Can a creator demand this?

[Clem Marques]

On 2/25/2024 at 1:20 PM, Persephone Emerald said:

I think it's helpful to remember that most SL creators may not have RL experience in sales, marketing or customer service. Some might not have good people skills or might have emotional issues.

This is true, and something that people often forget. It doesn't excuse a seller's bad behavior or customer service mistakes, but explains them, makes them more understandable. As buyers, the best that we can do when we run into issues is to reach out to the seller without anger or resentment, just explaining the problem and being respectful, even if the flawed product was really frustrating. That increases our chances of getting help instead of having to deal with a seller's meltdown.

If a creator reacts very badly to a review that is rightfully negative, or refuses to help, then that's their problem. Try not to take it personally when a seller is rude, they might have issues as @Persephone Emerald mentioned... just never buying from them again is enough, in my opinion. And potentially warning friends about it too, if the customer service and products are particularly bad.

On 2/25/2024 at 1:20 PM, Persephone Emerald said:

I've seen a couple inworld creators lash out at their customers in their store group in very unprofessional and caustic ways.

Me too, both in their store group and in other groups. When I see a creator treating others poorly (or violating TOS and sharing chat logs... I've seen that happen before in a driving group), I remember it and avoid that person's store. I bet sellers that are aggressive or erratic lose a lot of potential buyers due to their behavior. They should be more careful, and be kinder to their customers. After all, stores fail completely without them.

On 2/25/2024 at 4:17 PM, MissSweetViolet said:

But I do wish she could have expressed herself in a nicer way instead of screaming at me and calling my own products "the ugliest around", which to be fair, I'm just starting, so I'm well aware I'm no top of the line designer, but the interaction was enough to stop me from shopping at her store again.

Wow that's awful. Sorry that happened to you.

Edited February 26 by Clem Marques
Grammar

[UnilWay SpiritWeaver]

On 2/25/2024 at 7:47 AM, Persephone Emerald said:

😳 Wow!

I've experience many kind and generous people in SL. I don't think I've ever had a bad reaction after sending a creator a note about a problem with their product or vendor.

Not that either here.

Most of them either send me on toe CSR, react positively, or ignore me.

 

I have had them reach out to me after I've left a bad review.

And then in a short conversation we either find out I was doing something wrong or there is a bug that they are now aware of and can fix. Either way - the conversation almost always results in me re-writing my review to a positive one. Even if it's a bug they're not able to fix - most smart brands know a little good customer service goes a LONG way.

 

 

[UnilWay SpiritWeaver]

Also like most of us here I've been using marketplace since it came out and in all those years I've only had a very scant few scammers or worse.

That said I'm very careful with fullperms stuff even though it's what I prefer to buy - I have a list of fullperm makers I mostly buy from and if a brand isn't on that list I demo or move on. I demo with that list too - but with those folks I am less demo'ing "does it work" and more "does it fit my style".

I have SEEN a huge swath of fullperm scammers. There was a thing that lasted almost 2 years of one shop just reposting the stuff of all the other shops at 90% discount, often when the same advert with their logo just pasted over it. That's been gone for maybe 3 years now. There are also the frequent people who repost stuff from other games, art models, etc.. and the art models are rarely optimized for 'real time animation'...

- But these are usually very obvious. As in: if they're posting Darth Vader or Sylvanus you know that's illegal.

 

[PheebyKatz]

I had a vendor send me an IM telling me to leave a new review, as he had relisted the item to get rid of my bad review.

He didn't ask me, he told me.

I responded by reporting the listing, and it was removed within 5 minutes.

Because f**ck that guy.

I've also had vendors thank me for being honest in my reviews. Even just the other day, when I logged on to upload something. They were very pleasant.

In return, for my part, I always try to offer the best service I can, even a week late, and even on a freebie.

Best you can do with a review is just to be honest about the experience you've had with the product. Anything else, and they can rightfully say it's being made personal. Even if they're rude, just be honest in reviewing what your experience with the product was.

In fact, especially if they're rude. Let their reactions speak for them, not you. People eventually find out who is a schytbird and who isn't. No need to get the schyt on yourself as they fly by.

[Softcakes]

LL doesn't care really, I've reported many sellers for reupping the same items for example, removing my ability to redeliver as well as review'

Some people are just odd' you point out a tiny detail, maybe overlooked in the product and the seller goes mad. 

They're super, incredibly, uber fast to remove your review but not when it comes to punishing a creator that is doing everything against their tos, not sure why.

