Marketplace stores offering in world discounts

[Stephanie Misfit]

I've seen a lot of marketplace listings that say things along the lines of "purchase in world for 5% discount", I guess to avoid the marketplace listing fee and basically just use the marketplace as free promotion for their items. I was looking at the marketplace listing policies and can't see exactly where this behaviour falls, under Anti-Competitive or Abusive Behavior it lists "inflating prices on the SL Marketplace, in comparison to other e-commerce sites" but there is nothing mentioned about offering cheaper prices in world. I would think that offering higher prices on your entire store on the marketplace compared to in world would be anti-competitive and reportable though.

[Lucia Nightfire]

It's been asked at the Governance user group before. It's not allowed.

If you want a direct answer, you can attend the next meeting and ask.

[Chic Aeon]

This was brought up some time ago again (maybe a year ago now) and we were told officially (maybe Dakota not sure) that while that HAD been true in the past, that rule was left over from XStreet (hope that is correct as I didn't do anything with them) and that it was no longer true on the Linden Marketplace; you COULD have lower prices inworld.     Perhaps @Dakota Linden  can verify that for us.      That was supposed to get fixed in the web instructions. Not sure if it was or not.   Reasonably speaking if you are seeing a LOT of those kind of comments, it is likely still OK  -- since I doubt the moderators on the Marketplace would let that slide.    

 

 

 

 

[Cindy Evanier]

3 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

This was brought up some time ago again (maybe a year ago now) and we were told officially (maybe Dakota not sure) that while that HAD been true in the past, that rule was left over from XStreet (hope that is correct as I didn't do anything with them) and that it was no longer true on the Linden Marketplace; you COULD have lower prices inworld.     Perhaps @Dakota Linden  can verify that for us.      That was supposed to get fixed in the web instructions. Not sure if it was or not.   Reasonably speaking if you are seeing a LOT of those kind of comments, it is likely still OK  -- since I doubt the moderators on the Marketplace would let that slide.    

 

 

 

 

I also thought it was refered to on the LInden blogs as being allowed at the time but I can't see that now.  I am also sure it was mentioned it was a left over rule of  Xstreet and should have been removed.

[Elvina Ewing]

the original announcement:

the follow-up comment by Dakota Linden:

 

 

[Lucia Nightfire]

Hmm, I must have missed when that was announced and it's sort of a recent change too.

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

If in-world products are cheaper of the same item listed on the marketplace, this is breaking the market policy. If you do a sale in-world, I believe that is different. There is no information about sales. This is why I feel it is directed towards regular priced listings.

[Cindy Evanier]

1 hour ago, Kytteh Wytchwood said:

If in-world products are cheaper of the same item listed on the marketplace, this is breaking the market policy. If you do a sale in-world, I believe that is different. There is no information about sales. This is why I feel it is directed towards regular priced listings.

Did you read Elvina's reply above? Dakota Linden has cleared it all up, it is not breaking the market policy.

[Kytteh Wytchwood]

35 minutes ago, Cindy Evanier said:

Did you read Elvina's reply above? Dakota Linden has cleared it all up, it is not breaking the market policy.

I didn't because the only date I saw was 2016. I didn't see 2018 from the first screenshot share. 

[Waialae]

I've noticed big differences in inventory between marketplace and inworld stores. This first happened when shopping for clothing in marketplace and a shop said "demo available at inworld store." SO annoying, because shopping inworld is a bigger challenge for my pc, and involves wandering around stores that generally aren't organized very well. Browser searches are quick; searching through an inworld store while it slowly renders seems to take forever. What I usually do is find something in marketplace, and IF it's an expensive item I'll go to the inworld store and check for a lower price or group discount. I have to admit though that some of my favorite finds have been from inworld stores, some of which had little or no marketplace presence.

[Rya Nitely]

2 hours ago, Waialae said:

I have to admit though that some of my favorite finds have been from inworld stores, some of which had little or no marketplace presence.

It takes more time and effort to list an item on MP than inworld. Inworld it's just a matter of rez and set price in its simplest form. This could be why many sellers have it cheaper inworld. It's my reason, and I often don't bother to list items on MP because of the time and effort. Therefore, if things are cheaper and more available inworld then it could be because it's easier to set for sale.

Even though I have cheaper prices inworld the amount of sales are about the same, because although one person could buy more items if they come inworld, there are more people buying on MP, so it works out about the same, for me anyway.

[Pamela Galli]

42 minutes ago, Rya Nitely said:

It's my reason, and I often don't bother to list items on MP because of the time and effort.

Really. It takes an astonishing amount of time to list things. 

I charge the same or close to it for inworld as Mp.

[Chic Aeon]

My prices are the same but I don't list "everything" on the Marketplace.   I don't mind the listing as much as I used to. I just say less and let the picture get folks interested in looking at the demo LOL.  LAZY GAL. 

[Resi Pfeffer]

If possible, i buy everything in the marketplace. If i should need a redelivery, its just a few clicks away. And i can review the item, too.

[Alyona Su]

8 hours ago, Resi Pfeffer said:

If possible, i buy everything in the marketplace. If i should need a redelivery, its just a few clicks away. And i can review the item, too.

Definitely this. As for any "discount in-world" - ummm, NO. Because the deeper the discount, the more it is costs to join the group. No discount is worth that. If the Market Place price is fair enough to me AND I can grab a demo from there then I will buy it if I like it. No demo? No sale. If I have to go to your in-world shop to get a demo, 80% likely: no sale. The only way I'll go in-world to gram or see a demo is if it's something that I rez out (like furniture, vehicle, etc.,) because I want to check your LOD skills.

Other than that... No Market Place? No Market Place Demo? No sale.

[Pamela Galli]

42 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

The only way I'll go in-world to gram or see a demo is if it's something that I rez out (like furniture, vehicle, etc.,) because I want to check your LOD skills

Also I would hope to see if the scale and animations fit your eight foot — or five foot — avatar. And see what it looks like with your Windlight and other viewer settings. 

I would much rather not sell something than sell it without the buyer checking out the demo — this is why I pay for four store regions. 

 

[Adam Spark]

On 8/28/2019 at 7:46 PM, Stephanie Misfit said:

I've seen a lot of marketplace listings that say things along the lines of "purchase in world for 5% discount", I guess to avoid the marketplace listing fee and basically just use the marketplace as free promotion for their items. I was looking at the marketplace listing policies and can't see exactly where this behaviour falls, under Anti-Competitive or Abusive Behavior it lists "inflating prices on the SL Marketplace, in comparison to other e-commerce sites" but there is nothing mentioned about offering cheaper prices in world. I would think that offering higher prices on your entire store on the marketplace compared to in world would be anti-competitive and reportable though.

While that reasoning is probably legit, I would argue that most people sell cheaper in-world as a draw to their store, in order to draw attention to their place and their inventory of items. I don't think it has a lot to do with the discounted item itself in many cases.

I actually would consider it very healthy practice for the grid as a whole. Anything that draws Marketplace users into logging in and teleporting to shops can only be a good thing imho. It makes the MP compliment in-world shopping the way it should, rather than the MP simply being an alternative to it.