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Buying and selling Linden dollars Inworld On the LindeX Market buy and sell Limit Buys and Limit Sales How to get Linden dollars without buying them Earning Linden dollars The premium account stipend Common LindeX issues I bought Linden dollars (L$) but my balance hasn't updated I was not charged what expected when I bought Linden dollars (L$) I can't buy anything on the LindeX because of billing and trading limits I can't tell how many Linden dollars I have; it just says "Loading" Is it possible to view transactions older than 30 days? I don't have an option to use the Best Rate Buy or Sell on the LindeX. See also In other languages: Deutsch Español Français Italiano 日本語 Português Pусский Türkçe Buying and selling Linden dollar The unit of trade in Second Life is called the Linden dollar or L$. You can purchase Linden dollars both inworld and online on the LindeX. Linden dollars are used to buy and sell content in Second Life, to purchase land, to tip or pay other Residents for services, and many other things. Some Residents earn enough Linden dollars inside Second Life that they choose to convert their L$ into a US dollar (USD) credit on their Tilia account by selling their Linden dollars on the LindeX. They can then use their USD account credit to pay for Second Life services like subscriptions or land fees, or they can choose to send those US dollars to their real life accounts via something called a process credit request. For more information on how to use a USD Tilia account credit to pay fees or to request it be sent to a PayPal or Skrill account, please see Account balance. Important: You must have payment method on file and have accepted Second Life's Terms of Service (when logging into Second Life) in order to purchase Linden dollars. Register a payment method. Inworld To buy Linden dollars in the Second Life Viewer, click the BUY L$ button next to your current Linden dollar balance. In the BUY L$ window, simply enter the number of Linden dollars you want to buy and click Buy Now. Buying Linden dollars inworld yields the same value as a market buy on the Second Life website. On the LindeX The LindeX is the official virtual exchange of Second Life run by Linden Lab where you can: Buy Linden dollars for the current market rate. Make limit buy offers at a requested exchange rate (or better). Sell Linden dollars. For a list of accepted payment methods and currencies, see Billing. All LindeX transactions are subject to transaction fees. To sell Linden dollars on the LindeX, you must have a payment method (such as PayPal or Visa) on your account. Market buy and sell Market buys and sells are the quickest and easiest ways to purchase or sell Linden dollars on the Second Life website. LindeX automatically matches your order with the best exchange rate. The quoted exchange rate includes transaction fees. To set up a market buy: Go to https://secondlife.com/my/lindex/buy.php. Enter either the quantity of Linden Dollars (L$) you wish to buy or the quantity of US Dollars (US$) you wish to spend. Click Place Order. Enter your Second Life password when prompted. To set up a market sell: Go to https://secondlife.com/my/lindex/sell.php. Enter the Quantity of L$ you wish to sell. Click the Sell button. Note: Unlike market buys, market sells do not necessarily complete instantly. Sell orders complete once the L$ are purchased by other Residents, so it may take a short while for a market sell to complete depending on how many Residents are buying L$ at that time. Limit Buy (Best Rate Buy) and Limit Sell Limit Buys (Best Rate Buy) and sells allow you to specify the amount of Linden dollars and the exchange rate you are willing to accept. LindeX automatically matches up buy and sell offers as they come in. If you are buying, you will be charged immediately for the purchase. The order may be cancelled by going to LindeX Order History. If the order is canceled, the funds will be returned to your Second Life account's US Dollar balance. To set up a Limit Buy: Go to https://secondlife.com/my/lindex/buy.php Under Best Rate Buy, enter the Quantity of L$ you wish to purchase. Next to Exchange Rate in L$ / US$1.00, enter the minimum exchange rate you will accept. Click Place Order. Enter your Second Life password when prompted. To set up a limit sell: Go to https://secondlife.com/my/lindex/sell.php Under Offer to Sell Linden Dollars (Limit Sell), enter the Quantity of L$ you wish to sell. Next to Exchange Rate in L$ / US$1.00, enter the maximum exchange rate you will accept. Click Offer to Sell. If you change your mind about how many Linden dollars you wish to buy or sell, or the rate you are willing to accept, you can cancel an offer in progress on the LindeX: Transaction History page. When a limit buy is canceled, the funds used to set up the order are returned to your Tilia account balance as a USD credit, which can be used immediately for a new order if you wish. When a limit sell is canceled, the Linden Dollars are returned to your avatar's L$ balance. If you have any questions about canceling a limit buy or limit sale, please contact our Support team for assistance. 💡 LindeX transactions are between Residents, which means someone has to be willing to buy or sell L$ at the price you want in order for your order to complete. Because LindeX exchange rates fluctuate, you may have to wait for some time before your Limit Buy (Best Rate Buy) or sell completes at your desired rate. If you set your minimum exchange rate too high, your transaction may be delayed indefinitely because there are no buyers or sellers willing to pay that price. To complete your transaction more quickly, you can adjust your rate settings by canceling your order and making a new one. ⚠️ There may be some scenarios where, for regulatory purposes, we will be required to collect identification information from you prior to completion of a Linden Dollar Sale. Please see our Tilia FAQ for more information about Tilia's relationship with Second Life. How to get Linden dollars without buying them Earning Linden dollars You can earn Linden dollars by selling goods or offering services to other Residents. If you're interested in becoming a merchant, read about Selling in the Marketplace. Check out the Guide to Jobs in Second Life for a tour through some of the jobs our Residents have come up with. The premium account stipend Premium members get a weekly stipend of Linden dollars. Upgrade your account from basic to premium to begin collecting your stipend. See Premium membership for more information. Common LindeX issues I bought Linden dollars but my balance hasn't updated If you bought Linden dollars (L$) through the LindeX as an Instant (Market) buy, they should show up fairly quickly. In certain instances, it can take up to 25 minutes for Linden dollars to arrive after purchase. If they haven't arrived within 25 minutes, please check the Second Life Blog to see if we're already aware of the problem and working to fix it. Chances are good that if it's something that affects a large number of Residents, we're already on it. If it looks like a problem that only affects you, then please contact our Support team for assistance. ❓ Is it possible that you made a Best Rate (Limit) Buy instead of a Market Buy? Limit Buys can take significantly longer to complete because they have to find Linden Dollars available at the rate you've specified. If you selected a rate that doesn't match available Linden dollar sale offers, your order will remain open and unfilled until someone sells L$ at the price you've selected. I was not charged what I expected when I bought Linden dollars The rates quoted on the LindeX are approximate estimates, and not a guarantee of an exact transaction amount. When a market order is placed, the order is filled with the lowest-priced L$ available at the time the order is placed. The market is very active, so an order seen as available might be gone by the time you place a new order. If you'd like to purchase L$ at a specific price, consider placing a limit order. I can't buy anything on the LindeX because of billing and trading limits See Billing and Trading Limits to check your limits and ensure that your difficulties are actually related to your billing and trading limits. Your level will be highlighted if you're logged in. If this does appear to be the difficulty, you may request a review of your account to increase your limits by submitting a support case: Under Issue Type select Billing. Under Billing, select LindeX Limits Review. Fill out the remaining fields as instructed, then click Submit. We'll review your request and get back to you within five business days. I can't tell how many Linden dollars I have; it just says "Loading" Don't panic! If you just logged in and your L$ amount, shown in the upper-right corner of the screen, says "Loading", it just means your L$ balance hasn't been loaded yet and will eventually appear. Sometimes, this is due to server issues, when we're experiencing heavy load and the data can't be retrieved quickly. Remember, while you wait inworld, you can also check your Linden Dollar balance on the Your Account section of the website. Tips If you have waited five full minutes and your L$ balance still reads as "Loading", you can try the following tricks to try to force your balance to appear: Teleport to another Region. Log out of Second Life, and then log back in, preferably in a different Region. Giving the viewer a second chance to load your information often resolves the problem. Ask a friend to pay you L$1. If you're really nice, give it back afterward! Try bulk uploading a single image, sound, or animation. Make sure only to try to upload one item! Each attempt costs you L$10. Obviously we don't expect you to spend large sums of Linden dollars in order to find out how many you have; if your problem persists, you should file a help ticket via our Support Portal. Is it possible to view transactions older than 30 days? Second Life Residents with a Basic or Plus membership may only view transactions up to 30 days old. However, Premium and Premium Plus members can view transactions up to 90 days old. You can also download all currently viewable transactions as an Excel spreadsheet for later reference. To download your transaction history: Go to https://secondlife.com/account/transactions.php In the Date Range field, choose choose a range that starts at the earliest possible date Click the View button View your transactions or download them in CSV, XML, or XLS format. I have sold Linden dollars. How do I transfer my money out of Second Life? You may choose to credit your US dollar balance via PayPal or Skrill. To process a credit transfer, go to Process Credit. For more information about your options and limitations, see Account Balance and the Tilia FAQ. I don't have an option to use the Best Rate Buy on the LindeX. There are two modes to use the LindeX at secondlife.com: Basic and Advanced. Basic mode shows simple LindeX market data, and Advanced shows all available LindeX market data, including available rates. To view advanced LindeX market data and be able to use the Best Rate option to buy Linden dollars, edit your L$ Exchange Settings to enable Advanced mode. Login at secondlife.com to visit your Account Dashboard On the left, under Linden Exchange, click Manage Click L$ Exchange Settings Select the radial dot next to Advanced (displays all market information) Click Submit The Best Rate Buy (Limit Buy) option will now appear on the Buy L$ page. See also LindeX™ Exchange: Billing and Trading Limits

Managing your inventory Unassociated marketplace inventory Listed, unlisted, and unavailable status Editing a listing Removing a listing Changing the item associated with a listing Editing more than one listing at a time Viewing your Moderate or Adult listings Listing enhancements Managing your existing listing enhancements Listing enhancement reports Your store profile Revenue distributions Transaction history Problems with selling Redelivering an item to a customer Flagged items Email notification settings In other languages: Deutsch Español Français Italiano 日本語 Português Managing your inventory The Manage inventory section of the Marketplace makes it easy to edit your item listings one at a time or in bulk. To manage your inventory: After logging in to the Marketplace, choose My Marketplace > Merchant home in the upper-right. Click Manage inventory on the left-hand side. Unassociated marketplace inventory If you have added an item to your Marketplace listings in the Second Life Viewer, but have not associated it with an existing listing or created a new listing, it appears in the Unassociated tab of the Marketplace listings window. For more information on adding an item to your Marketplace inventory and creating new listings, see Selling in the Marketplace. To associate an unassociated item with an existing listing: Right-click the unassociated item's folder in the Unassociated tab of the Marketplace listings window. Choose Associate listing. Enter the Listing ID of the existing listing. The listing ID can be found in parentheses next to a listed or unlisted item listing. For example, "Example Crate (3732)". The unassociated item now replaces the existing item in the listing. The previously listed item becomes unassociated inventory. Listed, unlisted, and unavailable status Each of your listings has a status: Listed - The normal, active status of an item that is publicly visible and available for purchase on the Marketplace. Exception: limited-quantity stock items stay Listed after they have sold out, but they cannot be purchased. Unlisted - An item that is intentionally hidden and unavailable for purchase. You might