Missing creators/shop owners - what can you do?

[StephanieBell]

I recently became aware while purchasing items from a gacha machine that one of the items in the set was not included in the machine and one item was duplicated. I contacted the creator as well as the store manager as shown in their profiles to do with a NC but have heard nothing back. I joined their group for L$50 and asked if anyone else had had a problem with the machine and was told by group members they haven't seen the creator around for a couple of years now. Another gacha collector told me they had written to them regarding this same issue about 3 years ago and never heard back.

I feel frustrated and slightly deceived by the gacha machine experience as there is no chance of completing the set from the machine. But my real question is how can stores legitimately go on existing and taking money for in-world products, gacha items, group membership and MP sales for years on end with no apparent owner, no customer service and no recourse for customers? 

I am also aware of another store which this appears to have happened, having contacted them several times at the beginning of January and have never heard back regarding a product issue. Is there a way of knowing if a store is actively being managed before spending Lindens there?

[Cindy Evanier]

12 minutes ago, StephanieBell said:

I recently became aware while purchasing items from a gacha machine that one of the items in the set was not included in the machine and one item was duplicated. I contacted the creator as well as the store manager as shown in their profiles to do with a NC but have heard nothing back. I joined their group for L$50 and asked if anyone else had had a problem with the machine and was told by group members they haven't seen the creator around for a couple of years now. Another gacha collector told me they had written to them regarding this same issue about 3 years ago and never heard back.

I feel frustrated and slightly deceived by the gacha machine experience as there is no chance of completing the set from the machine. But my real question is how can stores legitimately go on existing and taking money for in-world products, gacha items, group membership and MP sales for years on end with no apparent owner, no customer service and no recourse for customers? 

I am also aware of another store which this appears to have happened, having contacted them several times at the beginning of January and have never heard back regarding a product issue. Is there a way of knowing if a store is actively being managed before spending Lindens there?

Sometimes there are legitimate reasons for this  eg my partner passed away just over 2 months ago.  Had he not had me to close things down then his marketplace store would still be there for people to buy things and his land with the store until he stopped paying for it.   They were supposed to have been clearing up the marketplace and removing stores (or putting on hold) of people who hadn't logged in since a certain date.  There is no way of knowing if a store is actively managed other than the way you tried sadly.  Asking in the group beforehand

[Chic Aeon]

Avatars come and go and hopefully the typists have not also disappeared. That being said there are instances when creators "leave" and have no choice what they do with their goods. 

 

For example :D.   Recently Sansar was sold. The new owners legitimately put up their own Terms of Service.  I decided that I didn't want to opt into that TOS.  What does that mean?  It means that my goods are still up in Sansar for sale but I don't receive any money for those sales. It also means that I have no way to turn off my listings or delete my products.   This same thing happened in SL about seven years ago when creators were faced with agreeing to a TOS that they didn't want or simply exiting the platform. It happened again recently with Tilia.   

 

I have no problems at all leaving my items up in Sansar, but there ARE some occasions when creators exit unexpectedly.  Not all that unusual. 

[DeepBlueJoy]

There is another side to this. I have in inventory some items from dying stores or long abandoned MP stores, items I treasure. I only wish I had bought more from a place/MP store like Angelwing before it finally went away without warning. The risk to me was outweighed by the chance to acquire the exquisite work of someone who is long gone, who knows why. 

I write stories online, and several of my fellow authors have vanished without a trace. In a few cases, I found out that they died. I am in no hurry for their legacy to vanish and I am grateful that we have not lost all access to the work of people who may have died or become unable to come back. Once it is gone, it is forever lost.

I read unfinished stories and i wear 'orphan' clothing too.

I would encourage creators to have some kind of creative "will" - someone who can carry out their wishes, or in the case of stores, respond to customers, and to wind things down if absolutely necessary.

In the majority of cases, i never need a response for purchases. I would rather have orphan stores for lovely creations than have them be scrubbed by some soulless policy from the face of 'second earth'.

Of course, it sucks not to have a response, especially when you find something you love, but sadly, all things eventually pass.

Edited May 9, 2020 by DeepBlueJoy

[Polenth Yue]

The main way is to see if the creator is actually doing anything at the moment. You could find out I was active by seeing that I'm posting here and there's a poster for an event going on right now in my shop. But most of the time it isn't really needed. Unless you're trying to do something like complete a gacha set or buy something expensive, in which case it'd be worth checking.

[Rya Nitely]

IM and send a notecard to the creator or seller. When I get a response I'll buy the item.

[StephanieBell]

Thanks to all for replying. Good suggestions and thoughtful comments too. 🙂

[MelodyClone1]

Solution: put a "last log in date" next to the merchant's name in the product page. Problem solved. Of course there might be alts that act as store owners and for some reason the creator might decide to never log the alt, but this is an extremely rare edge case. I mean if you're gonna keep all your physical inventory on one alt, why wouldn't you log them on?

Sometimes creators leave SL and actually leave a msg on the product page saying something along the lines of "you will receive zero customer service even if items defective, account inactive, but I'm gonna keep all my stuff full price anyways so have fun buying them" which I find just hilarious. I guess since LL doesn't charge monthly fee to list your items, easy way for them to keep a steady source of spare change while investing zero time or effort other than maybe selling lindens once a full moon.

Edited May 14, 2020 by MelodyClone1

[DeepBlueJoy]

I've benefited by old stuff that I've managed to get, some of which is one of a kind or dirt cheap and I've never actually been burned by absent folk.  I've been burned several times by people who are still active but who basically refused to be responsive or helpful even though they are around to hear my cries for help.

I'm against doing anything that would hurt or make it more likely the account would end up being deleted (example: a last log on date on an MP account or an automatic account deletion after a certain amount of time).  Much older (and sometimes quite exquisitely made) work that I loved but couldn't afford early in my time in SL is now gone forever and I can't ever find it again so I know that the losses outweigh the gains.  Some of the pictures of some of the items are still on the web and I am just bummed I cannot have those lovelies for myself.

If the vendor wants to say 'I may not be responsive b/c real life has made it difficult for me to give you service' that's not a terrible thing, however.  People are absent for all sorts of reasons.  One of my SL friends went missing for over a year and no one knew why.  She didn't meet any of her obligations, but i"m grateful her accounts weren't deleted.  It turned out she'd been in a serious accident and spent MONTHS in hospital and then recuperating.  She did not have any way to reach out to SL -- don't think she was reaching out for much of anything for a long time.

I am not unsympathetic about someone being frustrated they cannot get customer service, but considering that most items aren't more than a couple of real life bucks and often quite a bit less, I just would try to let it go and not try to get their work removed from MP or anything because of a missing item.  I would probably leave a bad review so people were warned, however.

[steeljane42]

21 hours ago, MelodyClone1 said:

Sometimes creators leave SL and actually leave a msg on the product page saying something along the lines of "you will receive zero customer service even if items defective, account inactive, but I'm gonna keep all my stuff full price anyways so have fun buying them" which I find just hilarious.

At least they are being honest and leave a warning. Sure, we all enjoy free updates, bug fixes, customer service and what not, but all that is entirely optional and creators are not obligated to provide any, even if they are still active. Most do try their best, some are also very thankful for reported issues and often send out some gifts as a "thank you", but some just don't bother.

[AdelleBelle]

I am another example of why a store owner might leave and give no reply. I own a clothing store, I've been missing for more than 2 years, due to fighting a leukemia that had me on and off hospitals almost every week and gave me no chance to think about SL. Before I went away of course I left a brief notice to the group that I was leaving and the reason why I was leaving, but I had no Idea would have been for so long (I actually thought I would never come back). People comes and goes, and new members joined the group expecting new monthly gifts... Of course there were none coming so there was many upset people because of that. I had no way to make them happy so for a while I turned down the instant messaging into my mail account. Couldn't afford to get stressed over it. Also It was a huge loss for me because that store ate almost 4k USD from my own cash on my bank account during those 2 years, I should have sold the sim if I knew it took such expenses. If you are not online actively promoting and updating, people will forget your store even exists. Don't always blame the store owners, most often than not there is a real valid reason why people leaves and gives no notice.

[Cindy Evanier]

14 minutes ago, AdelleBelle said:

I am another example of why a store owner might leave and give no reply. I own a clothing store, I've been missing for more than 2 years, due to fighting a leukemia that had me on and off hospitals almost every week and gave me no chance to think about SL. Before I went away of course I left a brief notice to the group that I was leaving and the reason why I was leaving, but I had no Idea would have been for so long (I actually thought I would never come back). People comes and goes, and new members joined the group expecting new monthly gifts... Of course there were none coming so there was many upset people because of that. I had no way to make them happy so for a while I turned down the instant messaging into my mail account. Couldn't afford to get stressed over it. Also It was a huge loss for me because that store ate almost 4k USD from my own cash on my bank account during those 2 years, I should have sold the sim if I knew it took such expenses. If you are not online actively promoting and updating, people will forget your store even exists. Don't always blame the store owners, most often than not there is a real valid reason why people leaves and gives no notice.

I hope you are on the road to recovery now.

[AdelleBelle]

5 minutes ago, Cindy Evanier said:

I hope you are on the road to recovery now.

Lets say I'm ok now, though with leukemia is always a long and exhausting fight. But for the moment I'm clear according to the last tests, thank you

[Cindy Evanier]

Just now, AdelleBelle said:

Lets say I'm ok now, though with leukemia is always a long and exhausting fight. But for the moment I'm clear according to the last tests, thank you

I know, my brother had it and luckily my other brother was a bone marrow match.  5 years later and he is doing ok.  I am glad to hear you are clear  

[AdelleBelle]

Just now, Cindy Evanier said:

I know, my brother had it and luckily my other brother was a bone marrow match.  5 years later and he is doing ok.  I am glad to hear you are clear  

Glad to hear your brother is OK. It is hard to find a matching donor.

I had several treatments, fortunately I live in Europe, I could go to some really advanced hospital and had a Stem Cell therapy done last year in Switzerland that put me on my feet. Apparently it worked so far, keeping fingers crossed it remains so. ^^

I wish to your brother to keep being clear forever!