Marketplace getting worse and LL lack of accountability....

[Sigren Panthar]

At first, I found Marketplace quite good. Indeed, so much so, that I spent far more than I tneded to do inworld, as there I browsed malls and shops almost like RL.

However, the last two times I have used Marketplace, I have had at least one item non-delivery and enough, quite frankly, is enough.  The lastest non-delivery  - to make matters worse - is listed in my marketplace account as having been delivered when no such thing has occured.  Hopeless.  But...does anyone at LL give a toss?  Nope. 

As for LL wriggling out of any reponsibility, yet at the same time shamelessly slipping their nice 'cut' into their bulging pockets, that, too, is another reason I cannot recommend anyone to use Marketplace.

[Claireschen Hesten]

fair enough the marketplace has gone downhill since LL did away with xstreet and i do see failed deliveries at the worst i can remember them being as a merchant i have had a few requests for re-delivery the past few months where as i think there were none on xstreet. also anything you buy on the marketplace takes longer and longer to deliver

if you are faced with a non delivery first get in touch with the merchant if after a few days of IM's NC's or PM's via the new web profiles you hear nothing file a support ticket with LL they have a special category for marketplace delivery issues if you fill in all the correct details LL will re-deliver what ever you have purchased 

[Charolotte Caxton]

Purchases being marked as delivered but never actually making it to their destination is one of the major complaints of at least the last 3 months.

Reports of purchases made from both the marketplace and inworld not being received are common.

The trend now is to be surprised when a purchase actually makes it to the purchaser or recipient of a gift.

The new laws being put into place to allow for online gambling may or may not be a contributing factor, as buying anything in SL is a risk involving the potential for loss of money.

 

[Ann Otoole]

As frustrating as the failed deliveries are I concur with LL remaining focused on Direct Delivery which should eliminate the problem. I.e.; the fix is in open beta right now.

[JoJo Aurelia]

I am assuming you are a buyer. If it isn't delivered, it's not paid. They refund you within a few days.

Non delivery is usually caused when a merchant brings their box into inventory and back out, usually moving the store or the box. Every time this is done, the box is duplicated on XStreet.

You read that right.

Many are not aware of multiple listings of boxes on the old XStreet dash board. Yes, it's still there. To fix this, Merchants need to take their boxes into inventory, then go to Market Place/Merchant Home/Manage Magic Box status. Click thro the warning that XStreet is closed, just cancel this, and on the left side, bottom, delete all the boxes. Then, inworld, put their box out, reset it, go to Market Place Mechant again and Manage Inventory, and synic boxes to site. 

This will radically improve a merchants non delievery. 

[Millicent Warcliffe]

In my experience my Marketplace deliveries are only late if MY system is lagged. Otherwise there's no problem. Getting out of high traffic areas works. I can only think of once when I bought something on Marketplace and it never, ever arrived. Fortunately it was a dollarbie. 

[JoJo Aurelia]

Most merchants are happy to redeliver. Notecards are often recommended b/c IM's cap for most business peoples. This other solution I've not heard of.. But good to know all tricks.

[Charolotte Caxton]

Just to add, some merchants prefer IMs because that way they get email notifications if they are not online whereas they don't if they only get a notecard sent to them. I would recommend both if it doesn't specify a preference in their profile.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

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Faye Feldragonne wrote:

I am assuming you are a buyer. If it isn't delivered, it's not paid. They refund you within a few days.

Non delivery is usually caused when a merchant brings their box into inventory and back out, usually moving the store or the box. Every time this is done, the box is duplicated on XStreet.

You read that right.

Many are not aware of multiple listings of boxes on the old XStreet dash board. Yes, it's still there. To fix this, Merchants need to take their boxes into inventory, then go to Market Place/Merchant Home/Manage Magic Box status. Click thro the warning that XStreet is closed, just cancel this, and on the left side, bottom, delete all the boxes. Then, inworld, put their box out, reset it, go to Market Place Mechant again and Manage Inventory, and synic boxes to site. 

This will radically improve a merchants non delievery. 

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This is NOT correct. 

If an item is marked as 'delivered' no money will be refunded if the customer did not receive it.  You have to contact the merchant to get the item or file a non delivery support ticket.  I know this from personal experience.  I have ordered items from marketplace and stood in my house, not in busy mode , waiting for a delivery that did not come and when I checked before logging off, the item is marked on Marketplace in my order history as delivered, my account debited, and no refund comes at that time or any time in the future.