unlist a product because: You are permanently discontinuing the product but want to keep the listing for your personal records. The product is seasonal or event-specific and will be temporarily unlisted until the next time an appropriate event comes around. You've discovered serious bugs in your product and temporarily unlist it while you address the issue. Be sure to make an announcement on your Marketplace store (and anywhere else on the web you maintain a Marketplace presence, like a blog) to keep your customers informed. Unavailable - An item can be unavailable for various reasons: Freshly-added items with incomplete listings show up here. You need to Edit each one and fill in the required fields to List those items. Learn about item listing fields and how to use them. If an item violates the Marketplace Terms of Service, Linden Lab may make it unavailable. Note: The Date field in Manage inventory indicates the date the item was imported into the Second Life Marketplace. Editing a listing To edit one of your listings: In the upper-right, click My Marketplace > Merchant home. On the left-hand side, click Manage inventory. Click Actions > Edit next to the item you want to update. You can also click Actions > Preview to see how an item listing looks to potential customers, or click Actions > Unlist/List to activate or deactivate a listing. Make the desired changes to your item listing fields. Click Update to save your changes. You can also get to the Edit Item Listing page from the Second Life Viewer by right-clicking the item's folder and choosing Edit listing. Removing a listing To remove a listing, first unlist the item from the Second Life Marketplace: Login to the Marketplace and choose My Marketplace > My Store (upper-right). Click Manage inventory. Locate the item entry and click the Actions > Unlist link. Next, remove the listing from your Marketplace store: Login to the Marketplace and choose My Marketplace > My Store (upper-right). Click Manage inventory. Next to the item listing you want to remove, choose Actions > Delete. Changing the item associated with a listing If you want to sell a different or updated version of an item using a current listing: In the Second Life Viewer, choose Me > Marketplace listings Find the listing number in parentheses next to your existing listing. For example, "Example Crate (3757)". Click the Unassociated tab of the Marketplace listings window. Right-click an unassociated item you wish to associate with your listing and choose Associate listing. In the Associate Listing window that appears, enter the Listing ID of your existing listing and click OK. The unassociated item now replaces the existing item in the listing. The previously listed is moved to the Unassociated tab. Editing more than one listing at a time Note: Choosing Edit for multiple items is a useful way to standardize fields that are the same. For example, if you're selling colored variations of hair, most of the information will be identical; or you might have a standard blurb you want to add for multiple products. To edit more than one listing at a time: Click the checkboxes in the leftmost column for the items you want to edit, or click the checkbox at the top of the column to select them all. Tip: If you have a big inventory and want to view or select more items at once, change Items per page to a higher number, like 100. Below, next to Modify selected items, choose an option from the dropdown (List, Unlist, or Edit) and click Go. The page refreshes with a confirmation message. Viewing your Moderate or Adult listings When you search for your item on the Marketplace, make sure you select General, Moderate, or Adult as under Show maturity levels. Unless you enable Moderate and Adult content, the feature that lets shoppers exclude this content from their search results also prevents you from seeing your own listings. Your listing's maturity level may be automatically updated by the filters we use to scan for incorrectly rated listings. We occasionally update the filter keywords; if your listing contains words in the updated filter, its maturity rating will be changed accordingly. If you disagree with the automated maturity rating, please contact support. Listing enhancements Listing enhancements allow you to promote an item by advertising it as a "Featured Item" on a highly visible page. While editing an item listing, you can click the Add button on the right to: Feature this item on the home page - http://marketplace.secondlife.com Feature this item on a category landing page - For example, Avatar Accessories. Feature this item on the checkout receipt page - A shopper sees this page after checking out. Feature this item on the L$0 cart checkout ads page - A shopper sees this page after checking out with a L$0 balance (freebies). For listing enhancement prices, please see the Marketplace fees and commissions. Managing your existing listing enhancements To manage your listing enhancements: Go to the Marketplace. Click My Marketplace > Merchant home. Click Manage subscriptions on the left, or click Inventory tab > Manage subscriptions. The Subscriptions page shows the details of all your listing enhancements, including where each item is featured, its renewal period, and its current status. Find the listing enhancement you want to change. Click Edit on the right. You can now edit your listing enhancement. To cancel your listing enhancement at the end of the current time period, click Don't renew. To renew a listing enhancement that you have canceled, click Reactivate. To cancel your listing enhancement effective immediately, with no refund for time remaining, clickDelete. Important: Listing enhancements renew automatically! If you only want to advertise your item for a specific time period, follow the instructions for cancelling your listing enhancement. Listing enhancement reports You can view listing enhancement reports, which show statistics on impressions and click-throughs for each listing enhancement you have active: When logged into the Marketplace, click My Marketplace > Merchant home. On the left, click Listing enhancements (under Reports). Your store profile Your store has its own profile that can be customized. You should take advantage of this to promote your brand: Click My Marketplace in the upper-right and click Merchant Home. On the left-hand side, click Edit Store Information. Here's what the fields mean: Store Name - This defaults to your Resident name, but if you like you can change it to something else. Profile - Whatever you want to tell potential customers about you in up to 2,100 characters, like who you are, what you sell, and why you do it. Examples: "We've been selling in Second Life for seven years and these are some testimonials from thousands of delighted customers!"; "We believe every avatar should be able to have an incredibly beautiful home"; or "Our company's goal is to amplify your awesome." Policies - Do you accept refunds? Do you prefer to be contacted via email or IM, or have you hired support staff that your customers should contact? Make sure to state this here so customers' expectations are clear. Link to Blog - Link to your blog or another website about your store. Many sellers use blogs to announce product updates. Some even group together and form community blogs, like iheartsl. Link to Inworld Store - If you have an inworld store, enter its SLurl here. Store Image - Click Browse to choose a JPG, PNG, or GIF image from your hard drive. A well-compressed JPG generally works best. This isn't usually a picture of your inworld store but rather of your brand's logo. This small image must be exactly 45x45 pixels, so make sure what you upload is legible. There are web tools like Picnik that can help. Store Banner Image - Again, click Browseto choose a JPG, PNG, or GIF image from your hard drive. Must be exactly 700x100 pixels. Your Store Name and Store Image appear on the right-hand side of all your item pages, like this: Tip: If you've gotten this far and you haven't read How to market your products yet, you should! Revenue distributions The revenue distributions feature allows payments to be automatically distributed among multiple Residents. Distributions are based on percentages, not fixed dollar amounts. For example, say you are selling a car for L$1,000. You make L$700 per each car sold and distribute L$200 per sale to Alice and L$100 per sale to Bob. In this distribution, 20% goes to Alice and 10% goes to Bob. Control revenue distributions by clicking Add Distribution on the Edit item listing page. Listings with revenue distributions set must have a price of at least L$10. Transaction history To view your Transaction History: Login to the Marketplace. Click My Marketplace and click Merchant Home. On the left, under Reports, click Orders. On the Orders page, specify a Start Date and End Date by clicking the calendar dropdowns. Click Go to refresh the page. On the right, click Download CSV to download a CSV file that can be read in various applications, like Microsoft Excel. If a Resident buys an item as a gift for someone else, the recipient's name shows under Recipient. If the item is intended to be received by the same Resident who bought it, you see the buyer's name next to Customer. Problems with selling Having problems while selling your items? If you can't find a solution below, you can get more help at theSupport Portal. Redelivering an item to a customer If a customer requests that an item be redelivered — perhaps they didn't receive it, or lost their only copy — you can follow these steps: When logged into the Marketplace, click My Marketplace > Merchant home in the upper right. On the left-hand side, click Orders. Search for the order by Order # or Customer (the Resident's name). Click View order or the order number you want to redeliver. Click Redeliver item. Tip: You might want to make sure that your customer is online before redelivering. If a Resident has more than 25 offline message notifications, any new IMs or item deliveries will fail. Also, if the Resident is set to Away, redeliveries from the Marketplace will fail. Flagged items Flagged items are not removed automatically, and flagging does not affect search relevance. If an item is flagged, the item goes into a queue. Based on the flagger's rating, the flagged item will move up or down in the queue. People who abuse flagging will be ignored. If your item was flagged for: An incorrect category (the most common reason for flagging): See if there are sub-categories of the section where your item is currently listed and move your item to a more appropriate section. Do not post items in the "root" categories such as Apparel, Home & Garden, etc. unless you absolutely cannot find a sub-category that applies. You might also suggest a new Marketplace category. An incorrect maturity level: Please check the maturity level of your item. If you still have questions about why your item was flagged or unlisted, please open a support case and include the exact name of the product as it appears on your inventory page. Email notification settings You can change the types of email notifications you receive from the Second Life Marketplace: Visit http://marketplace.secondlife.com. If you are not already signed in, click Sign in in the top right corner of the page. Click My Marketplace at the top of the page, then select My account from the dropdown menu. Click Email settings on the left side of the My account page. On the Email settings page, under Merchant Notifications, click On or Off next to each type of email notification to set your notification preference. As a merchant on the Second Life Marketplace, you may receive the following types of email notifications: Purchase notification Note: This email is sent after delivery and payments have both been completed on a line item. Redelivery notification Note: This email is sent when either you or Linden Lab customer support redelivers an item. Review alert Flag alert

