Are the SL weekend sales discouraging you from paying full price for items?

[Stephanie Misfit]

I spend a lot at the weekend sales these days. My inventory overflows with bargains. I guess for that reason alone there is less reason to buy things full price for me, because I have so much stuff already from the sales - particularly when it comes to backdrops and home and garden stuff.

But there is one reason I am really put off buying things at full price now from certain stores - I know that in a few weeks, these new items at events will be available for 60 or 75L in a weekend sale. In fact, I just saw one store release something in a September event, only to sell it in a weekend sale for 69L at the start of October. I am aware of quite a few stores who follow this practice of quickly putting their new items in weekend sales, and I will no longer pay full price for them for anything. I doubt very much they would care, of course, they are making plenty of money from the weekend sales, but I am sure there are others like me who feel the same way, that the full price for the items is a bit of a rip off.

Now I do not expect all creators to sell their items for 60L and I do regularly pay full price for things from creators who don't sell in weekend sales. But I think my overall shopping at full price has reduced since I started shopping the weekend sales due to not wanting as much stuff. And there are some creators, as I mentioned, I will never pay full price to, either on principle or because they just have so much cheap stuff that I don't need to.

How have the weekend sales affected your shopping in SL?

[Anna Nova]

I have a folder in inventory that contains demos of things I'd like, but not at that price, it's called 'Awaits a sale'.

 

[Sid Nagy]

My weekend sales are impulsive buys most of the time. That might be clothing, furniture, plants, home decorations.
Mostly stuff I would likely never have bought, when it hadn't show up in one of the sales listings.

Weekend sales influence my more targeted shopping though. I often remember stuff that I saw during weekend sales.
That is the nice thing about the shop-hopping events, one finds nice inworld stores at times.

[Gabriele Graves]

For the right type of item and the right quality I am happy to pay full price and I do buy a lot of great stuff.  I do buy quite a lot at sales too but that's really tiny fraction of what's on offer for various reasons.  I would say I buy more full price items just because of the style, uniqueness and quality.  Some of the stuff you just don't see at the sales unless it's a theme.

So no, for me it doesn't discourage at all.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Gabriele Graves

[Akane Nacht]

Yes - both weekend sales and events. Just saw something I was pretty sure would never be in a sale bin in the halloween shopping event for 25% off 😑

[SeattleChris]

I find myself rarely buying the sale items on the weekend sales, but I often find myself in a store where I like the creator's style, just not that one particular thing. So, if anything, the weekend sales have probably increased the amount of money I spend on full-price items.

[Dragon Mommy]

If I want something I don't wait to buy it, but I buy the occasional sale as an impulse buy. My friend I share a homestead with has their store there and weekend sales drive tons of traffic and buyers, which always makes them happy. 

[Phil Deakins]

I've never approved of sales - not even closing down or end of line sales. To my way of thinking, selling something at a discount, that customers had already paid the full price for, is sh_tting on the customers who paid the full price, and I wouldn't do that to customers.

[Sid Nagy]

 

34 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

I've never approved of sales - not even closing down or end of line sales. To my way of thinking, selling something at a discount, that customers had already paid the full price for, is sh_tting on the customers who paid the full price, and I wouldn't do that to customers.

The customer was satisfied with the price when they bought the item. So I don't see the problem about giving sales discounts later on. The customer never knows if or when it will ever be on a discount and if they still want or need the product then.
The reasons that I never sell in sales are because I'm too lazy for that and the events are to frequent.

RL: I'm redecorating at home at the moment: Last week I bought paint in store A with a discount of 30%.  I was happy with the price.
This week another retailer has the same paint with 40% discount. Do I feel ripped off now? Nope. I was happy with the price and I needed the paint last week.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Sid Nagy
A lot of good posts are at least edited once.

[Maitimo]

Are the SL weekend sales discouraging you from paying full price for items?

Yes and no.

The ridiculous price of full price clothing discourages me. Weekend sales make purchases possible at all.  This really only applies to clothig though; I find most home decor stuff, and hair, and similar things, to be reasonably priced. I'll often get a piece of furniture in the sale and buy one or two extra pieces to go with it.  

I'm not, under any circumstances, going to buy a fatpack of t-shirts that costs nearly as much as the body I'm wearing it on. If those stores don't have sales or group gifts, I won't be buying from them at all. Especially now, with the cost of electricity going so high.

 

[steeljane42]

I shop a lot. Like a LOT. Lots of landscape stuff, furniture, decor, and some clothing. So I try to keep some kind of a system, especially for clothing.

1. (And most important) Will I use it right now or very soon? If yes, I buy it.

2. Is it from one of my favorite creators? If yes, in most cases I still buy it.

3. If 1 and 2 are "no", then: Does this creator has weekend sales and if not, then at least black friday/store's bday ones? If yes, then demos/notes (if it's furniture/landscape stuff) they go into "Yearly sales" and "Weekend sales" folders. If not, it goes to a "maybe" folder.

