[PROBLEM] New Marketplace Search Method - We add keywords because we need all of them in a product, Why we have to speficially say that?

[MeshPromo]

I sent a ticket to LL about the marketplace search issue and here is the reply I got.

 

 

Based on that reply, we have to assume that the regular marketplace search shows the products that have at least one searching keyword but not all of those.

Also it seems like the search results sorting totally ignores the product ratings, sales frequency, total revenue made, view frequency etc.

When someone uses keywords to search something through any search engine, most of the time they expect all the keywords to be included in the search result. Only very few times they expect at least one keyword to be included.

For example, if we search 'angry cat face' (without quotes) in google image search, we get exactly 'angry cat face'. (I'm sure most merchants are looking at LL developers as this)

If we get some other faces that are not angry and not the cat, we are no longer going to use google image search.

That is going to happen for LL's marketplace. Regular SL residents have no idea they should use quotes or logic gates such as AND, OR, XOR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XNOR etc they simply ask friends and visit mainstream stores.

The result is,

1. Within a few days of bad experiences in the marketplace search results, customers aren't going to return to the marketplace ever again even if LL fix it to back because they getting used with visiting the mainstream stores. The new update already made that impact.

2. LL reduces the revenue (because Inworld Vendor boards aren't gonna pay LL a sales commission).

3. Thousands of small-scale merchants who depend on the marketplace, going to be vanished.

Therefore I insist to return to the old search method instead the new one ASAP.

PS: the following image is useful for the LL's developers.

* I beg your pardon for the grammar issues as English is my second language.

Edited March 8 by MeshPromo

[spoiledstore]

100% agree!

[Pastel Cloud]

Nobody ever thinks about doing search prompts that way, I don't ever google "Cat and Angry face" I indeed google for "Angry cat".
A LOT is wrong with the current version of the marketplace, customers do not find items - Stores - keywords don't work for them as well as the drop down menu.
Listing enhancements are completely broken and have 0 engagement and lowered by 80% engagement over the past few weeks and a lot of creators see extreme drops in markteplace revenue due to all of those bugs.

100% agree with you, I hope LL will revert back to the way marketplace used to be.

[Flea Yatsenko]

Excuse my attitude, but that response from LL sounds more like they can't get elasticsearch to work properly and are telling the users to fix it themselves by changing their queries. I use elasticsearch, if it's not defaulting to boolean AND with each search token you are doing something extremely wrong. I'm starting to think they simply don't know how to fix it. They never really admit a problem either. I am going on hiatus from building until this is sorted out, sorry. Maybe if you earn my trust again and make an effort to fix search I will create content for you. Right now this is a waste of time and I'll just let my outdated products LL is promoting in search rankings provide me with some income. No reason to make new stuff if the old stuff is cannibalizing sales because of search ranking.

[Fergie Finesmith]

So, do we need to change our keywords?

Whatever this is getting worse and worse.... what the hell is LL doing??????? and why????

My sales are plumeting like a big rock

[Rowan Amore]

 

[bobsknief Orsini]

Sounds to me like bad programming. By default you would script a search to return the most relevant results first.
I guess they are trying to reduce the amount of search queries to there database. But IMO they are doing it wrong (as a more relevant query would return less results).

[RoxanaSaphire]

95% breakdown of selling rate. This is insane!

[Caren Jewell]

4 hours ago, RoxanaSaphire said:

95% breakdown of selling rate. This is insane!

I agree, yes it is! And its a nightmare that the last Blogpost about "Search-Problem" was now 5 Days ago and what happen? Relevance is bad like before - the Sales are near zero .. and we speak about 2 long weeks now

[RoxanaSaphire]

Bug seems fixed for me. Tested with 10 people now. 

Not only that, for me it works better than ever before. Im on page one search results. 

Edited March 17 by RoxanaSaphire

[MeshPromo]

Still not working properly for me. For example, I searched "Signature Shirt" and I got this list as "relevance" but earlier it shows shirts that have more ratings and more sales.

Seems like "ratings" and "number of sales" are not included in the priority of sorting.

 

[Caren Jewell]

MeshPromo - same here and I try to explain it again, I be not tired about it atm

it goes NOT only about "how to search" *looks to Rowan  ... In the long time now I try to explain that by me as Merchant is the Best Selling List not the same in Store as under Merchants in my Top Seller List. They are both complete confuse and Different. I have under Merchant in Best Seller List tons of Stuff that I sold over years and should be like before when I open my Side in Store on first side and shows the BEST Sellings. This is not anymore after the last Update End of February. Same with listening News and and .. the Lists are all different - BUT they used to reflect the same items in the Merchant Top Sellers chart. The Top Sellers chart has not changed, but the order in the store no longer matches it.

What comes? Sales goes down and not only by me - so when will LL/Marketplace Team fix this and make it correct how it was before the Update changes all in a Mess

Maybe some will now understand that this wrong listening goes deeper as only speak about "blue and Shirt" .. here it goes deep in the Top Sales over long years that will be no longer public and all what shows are lists with a Mix of old and out of seasons Stuff or Stuff that I sell at last Years ago and are old and not anylonger on Top.