Copywrite to excite! Grab attention with a catchy headline Connect with your customers Item listing fields Photograph your products Rate mature products appropriately Other advertising strategies Featured Items Free stuff Improving your search results Sharing brands Inworld store signs Beyond Second Life This article introduces the essentials of Second Life commerce promotion and provides links to further useful resources. There is a lot of information here, so we suggest you bookmark this page and refer to it as needed. Copywrite to excite! The key to making your product stand out from the thousands of other products on the SL Marketplace is creating a compelling listing. A great listing captures the attention of browsing Residents and helps them make an informed decision. Quality copy — the title and description of your product listing — can make or break a sale. Get the consumer excited about purchasing your product. A well-crafted description makes your product both more alluring and more memorable. Be sure to check your spelling and punctuation: a sloppily written listing can make potential buyers think your product is poorly constructed, too. Your listing should reflect the care and attention to detail you put into creating your goods. Grab attention with a catchy headline Titles matter! Here are some tips for making the most of them: Include the specific name of your product. If your product comes in different colors or versions like "Lite" and "Pro," make this clear. If you have a personal or company brand, include it if space permits. Include keywords to make your title more searchable. Don't type in ALL CAPS; it's visually aggressive and may turn people off. Some sellers use special characters like *** ~*~ to decorate their listings, but this too may be off-putting and may also hurt your search rankings. If you really want your listing to stand out, consider using a listing enhancement. Examples: Luxury Renaissance Villa - Low Prims Handcrafted Bronze Anklet - Limited Edition! SuperTek's Low-Lag Animation Overrider v2.0 Ravstyle "Lynnie" Hair - Rainbow Fatpack Note: Although you can use up to 120 characters for an item name, a snappy title may be catchier and easier to read. Connect with your customers Generate a following by creating listings that show consumers who you are. Make it clear to your potential customers that they are dealing with a caring person. They will be more likely to ask questions that could lead to a sale. Let individual quirks shine through. Adding personality to your products elevates them above generic "piles of pixels." Call attention to what's unique about the wild dress or wacky gadget you're selling, especially if it is (as far as you know) the only offering of its kind on the whole market. Be specific. Make a clear list of features that is easy to understand at a glance. Be honest about known limitations or bugs that inhibit your product's functionality. Transparency earns your buyers' trust. Offer practical solutions to problems. If you have a proven record of unbeatable customer service, say so! If you have received positive testimonials, or a video review, let your customers know. Future testimonials can snowball as a result of early praise. You should also let buyers know if your product is a limited-time offer or a special edition — but be honest. No one wants to purchase something "premium" only to discover later that it is widely available. If you are open to doing custom work, make this clear. (Conversely, creators who are too busy to make customs often list this in their inworld profile.) Know your target market and tailor your listings accordingly. Let potential customers know exactly how your product will help them have a more enjoyable Second Life. Examples: Fed up with belts that cut into your avatar's waist? I have a solution for you... There's an interesting story behind these poseballs and it comes from my own love life... This hair fatpack means you'll get all of the colors shown in the photo. The headband isn't part of the package but an included styling notecard shows where you can buy this and other accessories. The easy resize HUD means you'll never have to waste time fiddling with the building tools! Item listing fields The following fields are in each of your item listings. They help describe your item to shoppers and can also help you organize your merchandise: SKU - This stands for Stock-Keeping Unit and is a unique identifier for each item. Version - If you have your own product-versioning system (for example, many scripted gadgets issue updates), enter the number here. For example, "2.0". Item Status - Can be Active or Inactive. This is the same thing as Unlist/List on the Manage inventory page. Maturity Level - Can be General, Moderate, or Adult. Please note that if you set the maturity level incorrectly, our automatic filter process may correct it without notifying you. For more information on how to rate your item, see the Marketplace listing guidelines. Mesh - Used this setting to indicate whether your item is composed of No Mesh, Partial Mesh, or 100% Mesh. If you do not have payment information on file or have not accepted the IP terms for mesh, you may only choose No Mesh. This setting is useful for Residents who are using Second Life Viewers that do not yet support mesh content; to them, your object may appear to be composed of flat triangles! Permissions - What the customer can do with the object. Note that setting this does not change your original item's permissions— you need to set those beforehand and check the same boxes here. If your item has permissions subtleties, make sure to check note them in the Extended description below. For example, a robot toy's colors may be modifiable, while the script inside the robot is no-modify. If you wish to place specific license restrictions on your item, check User Licensed and describe the terms of the license in the Extended description. For example, you may wish to sell an object with full copy/modify/transfer permissions, but disallow resale except under specific conditions. Usage Requirements - Describes how the item must be used; items may be Wearable, require Unpacking, require Land to be permanently displayed. If your object requires none of these, choose None. Clothing Works With - Choose Classic Avatars or Mesh Avatars. For more information, see Buying clothing that fits your avatar. Custom Avatar Brand - Fill in this field if your item is meant to be used with a specific branded Mesh avatar. For more information see Buying clothing that fits your avatar. Brand URL - A URL to help customers find out more about your Custom Avatar Brand, if applicable. International tabs - If you've localized your item for additional languages, click a language tab to enter that information. Each language is a separate listing, but listings in several languages can be created simultaneously. SL folder name - Corresponds to what the object's folder is named in your inventory. Item title - You can leave this the same as the SL object name or expand it to be more descriptive for additional visibility. This field is searchable and can be up to 120 characters. Tip: Item names appear in the page's URL, which then shows up in search engine results. A well-chosen name will help you become more discoverable via higher search rankings, so be careful of using decorative Unicode and other wasted space that doesn't contribute. Learn more about search engine optimization. Product features - Call out up to five specific highlights to emphasize why someone would want to buy your item. Extended description - Details about your product in plain text.. This commonly includes expanded info about the Product features, Permissions, and other fields. You can also link to a video tutorial or other rich documentation. Many merchants use it to provide customer service info, although Edit Store Information is probably a better place for that. Also, product manuals should be provided as a Downloadable PDF as mentioned below. This field is not searchable and can be up to 5,000 characters. While you can have the text of a URL in these areas, the text is not linked to the page. There is room on the merchant page for links to the merchant's web page or blog. Keywords - Specific terms you expect this item to be found with when customers search. This field is searchable from Marketplace search and can be up to 200 characters, including commas and spaces. Category - Click Change category to get category suggestions. In the popup, search categories, then click the category that fits best from the list. If you can't find a relevant product category, include keywords so that your product comes up when shoppers search using those keywords. You might also suggest a new Marketplace category. Item price - In L$. If this item is a freebie, enter 0. Prim count - The number of prims this objects is. Subtleties can be explained in the Extended description. For example, if you're selling a set of furniture in which the chair is 20 prims and the table is 30, be sure to let the buyer know. SLurl - This is usually a link to your inworld storefront, or at least a place the object can be viewed in three dimensions inworld. Whenever possible, enter a specific link to the exact location instead of a generic one to the front of your store. Learn more about SLurls. Video URL - Have you made a video tutorial or a marketing promo to show your product in action? This can be a delightful way to quickly show what it's all about. YouTube is the most popular video site, but there are many alternatives. The Video URL can actually be any standard URL, but the link put here appears under the listing's Details tab as View Video ». Available quantity - This is usually Unlimited unless you are selling something like limited-edition art. Limited items are often sold as no-copy so the buyer can't duplicate them. Images - While this field isn't required, it's one of the most important to communicate what you're selling, so include at least one image. Click Upload an image to get info and choose a JPG, PNG, TGA, or GIF image file from your hard drive. You can have up to 8 images for an item. Animated GIF - The Second Life Marketplace supports animated GIFs. They can be up to 1 MB (which means you may need to use an optimizer like Photoshop's "Save for Web & Devices") and, like other images, up to 700x525 pixels. Downloadable PDF - Click Browse to choose a PDF from your hard drive. PDFs can be more beautiful and readable than inworld notecards. You can include extended content in a PDF, like additional high-res images and Flash movies. There isn't a limit to the size of the PDF file, but you should use your buyers' time and bandwidth wisely. If you don't own Adobe software on Windows, you can use Microsoft Word or OpenOffice to create PDF files. On a Mac, almost every application can print to a PDF file. We recommend that product instructions go into the PDF file. Product specific EULAs (end user license agreements) should also go there. If you only have one EULA for all items, we suggest you put this in your store policies area, linked from your merchant profile, and also duplicate it in the PDF. Related Items - Related items are commonly variations (such as different colors of the same basic thing) or complementary (under a coat listing, you could have an umbrella as a related item). Click the button and then type an item name or partial name to pull up matches from your Marketplace product listings. You can have up to 8 related items. In the Marketplace, these items appear at the bottom of the detailed listing. Demo Item - Want customers to be able to try before they buy? Demos tend to be clearly limited versions of the real thing you've modified in advance: for example, a skin with a "DEMO" tattoo on it. Click Add demo item to choose one. Demo items themselves can be unlisted. Listing Enhancements - You can promote your item by featuring it on different Marketplace pages. Learn more about listing enhancements here. Revenue Distributions - The revenue distributions feature allows payments to be automatically distributed among multiple Residents. For example, you might share profits with a co-creator of the item; forward a percentage to the owner of the item's brand, if you are a sales affiliate; or send the proceeds to an alt account you use for holding and selling L$. Distributions are based on percentages, not fixed dollar amounts. You control revenue distributions by clicking Add Distribution on the Edit item listing page. Items must be listed at a price of L$10 or higher in order to be available for revenue distributions. Photograph your products Post a picture! Regardless of how compelling your description is, few shoppers are willing to buy a product sight unseen. Taking a snapshot in Second Life and saving it to your local hard drive is free, so there is absolutely no excuse for not uploading a picture with your listing. Here are some tips for how to use photos to greatest advantage: Make images bright enough to display well in a browser. Dark images make the consumer think you have some flaw to hide. When in doubt, brighter is always better. Shoot your product from multiple angles. You can have up to eight pictures per product listing, so take the opportunity to show off different angles and variations. For example, show how a building looks inside, outside, and under different lighting conditions. Show the back of a dress as well as the front. Tip: If you don't have an inworld location to display your creations, it is especially important that you use multiple images to give shoppers a better idea of what your product looks like in 3D. Don't skimp on image dimensions. Images are shown in preview slots, but their full-size versions can be up to 700 x 525 pixels (aspect ratio of 4:3). Avoid JPG overcompression, which adds ugly blurring and artifacts. Feel free to create a beautiful composite image with text and stylized graphics, but always include some accurate raws as well. Don't photoshop or hide flaws in the actual product. Some imperfections, like the visible transition from mesh clothing to sculptie attachments, are inevitable, but airbrushing them out is deceitful to the customer. Don't do it! Adjust your graphics settings to High or Ultra, and let customers know that your product will benefit from being viewed under these settings. Jagged edges can be avoided by enabling antialiasing, as shown in this video: Unless for intended effect (like a glow lamp that looks best at night), choose a fairly neutral WindLightsetting, such as the default midday that represents colors accurately, as shown in this video: Though using a facelight to enhance the ambient appearance of skins and similar products is fine, make sure you tell your customers exactly what is and is not included the product package. Rate mature products appropriately The Marketplace maturity rating system has the same categories as the inworld system: General, Moderate, and Adult. If you sell goods of an adult-rated or moderate-rated nature, make sure that they are clearly marked as such. This helps customers looking for such goods find them while hiding them from those who aren't interested. Now that there are teens on the main grid, rating your products responsibly is even more important. For more information on what these ratings mean, see the Marketplace Fee and Listing Policies. Other advertising strategies Take the time to research and try out the various strategies below to find the ones that