Idea for the SL marketplace.

[Ray Lonergan]

Why not have a cancel order button if the object is not delivered within say 1 hour? 8 hours is just a bit to long, I made a purchase for an event I am attending, the purchase is stuck in queue it seems. I made a couple of freebie purchases which came through ok. So basically now I have to wait 8 hours to get a refund. I mean cmon 8 hours? If you don't get the item in 1 hour it's obvious there is an issue and we should be able to get our lindens back either by cancelling the order or auto refund.

 

Sorry a bit of a rant there but god.Getting to a point where it's almost better just to look it up on marketplace then go to a inworld store (if they have one) and make the purchase.

[amarock Amat]

support your local mom and pop stores....visit their locatoins!!

[Griffin Ceawlin]

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Ray Lonergan wrote:

Getting to a point where it's almost better just to look it up on marketplace then go to a inworld store (if they have one) and make the purchase.

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Most of the shopping that I've done on the Marketplace has been window shopping, followed by visits to inworld stores to make any actual purchases. I'm often able to get a better look at the merchandise, I've never had any delivery problems, and it shows the merchant, I hope, that keeping a "bricks and mortar" location inworld is still worth it. It also saves the merchant from having to give LL a commission. :smileywink:

[Dresden Ceriano]

The issue that you are complaining about (and justifiably so) is the issue that needs to be fixed; adding other functionality, as you suggest, could bring up a whole new set of issues in itself. I'd rather see LL work on stabilizing the system they have now than adding additional features that may not even be necessary if the system in place were stable to begin with.

Personally, I've had less issues with Marketplace than I did with X-Street, but like Griffin said, I usually just use it as a sort of yellow pages. The only time I actually purchase things from there are when I'm buying something for someone else or when I'm in a big hurry (which, I'm aware, only works when things are delivered in a timely manner... guess I've just had good luck with that).

I much prefer buying from a shop inworld, that way I can look around and see what else they have available then maybe take a look around at other places nearby. You can sometimes find the coolest stuff that way (that's how I got my exploding toilet... yay).

...Dres

[Gabe Gallacher]

...ahh... and why is this topic here in the land forum...??...

[WADE1 Jya]

"support your local mom and pop stores....visit their locations!!"

^^This!

Yes amarock!

Gets around all the marketplace issues :matte-motes-bashful-cute-2:

[Pussycat Catnap]

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Ray Lonergan wrote:

 

Getting to a point where it's almost better just to look it up on marketplace then go to a inworld store (if they have one) and make the purchase.

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There are a number of reasons why this is a better idea anyway.

Personally I'd prefer Marketplace go in an opposite direction of where its going - Rather than list the items you've placed into a box - list items that are rezzed inworld and set to for sale, and only such items, and the Marketplace gives you a SLURL to them.

The end of inworld shops will also be the end of a lot of places those shops support - which tend to be the places we all like to visit.

 

[WADE1 Jya]

The Marketplace Disconnect:

*Edited because what I first wrote was just a complaint, but then I thought of a solution*

Yeah in a sense the marketplace is a little disconnected... it would be nice to see it become more connected to the inworld experiences offered by merchants/sellers.

This disconnect has negative knock-on effects inworld. For example, to inworld mall owners, as merchants have less of a need to own any land at all. Eyes are inworld less often. In a sense, Linden Lab's marketplace product competes with it's land products.

The solution obviously isn't getting rid of the marketplace, as it has definite value.

A solution in my eyes would be enmeshing the marketplace more closely with those special inworld experiences which merchants/sellers offer. One of many ways this could be done is first through the addition of 360° panoramic SLURLs on the marketplace (existing technology) to show merchant's inworld locations. These would be featured very prominently in the marketplace experience.

Perhaps SLURLs that (at some point later) Linden Lab could make mobile (by the marketplace user's online control) to any co-ordinates within a merchant's location. Basically create an online camera view into Second Life. Hey, at that point, why not allow the marketplace user to display an "imposter" of their avatar online -- allowing them to "virtually" shop inworld (experiencing a loose proxy of what's offered).

Why not, to be fair, also allow a "mall owner's version" of this marketplace that would be embeddable in websites, facebook, blogs, etc? Merchants would be delighted to rent satellite locations at well-connected malls. Second Life itself begins to become more casually accessible as a network of connections to it naturally spreads across the internet.

Some method like this would let people who are surfing the online marketplace have a peek at what is offered inworld without downloading the Second Life application.

Merchant Impact:

Increased "Sellability" for goods.

Consumer Impact:

This would also protect consumers by giving them more info about sellers. Quite likely, a seller with a developed inworld presence in Second Life is more reliable than one with nothing to show inworld.

Linden Lab Impact:

Fits well within the development stream of a known goal to eventually offer a near-complete Second Life experience online without any application to download. Enjoy increased diversity of potential usages for land products. Second Life becomes more popular and sees more use.

