Why I Prefer Receiving My Purchases In Boxes Rather Than In Folders

[Lasher Oh]

Hi Madeliefste, you said...

"I have several reasons for this, but one of them is that in world you can often look in the box to see what the box exactly contains and see the permissions per article. This is really valuable information that was not available on the MP till now."

However that is not quite accurate. It really depends on how much work individual merchants care to put into a listing on behalf of their customers.

Itemising the contents and permissions in the description text is a fairly standard method but that is time consuming.

OR - better still I make an in world screen grab of the  box contents  just as you would see it them if you were to inspect it yourself in the store. This picture is then placed along side the main listing shot. Not rocket science but easy and effective.I certainly do agree that it is valuable information, however it was always available if the merchants could be bothered to go the extra mile.

Placing a screen grab of the box contents in a listing really doesn't take long and for several years I have always felt that it made good business sense to display the  full box contents.

As to the enhanced 'gift' boxes that some folks  dislike. I personally box everything in a single branded prim using my own distinctive graphic style. The  pre unpacked method is standardised and bland and lets face it not very creative even if the contents are.

It's also a matter of style I really do believe that there is a role for nice packaging in SL just as there is in RL. As I commengted on the other thread. If you were making and selling wonderful expensive hand made chocolates would your customers appreciate them just being thrown into into plain old brown paper bag ?

For many in RL and in SL one of the underlying joys of buying something nice is opening the box or packet (unless it's blister packed)

^L^

[MasoDevotina]

As for all residents it took me a little while to find out how to unbox things after pruchasing them, and meanwhile I prefer my stuff boxed, one of the reasons is that I dont have to box them myself for backup.

It's not neccessary to worry if the box can be deleted after copying it's content to the inventory, either it is copy and you will still have it in your inventory anyway, or it is no copy and will be empty after copying its content to inventory, what you need it then for anyway? You can just delete it anyway.

 

[Shellie Pearl]

At first i was gonna say boxes because i like to keep backups also, but then the idea of getting a folder with a boxed copy made me change my mind.. 

 

As a merchant though I'm tempted to just put everything that's already in my magic boxes in DD as they are, and use the folder with a boxed backup idea for all future items I put on the MP. 

[Ceka Cianci]

i prefer folders myself..mainly because when i shop i usually end up doing a lot of shopping..

so there ends up being a lot of unpacking..those boxes get tossed right away and the folders go in the sub directories i have in my inventory..

if i need to make copies..i never copy the whole list of items..i'll make a folder in the items folder and make backups of what i feel needs backing up..

if i were gonna rely on boxes to save on inventory space..i wouldn't be doing it with the items boxes..they would be going in my boxes with more than one folder of items..i would probably put small sub directories in the boxes..

i can find what i am looking for faster with items in folder than i can if they are boxed..because like most times..i'm not gonna remember the name of the items  but i will remember a color or texture of them..

whats really fun is when you get a box then unpack it and it's in another box that still needs unpacking lol

that doesn't happen all the time but enough to weigh me in favor of folders rather than boxes.if i had to make a choice..

merchants are going to do it how they want to do it..

so it won't matter in the end..and i'll still buy them either in folders or boxes..but if i had a choice..that's what it would be..folders lol

 

[Naturelle Starbrook]

I prefer folders!  I am lazy and I dislike unpacking boxes.  Especially when I am just going to make folders for the items anyway.

[phaedra Exonar]

There was a best in noob contest at a club, the person that won was wearing shopping boxes attached all over, it was hilarious,  but it really points to just how common a problem this is for noobs. 

I remember my first box that got attached and how frustrating it was when I didn't even know what it was or how to remove it.  I went to a help island and no one could help me.  If I hadn't had RL friends in SL to help me out I don't think I would have lasted past the second day. 

I think adding a back up box to the folder seams like the best idea I've seen so far.

[Czari Zenovka]

My items will remain boxed as well, provided we're able to sell anything without major issues.  (See my recently created FYI post).

[Bouttime Whybrow]

the reasons for DD as i understand was to provide a more reliable delivery system. adding the option for a merchant to deliver folders or boxes seems like a "why not provide the choice" feature. i prefer to sell using boxes myself just because it's nice, it looks and feels good and it can also be used as a passive freebie to the customer, like using a sculpture or textured shape they can use for decorative purposes. boxes are cool.

[Irene Muni]

Yesterday I bought a gift for a friend. I bought a complete cortume that I had bought a few weeks ago. I received it in a box, she has received the costume in a folder. As usual, an item of the cloting comes with many possible layers. But surprise! I have 4 layers for that item, she received only 2.

The merchant was very friendly and quickly sent the missing items. And the merchant assured us that he had tested the shipment and its folder included the 4 layers.

Of course this may be only a specific failure and not a general problem of the system. But the question made ​​me wonder if it is not easier failures occur with folders than with boxes.

