. Your should include words that help tag the item.  So if your item is Red, then red should be in the keywords. If the item is Mesh, then the word Mesh should be in the keywords.  If your item is not something, you should refrain from saying that in the keywords.  If your item is not mesh, then you should not say No Mesh, in the keywords.  Your item will show up when someone types Mesh as a keyword search.  (I explain this more down below).

6. Related Items: Related Items should be used to draw potential customers to your other items.  If you are selling a Fatpack, but you also offer the items in the pack as individual purchases, you should consider linking those individual items to the FatPack using the Related Items feature.  If a buyer isn't really wanting to buy an entire Fatpack for 1 item, knowing they can purchase the item by itself, and having a quick link to that item will help to drive sales.  If you have a lot of items in the Fatpack, you could instead include the individual links to the items in the Item Description (Above) and use the Related Items to link to other similar options.  Again, using the Lipstick Fatpack sample, you could use the Item Description to list all of the colors in the FatPack (if they are individual items and not a HUD Controlled color picker) with links to those individual items, and then use the Related Items option for linking to any other Lipstick Fatpacks you sell. 

So, why do we only want to use keywords that apply to the item in an inclusive way?  Part of the search changes takes into account your sales conversion compared to search.  So if your item does not include mesh, and you put "not mesh" in the keywords, your item will show up when someone searches for Mesh.  This might be considered a good thing, since your item will be shown to more people, but in reality, under the new search changes, your item will get hurt.  The more times your item is shown in a keyword search without being purchased, the ranking on your item goes down. 

Here is a small example to show how this works.

Say you use the keyword Mesh in your item, but it isn't mesh.  When a user searches for mesh, your item shows up, but since it isn't mesh, no one buys it when they use that search term.

At the start, your item is shown in the 4th spot.  This, at first, might be good.  It is showing high up in the relevance, and more people are seeing the item.  But no one is buying it. 

After a while, your item will slowly lose relevance and one day a search is done, and instead of your item showing up in the 4th slot, it is down in the 15th slot.  Having the word mesh in your keywords is actually hurting your item, even though it is shown to more people. 

found here

 

[Cindy Evanier]

2 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

To see the keywords simply rightclick and look at the page info.

I never knew that  Thank you    *runs off to test*

[Drake1 Nightfire]

3 hours ago, Kurz Neox said:

This is all just your opinion and not fact. You can use your keywords as you see fit, but if LL wanted people only using a small pool of keywords, they would only let us pick from a predefined list (like categories).

I'm not going too keep arguing with your opinion. I came here looking for real answers, and Dakota Linden helped. 

It used to say in the Merchants section of the MP in the listing section, https://marketplace.secondlife.com/listing_guidelines#keyword-spam , that you can not use descriptor words in your keywords.

Your item title listing should have:

1. what the item is IE dress, skirt, pants etc

2. what color it is

3. if its mesh IE Red Mesh Mini-Skirt

4. and its name if you use one IE, Ericka, Susan whatever. 

Your Keywords do not need to have any of that info. The search engine looks at listings first then keywords.

TWI Lion Horizon Eyes

Keywords: twi, timber, wild, lion, feline, eye, applier, mod, pretty, cute, stunning, deep, beautiful, mystic, fantasy, scifi, horizon, colorful, color, feral, furry

In this list the only ones that are not spam would be applier. You list the item name; Horizon, the brand it is for; TWI, what animal; Lion, and what body part; Eyes, all in the listing of the item, you don't need them in the keywords as well. All of the other keywords are subjective and are NOT actual keywords. 

What kills me about threads like these are the sheer number of merchants that do this. Yes, if your dress fits multiple mesh bodies, list them in the keywords. But applier eyes for a specific mesh? You already have that in the listing title. All you have done here is draw attention to yourself and announce to the MP trolls to start flagging your items.

[Pamela Galli]

12 hours ago, Kurz Neox said:

Do you not look up words such as "cute", "handsome", etc. when trying to narrow down your searches

 No, how silly. As Alwin says, subjective words do no work as keywords. Only you can determine whether you think something is cute, not a keyword.

[Whirly Fizzle]

5 hours ago, Cindy Evanier said:

I never knew that  Thank you    *runs off to test*

There's a handy Grease Monkey script by Cerise that adds the keywords to the main listing page too.: http://userscripts-mirror.org/scripts/show/87938

[Drake1 Nightfire]

1 hour ago, Whirly Fizzle said:

There's a handy Grease Monkey script by Cerise that adds the keywords to the main listing page too.: http://userscripts-mirror.org/scripts/show/87938

I use that script myself.. Didja have to use my store as an example?

[Kurz Neox]

A friend left me an offline that their gachas from the same event have been flagged. Someone is going around and spamming the flag to eliminate competition. They have been getting away with it for almost three weeks. They say they didn't even use keywords.. I've had 3 people tell me the same so far.. It isn't always for the same item, but all items came from the same gacha event.