Secondly my own magic box has not been moved nor taken into inventory, nor has the sim gone off line when someone bought something. I can verify this as I've been standing right next to it when I receive notice of a sale.  Yet  I have been contacted by buyers who did not receive the item they purchased shortly afterward and have no reason to doubt that they are not telling the truth as the items were copyable and there would be no reason to ask for a duplicate.  So while its true what you say is ONE cause, it is not the ONLY cause. 

I agree with the OP, the marketplace is deteriorating.  I am not convinced that eliminating Magic Boxes is going to solve this problem either or that new problems won't arise.  New features do not have a history of working flawlessly.  Until it goes into release and everyone uses this with no failed deliveries for a reasonable period of time, there is no way to be sure.

[Setekh Ichtama]

Your system was laggy because Second Life was laggy most likely.

[Ceka Cianci]

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Setekh Ichtama wrote:

Your system was laggy because Second Life was laggy most likely.

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thats when delays happen to me..most times it's the weekend and really then it's usually really busy stores also.

like Truth..it's almost always a delay even for demo hair on weekends..if it's something really expensive or something i am really wanting at the time that i will be using right away..i just find it on MP and go inworld where it is a better chance i will get it right then and there..

weekends are a crap shoot on the MP..

my guess is because there are more using MP nowdays than there are people in world shopping..

[Qie Niangao]

I don't know why one would expect Marketplace to work any better.  It only charges sellers a 5% commission instead of the 30% standard everywhere else.  It's amazing anything ever gets delivered at all.

[Marcus Hancroft]

One thing that's a huge problem with the current Marketplace is the "Shopping Cart."  If you have multiple items from multiple merchants in your cart, and then try to purchase all of them at once, delivery fails go up.  So the solution to THAT problem is to only purchase things one at a time.  Don't use the shopping cart.  

It's really very sad that we have to go through all these "tricks" and jump through all these hoops just to get what we pay for through the Marketplace.  We should just be able to select our items, pay for them, have them delivered and begin enjoying them.  But instead, we have to try different tricks to get things done.  Some of them not related at all to our orders (ex. Putting an item or an avatar on "mute".  WTF??)

Another problem that has arisen lately is an item has been delivered properly (the customer receives their item), but somehow the communication from the magic box indicating that the item was successfully delivered to the Marketplace system fails, and so after the allotted time, the customer's money is refunded and the merchants transaction shows "Delivery Failed."  This, effectively, gives the customer the item they received for free!  Hopefully, the customer would be honest and contact the merchant to let them know that they DID receive their item and pay the merchant directly.  

Because of all of these ridiculous problems, I recommend that the Marketplace be used ONLY as a search tool.  Find what you are looking for in the Marketplace, but go to the merchant's inworld store (if they have one) to purchase.  This eliminates all the system faults found in the Marketplace.  

[Marcus Hancroft]

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Qie Niangao wrote:

I don't know why one would expect Marketplace to work any better.  It only charges sellers a 5% commission instead of the 30% standard everywhere else.  It's amazing anything ever gets delivered at all.

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Yes, they charge us 5% on every sale.  But I'll tell you this...because of all the problems with the Marketplace...they don't even deserve THAT much.  If there was a 30% commission on all my sales, I would close down my Marketplace store faster than you can say Jack Robinson. 

[Qie Niangao]

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Marcus Hancroft wrote:

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Qie Niangao wrote:

I don't know why one would expect Marketplace to work any better.  It only charges sellers a 5% commission instead of the 30% standard everywhere else.  It's amazing anything ever gets delivered at all.

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Yes, they charge us 5% on every sale.  But I'll tell you this...because of all the problems with the Marketplace...they don't even deserve THAT much.  If there was a 30% commission on all my sales, I would close down my Marketplace store faster than you can say Jack Robinson. 

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Yeah, I expect many people would.  I'd consider that progress.

I detest the Marketplace.  It would be much better if there were an opportunity for third parties to compete, but the margins just aren't there.  It would also be better if LL did something creative with its monopoly -- such as unify in-world and Marketplace search.  It's had years to do that now; they even use the same search engine now; still no sign that they're even considering that direction.

[Phil Deakins]

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Marcus Hancroft wrote:

It's really very sad that we have to go through all these "tricks" and jump through all these hoops just to get what we pay for through the Marketplace.

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No. What's sad is that LL believe themselves to be capable of producing something like the marketplace - even after starting with a working one. How long has it been going now? 2 years? And it still only "sort of" works.