I keep up with all big shopping events and sales anyway so I almost never miss said sales, so if it's not something really amazing or stuff I want right now, I can wait.

And in my personal opinion some things are just not worth the asking price (valid for rl too, but we are talking about sl here). Yes yes, it's still work to create meshes, textures, to rig them (Assuming it's not FP template, which I never buy.), but some are just not good enough for 750-900L$ outfit (assuming 3 pieces for 250-300 each). There's a lot of generic things, lots of poor texturing, lots of more decent things that are sadly just repeats of "what I already have 30 of". Might be worth for new users that are just building their wardrobes and need some variety, but much less so for those who've been around for a while.

I also feel like lots of those creators are very much aiming at weekend sales from the start. I've seen some rather generic/simple outfits split up to 4-5 pieces for 250 each for one color. Chances are not many people are going to buy those for that price, but for 60-75/per it's within 250-350 range and that's "fine".

  

3 hours ago, Phil Deakins said:

I've never approved of sales - not even closing down or end of line sales. To my way of thinking, selling something at a discount, that customers had already paid the full price for, is sh_tting on the customers who paid the full price, and I wouldn't do that to customers.

Well, I'm glad there are mostly reasonable creators that don't think the same. For example one of the biggest and most known landscape creators had 50% off release weekend sales in the last years (he didn't made anything new for a while sadly). All customers who were late to know about it had to pay the full price. And more usual sales with 50% discount at specific dates, like black friday, are very common.

You could argue digital goods don't lose in quality/value much. Not counting non mesh to mesh or pre-bento>bento heads/tails/wings/etc changes SL had at some point. At least compared to, say, PC hardware. Which just gets outclassed with each new generation, so obviously older gens lose their value over time. But there is other digital product - games. Last few generations some publishers sell their games at 30% discount just a few months after release, up to 70% off in a year and sometimes it just hits over 90% after a few years.

Edited October 11, 2022 by steeljane42
typos

[Alwin Alcott]

5 hours ago, Stephanie Lovely said:

My inventory overflows with bargains.

i stopped weekend sales and most events more than a year ago, and buy only something when it's really interesting and outstanding.
Bargains often aren't the nicest or best things to buy, more like rl impulsive purchases : hmm in the shop it looked nicer.....

[kali Wylder]

I tend to buy on impulse.  Almost all of my home deco stuff I bought because I read about it in this thread:

When I want a particular item, I tend to browse endlessly looking for just the right thing and rarely buy until I come upon it. 

As a general rule of thumb, I try not to put RL money into SL beyond my annual premium.  Since I retired from my sl job back in 2020, I have very limited funds.  I'm basically living off the proceeds from the sale of my mainland from back then.  When it's gone I'm not sure what I will do.  Maybe go back to hosting. I spend more in tips at clubs than my stipend which leaves me nothing to shop with.  Fortunately, back when I was hosting I made enough to buy all the clothes I'll ever need.  Now I shop in my inventory if I want to wear something new; there's so much in there I've never worn.

[Janet Voxel]

I still go to events and Inworld stores and buy things at full price. 
 

I do love a good sale though! What weekend sales are good for to me are things I might’ve missed out on for whatever reason. Mainly I end up buying little Knick knacks and doodads and accessories like earrings, cups of coffee, rings and body chains. I’ll buy clothes, but it’s usually those things I was on the fence about buying when it was full price. 
 

They both have a place for me.

[Lindal Kidd]

I do most of my shopping at the weekend sales these days.

We've had discussions here about how the sales are pushing down everyone's expectations of prices, and how that is driving more creators out of business...they can't afford to put in the effort to make nice things and sell them for just a few cents.

But I wonder. Maitimo's comment above mentions the "ridiculous price of full price clothing", and when I saw that, I had to agree. I like to buy fat packs, for variety, and so many of them are now priced around L$ 1,500 or so. When I see a price like that, compared with maybe finding a similar item for L$ 60 or L$ 75, I'll often just pass it by.

[Love Zhaoying]

Since I do not like shopping in SL - the searching, finding the place, going there, finding the item, etc. - is there any possibility I would like shopping more if I tried Sales? 

I assume this would require me to join individual store groups, receive their group messages about the sales, etc.  So, I suppose those notifications make it easier.

Unless y'all get some of your "Sales" info from different "shopping" websites and blogs. (Avoid the SPAM! Read a Blog!)

[Psyche Starling]

49 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Since I do not like shopping in SL - the searching, finding the place, going there, finding the item, etc. - is there any possibility I would like shopping more if I tried Sales? 

I assume this would require me to join individual store groups, receive their group messages about the sales, etc.  So, I suppose those notifications make it easier.

