MarketPlace & You

[TaraSimone Sixpence]

I am interested to know if you use the MP and in what way to find what you want? Do you rely on friends to tell you where to shop? Do you search for something specific? Do you look at the advertising in the MP? Do you read group notices about new items? What is the impetus to make you "want to go and look" at something? And what is causes you to make your final decision of yay or nay in clothing? Any and all comments on this subject would be welcome. Thank you.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

I use the marketplace like I use as a starting point if I'm searching for something in particular.  Its great for seeing a lot of things and for comparison shopping. It also avoids a lot of time consuming TPing around and waiting for all the things in a shop to rez, only to see there is nothing there I'm interested in.  Its a good place to discover new designers too.

I glance at ad's but only briefly and they don't influence me much.  Some of my best finds were regular listings so I go through those more so. 

If I buy right from the site or go to a store inworld depends on what I'm looking for.  For clothing, I'll buy it direct from the site because all I'll see in world is probably the same picture on a shop wall.  For other items, I may go in world to see them 'in person' first..

That being said, even though I buy a lot of clothes directly from MP, if I really like the designers work, I will go check out their shop too because there may be things there not on MP.  If I really really like the work, its high quality and my 'style' then I will join their group.  But I am very picky about this as I have very limited group space. When I get notices from groups I will read them if there about something I'm interested in. 

I'm very picky about my clothes.  My decision to buy or not is based on these things in order of importance

• Very High Quality Construction
• Lots of attention to detail
• Original Designs
• Fits my style
• Versatile - On as many layers as possible for mixing with other clothes I have
• Colors and /or patterns I like
• Fair Price for the amount of work

 

[Ariel Vuissent]

I use the marketplace quite frequently. One way I've found some of my favorite items is by going on looking for general "types" of clothing: "catsuit," for example. (I mostly use marketplace for clothing and shoes, occasionally for hair, very rarely for anything else.) Then I'll browse the results, narrowing if necessary by using the different categories. Or search a specific color, then narrow by category: "black" narrowed by "apparel>women's>dresses>formal," for instance. It's interesting to see what comes up, particularly since a good portion of the results often aren't black!

Other days I'll just browse around looking for nothing in particular, just looking. I'll look at the "what people are buying now" section, or sort by best selling, but often I'll go to clothing and look at the featured items. Or browse a few pages and see if anything catches my eye.

I'll go to the store inworld if I have several items in my cart, or if I want to see other items by the same seller. Most of the time the ad on marketplace is the same as in the store, but sometimes if I want a larger image, I'll go to the inworld store and zoom in on the sign.

I make the decision to buy based on:

• Price - is it priced significantly higher (or lower) than similar items? If higher, is it that much better than similar items? If lower, is it that much worse, or just a good buy?
• Overall ad appearance - if the hair and skin in the ad are low quality, I might not buy because I think the item might also be low quality. If the ad is too difficult to see or I can't see all of the item, I won't buy because I don't have a good idea of what I'm buying.
• Photoshopped - how much has the ad been retouched? For shoes that require skin matching, is there a seam where the shoe and leg meet or has that been photoshopped out? What else might have been photoshopped out? Same for clothing.
• Quality - does it look well made?
• Permissions - Can I copy it? Can I modify it? (I HATE when permissions say "modify," but the description specifies "with resizer ONLY." Then it's not modify, is it? It's resizable.)
• Creative - have I seen the same item dozens of times, or is there something unique/interesting about the item?

[Maddox DuPont]

KMADD has a survey currently on our blog which questions the visitors on almsot the same questions - SLM is coming up currently on the top for discovering new stores and shopping for items. If you IM me in-world I can give you results of the survey once it is completed. Till then if anyone is interested in taking part in this survey please visit this link, survey should pop up at the bottom of the screen.

By taking part in this survey you will also receive a free gift from KMADD. :smileyhappy:

[Lyra Blackthorne]

I have lms to my favorite shops and start with those.

If I like a shop will join the subscribo group and do look at the notices...if I get them, many are lost  I reserve groups for business needs and associations.

I next look at the fashion blogs like IheartSL for women's items or iregularguy for men's

The marketplace is the last place I look.  For me it is the last place because so much of what is there is poor quality imo.  But, I do use it as a search tool sometimes, then tp to the inworld shop to buy.  I only buy online if the merchant is someone I know and even then prefer to buy in their store as want to get it "now" vs having to wait an undefined time for the marketplace to deliver. The only exception to that would be if the merchant offered a Marketplace demo or freebie, I might buy that as can delete without guilt if not what I want

[TaraSimone Sixpence]

Answers are incredibly informative ty all for answering and keep them coming!!! :matte-motes-bashful-cute-2:

[Pussycat Catnap]

I try to avoid buying from Marketplace.

I might go there to discover an item, if inworld fails me. But I will-not-buy unless I can then find it inworld.

Simply don't trust a shop with no inworld presence. Its too easy for a deleted account's shop to remain up on marketplace...

- Almost every other search I do there, when I look up the shop keeper in world, comes back as account-unavilable...

That's a second point. If I look up the shop-owner and I can't find the shop from their picks, I tend to avoid it... If you're trying to hide your business... what does that say about you?

Marketplace for buying also has way too many script issues for delivery failures... and its behind a rapid death of SL... as people close up shops they think they no longer need, causing entertainment venues to lose funding and close up as well, leaving us less places to visit and enjoy with the goods we buy - a nasty circle of affairs.

 

 

[Marianne Little]

I don't ask friends much.

I search for certain words and filter out so I end up in apparel - female - footwear if I look for new shoes. I often sort items so I get the newest ones first. That way I am sure to get updated products with alpha masks instead of invisiprims.I also avoid the same old boring stuff that's always at the top.

Is there advertising in the MP?

I close group notices without reading them. 

I use blogs, bloggers as my primary source for shopping. If I see an item blogged that I like, I buy it. I also look at a thread called "Show your style" in SLU and make many buys when I've seen things there. I also find things on Flickr.

If it's an unknown product to me that I haven't seen in a blog, only on the MP, I look at reviews. I also look at the quality of the pictures, does the ad look clean and professional, the description informative about what it contains and its permissions. One bad review does not matter if it's clear that the one who left it has no idea about how SL works.

[abbyjohnston5201991]

I mainly use the marketplace as a starting point when I'm looking for things. I've managed to find a few great designers that I liked from browsing the marketplace, and then if I really liked that designer I would visit their store in world if they had one.

I also like to sort the marketplace by newer items so that I'm able to see what is fresh and new.

I only read certain group notices, if I start getting spammed every 5 minutes with a group notice I'm not going to really pay attention to them anymore or I'll just quit the group.

The one thing I don't like is when the item does not match the picture in the store and looks completely different in game because it's been photoshopped a lot. I will not purchase again if that happens.

[Millicent Warcliffe]

I use it all the time. I don't know too many shops inworld, so if I'm looking for something that I know they won't have, I search Marketplace. I discover a lot of new shops that way.