My sales are drying up

[Josh Susanto]

>They generally thought that you had to buy a sim to be a merchant.

Maybe someone is deliberately spreading such misinformation there.

If that person also happened to work for LL rather than IMVU, that would be weird, but, as you can imagine, I wouldn't be too surprised.

[Rene Erlanger]

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Medhue Simoni wrote:

Although, IMVU does do some things right, they do quite a bit very wrong. IMVU does not rent out land, they take a massive cut on the content that they sell. You must "derive" everything you make from a default IMVU created object. This is also why they spend more on getting people to buy stuff. Animation is heavily promoted there. I made 2 animations there and sold both a number of times, even tho I've never been back. IMVU made more on them than I did, and I have no way of even cashing out, unless I want to pay some 3rd party 30% to get some real money. So, to any merchant, SL wins, hands down.

IMVU has some of the same problem as SL tho, which is retention. They have 150k or more strictly because they market themselves so much. As soon as you take away the marketing, it all will fall apart. Without newbies, their economy fails. SL is quite a bit different in that respect. It is not the newbies that keep the economy up here. Heck, it will be weeks now before a newb even needs to buy something, lol.

 

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1) IMVU is an entirely different model, it's not based on land, but rather on their rooms, which in effect is the user's playground with house and outdoor parts. I suppose they could charge a nominal fee for having that room and lessen the commission on Catalog products. They would have to crunch the numbers and see what it does to retention rates.

Retention rates are probably an issue for most online games. How does WOW do?

Marketing & Advertising are part of normal day-to-day business costs.....the fact is that Second Life have never significantly spent money on it.  Mark Kingdon when he joined LL stated in an interview that LL didn't really have a Marketing budget as such (or not meaningful one!)

[Rene Erlanger]

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Medhue Simoni wrote:

I talked to a number of the merchants over at IMVU. From our conversations, I got the impression that the majority thought that SL content creation was far more complex than it actually is. Maybe it was the coding aspect, cause they don't really seem like the coding type of crowd there. This was all somewhat funny for me, as the IMVU animation creation workflow is far more complex than SL, but way more limiting as to what your avatar can actually do with those animations.

The biggest impression I got from them, was that SL was super expensive. They generally thought that you had to buy a sim to be a merchant. I tried to explain that it doesn't cost a merchant anything, if you want, and that IMVU was WAY more expensive for a merchant than SL. It is quite hilarious to see a community where content creation is actually way more complex and almost impossibly profitable, think that SL is worse for them. :smileyvery-happy:

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I spoke to a number of their Merchants too...on their forums and in private messages. One leading content provider who creates on both Second Life and IMVU....said it's easier to make the transition from SL to IMVU as a creator.....than the other way round.

[Rene Erlanger]

lol...in UK it's about $10 usd per gallon...and has been around that for a few years now. Most of the price is made up of  taxes. (Fuel Duty & VAT)...i can only dream of $4-5 usd per gallon. We probably paid that in the the late 1990's!!

[Rene Erlanger]

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Morgaine Christensen wrote:

 

What really concerns me, we as merchants, are cutting our own throats.  So, if you are a resident, new or old, you slap these boards...say 10-15 a day for a week...you have a whole new wardrobe for FREE. 

Now, if you can get all these FREE items...and we are not talking mediocre items here....why in the world would you want to spend real money and BUY something when you can get it for free? 

Or, you can join a group and get their group gift for free then drop the group?

I can't tell you how many times people in the various groups make it known they are

not going to spend one dime of their own money when they can get anything they want for free. 

I am NOT saying that all group members or customers are like that...I am just saying if you can get it for free that is where they are going to go.  Isn't  part of the problem our customers have the attitude give it to me for free and our attitude  has been sure here you go...can I give you something else so you will come back and bring your friends so my traffic count is high...maybe I will entice a paying customer in?

I have even heard in these groups, "Oh did you hear such and such is closing.  What a shame, they always have nice stuff on their MMs."  Folks have no clue that shops close cause they can't survive.  Something needs to be done and quickly if anyone wishes to stay in business.I don't know what it is but lets stop giving away what we work so hard to make

_end of rant

 

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There you have it...and the real problem for a lot of SL market sectors.....and its been going on for several years now.!! Hunts have a similar effect.....again quality free items....and masses of them!

I stated earlier that over 50% of monthly repeat SL logins...do not spend a dime on Second Life. It's easy to see why.

I also asked the hypothetical question, what if this occurred in real life?...well it doesn't really. We don't have shops in our Shopping Malls or in the High Street handing out free items...but we have seen the effects of something similar. The effect of Walmart and other Superstores with bulk purchase discounts capabilities...that have so many farmers & suppliers in their pockets. Small shops cannot compete in terms of pricing for equivalent quality! I know in the UK its devastated the landscape across both small & large towns putting a lot of smaller shops out of business.

 

[Pamela Galli]

I remember on SL Exchange forum, I mentioned that I thought the (then recent) trend of handing out good quality freebies, and price slasing in general,  would have a worse effect than copybotting, and you would have thought I had advocated killing puppies.  Everyone was in denial. Everyone insisted that the practice would have either NO effect, or a positive effect, and how dare I be so wicked as to suggest otherwise, and why didn't I recant. :smileylol:

[Rene Erlanger]

....but you are right in my opinion!

