Is MP surcharge/in-world discount a normal thing now?

[Zanara Zenovka]

I've had some customers comment about my prices being the same on MP and in-world and saying most merchants now adjust their pricing for the 10% MP commission. Is this correct?

As an X-Street veteran (and migration survivor - Vale Darrius) I remember there once being a rule against this, but is that still the case?

Should I be offering an in-world discount? (but then again - tier isn't free).

What do you all do?

[Rowan Amore]

8 minutes ago, Zanara Zenovka said:

I've had some customers comment about my prices being the same on MP and in-world and saying most merchants now adjust their pricing for the 10% MP commission. Is this correct?

As an X-Street veteran (and migration survivor - Vale Darrius) I remember there once being a rule against this, but is that still the case?

Should I be offering an in-world discount? (but then again - tier isn't free).

What do you all do?

I wouldn't say most merchants do this.  In fact, most of the larger places do not.  It's rare that I see a MP store say that it's cheaper inworld.  Some will only have demos inworld though.

[bigmoe Whitfield]

when I'm putting my products up on the market place,  I'm pricing it so that the fee is covered in the MP pricing you are buying the item for, I do not have to do that in an in world store, so it's going to be cheaper there,  I even tell you that in the listing,  most people still buy from the market place though.

[Quistess Alpha]

I don't do a whole lot of shopping, but I have seen listings that mention in-world discounts.

[HunniHope]

I've seen a some stores add extra on the MP but not always the full 10%. Personally I keep my prices the same on MP as they are inworld and I've never had anyone comment on it. If I lose a bit through MP fees then so what, Its just another cost of doing business, and the discount I do offer inworld to group members is greater than the10% that I pay in MP fees, plus on top of that they earn store credit too. Basically I give away more selling inworld than i pay on the MP,  but it's a perk for customers that I'm prepared to swallow.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

Some merchants will give a discount for in-world customers.

Some merchants will give a discount for Marketplace customers.

Some merchants will give the same price for both customers.

Both are allowed.

[Zanara Zenovka]

Thanks for the info everyone. Appreciate it.

[Reid Parkin]

I discount my inworld items as it's so much easier to just set it out and put a price on it. Listing on MP is much more work. I often spend so long doing images and typing and checking and doing it again, rewrite and so on. But so inworld I rez it, put a price on it and done. It's also nice when people come inworld. It's nice to see them so it's like a reward for that effort too. Nothing to do with MP fees.

[Rockridge Constantine]

My in-world items are generally priced lower than my MP.  This is primarily to encourage customers to visit the in-world store location.  As was mentioned earlier, yes MP requires more work and trying to balance a fair price.  I have decided to increase prices on MP,  but not necessarily to recover the commission by LL.  My sales this past year have been a mixed between both in-world and MP.  Everyone has a preference and I try to meet the customer where they are.

[Sid Nagy]

If I sell something on the MP, I pay 10% commission for that service. Totally logical to me. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Now if I sell the same item with a rebate in-world, I shoot myself in the foot.
There are bills to be payed in-world too. Land doesn't come cheap. That is even the main reason I don't have an in-world presence at the moment.
No shop means less sales, but an decrease of costs as well.

So to be honest, I don't understand why people discount in-world sales now a days.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Sid Nagy
I fixed spelling.

[mikka Luik]

Once upon a time there was something in t and c about price diff on MP vs inworld but that went away. And no I am not searching for it

Besides, that 'discount' would make no sense as I sell mostly building stuff and what is on MP is usually kits, whereas inworld the individual parts are available for people to pick what they would like (its why I have inworld presence) so prices of course differ, with the MP kits generally cheaper if you want the whole kit and caboodle.

(Old trick from meat space - we used to offer products with teeny differences for each of the big chains to side step any of that legislation on price comparison)

[Rya Nitely]

On 3/15/2021 at 12:41 PM, Zanara Zenovka said:

As an X-Street veteran (and migration survivor - Vale Darrius) I remember there once being a rule against this, but is that still the case?

As an X-Street veteran myself I remember why they had that rule. X-Street was independent of SL, and the rule was there to stop people using X-Street as an advertising platform. X-Street's only income was through the 5% sales commission, and they'd lose this if people said 'go buy inworld for a discount price', hence using the website to simply advertise the product to get  inworld sales. That was the reason for the rule.

Whereas SL owns everything now, so they don't really miss out on revenue through inworld sales as they get tier for land and the fees for cash out etc. It took a long long time for them realise this rule shouldn't apply anymore, and finally it was taken out of the Terms.

[Zanara Zenovka]

Ah ok that makes sense. Thanks for that background, Rya.

[iamyourneighbour]

On 3/15/2021 at 11:57 AM, bigmoe Whitfield said:

when I'm putting my products up on the market place,  I'm pricing it so that the fee is covered in the MP pricing you are buying the item for, I do not have to do that in an in world store, so it's going to be cheaper there,  I even tell you that in the listing,  most people still buy from the market place though.

The product icon alone sells the product. That's how products with 6 x 1 star reviews exist. Even ratings cannot deter people from buying a product on MP if the icon looks good enough

[Chic Aeon]

4 minutes ago, iamyourneighbour said:

The product icon alone sells the product. That's how products with 6 x 1 star reviews exist. Even ratings cannot deter people from buying a product on MP if the icon looks good enough

AND since many of those ratings are either 1 star from competitors or 5 stars from alts -----

TRY THE DEMO and decide for yourself.  