work for you. Featured Items Each of your products can appear in the Marketplace Featured Items, which are shown in prominent places around the site. These listing enhancements make a product more visible and allow interested shoppers to click through and — if they like what they see — make a purchase moments later. Learn more about Listing Enhancements for Featured Items. Free stuff Offering free or almost free items is a fantastic way to get your name out there. It not only makes you more visible; it makes people like you! Tip: If you charge L$1 for an item, that item can be purchased as a gift. This is not an option if you charge L$0. Warning: Taking free merchandise created by someone else and trying to sell it for a profit will turn potential buyers against you. Always behave respectfully towards other sellers — your own success depends upon it. Improving your search results We keep our search relevancy formula private to prevent people from gaming the system. However, we can tell you that the formula includes: Average rating Past sales over a chosen time period Sales rank Search term matching The best way to improve your search results is by creating excellent products and marketing them effectively. Learn more about search rankings. Sharing brands Merchants can increase brand visibility and offer more complementary items by sharing a brand. Please note that merchant stores are categorized by merchant name, so a storefront can only be associated with one merchant. Inworld store signs You can create a store sign that sends inworld shoppers to your storefront on the Marketplace website. For the sake of branding consistency, we recommend adapting the same graphics you use on your Marketplace and inworld stores. To create a sign: Create a sign object. For help creating objects, see the Building tips article. Right-click the sign object and choose Edit. In the Build window, click the Content tab. Click the New Script button. Double-click the New Script in Contents to edit it. Completely replace the script's contents with this script: default { touch_start(integer total_number) { // load a dialog with a URL llLoadURL(llDetectedKey(0), "Visit my Marketplace Store", "https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/30"); } } After you've added the script: Customize the highlighted text above to specify your store. The store number is shown in your browser when you login to the Marketplace and choose My Marketplace > My store. Click Save. Close the New Script and Build windows. Click your sign object. A notification should appear with a link to your web store on the Marketplace. This is what your customers will see. Wiki help pages Advertising in Second Life Marketing Your Products In Second Life Business Tools Beyond Second Life Success on the Marketplace begins with a good understanding of Second Life culture and procedures. If you are new to selling, look closely at listings for items you yourself have purchased and take careful note of what appeals to you. Look to more experienced content creators for ideas — but don't plagiarize their copy. Once you have a handle on the basics of the Marketplace, you might turn to external sources of inspiration. Consider the local markets you visit regularly; how do they present their goods? What about newspapers, magazines, or even tabloids — how do they grab your attention and keep you reading? Here are a few specific links to other sellers' guides we've found helpful in crafting the SL Marketplace: eBay's Selling basics Selling on Amazon.com These copywriting and SEO tips generally apply to the Marketplace: "12 SEO Copywriting Tips For Product Pages" from Miva Merchant "SEO tips for product pages" from Econsultancy Residents have suggested these helpful links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing - Wikipedia's entry for Marketing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pricing - Wikipedia's entry for Pricing http://www.knowthis.com/internet.htm - KnowThis.com's Internet Marketing Virtual Library http://www.marcommwise.com/glossaryindex.phtml - Marketing Glossary of Terms Useful reference books: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - By Robert Cialdini, and a classic in the field. Ogilvy on Advertising - By David Ogilvy, one of the copywriting legends.

Finding items to buy Using boolean search operators Determining usage requirements Determining whether an item contains mesh content Adding items to your cart and giving gifts Giving gifts Editing your cart and paying After you buy Items delivered to the Received items folder Viewing your order history Automatic purchase redelivery Unreceived and accidentally discarded items Writing a review Flagging an item on the Marketplace Email notification settings In other languages: Deutsch Español Français Italiano 日本語 Português Finding items to buy The Second Life Marketplace is the place to buy an amazing assortment of virtual items sold by fellow Residents. The Marketplace fee and listing policies govern the types of items for sale, as well as advertising, fees, and other guidelines for using the Marketplace. To start shopping in the Second Life Marketplace: Go to marketplace.secondlife.com. If you're not already logged into secondlife.com, click Sign In in the upper-right. Enter your Second Life name and password, and click Login. You can look for items you wish to purchase in several ways: By using the search box at the top of the page. By browsing the Categories and Communities on the left. By scrolling through the Featured Items. Important: You must be age verified to view Adult content both inworld and on the Marketplace. In addition, you must adjust your maturity preferences to access both Moderate and Adult content. For more information, see Maturity ratings and Age-restricted content. To search for something specific: Enter keywords in the search bar at the top of the page. You can use the boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT to refine your search. As you type, the search bar attempts to automatically complete your entry based on current marketplace listings. If desired, click the All categories dropdown to specify a category. Select your preferred option from the Show maturity levels dropdown. Press the Enter key or click Search. Items matching your search parameters are displayed on the right. Tip: To search for a particular merchant or store, click the Merchants/Stores tab. Once you have located the store, click Search this store to search only within that store. Using boolean search operators Boolean operators are simple words such as AND, OR, and NOT that can be used to either combine or exclude specific words in a search, which can help to achieve more accurate search results. Here is a short guide on how and when to use each available operator: AND - Narrows your search by requiring both words to be included in each search result. For example, a search of "red AND green" returns only results containing both the words "red" and "green". OR - Broadens your search by only requiring one of the words to appear in each result. For example, a search of "boats OR planes" returns results containing: only the word "boats", only the word "planes", or both the words "boats" and "planes" NOT - Narrows your search by excluding results that contain the words after the NOT operator. For example, "summer NOT winter" returns results that contain the word "summer" but does not show any results containing the word "winter". Boolean search operators must always be written in CAPITAL LETTERS in order to be recognized by the Second Life Marketplace search. Determining usage requirements Some purchases may require certain conditions for use. For example, a prefabricated building requires that you own land upon which to place it. Some purchases may also come inside boxes, which require a specific un-boxing procedure as described in Opening boxes. Usage requirements can be found on the right side of all item listings in the Second Life Marketplace: Use It Now: This item will be delivered directly to you or a friend in Second Life, unpacked and ready to use. No land or sandbox required. Unpacking Required: This item requires you to find a place in Second Life (such as a sandbox) to unpack and use it. See Opening boxes for additional information. Land Required: This item requires that you have access to land in Second Life in order to unpack and use it. In addition to these usage requirements, you may also see a message stating, "This item contains wearable items for your avatar," indicating that the product contains one or more attachments or clothing items. Determining whether an item contains mesh content Second Life Viewer 3.0 or higher is required in order to view mesh content. Furthermore, any object that is partially or fully composed of mesh content has a land impact based on prim equivalents, which are determined by calculating the actual impact of the object on computing resources, rather than by simply counting the number of prims in an object. You can determine whether an object on the Marketplace contains Mesh by checking the right side of the listing, underneath Permissions. If the object contains mesh, there is an indicator stating either Mesh: Partial Mesh or Mesh: 100% Mesh. If the object does not contain mesh, this indicator does not appear. Adding items to your cart and giving gifts To add an item to your cart: Click the item you would like to buy to see the item's detailed description. Click Add to Cart or Buy Now. Add to Cart saves your purchase to your cart for later payment and delivery. You can keep shopping for more items. Add to Cart as Gift saves your purchase to your cart as a gift for another Resident. The item must cost L$1 or more for this button to appear. See Giving gifts below for more information about giving gifts. Buy Now takes you directly to the checkout screen but does not affect or purchase the other items already in your cart. Giving gifts If you want to send an item to another Resident as a gift: Follow the steps above to find the right gift. Click on the item and select Add to Cart As Gift. Enter the recipient's Second Life first name and last name and click Find Resident. Important: If the recipient has only a username, not a first name and last name, enter the username. The system will show the name as "username Resident." A gift message window appears. If you would like to include a gift message, enter one here. Click Finished. The gift is now in your cart for later payment and delivery. Editing your cart and paying When you've finished adding the items you want to buy to your cart, click the Cart button in the upper-right. For each item, you can choose to: Remove it from your cart by clicking the Remove From Cart link below the item name. Buy more or fewer of the same item by changing the number in the Qty box and clicking Update quantities. You can also update the quantity of individual items by clicking the update link next to that line item. Change the gift message (if it's a gift). Once your cart is edited to your satisfaction: Click the Check out button. Review your invoice, then click Buy now to purchase the items using your Linden dollar (L$) balance.. Tip: While reviewing your invoice, you may click More payment options to add or select an alternate payment method such as a credit card or PayPal account. Note: When you use PayPal or a credit card to make a Marketplace purchase, your Transaction History shows a debit or credit originating from "Commerce Linden" or "Marketplace Linden." After you buy Items delivered to the Received items folder After purchasing an item, log into Second Life. You will see a Received items section at the bottom of your Inventory window. Click it to expand the Received items pane and see items and folders you have recently received: You may drag received items and folders from the Received items pane to one of your existing inventory folders. If you are using a third-party viewer, the Received items pane appears as an inventory folder named Received items. If your purchase was packaged in a box for delivery, you need to open the box before you can use the item.Learn about opening boxes. If you bought clothing or other items to attach to your avatar, see Avatar attachments to learn how to use them. Viewing your order history You can see what you've purchased in your order history: Log into the Marketplace. Click My Marketplace > My Account. On the left, select Order history. You can also check other account-specific information here. Automatic purchase redelivery If an item you've purchased on the Marketplace permits automatic redelivery, you can request that a new copy of the item be sent to your Received Items folder from your Order History page. Items from an order must be requested for redelivery individually; you cannot redeliver an entire order at once. To request an automatic redelivery of a purchase: Visit your Order History Page Locate the item you wish to have redelivered You can search by Product (item name) or Merchant to locate the item's order Under Description in the Order details, locate the item you wish to redeliver and click Redeliver item Unreceived and accidentally discarded items Has it been more than 24 hours since you ordered? If so, and the item does not permit automatic redelivery or the automatic redelivery is not working, please contact the merchant, explain what happened, and politely request redelivery of the item. If it has been less than 24 hours, please be patient and check again later. Note: If an item purchased on the Marketplace using PayPal or a credit card is not successfully delivered to you, the credit or debit will not appear in your transaction history, and the merchant will have no record of the purchase. Simply try to purchase the item again. If you accidentally discard an item, contact the merchant, explain what happened, and politely request redelivery of the item. Often the merchant will understand and redeliver, especially if the item in question isn't "no-copy." Unfortunately, Marketplace deliveries, unlike items sent manually from another avatar, are completely discarded and can't be retrieved from the Trash. Writing a review To write a review for an item you bought: Open your order history. Click Review Product in the order description for the item. Select the number of stars you want to give to that item, give your review a title, and write your review. Click Post your review. Tips for writing relevant and helpful reviews can be found at Writing Item Reviews on the Marketplace. Flagging an item on the Marketplace If you find merchandise on the Marketplace that you think is in violation of the Marketplace listing policies, please flag it for review by customer support. To flag an item: View the listing. Click Flag this item on the right. In the Reason for Flag dropdown, select your reason for flagging the item. In the Detailed Reason dropdown, select a more detailed reason. Click Flag to flag the item. Email notification settings You can change the types of email notifications you receive from the Second Life Marketplace: Visit http://marketplace.secondlife.com. If you are not already signed in, click Sign in in the top right corner of the page. Click My Marketplace at the top of the page, then select My account from the dropdown menu. Click Email settings on the left side of the My account page. On the Email settings page, under Shopping Notifications, click On or Off next to each type of email notification to set your notification preference. As a shopper on the Second Life Marketplace, you may receive the following types of email notifications: Order confirmation Gift notification Redelivery notification Revenue distribution notification Revenue distribution addition/removal notification

Creating a store Listing items for sale The Marketplace Listings window Version folders Stock folders Creating a new listing Changing versions of a listed item Changing the item associated with a listing Previewing your store Delivering items to the buyer Store managers Third-Party Viewer developer resources In other languages: Deutsch Español Français Italiano Português 日本語 This article explains the basics of how to get started as a merchant on the Second Life Marketplace. Once you are familiar with these steps, check out How to market your products for tips on how to make your business stand out, or learn about Managing your Marketplace store. Creating a store The first step to becoming a merchant is to create your store on the Second Life Marketplace. Your store is where customers can browse and purchase items you have listed for sale. Once a purchase is made, the items are delivered directly to the buyer's inventory in Second Life and the proceeds are added to your Linden dollar (L$) balance. To create your store: Make sure your Second Life account is at least five days old and has payment information on file. On any Marketplace page, click My Marketplace in the upper-right and click Create a Store. Read the Marketplace Terms of Service carefully, check I agree to the Second Life Marketplace Fee and Listing Policies, then scroll down to the bottom and click Continue. (Optional) Customize your store profile to make it more attractive and easier to find. Restart your Second Life Viewer before attempting to upload items to the Marketplace website. Listing items for sale Once you have set up your Marketplace store and restarted the Second Life Viewer, you can begin using the Marketplace Listings window to manage your store's inventory. Make sure you understand Second Life's next owner object permissions before listing your items for sale; these permissions allow you to control how your object may be copied or redistributed after you've sold it. The Marketplace Listings window Video Tutorial: Learning Listing, Version, & Stock Folders The Marketplace Listings window is an extension of your Second Life inventory that allows you to manage all inventory in your Second Life Marketplace store. By dragging and dropping items from your inventory window into the Marketplace Listings window, you can immediately begin setting up new listings, add updated versions of your existing products, and even list or unlist items on the Marketplace Store. You can access the Marketplace Listings window by choosing Me > Marketplace listings from the top menu bar of the Second Life Viewer. Version folders Each Marketplace Listing folder contains one or more version folders that allow you to easily manage updated versions of a product without creating a new listing. Version folders look like normal inventory folders with three lines drawn on them, like this: . Only one version folder may be active at a time for each listing; when a customer buys your product, they receive a copy of the active version folder and its contents. To activate a version folder for a Marketplace Listing, right-click the appropriate version folder and choose Activate. If a listing folder contains only one version folder, it is activated automatically. Currently active version folders are marked by the word "(active)". Note: When you drag objects from your regular inventory to a version folder, they are moved, not copied. This means that they no longer appear in your main inventory and will be lost permanently if deleted from their respective version folder. You may instead copy an item from your inventory to the Marketplace Listings window by right-clicking the item in your inventory and choosing Copy to Marketplace Listings. Stock folders You can use the Marketplace Listings window to sell a limited stock of no-copy items. No-copy items that you drag into the Marketplace Listings window are automatically placed into a stock folder. Stock folders look like normal inventory folders with a grid of squares on them, like this: . Stock folders also show the number of items they contain next to their names. For example, "Example Crate (stock=7)". Each stock folder must be inside a version folder, and represents the sale of a single item in the listing, even though there may be many items inside the stock folder. For example, if your active version folder consists of a copiable notecard and a stock folder containing 25 no-copy objects, each customer will receive a copy of the notecard and one randomly selected object from the stock folder until no items remain in the stock folder. The no-copy items within a stock folder must be of the same inventory type, but may have different names. For example, some identical limited-run items may have serial numbers written into their object names, but they can still be sold from the same stock folder. Note that while it is still possible to sell a limited quantity of copiable items using the appropriate listing field, the quantity of items available from a stock folder is determined by the number of items in the folder and cannot be changed using the Available quantity listing field. When a stock folder runs out of no-copy items, the Marketplace de-lists your listing and sends an email alert reminding you to add more units. Creating a new listing Video Tutorial: Creating a New Listing Follow these steps to create a listing for a new product on the Second Life Marketplace: Open the Marketplace Listings window in the Second Life Viewer by choosing Me > Marketplace listings from the top menu bar. Open your Inventory window by choosing Me > Inventory from the top menu bar. Drag your product from the Inventory window to the section of the Marketplace Listings window labeled Drop folders here to create new listings. It now appears under the Unassociated tab. Under the All or Unassociated tabs, right-click the listing folder containing your product and choose Create listing. The folder is moved to the Unlisted tab and now displays a listing number. Under the All or Unlisted tabs, the single version folder inside the listing folder is automatically made active. Right-click the listing folder or version folder and choose Edit listing to fill out the required listing fields on the Marketplace website. If you try to list your product before filling out the required listing fields, you will receive an error message explaining which fields still require input. Click the Update button to save your listing. On the All or Unlisted tab of the Marketplace Listings window, right-click the listing folder and choose List to list your product on the Second Life Marketplace. You may list or unlist items from the Marketplace website as well. Changing versions of a listed item Video Tutorial: Updating a Listing As you develop updates for your products, you can easily update your Marketplace listings with the new items without deleting the older versions: Open the Marketplace Listings window in the Second Life Viewer by choosing Me > Marketplace listings from the top menu bar. Open your Inventory window by choosing Me > Inventory from the top menu bar. Drag your updated product from your Inventory window to the listing folder for that product in the Marketplace Listings window; this creates a new, inactive version folder containing the updated product. Right-click the new folder and choose Activate to make it the active version folder for that listing. All new sales through the associated Marketplace listing will deliver products from the active version folder. At any time, you can revert your listing to sell a previous version of your product by right-clicking its version folder and choosing Activate. Changing the item associated with a listing Video Tutorial: Migrating Listings & Checking for Errors Under rare circumstances, you may need to completely change the item associated with a Marketplace listing. The most common reason for needing to change the item associated with a listing is accidental deletion of the inventory folder associated with a listing and need to re-associate items with an existing listing. To associate a listing folder with a pre-existing Marketplace listing: In the Second Life Viewer, choose Me> Marketplace listings. Find the listing number in parentheses next to your existing listing. For example, "Example Crate (3757)". Click the Unassociated tab of the Marketplace listings window. Right-click an unassociated item you wish to associate with your listing and choose Associate listing. In the Associate Listing window that appears, enter the listing ID of your existing listing and click OK. The unassociated item now replaces the existing item (if any) in the Marketplace listing. Note that changing the item associated with a listing in this way causes the item to become unlisted because you are replacing the active version folder. You will need to activate a new version folder and re-list the item as described in Creating a new listing. Previewing your store After you have listed at least one item, you can preview your store: On the Marketplace website, go to My Marketplace > My Store. This is how your customers see your store — but it also helps to browse the Marketplace as an alt to really walk in your customers' shoes. Important: To see items in your store that you have listed as Moderate or Adult content, make sure you set Show maturity levels to General, Moderate, Adult when you search! Delivering items to the buyer The Marketplace automatically delivers items for you. Occasionally, the delivery system fails, and a delivery gets lost on its way to the customer. If that happens, you can easily redeliver the item. Blocking unwanted buyers In the event that a Marketplace store owner should wish to avoid doing business with a particular customer, adding the customer to the store owner's inworld block list will prevent the customer from purchasing items from their shop. See Blocking for more information on how to add someone to a block list. Managing problematic reviews While most reviews, even negative ones, offer an opportunity for a merchant to respond to the review to provide context and assistance to their customers, there are times when a customer review becomes a problem. If the review comments appear to be in violation of the Terms and Conditions, Community Standards, or the Marketplace Listing Guidelines, please report the review using the "Flag this review" link that is located directly beneath the review comments on the Product Listing. Store managers A store manager is a Resident you have designated to manage some operations of your store in the Second Life Marketplace. Store managers can perform many of the same actions as the store owner, taking allowing them to take on some of the burden of managing your store. For full details on store managers, see Second Life Marketplace store managers. Third-Party Viewer developer resources There are two API wiki pages targeted at Third-Party Viewer developers. This API documentation is helpful for developers who want to integrate Marketplace features into their Third-Party Viewers, but is not necessary for most Marketplace merchants or their customers: Marketplace API for VMM AIS V3 API