[PheebyKatz]

25 minutes ago, Softcakes said:

LL doesn't care really, I've reported many sellers for reupping the same items for example, removing my ability to redeliver as well as review'

Some people are just odd' you point out a tiny detail, maybe overlooked in the product and the seller goes mad. 

They're super, incredibly, uber fast to remove your review but not when it comes to punishing a creator that is doing everything against their tos, not sure why.

Some artists and creative-type people are extremely sensitive about their works. Some aren't. I never know what I'm going to get, so if I notice a tiny flaw after I've bought something, especially after demoing it and not even noticing until I've spent the L$, I tend to just let it pass. I wouldn't expect everyone else to let it pass, but I do.

When I like something, I leave a good review. I'm very picky, and when something pleases me, that means something to me. But I also try to remember that a lot of creators are very sensitive to even helpful or positive criticism. Not justifying it either, just saying it's a thing.

I make junk. I try to make nice things, people say I make nice things, but once it's been uploaded and finished up, all I ever see is where I could have done a better job. It blows me away when I get a positive review, and I always dread the day someone (even someone who's just ticked-off and it's not my fault) leaves a bad review, saying my work is crap.

I can see a person who values an image and strives to maintain it being pretty torn up if they got something as far as selling it and then someone mentioned, "oh, by the way, there's this one face that doesn't texture." Anyone under competitive pressure (even imagined or exaggerated), especially one in a creative occupation, would at least inwardly flip out.

And it's the internet, so they sometimes flip out in all caps, and do silly things like unlisting and relisting things.

I wish there was a better way of improving it than everyone simply shunning vendors who poop out the mouth or melt down, but things just sort of seem to work out that way, I guess.

Anyway, I said I was going to bed earlier, so nini.

Edited February 29 by PheebyKatz

[Stephanie Misfit]

20 hours ago, PheebyKatz said:

I make junk. I try to make nice things, people say I make nice things, but once it's been uploaded and finished up, all I ever see is where I could have done a better job. It blows me away when I get a positive review, and I always dread the day someone (even someone who's just ticked-off and it's not my fault) leaves a bad review, saying my work is crap.

 

When someone leaves a bad review, it is an opportunity to demonstrate your customer service skills in your reply. 

[PheebyKatz]

11 minutes ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

When someone leaves a bad review, it is an opportunity to demonstrate your customer service skills in your reply. 

That's how I've always figured it should be seen. It's why if I leave less than 5 stars on someone's stuff I explain why, and that I'll change the review if they fix it, so it's still a true review.

I've never gotten a bad review per se, but I have been asked if I could fix or change things. I always do my best to please, at least if it's not going to utterly screw the product up, lol. Especially if it's just something in a script, that's so easy, I'd be a real dill pickle if I didn't take 30 seconds to edit something for someone.

But I've never gotten a review or had an interaction with a customer that I ever felt justified being less than professional-level courteous.

Edited March 1 by PheebyKatz

[Kyrie Deka]

1st and foremost: MP is nowhere near a den o' thieves. Sweeping generalities will ruin your inworld fun just as quick as they do in RL.  

I am all for waving flags of caution to newbies, and all buyers beware.  A sign-carrying citizen here.  But MP is largely trustable if one reads every single ad very very carefully, and

get demos where you can, and

make your own rule boundaries about purchases and stick to them, and

*take responsibility for being your own bestie* when here and there you got pinched.  

Best thing I ever did was set a dollar boundary for really feeling "taken", and inserting self-control when I shopped on MP to make sure I stayed within my own rules that I committed to.  Kind of: How much can I lose blindly before it ruins my mood and slows my roll inworld.

No different than RL online shopping site, ie you buy a $10 car online, you better be expecting to receive a hot wheelee lol.  In my case, I just don't buy over that L$ amount unless a demo is present, and/or I know the seller from past purchases etc., and/or I at least see them still inworld here-and-there so I know if a problem exists I can at least ask them how to/about it.  And hey questions via IM or Notecard before buying is great too if its a larger L$ amount.  

Ref: I just looked at my MP orders.  Oldest one Nov 2010 lol.  I was gearing up for clickin some keys over the years.  With the default 5 orders setting, I have over 1300 pages of 5 invoices a page (mostly 10 items to an invoice).  Over all that experience, I can recall one truly bad purchase product/seller ad.  I think that's incredible.  Two additional items certainly were not the sellers issue: I should have read the ad closer.  *And after that, I surely have read ads better*.  So to me, data shows a really super MP.  For buyers.