I have some discounted items on the MP and others not. It is up to the consumer to decide if they want to go to the store and look (this if there isn't a downloadable demo).  I sometimes reward folks that make the effort to journey out into the "real" world -- a few steps away from their computer LOL. 

 

[Sid Nagy]

On 3/15/2021 at 2:57 AM, bigmoe Whitfield said:

when I'm putting my products up on the market place,  I'm pricing it so that the fee is covered in the MP pricing you are buying the item for, I do not have to do that in an in world store, so it's going to be cheaper there,  I even tell you that in the listing,  most people still buy from the market place though.

So you try to recover the costs for using the marketplace, which is a normal business move, but you don't calculate the costs of land into your in world prices?
That I find a strange business model to be honest.

[bigmoe Whitfield]

5 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

So you try to recover the costs for using the marketplace, which is a normal business move, but you don't calculate the costs of land into your in world prices?
That I find a strange business model to be honest.

it's figured in.  I just have my own method

[Kyrah Abattoir]

I used not to, but I came to the conclusion that it isn't up to me to subsidize the Marketplace, (or the Lindex).

If they adjust their fees, I will adjust my prices accordingly.

[Dakota Linden]

Greetings, All!

A slight necropost, so forgive me for that. 

SLX/Xstreet SL had the original restriction in place so that sellers wouldn't use that Marketplace to advertise their items and, as Rya said, avoid paying the commission on sales since it was a 3rd party, user built and run system, and was how Jay paid for the web site and upkeep.  We did have leeway though, in that if the item price was less than the %5 commission difference, an item wouldn't be unlisted from SLX/Xstreet SL. 

A seller just couldn't put a price like L$5000 on an item and then say in the listing that someone could buy it in world for half that price, etc.  

When the SL Marketplace was built on the foundation of that system, the existing policies were brought over at the same time.  

As was pointed out by sellers a couple of years ago, the Second Life economy functions the same way whether a user is selling an item through the Marketplace or at an in world location, so sellers shouldn't be punished for having separate prices on the Marketplace compared to their in world stores.  This would mean that a seller who chose to have an in world sale would have to spend additional time changing the prices on all of their items on the Marketplace to match the sale price on the items in world, etc. 

After discussion with sellers, Linden Lab chose to no longer enforce the price matching on item listing, with the separate exception of Real Estate Listings which must be set to Zero cost.  If anyone is interested, they should be able to search the forums for posts and threads regarding the Inflated Listing Price discussions that happened. 

 

 

[Zanara Zenovka]

Thanks for that, Dakota. Good to get the full picture.

[iamyourneighbour]

On 3/15/2021 at 11:41 AM, Zanara Zenovka said:

 

What do you all do?

Kindly advise my customer that I, as a merchant, does not run a charity and has bills to pay.

[Finite]

On 4/28/2021 at 2:16 AM, iamyourneighbour said:

Kindly advise my customer that I, as a merchant, does not run a charity and has bills to pay.

Opposed to the customer also not being a charity and also having bills to pay? God if a merchant ever responded to me like this that would certainly be one less place I'd spend anything. I get it you're probably trying to be funny but still lol. Damn. I wouldn't say that.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Finite

[Wulfie Reanimator]

Just now, Finite said:

Opposed to the customer also not being a charity and also having bills to pay? God if a merchant ever responded to me like this that would certainly be one less place I'd spend anything. I get it you're probably trying to be funny but still lol. Damn. I wouldn't say that.

A merchant's right to choose their price overrides your entitlement to the price you want to pay.

The product is what it is, price included, and you have the choice of whether to buy it or not (and where you want to buy it). If one of the options is too much for you, then go for the cheaper option if you still want the product.

And I say this as someone who runs a very generous charity.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Wulfie Reanimator

[Finite]

50 minutes ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

A merchant's right to choose their price overrides your entitlement to the price you want to pay.

The product is what it is, price included, and you have the choice of whether to buy it or not (and where you want to buy it). If one of the options is too much for you, then go for the cheaper option if you still want the product.

And I say this as someone who runs a very generous charity.

My statement wasn't about entitlement (or even about wanting to buy anything) at all it was more along the lines on how to speak to a customer than anything.  If anything his response was more along the lines of someone being entitled than that of the customer asking a simple yes or no question.

Your statement in itself reeks of entitlement. You know who else runs charities? A lot of people who don't feel the need to tell others that they run charities for the sole purpose of making a point on a mundane internet forum topic.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Finite

[Wulfie Reanimator]

4 minutes ago, Finite said:

My statement wasn't about entitlement (or even about wanting to buy anything) at all it was more along the lines on how to speak to a customer than anything.  If anything his response was more along the lines of someone being entitled than that of the customer asking a simple yes or no question.

Your statement in itself reeks of entitlement. You know who else runs charities? A lot of people who don't feel the need to tell others that they run charities for the sole purpose of making a point on a mundane internet forum topic.

Nah, I like blunt people. His response was fine, especially as a general reply on a thread not aimed at personally anyone. (We all know people exaggerate their social interactions on the forum.) Even if it was said verbatim to a customer, I wouldn't be upset enough to write a post about how upset I am.

The second part of your post is the reason why I brought it up when responding to you specifically. You don't know anything about me or what I do and I didn't expect you to. I don't go around broadcasting to people what a good and helpful person I am, except when I'm making a point that I predict you will perceive as the complete opposite of that.

What's wrong with mundane internet forum topics anyway? Passes the time just as well as anything else.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Wulfie Reanimator