How to sell an object Should you sell Original, Copy, or Contents? How to set permissions on an object Bulk-setting permissions Setting default permissions when uploading Setting bulk permissions in an object's contents Advertising rules and etiquette How to sell an object Follow these steps to put an object up for sale: Right-click the object and choose Edit. Click on the General tab. If you don't see it, click More. Select the For Sale checkbox. In the dropdown menu next to the For Sale checkbox, select how you want to sell the object. • Original: Sell that exact object. When a Resident buys the object, it will stay right where it is and change owners. • Copy: Sell a copy of the object. The object will remain where it is, and the purchaser will receive a copy of the object. • Contents: Sell the objects, clothing, etc. in the Contents folder of the object. The purchaser will receive a folder (with the same name as the object) containing a copy of the object's contents (or the contents themselves if they are no-copy). Enter the price of the item in the the Price: L$box just below the For Sale dropdown menu. If you want the item to be searchable on the Second Life Marketplace, select the Show in search checkbox. Read more about selling in the Marketplace. Tip: The best way to sell clothing, animations, or multiple related items is to place them in an object and sell its contents. This works beautifully for complete outfits and costumes! Should you sell Original, Copy, or Contents? Should you sell your inworld Second Life creations as Original, Copy, or Contents? That depends on how the object is presented and what you intend to do with it. See Object sale types for full details. How to set permissions on an object Permissions on an object determine what other people can do with it. To set permissions: If the the object is inworld (rezzed), right-click it and choose Edit, then navigate to the General tab. If the object is in your inventory, right-click it and choose Properties. The entries you want to change are listed under Next owner: Modify: Permits the next owner to modify your creation. Copy: Permits the next owner to copy your creation, retaining a copy in inventory when the object is dragged inworld. Transfer: Permits the next owner to give your creation to someone else. If the object also permits copying, the copies can be sold. If the object does not permit copying, only the original object can be sold. Unchecking this means the next owner cannot give the object to anyone else. Important: Permission settings set while an object is in your inventory are not cross-checked with Contents until rezzed. When transferring an item to another Resident, be sure to rez and retake it first to ensure that its permissions are set correctly. You cannot regain permissions for an object you have given to someone else. Linden Lab is unable to reset permissions on an object. If permissions allow, it is a good idea to create a backup copy of an object before you give it to someone else. This way, you always have a copy of the "most permissive" version of the object! Important: Default permissions are no modify and no copy! Always check permissions before giving objects to others. Bulk-setting permissions The Second Life Viewer includes some features for bulk-setting permissions. That means you can apply permissions across multiple items instead of one at a time. Setting default permissions when uploading To bulk-set permissions when you're uploading images (textures), sounds, or animations: Go to Build > Options > Set Default Permissions. A window appears allowing you to specify Next owner permissions. Choose to allow others to Modify and/or Copy and/or Resell/Give away the objects. (Note that your default permissions also apply to single uploaded items.) Select Build > Upload > Bulk (L$10 per file). Select multiple files by holding down the Shift or Ctrl key, then confirm upload. After the uploads are complete, open your inventory. You can right-click each item and choose Properties to verify permissions have been set correctly. Setting bulk permissions in an object's contents Bulk-setting permissions for items in an object's contents allows you to set permissions by item type (body parts, clothing, etcetera): Right-click an object with contents you want to change and select Edit. Click the Content tab. Click Permissions button. Check or uncheck content (item) types whose permissions you want to change. Under Next owner, choose to enable or disable Modify, Copy and Transfer permissions. When you're satisfied with your settings, click OK. Tip: If you forget to apply permissions when uploading, rez a cube and drag the item(s) from inventory into the cube's contents, where you can set permissions as desired. Advertising rules and etiquette Advertisers must always take care to respect the rights and privacy of other Residents. Here are a few guidelines. Adhere to the Community Standards. Adhere to the Second Life Terms and Conditions. If you violate any of these rules, your account may be suspended or terminated. Post in the appropriate channels. You might try posting in the designated Classifieds section for a small fee. Many Resident-run forums and publications also welcome advertisers, but make sure to read their advertising rules and policies before you start posting. Keep it legal. You are legally responsible for your own actions in Second Life, for example, the rules for ad farms and network advertisers. Also, Linden Lab will remove without refund any classified ads, event listings, or land descriptions that advertise gambling. Read Selling in the Marketplace to learn more.

What is a store manager? What can a store manager do? What can a store manager not do? Adding a manager to your store Removing a manager from your store Changing a manager's additional permissions Monitoring store managers' actions Audit logs Email alerts Viewing stores that you manage What is a store manager? A store manager is a Resident you have designated to manage some operations of your store in the Second Life Marketplace. What can a store manager do? Store managers can perform many of the same actions as the store owner, including: Edit the store's details Edit product details List unlisted items View store and product details At the store owner's discretion, managers may also: Redeliver orders Change product prices Unlist products Add or remove revenue distributions Add or remove listing enhancements. What can a store manager not do? Store managers may not: Archive products Add or remove other managers Perform management actions for which they have not been given permission If a store manager does not have permission to change prices, unlist an item, or change automatic redelivery, those fields appear as inactive in the edit and bulk edit pages. Similarly, the associated controls do not appear for store managers that do not have permission to unlist items, add/remove revenue distributions, or add/remove listing enhancements. Adding a manager to your store You may add up to five managers to your Second Life Marketplace store. You must be friends in order to add someone as a store manager. To add a manager to your Marketplace store: Visit the Second Life Marketplace while logged into the Second Life website. Choose My Marketplace > Merchant home from the top menu bar. On the left side of the page, under Store setup, click Edit store information. On the Edit store information page, under Store Managers, click Add Manager. In the Manager field, enter the username of the Resident you would like to make a store manager. (You must use the Resident's full username and not their display name. See Usernames and display names for information about the differences between user names and display names.) You must be friends with the Resident. (Optional) Check boxes next to any additional permissions you would like your store manager to have: Product redelivery - The manager can redeliver orders, as well as change the automatic redelivery option on copy-enabled products. Changing product prices - The manager can change the price of a product. Unlisting products - The manager can unlist products. (All managers can list products.) Adding/removing revenue distributions - The manager can add and remove revenue distributions. Adding/removing listing enhancements - The manager can add, remove, and modify listing enhancements. Click Add to add the store manager to your Second Life Marketplace store. Enter the manager's full Second Life name, then choose additional permissions before clicking Add to add them as a store manager. Removing a manager from your store Visit the Second Life Marketplace while logged into the Second Life website. Choose My Marketplace > Merchant home from the top menu bar. On the left side of the page, under Store setup, click Edit store information. On the Edit store information page, under Store Managers, find the name of the manager you would like to remove and click the Delete button next to their name. The store manager is removed immediately. To remove a store manager, click the Delete button next to their name. Changing a manager's additional permissions In order to change a manager's additional permissions, you must remove the manager and then add them again with the updated permissions. Monitoring store managers' actions You can keep track of your store managers' actions in the following ways: Audit logs Your store's audit logs provide a history of actions taken by your store managers. For each action, you can determine: What action was taken Which manager took the action What product the action affected (if applicable), and At what time the action took place Note: When you add or remove a manager, the action is logged with you as the manager. Your actions are not otherwise shown in the audit logs. To view your store's audit logs: Choose My Marketplace > Merchant home from the top menu bar. In the left column, under Inventory, click View audit logs. The audit logs can be sorted by column by clicking the column headers. Each page of audit logs displays up to 50 entries. From your Merchant home, click View audit logs to view store managers' activity. Email alerts You can choose to receive email alerts when a store manager performs one of the following actions: Changes a listing's price Adds or removes revenue distribution Adds or removes listing enhancements To enable email alerts: Choose My Marketplace > My account from the top menu bar. In the left column, click Email settings. Under Merchant Notifications, set Store manager action alert email to On. Click Save Email Settings. On the Email settings page, you can choose whether to receive email notifications for various store manager actions. Viewing stores that you manage If you are a store manager for one or more stores, you can view the stores you manage by choosing My Marketplace > Manager home from the top menu bar. This link only appears if you have been designated as a manager of at least one store in the Second Life Marketplace.

Submitting an item review How to create a new review Editing or removing a review Policies and guidelines Writing a good item review Tips You can write a review for an item you have purchased for yourself on the Marketplace. You can also write a review for an item someone else purchased for you as a gift. (The item needs to have been sent as a gift through the Marketplace at the time of purchase, not given to you inworld.) Submitting an item review How to create a new review To write a review for an item you bought: Open your order history. Click Review Product in the order description for the item. Select the number of stars you want to give to that item, give your review a title, and write your review. Click Post your review. Editing or removing a review The person who left the review can change, update, or remove his or her own review at any time. Sellers cannot remove reviews posted about their items. However, if the item listing is deactivated, the review(s) for that item will not be visible. Anyone can flag a review if it violates the TOS or Listing Guidelines. Marketplace support staff will investigate and take necessary action. See Flagging an Item on the Marketplace for specific instructions. Policies and guidelines The review should be about the item in the product listing, or about support regarding that item. Reviews should not use profanity. Reviews must not violate the Second Life Terms of Service or Marketplace Listing Guidelines in any way. This includes, but is not limited to, the following: Reviews should be appropriate to the maturity rating of the listed item. Reviews should not be left by the seller of that item, whether with the selling account or an alt account. Reviews should not be written for pay, or for other rewards or compensation unless both positive and negative reviews are rewarded. Note: Reviews are not searchable, so inclusion of keywords will not help the item's search ranking. Writing a good item review The purpose of reviews is twofold: first, to inform other buyers or potential buyers about the merits, drawbacks, and uses of the item; and second, to provide feedback on the seller's customer service. Important: For specific concerns and queries about an item you've purchased, you should contact the seller directly instead of posting a review. Tips Be specific. Don't just say "It was great! I liked it." Tell what features of the item you liked best, and why. Include outstanding or unusual aspects. What about the item is special? Why should someone purchase it rather than another similar product? If you had a problem with the item, explain what went wrong. Was it too prim-heavy for your mainland parcel? Did you want to adjust the size, but end up breaking off a piece instead? Buyers with similar situations will appreciate knowing what worked and didn't work for you. If you do have problems, contact the seller first. Give them the opportunity to help you before you post a negative review about the product. And if the issue is resolved, remember to update your review! Warning: If your item is not delivered to you, don't leave a negative item review. Failed deliveries are a technical issue and not within the control of the seller. Instead, contact the seller directly, or contact Support to have the item redelivered.