I was warning about Freebies an age ago, as far back as the SLEX forums (if they can be googled)....ever since when BIAB first came onto the scene......now the problem has come back home to roost! :smileysad:

[Medhue Simoni]

Well, not that I'm pro freebies, but I'm not sure you can say that some free objects can do any harm at all. The harm comes when you have people not understanding the basics of making money, especially when those people run the show. Freebies/ cheap stuff was never an issue because on Xstreet the highest priced items were always on top, by default. Any1 with half a brain can figure out that if you put the cheapest items on the front page of every search, you are going to make a hell of alot less money than if you put the highest priced items. The problems gets compounded because, to LL, the marketplace grew. To them, it is a huge success, but to any1 person that knew anything about the old Xstreet site, the marketplace is a HUGE failure.

When people go off talking about conspiracies, this is where I have to concede a bit. It is just hard to believe that any group of knowledgable people would create a search engine that returns the cheapest items first. Do they not understand that they make no money at all on items less than 10 lindens? I have to stop thinking about it, as the ignorance angers we to no end.

[LillyBeth Filth]

"I remember on SL Exchange forum, I mentioned that I thought the (then recent) trend of handing out good quality freebies, and price slasing in general,  would have a worse effect than copybotting, and you would have thought I had advocated killing puppies.  Everyone was in denial. Everyone insisted that the practice would have either NO effect, or a positive effect, and how dare I be so wicked as to suggest otherwise, and why didn't I recant." 

I (and MANY others) agree but for the very reason you described, people daren't go public for fear of being labeled a greedy capitalist.

I recently wrote a blog entry on the subject of "The Cost Of a Freebie Culture" 

The problem iies in the fact as merchants, we train consumers on what to expect so if there is even 1/4 of the available content being sold for 10L or free then even in a healthy RL economy,  consumers start to question "Why should I buy X product when I know I can find something similar for free?"

In the current economy that sentiment is doubled or tripled.

It effects us all.. I recall when I went to upgrade Photoshop and I was angry that Adobe had the nerve NOT to offer a discount when 90% of other online software and digital goods were offering discounts due to the economy.

I took them to be greedy and mean....and it made me think,  if I, someone who against the "Moochers Monopoly"  was consciously thinking like that,  then clearly in SL many people will be outraged at the nerve of someone selling content for more than 10L.

BUT this is not just SL. 

The internet on the whole is a freeloaders paradise. Were once textures cost up to $15 EACH,  today you find digital content freely available.

This is down to the fact website owners have changed their marketing direction as they realise the domestic market is weak and reluctant so they offer free which draws the traffic in and then charge businesses (That have marketing budgets) for advertising space on their very busy website.

Cant blame them... they have to make a living but it does have a huge impact on anyone trying to sell digital content.

The internet is very new (12 years?) and ever changing...how it will look after consumer confidence returns is anyones guess. 

 

[LillyBeth Filth]

I talked to a number of the merchants over at IMVU. From our conversations, I got the impression that the majority thought that SL content creation was far more complex than it actually is. Maybe it was the coding aspect, cause they don't really seem like the coding type of crowd there. This was all somewhat funny for me, as the IMVU animation creation workflow is far more complex than SL, but way more limiting as to what your avatar can actually do with those animations.

The biggest impression I got from them, was that SL was super expensive. They generally thought that you had to buy a sim to be a merchant. I tried to explain that it doesn't cost a merchant anything, if you want, and that IMVU was WAY more expensive for a merchant than SL. It is quite hilarious to see a community where content creation is actually way more complex and almost impossibly profitable, think that SL is worse for them. 

 

It's so lame though! When I logged in I thought "Ok....how do I move?" All I could do was click & jump from one chair or seat to another standing pose or something....and then I instantly got people laughing at me as I was cearly a noob.....

If you don't have the latest "head" (??) or clothing and animations your a looser lol I don't know how that compares to noobs in SL but IMVU is ALL about communication cause there's sod all else to do except "pose" and "chat"

Each to their own I guess..But I came from The Sims Online and later There.com so even if SL never came to pass I doubt I would have ever got into IMVU.com its nothing more than a glorified 3D forum.

[Rene Erlanger]

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LillyBeth Filth wrote:

 

The problem iies in the fact as merchants, we train consumers on what to expect so if there is even 1/4 of the available content being sold for 10L or free then even in a healthy RL economy,  consumers start to question "

Why should I buy X product when I know I can find something similar for free

?"

In the current economy that sentiment is doubled or tripled.

 

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It's a case of Merchants (collectively) killing their own economy over time.....we're not entirely there yet! It will be once you see quality Houses and large builds ending up as freebies.....or what were once expensive scripted gadgets. Then you'll know that the SL economy won't be worth much!

Once you've reached that state...it's impossible to reverse,.... even as you've stated.....in a buoyant RL economy!

 

[LillyBeth Filth]

Yes but there is always what I call "The Snob Factor" and that is those people who for what ever reason want exclusiveness. They don't want a house that is freely available because every Tom, Dick or Harry also has the same house/dress/hair/skin/AO etc

You have a choice.

Appeal to the 10L masses or up your quality and prices and appeal to those willing to spend over the average for content "because" it is priced over the average and by default, less people own it.

To me, it speaks volumes that people who make and sell sculpted, meshed and rigged clothing items on a full perm basis do so because it's easier to sell the dream of success than actually achieving it even with the obvious skill these merchants have.

There are thousands of "wanna be" merchants who lack the skill to create their own unique content so pay a lot to buy the pieces to pull together and make their own.

Skin PSDs are a good example. Once over a skin designer in SL was a rare and as such successful merchant able to charge 5K for a single skin. Today resellers buy PSDs - tweak and develop their skills as they modify the PSDs and then sell them for 100L each.

I am not complaining about these type of merchants as technically its no different than a builder buying textures to make and sell what they create combining their building skill with the skill of a texture artist.

 

[Ann Otoole]

exclusive like ripped game textures?

[LillyBeth Filth]

Why have you got some Anny? 

Sure what ever floats your boat