[Paul Hexem]

Worse, you can't filter spammers out anymore other than using a whole separate browser plugin and script. They totally hosed the MP.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Paul Hexem said:

Worse, you can't filter spammers out anymore other than using a whole separate browser plugin and script. They totally hosed the MP.

What kind of spammers? Keywords, or ?

[Paul Hexem]

1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said:

What kind of spammers? Keywords, or ?

That's the biggest offender, yes. With the current implementation there's no way to ignore whole stores or report whole stores. It's effectively a tacit admission that spammers own the MP.

[Alwin Alcott]

8 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

 Keywords?

a like they ever cared about that .. 

[Love Zhaoying]

31 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

That's the biggest offender, yes. With the current implementation there's no way to ignore whole stores or report whole stores. It's effectively a tacit admission that spammers own the MP.

I suppose from a certain point of view (that of the "keyword valid users" and "keyword spammers"), possibly it now "works as designed"!

[Happy Toshi]

I own little Skully a furniture store on the marketplace this is how i make my extra money this isnt a hobby for me... My sales have been super bad since Feb to the point I thought I did something super wrong or being punished. My rev list is now stuff that I did 9 years ago that has to do with xmas. The guy who wrote this is right its not picking up on sales or views its doing something else. I miss the old marketplace.... Every time they change it I feel like I get the stick instead of the carrot. 

[Caren Jewell]

Same here Happy Toshi, long 4 weeks now and today I watch on my Xmas Snowglobes and 11 years old Stuff, the Sales goes more and more down .. this is so damn frustrated 

I open yesterday new Ticket (my last one) and got today the same respond like before from Harley Linden .. 

"I would like to assure you that the Engineers are aware of these issues and have seen the posts on the forums and in JIRA and they are working as quickly as possible to resolve the trouble."

IF they read and work on it, would it be very kind to let us now this with a short Info here or in Jira. But in last words they told me to go inworld in Group.

And sorry, I wount do this cause how many ways should we go: Ticket, Jira, Forum and now inworld? Of course I can send Posts in FB, Flickr and and .. will this change anything or let them work faster as 4 long weeks now? 

Edited March 27 by Caren Jewell

[Caren Jewell]

Thanks God!!!!!!!!!! Hope it helps:

 

[Fergie Finesmith]

It's still the same, even worse!

Edited April 8 by Fergie Finesmith

[Caren Jewell]

same here .. from all Spring and Easter Stuff I sold the last years tons of them - this year nothing. All new Stuff making with hard work for this seasons are for nothing. Zero Sales

[Caren Jewell]

On 3/8/2023 at 1:01 PM, MeshPromo said:

I sent a ticket to LL about the marketplace search issue and here is the reply I got.

 

 

Based on that reply, we have to assume that the regular marketplace search shows the products that have at least one searching keyword but not all of those.

Also it seems like the search results sorting totally ignores the product ratings, sales frequency, total revenue made, view frequency etc.

When someone uses keywords to search something through any search engine, most of the time they expect all the keywords to be included in the search result. Only very few times they expect at least one keyword to be included.

For example, if we search 'angry cat face' (without quotes) in google image search, we get exactly 'angry cat face'. (I'm sure most merchants are looking at LL developers as this)

If we get some other faces that are not angry and not the cat, we are no longer going to use google image search.

That is going to happen for LL's marketplace. Regular SL residents have no idea they should use quotes or logic gates such as AND, OR, XOR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XNOR etc they simply ask friends and visit mainstream stores.

The result is,

1. Within a few days of bad experiences in the marketplace search results, customers aren't going to return to the marketplace ever again even if LL fix it to back because they getting used with visiting the mainstream stores. The new update already made that impact.

2. LL reduces the revenue (because Inworld Vendor boards aren't gonna pay LL a sales commission).

3. Thousands of small-scale merchants who depend on the marketplace, going to be vanished.

Therefore I insist to return to the old search method instead the new one ASAP.

PS: the following image is useful for the LL's developers.

* I beg your pardon for the grammar issues as English is my second language.

All the Mess starts with this after the Update and how often I read this Post how much would I like to send it as Copy around to the MP Team!

The Problem starts after updating that LL thought the Buyer/Customer get this Info around all changes in Search "from Heaven" cause how should a Customer know that this all changes? The Info in Grid Status is mostly "we are working on some changes and MP is for this time off..." .. later then, MP is running and Bugs resolved. 

Merchants sits after Update and looks sadly on their los sales and Customers sends IM inworld and aks why the Search is now so crazy mixed and matched. And why Merchants sales more old stuff als before (not all but many) ... and the question if its worth to make Advertise over MP and pay for it? For me - makes no longer sense and new release same. I stop to work for MP and my Store cause this is after over 14 years not longer "my store". The MP Team changes to often things that works before in a Mess and yes maybe they had a good Idea but the End shows this good Idea cost many Merchants from us tons of Sales and so we pay the Price for .. nothing.