What types of keywords should I use on my listing? Am I allowed to use keywords for other items in my store? Am I allowed to use profanity in my keywords? I tried to activate my listing but I am being told that there is banned text, what do I do? I found the word that is causing the banned text message but I do not think it should be a banned word. The Second Life Marketplace allows you to define a set of keywords for each of your listings in order to help customers find your products. These keywords are subject to all rules regarding maturity ratings and the Second Life terms of service; keywords that violate these rules may result in your item's removal from the Marketplace. Here are some common questions regarding keywords on the Second Life Marketplace: What types of keywords should I use on my listing? Keywords should be appropriate to the item being sold in the listing. Am I allowed to use keywords for other items in my store? No. Keywords should be about the item being sold in that listing only. Am I allowed to use profanity in my keywords? Yes, but your listing must be set to the Adult Maturity Rating when using any profanity in the listing. This includes the listing title, the name of the product as shown in the Content Tab, description, keywords, images, and in the name of your store. I tried to activate my listing but I am being told that there is banned text, what do I do? Some text is banned because it is not permitted in Second Life. If you have this banned text in your listing, your listing may be prevented from being activated on the Marketplace. Ensure that you are not using text or words that are not permitted, including but not limited to, any references to age-play, gambling, or brand names. I found the word that is causing the banned text message but I do not think it should be a banned word. Please submit a Support Case so that the issue can be escalated and investigated.

Overview Search policies General guidelines Appeal to humans, not search engines Be specific and descriptive Create a brand Maturity ratings matter Stay current Technical guidelines Check Show in Search Some tips Frequently asked questions about search rankings Relevance and rank: what are they? Why does my store’s ranking change when maturity levels are checked and unchecked? Why did my listing move in the search results? If I have zero traffic, do I drop from search results? How do I boost my ranking in search results? What is traffic and what role does it play in search rankings? How does size affect search rankings? How else is ranking determined? Are inworld business owners subject to a periodic re-shuffling of search criteria? Do classifieds that have paid more for inclusion always appear at the top of results? Learn more Overview Our Search tool strives to make it easy for Residents to discover the incredible array of content, experiences, and people in Second Life by providing the most relevant search results. The guidelines below will help you create listings that effectively connect your products and events with the people looking for them, thereby optimizing your search rank. For information on other aspects of Search, see the Search FAQ. Search policies Any attempt to inflate your rank artificially in search results, including the inappropriate use of traffic bots or Picks, could result in penalties to your rank, de-listing from search, and disciplinary action against your Second Life account. Your rank may also be penalized due to keyword stuffing or false representation (for example, saying that your store sells skins when it only sells furniture). Warning: Failure to follow the Maturity ratings and search guidelines may cause your listing to be excluded from some or all searches. General guidelines Appeal to humans, not search engines Help people understand what you offer by providing useful, clear, and accurate descriptions that communicate what’s valuable and unique about your place, group, or event. Know your target audience and speak to their interests as specifically as possible. This helps you stand out from the crowd and helps new Residents become long-term members of our community and economy. Be specific and descriptive Avoid filling descriptions with nothing but a list of keywords. Use phrases and sentences that are human-readable. The search engine will return results for words that are based on the linguistic root of words in your description. This means that if you sell tango dance animations, your description does not need to include every version of the word dance (dances, dancing, and so on). Searches on the word dancing will include your listing in the results. Note that a large portion of searches include more than one keyword (in fact, many searches are for phrases). Including relevant common phrases in your listing will increase its visibility. For example, if you sell Jazz-age clothing and accessories, say so. If your location also looks like a speakeasy and hosts events, let people know. Create a brand Top merchants and events in Second Life are successful in part because they have created a unique feel around their product that helps people identify what’s especially valuable or appealing about their offering. Communicate the vibe of your store or group through its name, imagery, and targeted descriptions. For more info on advertising opportunities, check out How to market your products and see the Classifieds FAQ. Visit the Business and Marketing wiki portal for more tips on starting a Second Life business or bringing your business into Second Life. Maturity ratings matter Be sure to mark your listing with the maturity rating appropriate to the content and location. Listings that are not marked appropriately will miss their target audience and may be blocked from search results. See Maturity ratings for more info. Note that all searches on secondlife.com return only General results. Stay current Second Life is a changing world, and Resident search behavior changes too. Based on our monitoring of user behavior and satisfaction, we continually update our relevance and rank algorithms to serve the broadest user base possible. New releases to Search will be announced in advance, whenever possible, on the Second Life Blog Technology channel. As user behavior changes, so too should listing strategies change — ask your customers what drew them to your listing, and learn from others you admire. Technical guidelines Check Show in Search Click the Show in Search check box to include your listing in the search index. This option is available on places, profiles, groups, and objects. If it is not checked, search results will not return these items. Events are automatically included in the search index. Note that items in the Search index are also available to be viewed on the web and may be indexed by web search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo! Note: None of your personal information is available on the web unless you write that information in your listing descriptions. Some tips Spelling and grammar matter. Avoid using non-traditional spellings. Also, be sure you've got the correct spelling. Avoid over-use of capital letters or symbol characters. Internationalize. Second Life is an international community in which many languages are spoken. If you are targeting non-English speakers, be sure to use their language in your listing name and descriptions. Indexing. Updates are usually available within 6 hours. Parcels. Take care when changing parcel boundaries. A variety of parcel data is used in calculating search rank, and changing the boundaries of your land parcel can cause that data to be reset or lost. When joining two parcels, the larger parcel keeps much of the parcel data. Frequently asked questions about search rankings Relevance and rank: what are they? Linden Lab monitors and fine-tunes a wide variety of Second Life-specific data signals to weigh the relevance of listings for each search request. We first determine if a listing is relevant to a particular search query; we then determine the importance of that listing relative to other relevant results. Searchers can refine their results with filters or sorting features. To create the best search tool for everyone, we are constantly improving the relevance and rank algorithms. Following the guidelines, policies, and tips in this document will help you create effective listings that reach your target audience. Why did my listing move in the search results? Search leverages advanced statistical regression of many different measures to determine the statistical significance of user behavior. Put more simply, search changes over time as people use Second Life and we gather information about what they are doing. How do I boost my ranking in search results? Read the guidelines above. These guidelines are the best resource for improving your visibility in search. What is traffic and what role does it play in search rankings? Traffic is a numerical metric calculated for every parcel of land inworld. This score can be summarized as the cumulative minutes spent on the parcel by all visitors to the parcel within the previous day. (The value shown in About Land is based on data gathered from midnight to 11:59 PM, Pacific Time.) It is calculated by taking the total seconds spent on the parcel, dividing by 60, and rounding to the nearest whole minute. For example, if your parcel has a cumulative seconds total of 121s over the course of a day, the traffic score is 2. Traffic has a mild influence on the relevance of search results. It's one of many factors included in the search logic. To see the traffic score for a parcel, right-click on the ground in the parcel and choose About Land; or choose World > Place Profile > About Land. The General tab shows the traffic score for each parcel. If I have zero traffic, do I drop from search results? No. This rumor is not true. The amount of traffic (that is, the number of avatars on your parcel over time) has a small effect on search ranking, but it will not cause you to drop from search results altogether. How does size affect search rankings? Search treats very small parcels, especially parcels that are smaller than the 128 meter size restriction allows, as less important. For more information about land parcels in search, see Search FAQ. How else is ranking determined? In addition to traffic, size, and many more ranking mechanisms, we also apply a small negative boost related to how spammy a listing seems to be. We determine this using software that evaluates content and gives it a rating. This spam ranking is viewable on the source code of your world page listing, and there are several inworld merchants with free objects that tell you if your parcel has been flagged for spam. Adjusting the title and description text associated with your parcel affects your spam rating, and that new rating is picked up in the next update. Are inworld business owners subject to a periodic re-shuffling of search criteria? Search is a very important tool for users and business owners, and we constantly strive to improve that tool to meet all our Residents' needs. We release periodic updates, new features, and bug fixes that may affect the performance of particular listings in the search results. Whenever possible, we communicate about these releases in advance on the Second Life blog. Do classifieds that have paid more for inclusion always appear at the top of results? Ads shown in both the Classifieds tab and on the right of all search results pages are ranked by a combination of keyword relevance and price paid. Learn more Read the Search FAQ. Investigate advertising opportunities at Classifieds FAQ. Starting a Second Life business? Read Business and Marketing.