[Dakota Linden]

51 minutes ago, Kurz Neox said:

A friend left me an offline that their gachas from the same event have been flagged. Someone is going around and spamming the flag to eliminate competition. They have been getting away with it for almost three weeks. They say they didn't even use keywords.. I've had 3 people tell me the same so far.. It isn't always for the same item, but all items came from the same gacha event.

Hello Kurz Neox,

I have looked in the Support Portal and I am unable to find a Support Case from you regarding the issue with your products being flagged and removed/unlisted from the Marketplace.

Please create a case and provide links to 1 or 2 of the flagged listings and we will be able to assist you directly.

[Love Zhaoying]

6 hours ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

Keywords: twi, timber, wild, lion, feline, eye, applier, mod, pretty, cute, stunning, deep, beautiful, mystic, fantasy, scifi, horizon, colorful, color, feral, furry

What if someone else thinks your "cute" is their "ugly"? Subjective descriptor words like that are not appropriate keywords.

When I see your keyword Spam, this is what I think about:

Wife (shrieks): I don't like spam!

Man: Sshh, dear, don't cause a fuss. I'll have your spam. I love it. I'm having spam spam spam spam spam spam spam beaked beans spam spam spam and spam!

Vikings (singing): Spam spam spam spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!

- Monty Python

[Kurz Neox]

23 minutes ago, Dakota Linden said:

Hello Kurz Neox,

I have looked in the Support Portal and I am unable to find a Support Case from you regarding the issue with your products being flagged and removed/unlisted from the Marketplace.

Please create a case and provide links to 1 or 2 of the flagged listings and we will be able to assist you directly.

The listings were delisted by the system/Linden, and so I cannot link to them. All that was sent to my email was:

" The item has been unlisted due to Spam or Disallowed Listing Practices


Thank you for using the Second Life Marketplace

This is a service email related to your use of the Second Life Marketplace. In accordance with our Privacy Policy, you may periodically receive service emails even if you have elected not to receive direct marketing emails. To learn more about Linden Lab’s use of personal information, please read our Privacy Policy (http://www.lindenlab.com/privacy)."

This is just my case, my friends reported they did not have keywords and had other reasons their items were being delisted/flagged. 

It would have been great if there was a useful comment included in my email of exactly what it was, because as it has been noted - it covers a great number of things and is therefore vague and unhelpful.

 

Also I believe people may be getting confused thinking my eyes are the item there is a problem with. The item there was an issue with is no longer listed on MP due to it being taken down.

[Tamarsk]

Is it possible that the wrong item permissions were listed? Every once in a while, I will see a gacha item listed with full permissions, when in fact they are transfer only. That also can be flagged.

[Dakota Linden]

Hello Kurz Neox,

The items should still have an entry on your Manage Listings page on the Second Life Marketplace web site.  You can right click on the item name and copy the URL which can then be pasted into your Support Case.

If you removed the folders from your Marketplace Listings UI window in the viewer, the listings are then deleted from the system and the entries will not appear on your Manage Listings page.

 

[Drake1 Nightfire]

20 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

What if someone else thinks your "cute" is their "ugly"? Subjective descriptor words like that are not appropriate keywords.

When I see your keyword Spam, this is what I think about:

Wife (shrieks): I don't like spam!

Man: Sshh, dear, don't cause a fuss. I'll have your spam. I love it. I'm having spam spam spam spam spam spam spam beaked beans spam spam spam and spam!

Vikings (singing): Spam spam spam spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!

- Monty Python

Those are not my keywords... Those are the OPs keywords.

[Love Zhaoying]

On ‎10‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 8:49 AM, Drake1 Nightfire said:

Those are not my keywords... Those are the OPs keywords.

Sorry, I should have directed my comment/response to them.

[Suzlag1900]

I dont even understand why my item was flagged either, I buy gachas and resell them so  what is the problem? i logged into my store and i get this message stating my item has been flagged when i sold 1 other from the same machine none of those were flagged and i get no explanation except due to a  mis listing as the others are listed the same way   

[Drake1 Nightfire]

1 hour ago, Suzlag1900 said:

I dont even understand why my item was flagged either, I buy gachas and resell them so  what is the problem? i logged into my store and i get this message stating my item has been flagged when i sold 1 other from the same machine none of those were flagged and i get no explanation except due to a  mis listing as the others are listed the same way   

At a guess, wrong categories... You have houses listed in Home and Garden when they should be in the Buildings and Other Structures section.. 

[Chic Aeon]

Along with tagging incorrectly there is ALSO a category for USED which was made for products NOT sold by the original owner. So while not mandatory to put there (not now anyway) it might be something to consider. It is a big late now for the Marketplace to introduce a new GACHA category which obviously (in retrospect) would have been a good inclusion when the Viewer Managed Marketplace came on the scene and the ability to sell the same gacha item over and over became available.

While it certainly could be that it is a competitor flagging, it could just be one of the many Marketplace uses that get tire of seeing jeans in the middle of sock and such and flags them. If I am feeling feisty, I do that to a few each time I visit. Unfortunately there have been threads here lately showing that our reporting efforts can be overlooked even when numerous folks report the same badly tagged listing. Don't know what to say about that.