[Mayalily]

I've only had two items left in que for 8 hours on Marketplace and I've purchased at least 500 items from there; something like that.

If you need something in a hurry, yes u should just buy it inworld.

Marketplace has saved me hundreds of hours as the browsing features are incredible.  It would take me two to three years or more to find what I've found on MP in about the three months I've been here. 

Marketplace just rocks my world; couldn't live without it.

And I've only had two delivery failures out of hundreds of transactions; it's marvelous, just marvelous.

I shop rarely inworld because for me it's too time consuming, and my extra lindens are to support SL entertainers; that's what I use my spare lindens for, after rent, furniture, needful things, I pay for entertainment, then I spend money on my avi.   I'm not providing the entertainment, they are, so those are the Mom's and Pop's I support; the entertainment end.  I always see people free-loading on the entertainment part, but I think that's wrong and I'm not going to be a free-loader.  If the music is something I don't like, I tp out after anywhere from 2-5 songs.  If I crash or freeze, I drop the lindens next time.  The entertainment needs to be supported on SL, imo.  'Cuz when the entertainment sims go down, there isn't much to do in SL except look at an empty sim.

And the 8-hour que doesn't bother me because it's only logical the owner needs time to get online as RL just happens.  And I ordered the item, so I want the item if there are going to be anymore.  If not, I get over it. 

ETA:  I did go inworld to check for one dress inworld that I couldn't get on MP; it wasn't inworld either.  That's the only time I checked.  Also, it was sort of Fall type item, so I just assumed the designer discontinued for 'a time'.  She may bring it back in the fall, but it's not inworld either. 

 

[Chronometria]

I think marketplace does generate shop traffic, to decent shops. Often i see one outfit or item and that prompts me to go to the shop and have a browse about. Then, for shops i really like, i will often return to them or join their group.

For small sellers, like myself, it means i dont have to waste land on items that will sell rarely, with long gaps between sales.

I think its a good thing all round, really.

[Pussycat Catnap]

I don't think we need to specifically protect mall owners.

We need to just make sure that land is in use - by hook or by crook, by whatever means possible, tier has got to move or SL dies.

Mall owners -do- usually have a connection with a RP, artistic display, club, or other social sim.

 

What do people really log into SL to do?

Buy stuff, or enjoy a virtual world?

 

I strongly suspect they log in to enjoy a virtual world - and only buy stuff to increase their enjoyment of that world.

There are a few people who think SL is just a Free market experiment and customers have no motive for buying other than some kind of spiritual-capitalism isolated from the concept of demand to fill any need or desire... but I don't think that's a motive for even a single buyer in all of SL - even if it is a motive for many, perhaps even a majority of, sellers.

So... if we assume people buy stuff because they want better ways to enjoy the virtual world... that they're here for the community not the market... then the market needs to be enabling of the survival of the community.

 

If Marketplace causes the loss of even one parcel of land, its a bad thing. And I suspect its safe to say its caused the loss of a -LOT- of land usage.

Every small shop that can get away with not needing land is a harm to SLs viability. Every user that can 'save time' by shopping on Marketplace instead of inworld hurts the viability of SL. In a sense: everytime you click buy on Marketplace, a cute fuzzy kitty-prim dies.

Marketplace is just too darned effective.

 

There's a very big favoritism towards merchants - without a realization that favoring -either- merchants or venue-providers is unhealthy to SL. You need to 'favor' both. Its a symbiotic relationship. LLs -and- the merchants have forgotten this.

 

Its now become the norm to have a shop on Marketplace, and the exception to have one inworld. And if you've got one inworld, why also get another one at a mall? People will just find your loot on Marketplace and only a handful will drop by your inworld spot to see a rezzed copy pre-purchase.

 

Somehow or another, Marketplace needs to be less useful than inworld shopping.

If not - inworld Shops will dry up, and by proxy the places we all love to visit will lose funding and dry up, and then we'll all lose reasons to buy stuff to enjoy content that no longer exists, and Marketplace will dry up... and then when there's nothing left to go get or go visit; SL will dry up...

 The convenience we all enjoy right now shopping on Marketplace is self-serving to the point of creating a 'tragedy of the commons' problem were people are willing to cut off the heads of all their neighbors if it gives them 1 second of self-satisfaction before the guillitine hits them.

At some point we all need to wake up and take a little bit of shared pain for the community or there won't be a community left to log into.

 

LLs I think has lost site of a disconnect between merchants and venue providers. They are not usually the same people. The big active players on each side are not usually the same people, that is. This isn't about skill. It can take a lot of great creative builder skill to be either of those roles. Its about time and energy. Running a fully active engaging sim takes a -LOT- of time. Running a top selling store and SL brand takes a -LOT- of time.

You can't boost up one of them and expect the other to reap or even share in the benifits. You've got to give them both love in an 'all hands linked together' manner or the entire chain unravels.

 

[Blot Brickworks]

I wish we had an agree button...........consider it pushed.