If the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don't be tricked by an "invisible prim." Avoid "Get rich quick" and debit permission scams. What do I do if I am unhappy with a purchase or transaction with another Resident? Shopping is one of the most popular activities in the Second Life® world. Many Residents use Linden dollars (L$) to purchase property, to furnish their own homes or even to enhance the look of their avatars with the latest fashions! Most retailers in the Second Life world offer legitimate items for sale, but buyers should beware of some sneaky shopping scams. Linden Lab does not generally get involved in private deals between Residents, so use caution when making purchases. Below are some things to consider before shelling out your precious Linden dollars. If the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If someone is offering to sell virtual land or items at a price that is significantly lower than the norm, investigate carefully before making your purchase. While there are bargains to be had in Second Life, some deals are literally too good to be true. Your payment could be taken without the items being delivered. When you attempt to pay for an item, you should see a confirmation screen that verifies the identity of the vendor and the object you are about to purchase. When in doubt, right-click on an object to see the listed creator of the item. In many cases, the creator's name will match the retail store or designer name. Most retail locations do not have live staff present to help with your transaction. Be careful if someone asks you to pay them directly for the purchase of an item in the store. If you wish to do a land transaction with another Resident, you should do it through the About Land window, which appears when you right-click on the land in the Second Life viewer. You can also buy land directly from Linden Lab through the official Land Portal or Auctions. Don't be tricked by an "invisible prim." Before you pay Linden dollars to a merchant, make sure you are clicking on the item you intend to pay for. Beware of clever con artists who place an "invisible prim," which is a transparent object, over the legitimate item for sale. This may sound complex, but what it means is that your intended Linden dollar payment is intercepted by someone else! You don't get your item and the seller does not get paid! So before you click "Buy," double-check that the object name in your pop-up confirmation box matches the item that you want to buy. Also, if you're offered "Fastpay!" messages that invite you to speed up your transaction, double-check that payment is going to the avatar you intend. Tip: You can see "invisible prims" by selecting View > Highlight Transparent from the menus at the top of the Second Life window (you can also hit Ctrl-Alt-T on your keyboard). This will force into view any "invisible" objects. You can also hover your mouse over the item you want to purchase to see a pop-up "tool tip" that identifies the object's name and owner. Avoid "get rich quick" and debit permission scams. Beware of offers to "get rich quick," particularly schemes that offer to pay initial investors substantial income with money from new recruits. You may be presented with an offer to participate in what looks like a "pyramid" or "Ponzi" scheme. "Pyramid" and "Ponzi" schemes are illegal in many countries, and most people involved never recoup their initial investment. Be skeptical of offers to participate in so-called "investment" schemes that promise suspiciously high rates of return. Use your common sense: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Also, be careful with items that ask you for "debit permission" or permission to take funds from your account. If you do say "yes" to debit permission, your Linden dollar account could be depleted. To protect yourself from "debit permission" scams: Never click the Yes in dialog boxes that appear in the corners of your screen without carefully reading what they're asking for. Never give debit permissions to a device that was not created by you or someone you trust. Be suspicious of items that are sent to you unexpectedly by people you do not know. If you inadvertently grant debit permissions when accepting an item, immediately delete the item and empty it from your trash. What do I do if I am unhappy with a purchase or transaction with another Resident? We recommend that you directly contact the other Resident to try to resolve your issue. We suggest this approach for any complaints, including rental agreements, that you have about inworld transactions with another Resident. In our experience, most vendors are willing to cooperate to resolve complaints. Warning: Linden Lab cannot verify, enforce, certify, examine, uphold, or adjudicate any oath, contract, deal, bargain, or agreement made between Second Life Residents.

Original, Copy, or Contents Original Copy Contents Original, Copy, or Contents Should you sell your inworld Second Life creations as Original, Copy, or Contents? That depends on how the object is presented and what you intend to do, as this video shows: Tip: There are more advanced ways of selling objects, such as the web-based Marketplace and scripted vendors which can help you track sales, run multiple locations, automate product updates, and more. This article provides a basic overview of the pros and cons of each. Throughout all of this, walk in your customers' shoes and try the start-to-finish buying experience for yourself so you understand firsthand. Original With this option, you sell the actual inworld object "as is." If someone buys it, they're informed they now own the object as they see it inworld. If they want to take it with them, they must take it into their inventory. Otherwise, it stays inworld and could be returned or lost. Pros Selling originals is useful for: Creating "exclusive" or "limited-edition" works of art with a limited number of copies, creating artificial scarcity that some find attractive. For example, you place five vases on a shelf, and as each one is bought, the buyer takes it off the shelf. Yard sales involving no-copy but transferable objects, where you're not the original creator and it's usually preferable to show objects in 3D instead of a packaged picture; or if you have lost or discarded the original packaging. If you've built a structure on someone else's land and want to sell it to them, in-place, without them having to re-rez it. Cons The new owner has to buy each object, and there's no current way to set objects for sale like there is land. However, if you're selling one of your land parcels, there's an option to also "Sell the objects with the land." Copy With this option, you sell a copy of the object you bought. The original stays inworld, while the copy appears in your inventory. Pros If the object is meant to be used as-is, you can rez it inworld. For example, you see a pretty tree inworld and you buy that. An advantage to having the boxed copy is a backup that's more resilient to being messed up, unlike a folder that can have its contents jumbled. A creative way of dealing with that when selling Contents is to also recursively include a boxed object inside the contents. Then, you both (1) remove the need to rez a box inworld and (2) provide a backup. Cons If the object came in a box, you need to not only unrez it, but unpack it, also known as "opening a box" (because the container object is treated as such). For creators, there's a click action you can use so customers can left-click to open a box (simpler than right-clicking and using the context menu). In many cases, you're better off selling Contents rather than Copy, because it reduces the potentially frustrating intermediary steps of opening the box. It can be hard to find somewhere to rez, not to mention the incremental time spent. An exception to this is if you consider packaging an important part of the experience, like if your boxes look really beautiful. Contents With this option, you sell what's inside the container object you bought. It appears in the recipient's inventory in a folder titled with the object's name. The contents are what you see when you right-click an object, choose Edit, and click the Content tab. Selling contents is often the best choice for selling what's inside wall display container objects that show a representation of what's inside instead of the actual object, unless you're confident there's an advantage otherwise. For example, a loveseat you can "try before you buy" can be sold as a Copy, but a box containing several loveseats in different colors should be sold as Contents. In a container object's contents, in addition to the actual product, you can include supplementary items. For example, notecards with "read me" info and other documentation, and a landmark back to your store so the buyer can find you again easily.

How to browse and search classifieds How to place a classified ad Confirming your classified ad How to view and edit your classified ad Viewing classified ad statistics How to find out what a classified ad cost The in-Viewer classifieds system allows content creators to advertise products and services to fellow Residents. You can gain additional exposure and sales by advertising effectively. How to browse and search classifieds To search and browse classified ads, either click in the Second Life Viewer toolbar or go to the Second Life Search website. Then follow these steps: In the search field, enter terms describing what you are looking for, such as jewelry or skins and click Search. A list of items matching your search terms appears. Click on any classified to learn more. Click Teleport to go to the location the classified is advertising (commonly a store), or click Map to show where it is on the World Map. To search only classified ads: In the Second Life Search window, click the dropdown next to the search input box and change it to Classifieds. In the search box, enter a query and press Enter (or the Search button). This searches only classifieds. To browse classifieds by category, such as Employment or Property rental,select the desired category from the dropdown menu at the left of the Search window. To browse the classifieds, select All Categories from the Category dropdown. Tip: To get the most targeted results, enter search terms in the Search field and refine your search by selecting a specific category from the Classifieds Category dropdown. How to place a classified ad Classified ads are sorted by price or by relevance, depending on where they are displayed in search. The highest-paid classifieds appear on top when searching in Everything, and the most relevant classifieds appear at the top when searching in the Classifieds section. To create a classified: Position your avatar in the location where you want the link in the ad to teleport people to. For example, at the entrance of your store. Choose Me > Profile Select the Classifieds tab At the top, click the New... button. The Edit Classified window opens. Fill out the fields as described below. You can edit everything about your classified, except the price, at any time. When you've filled out the fields as desired, click Publish. The Publishing Classified window opens. Enter the price you want to pay in Linden Dollars (L$). Higher prices are ranked higher in search (but the price paid for each classified isn't publicly shown). If you checked Auto renew each week, this is also the price you're charged each week for your classified, so make sure you have enough in your total L$ balance. Click Publish to publish your classified ad. The sidebar refreshes with a notification of what you paid, and shows your new classified under the Classifieds section of your profile. Important: To change the price of a classified ad, you must create a new classified and copy information from the original ad into the new one. Then, let the old classified expire by itself, or if you're sure, delete it manually. If you delete a classified early, you won't receive a refund for any remaining time left on your classified listing. If you want to stop paying for a recurring classified, make sure the Auto renew each week checkbox is unchecked. Classified ad fields: Picture - By default this will have a picture of the parcel where your avatar is standing (from World > About Land). To change it, click the picture, choose a texture (image) from your inventory, and click OK. You can upload a new picture from your hard drive by using Build menu > Upload > Image (L$10). Title: By default, the parcel's name. If you are advertising a specific product rather than a location, you can change the title text appropriately. Description: By default, the parcel's description. You can change the text in the field if you wish. The maximum length is 256 characters. Unless you're paying very highly in a broad category like "hair" or "shoes", it is generally more useful to use keywords specific your product niche. Use relevant keywords, but don't spamdex or your listing may be removed. Keywords are "stemmed", meaning that you don't have to enter every variation. For example, a search for "dance" also searches for "dances", "danced", and "dancing". Entering a hyperlink automatically makes it clickable. Location: This shows the exact coordinates at which your avatar is positioned. You can always change this by moving your avatar somewhere else and clicking Set to Current Location. Category Select a specific category. By default, the Classifieds tab in Search window shows all categories, but you can use a dropdown to narrow it down to one of the selections shown here. Content type: Classified ad content is filtered by maturity, which includes keywords consistent with search in general. Choose an appropriate maturity rating, or your classified might be removed without warning. By default, the maturity rating will be Moderate or General, depending on the rating of the region in which you create the classified. Note: If you're in an Adult region, there is no option for an Adult maturity classified at this time, only General or Moderate. Auto renew each week - Check this box if you want this classified to run automatically and continuously without your intervention. Each week you'll be charged the price you choose for your classified after you Publish it. Confirming your classified ad Follow the instructions in How to browse and search classifieds to find your classified the same way potential customers will: by searching for keywords. If you can't find it at first, try using keywords that are more unique to your listing. Tip: Allow at least an hour for a classified to appear and update in search. How to view and edit your classified ad After placing a classified ad, you can edit everything except the Price for listing. Follow these steps: Select Me > Profile and click the Classifieds tab. Click a classified, then click Info at the bottom. Notice that Clicks stats are also shown. If you want to edit, click Edit at the bottom. You can edit all of the details you entered when you first placed the classified. When you're done editing, click Save at the bottom. Viewing classified ad statistics Use classified ad statistics ("stats") to see how much attention an ad is getting. To see your stats, view one of your own classifieds as described above. You'll see Clicks: with stats next to it: Teleport - Number of times people have clicked the Teleport button when viewing your classified shown in both the Search window and the extended Classified Info. Map - Number of times people have clicked the Map button when viewing your classified, shown in the extended Classified Info. Profile - Number of times people have clicked the Profile button in Find to show your classified ad. Only you, as the classified creator, can see these. How to find out how much a classified ad cost As an advertiser, you may want to find out how much competitors are paying for their classified ads. To do so: Search for classifieds as described above Click a classified ad to expand it, Click the More Info button to view the full add. The Price for listing field shows the price paid for the advertisement.