[JoJo Aurelia]

@Amethyst, I did not say this would solve everything. What I posted here was given to me inworld by another merchant when I'd also complained about the Magic Boxes. My failure rate was 90%. There are many merchants I have helped with this information. I hope they chime in here. Either way, it's just something to try. Currently I have not had a failure in months and my box is on Mainland! 

Like the song says, "go your own way." Just trying to help.

[Rene Erlanger]

My partner had 3000 L worth of Meeroo food not dellivered to her inventory on Wednesday.....she had to buy it again, as there was a danger of some of her animals running off (happens when there's no food!)

If you want to support Content Creators....then buy in-world. They all have land tiers to pay inorder to keep their shops open....LL doesn't deserve getting the 3 or 5% commission for those sales.

[Ceka Cianci]

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Rene Erlanger wrote:

My partner had 3000 L worth of Meeroo food not dellivered to her inventory on Wednesday.....she had to buy it again, as there was a danger of some of her animals running off (happens when there's no food!)

If you want to support Content Creators....then buy in-world. They all have land tiers to pay inorder to keep their shops open....LL doesn't deserve getting the 3 or 5% commission for those sales.

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i would love to see inworld stores take off again...

SL is really becoming a boooore shopping on the market all the time..but put up a faster way of doing things and we will all go for the faster way..

maybe if people start to not trust the MP they will start shopping inworld again because of it's speed or it's better rate at getting the products in hand..

that or they just say to hell with this and have had enough and just leave..

can they make it any more boring than it is already..

i feel like an online couch potatoe shopper shopping online in a virtual world..how lazy does it actually get around here??

i think i have reached maximum minimum effort and have peaked LOL

[Rene Erlanger]

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Marcus Hancroft wrote:

Yes, they charge us 5% on every sale.  But I'll tell you this...because of all the problems with the Marketplace...they don't even deserve THAT much.  If there was a 30% commission on all my sales,

I would close down my Marketplace store faster than you can say Jack Robinson. 

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You mean Jack Linden!  :matte-motes-wink-tongue:

[Phil Deakins]

Why not Jack Frost. It's only 2 syllables and, therefore, significantly quicker.

[Rene Erlanger]

Different type of SL'ers joining the Grid nowadays....less of the Innovator, Pioneer or Explorer types....more of the "Facebook -I want it now" consumer type crowd" !

It's obvious when Marketplace gets pummelled (visibility) through their official LL Viewers (V2 & V3).....most noobs will opt for the easiest and quickest way to purchase/ search for a product.

The irony is that we all joined a 3D virtual World for something different....a form of entertainment or escapism from real life.....yet a great many chose to shop via a 2D website just like they do in real life....go figure!!

Even after 5 years, I continue to enjoy the exploration aspect of Second Life......finding new sims, new shops, new hideaways ....whenever I have the spare time.

[Rene Erlanger]

Jack Linden is just for the sake of irony..:matte-motes-sunglasses-2:....he did head up the Marketplace Dept during the latter stages of his employment with LL!

[Ceka Cianci]

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Rene Erlanger wrote:

Different type of SL'ers joining the Grid nowadays....less of the Innovator, Pioneer or Explorer types....more of the "Facebook -I want it now" consumer type crowd" !

It's obvious when Marketplace gets pummelled (visibility) through their official LL Viewers (V2 & V3).....most noobs will opt for the easiest and quickest way to purchase/ search for a product.

The irony is that we all joined a 3D virtual World for something different....a form of entertainment or escapism from real life.....yet a great many chose to shop via a 2D website just like they do in real life....go figure!!

Even after 5 years, I continue to enjoy the exploration aspect of Second Life......finding new sims, new shops, new hideaways ....whenever I have the spare time.

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i used to enjoy that a lot myself..inworld shopping had me finding all kinds of places and things to do..

i loved exploring..but now i just find more of the same thing and  less of the omg stuff anymore..that or maybe it's not the so amazing place i once thought it was..

whatever it is now..the MP is impacting the inworld a lot..and not in a positive way..

and it's not just the new people to the grid attracted to the market..

inworld shopping is pretty much lagless now..marketplace shopping lagging most of the time now..follow the lag and you will more than likely find the crowd..

ask anyone where to get the best this or that and more times than not you will get a marketplace link than a Slurl..

 

 

[Rene Erlanger]

I sometimes use Marketplace "Search" to find the product I'm after.....but i'll go in-world and buy it from their Store..Shopping in-world is all part of the Second Life Virtual World experience! :matte-motes-wink: