LL 'price pumping' on the SLM again?

[Spica Inventor]

I noticed that expensive products are finding their way to the top page of the SLM search results again like they used to do a few years back before 'the great change'.  Has anyone else noticed that as well? I hope we are not returning to the days of for every 100L spent on a single product, it counts as an additional sale for search result ranking purposes. 😩

Remember the three major things that caused peeps not to hang and spend in SL.

1. price pumping

2. drama

3. control freak behavior. 

[Rockridge Constantine]

I haven't noticed this.  I just did a random item search on the Marketplace and used Sort By "relevance"  and did not see anything unusual.  Did you check / toggle how you want the results

Edited April 1, 2019 by Rockridge Constantine
added image for explanation

[Claireschen Hesten]

I do think there's something not quite right on the marketplace when on apparel sorted by relevance & 96 items per page well over half the results on the landing page are from the same creator

[ChinRey]

4 hours ago, Claireschen Hesten said:

I do think there's something not quite right on the marketplace when on apparel sorted by relevance & 96 items per page well over half the results on the landing page are from the same creator

Wow, that is interesting! Either somebody has spent a lot of time reverse-engineering the alogirthm or they've been incredibly lucky hitting the sweet spot.

As for search relevnce sorting in general, I do have a lot of sympathy for LL. There's jsut so little data to base the ranking on an they obviously don't have anything like the resources the big web search engine have to develop and maintain the algorithm.

[Ethan Paslong]

1 hour ago, ChinRey said:

 I do have a lot of sympathy for LL. There's jsut so little data to base the ranking on an they obviously don't have anything like the resources the big web search engine have to develop and maintain the algorithm.

yep... but LL uses the "wrong" software ... 99% of all webshops manage to get a good search, and results... MP cóuld have that too  ...guessing it's holding tight to old principles, unreal high amount of time to solve it and $$$$$

[Spica Inventor]

"I haven't noticed this.  I just did a random item search on the Marketplace and used Sort By "relevance"  and did not see anything unusual.  Did you check / toggle how you want the results"

No, I just did the same ol same ol basic default by relevance search on my favorite subject. Seems like the over 1000L stuff is slowly creeping up on the first page. 

"I do think there's something not quite right on the marketplace when on apparel sorted by relevance & 96 items per page well over half the results on the landing page are from the same creator"

I wonder if merchants can 'buy' their way up the search results in some way now, or LL playing favorites is going on? 😉

[animats]

I never even look at those irrelevant promoted ads on Marketplace. I just scroll down past them.

They don't obey the selection limits - if you require a low LI or full perms, the promoted ads aren't filtered. So they're useless.

Edited April 6, 2019 by animats

[Coffee Pancake]

Suggesting Linden malfeasance is more than a little paranoid.

 

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

On 4/2/2019 at 3:18 AM, Claireschen Hesten said:

I do think there's something not quite right on the marketplace when on apparel sorted by relevance & 96 items per page well over half the results on the landing page are from the same creator

That's interesting indeed. Although I must say all of those images have an incredible 'ooh, shiny' factor, when compared to the others.

Here's another dirty trick to get you high up in the relevance list instantly: set your item for sale for L$ 50,000, buy a copy yourself, then set the price to the intended value, say, L$ 300. It'll cost you 5%, or L$ 2,500 commission to LL, but it puts you on a spot to be noticed. Last time I used it was years ago, though. I can't guarantee it still works. And if it does*, it also depends on the quality of your product, and willingness of people to buy it, to stay up there.

* Also, don't tell anyone else, because if everyone does it, it won't work anymore. 

Edited April 6, 2019 by Arduenn Schwartzman

[rainbow Fairymeadow]

On 4/1/2019 at 9:18 PM, Claireschen Hesten said:

I do think there's something not quite right on the marketplace when on apparel sorted by relevance & 96 items per page well over half the results on the landing page are from the same creator

I agree with this. I was on MP the other day just trying to figure out how this works, I went through about 15 pages of jewelry and never saw ONE of mine, but multiple things from other stores. I wish I would have found this thread a few minutes earlier. I actually just started a thread to get some help lol.

[Alyona Su]

@Dakota Linden has already explained it all. It's all in how you create your market place listing (and how important using the "Features" and "Keywords" sections are, etc.) But then also there is the way the *user* is viewing the listings. My personal preference is always Copy-Only, 96-per-page (can we increase that to like 150?) and NEWEST FIRST. The reason is that "by Relevance" is too heavily skewed by those "features" and "keywords" - which too many creators use wrongly in an attempt to game the system.

Edited April 16, 2019 by Alyona Su

[Love Zhaoying]

On 4/6/2019 at 3:01 PM, CoffeeDujour said:

Suggesting Linden malfeasance is more than a little paranoid.

 

I’m not paranoid! Oh, you weren’t addressing me.

Edited April 16, 2019 by Love Zhaoying

[Dakota Linden]

On 4/6/2019 at 3:11 PM, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

 

Here's another dirty trick to get you high up in the relevance list instantly: set your item for sale for L$ 50,000, buy a copy yourself, then set the price to the intended value, say, L$ 300. It'll cost you 5%, or L$ 2,500 commission to LL, but it puts you on a spot to be noticed. Last time I used it was years ago, though. I can't guarantee it still works. And if it does*, it also depends on the quality of your product, and willingness of people to buy it, to stay up there.

* Also, don't tell anyone else, because if everyone does it, it won't work anymore. 

Greetings!

This activity will get your items removed and your account suspended if you are caught.

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/listing_guidelines

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/listing_guidelines#abusive-behavior

If your product is removed because you did this, you will not be allowed to ever sell that same item again through the Marketplace. The original listing will be taken down and any attempts to relist the same item will also result in the item being removed if found. 

I would strongly recommend NEVER doing this if you value your Product, your Marketplace Store, and your Second Life Account. 

 

 

[Chic Aeon]

4 minutes ago, Dakota Linden said:

Greetings!

This activity will get your items removed and your account suspended if you are caught.

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/listing_guidelines

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/listing_guidelines#abusive-behavior

If your product is removed because you did this, you will not be allowed to ever sell that same item again through the Marketplace. The original listing will be taken down and any attempts to relist the same item will also result in the item being removed if found. 

I would strongly recommend NEVER doing this if you value your Product, your Marketplace Store, and your Second Life Account. 

 

 

And honestly, who wants to pay $2500 lindens on a product you would (might) sell for $300?  Really! 

 

[Resi Pfeffer]

On 4/6/2019 at 9:11 PM, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Here's another dirty trick...

 

21 hours ago, Dakota Linden said:

This activity will get...

And suddenly Barbra Streisand comes into my mind.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

On 4/16/2019 at 7:44 PM, Chic Aeon said:

And honestly, who wants to pay $2500 lindens on a product you would (might) sell for $300?  Really! 

Understandable but kind of silly of a question. It's an acceptable risk that requires you to sell 8 copies before you're making profit, the idea being that you may get more potential customers faster. (Or end up losing your whole account, as Dakota Linden said.)

There are plenty of backwards-sounding marketing strategies (especially if paying a flat fee for a visibility boost is your bar for silly), such as intentionally selling a product for a loss. (Look up "loss leader") Popular example: Sony is losing money for every console they sell. Their profit comes long-term from game sales and their subscription services.

Or even giving away your product for free, but selling accessories and services for the initially free product.

As a kind of similar and within-SL-rules example, you could also sell your product for dirt cheap to attract more people and spread your product/brand. This happens especially when you're a newcomer to a large market.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Wulfie Reanimator