[161488303349]

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Canoro Philipp wrote:

i prefer folders.

im gonna convert it into folders anyway, the boxes is one of the main problems of the new users, they buy a product, find out how to wear them and they get dissapointed that its only a box that sticks to their hand. some pass some time until they got lucky and someone explain to them they they have to rez them on the floor, they try to do it in a no rez area and got more frustrated, the instruccions that the one who help them give to them doesnt work. they finally rez it, they click on it and nothing happens, they dont know that they have to select "open" and then, the things get copied back to the inventory where they finally can wear it.

it may be a hassle to experienced users to recieve it in folders, but the ones that need more help are the unexperienced. my vote is to help the ones that need it the most.

 

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^^ that. newbies yes. if merchants are going to use boxes then please put an unpacker script in it. wear the box - click/touch - unpack

[Irene Muni]

But n any case, a new resident must learn how to open boxes. Many times he/she will receive boxes from other residents/friends.

[161488303349]

yes. in time

a box unpacker script helps to make a new life a little bit easier for someone on their own. is more a thing for merchants to do i think

if you get a box off your friend then they will usual show you how to rez, open and copy contents at the same time 

[Ceka Cianci]

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16 wrote:

yes. in time

a box unpacker script helps to make a new life a little bit easier for someone on their own. is more a thing for merchants to do i think

if you get a box off your friend then they will usual show you how to rez, open and copy contents at the same time 

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i can still remember the moment of my head boxing..

i was already getting pissed at the controls lol

then when i clicked on the box it went on my head..i was like..oh great ..i have a box on my head now..someone gt this thing off my head!!!!

will you guys stop with the jokes already?

my friends finally told me how to detach it and then how to open it..

that was my first day.. lol after that day i left for 3 days thinking i would never come back..then came back and have been hitting like a pro ever since lol

[Perrie Juran]

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Irene Muni wrote:

But n any case, a new resident must learn how to open boxes. Many times he/she will receive boxes from other residents/friends.

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We'd all love for everything to just be "plug and play" but that is so far from the reality of life in general and computing.

To get involved in any computer game or MMORG or Second Life and not expect a learning curve for lack of a better phrase I'll just say doesn't seen sane to me.

Of course we all want it to be as easy as possible.  But attempts to idiot proof life will always fail.

[Phil Deakins]

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Perrie Juran wrote:

Of course we all want it to be as easy as possible. 

But attempts to idiot proof life will always fail.

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Oh I don't know. I'm still here, which is proof that it doesn't always fail in SL.

[Ceka Cianci]

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Perrie Juran wrote:

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Irene Muni wrote:

But n any case, a new resident must learn how to open boxes. Many times he/she will receive boxes from other residents/friends.

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We'd all love for everything to just be "plug and play" but that is so far from the reality of life in general and computing.

To get involved in any computer game or MMORG or Second Life and not expect a learning curve for lack of a better phrase I'll just say doesn't seen sane to me.

Of course we all want it to be as easy as possible.  But attempts to idiot proof life will always fail.

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i don't worry about them..getting boxed is like an SL hazing we all have to go through lol

or we should all go through anyways hehehe

it's fun to remember those mistakes we laugh at now..what fun would it be if we couldn't look back and laugh?

i  just hope inworld  that merchants don't start switching to boxes over this..

that would truly suck..lol

i know with the MP i'll be doing some unpacking..

but a whole shopping spree of MP and inworld would be  turning shopping into something i would start to think about..

do i really feel like unpacking like 30 to 40  boxes today?

half the time  the answer will be no..because it takes me out of the mood i was in or the project i wanted to get going on..because by the time i am done unpacking..i'm ready for a nap LOL

 

[161488303349]

after working out how to actual rez and open a box the most frustrating thing was copy and wear. i learned not to do that in a sandbox on saturday. arrrrggg !!!  jejejeje (: 

[Rya Nitely]

It's a shame these forums don't have polls like they did in the old XStreet forums (maybe it's because LL really don't want to know what we think).

But I've done some rough statistics. 

Number of Respondents - 29

For boxes - 17 or ~ 60%

For folders - 12 or ~ 40%

 

Respondents were made up of 17 merchants (MP listings) and 12 customers (no MP listings)

42% of customers preferred boxes -  5 out of 12 people.

70% of merchants preferred boxes - 12 out of 17 people.

So from this small survey it appears that merchants may like boxes more than customers do.

I know that merchants can also be customers, but they are more likely to respond here by thinking about how they will sell their items in DD.

It could be a case of old habits die hard...resistance to change, or just a strong attachment to the pretty box they've made.

Ceka is really talking purely from a customer's perspective when she says

'but a whole shopping spree of MP and inworld would be  turning shopping into something i would start to think about..

do i really feel like unpacking like 30 to 40  boxes today?

half the time  the answer will be no..because it takes me out of the mood i was in or the project i wanted to get going on..because by the time i am done unpacking..i'm ready for a nap LOL'

Perhaps those boxes are less of an asset than merchants think they are.