Unless y'all get some of your "Sales" info from different "shopping" websites and blogs. (Avoid the SPAM! Read a Blog!)

I get almost all of it from Seraphim. They'll have blog posts that show the different sales, with landmarks where you can find the items. You don't need to join the store groups, just go to the blog on the weekend and see what's there.

[Arielle Popstar]

It was weekend sales that got me to up my shopping game from the freebie and 10L bins to a little better quality items. From there, I did a couple of years of Premium as the stipend was enough to buy four or five items each weekend.. it is rare for me to buy a full price item and only then if it has a fairly good color or texture hud. 

I did stop the Premium as I don't feel the value is there anymore and have run out of extra lindens that I had purchased, leaving me in a bit of a quandary as to whether I will be purchasing anymore being that the sale items have suffered lately to where I don't even see the value in the sale prices even.

Maybe time for me to consider creating for myself.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

I have a ton of stuff from event freebies and free store credit hauls (there are at least 5 stores I shop at that give credit away like candy), which takes care of some of the wardrobe, so I mostly use the weekend sales to grab things I can decorate with. Food, homes/skyboxes, decor, clutter, landscaping items, furniture, plants. Sometimes pets, because you can never have enough pets. I'll sometimes grab clothes if they're in my style. Fantasy heads/mod kits/accessories. Hair. Oh, and skins, too. That's also how I buy all of my photo backdrops.

That said, I still do absolutely pay full price for some items. My favorite hair stores never have discounts, so I pay full price there. I have some favorite creators who I'll gladly throw money at whether things are on sale or not. Etc. I might be more hesitant to hit up a shop knowing if I wait another 2 weeks, they'll likely find a reason to drop prices and toss gift cards into notices, but I still do regular shopping here and there.

 

[Rowan Amore]

Sales really haven't changed my purchasing of full priced items.  As I'm generally a fatpack buyer, it HAS encouraged me to buy more singles of items I might not otherwise have purchase as a fatpack if the fatpack colors weren't colors I'd wear.  If the pack is mostly all pastel colors or washed out colors, I usually don't buy but offering the black or white for 60L on the weekend and I"ll buy the single.

There are a few merchants who actually put their new items on the weekend sales.  I love Studio Exposure hair/hairbases but at 300L for ONE color, I'd never pay full price.  60L a piece and I usually buy 2 colors.  I think ISON has actually put new items on the weekend sales IIRC.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Rowan Amore

[Kathlen Onyx]

I have so much stuff already that I only shop the sales or events. I was never one to buy a lot of fatpacks so having to choose one or two colors at $L50 or $L60 is okay. The only thing I do sometimes is I will see a sale item and if I really like it I'll buy a different color that isn't included in the sale. There is also the rare occasion that seeing something in the store will be something I really like and then I'll pay full price.  I haven't really found anything clothing wise that is really unique. To me it's all the same with slight variations.

[Coffee Pancake]

I've bought stuff in the sale I wouldn't have picked off the rack.

I've bought things from stores full price during the sale and returned to those stores later.

[Sorciaa]

my weekend sale items tend to be stuff i kinda want but don't really need.. like another house, maybe furniture that doesn't go with what I have but maybe some day, or dances..800l for a pack of dances rather then 3,000l? no brainer

[Dream Starchild]

I think the only thing that the sales have changed for me is that I shop more, period. Lol. I like checking to see if there's decor/landscaping/accessories/etc. in the sales, which I normally wouldn't shop for at all. I'm boring like that. Clothing I mostly still buy full price from mainstores or events, because the styles I see on the weekend sales aren't usually my thing. Though I have occasionally landed in a store to check out their sale item and ended up buying non-sale things from their store too. I think there are probably too many weekend sales at the moment, but overall I think they're a nice thing that creators can do for people.

[Blush Bravin]

I'm not online much these days, but somehow I still find time to shop. However, while I have no problem paying full price for an item, I do have very particular tastes. When I find clothing that isn't like the million other things I already have in my inventory, or actually looks like it took more than a yard of fabric to make, I will pay full price happily. So has the weekend sales stopped me from buying things at full price? No! What has stopped me from paying full price is the abundance of my own inventory and the lack of what I consider to be fashionably sexy and yet modest clothing. What the weekend sales have managed to do though is get me to pick up things I never would have paid full price for in the first place. 

As far as furnishings and deco items go, I typically buy those at full price when I'm focused on achieving a particular look for a project. I've seen cute things I passed on buying simply because they didn't fit into my current project. On occasion, I have gone back and picked up a few of those things after seeing them listed on Seraphim at one of the weekend sales. 

Probably the biggest benefit for any creator to participate in a weekend sale from my perspective as a customer, is attracting new customers. I've found a few creators that I've added to my list of favorite places to shop after seeing their items on Seraphim while scanning the weekend sales.