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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.
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.
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$1 or more for this button to appear. See Giving gifts below for more information about giving gifts.
Buy Now takes you directly to the checkout screen but does not affect or purchase the other items already in your cart.
Giving gifts
If you want to send an item to another Resident as a gift:
- Follow the steps above to find the right gift.
- Click on the item and select Add to Cart As Gift.
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Enter the recipient's Second Life first name and last name and click Find Resident.
Important: If the recipient has only a username, not a first name and last name, enter the username. The system will show the name as "username Resident."
- A gift message window appears.
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If you would like to include a gift message, enter one here.
- Click Finished. The gift is now in your cart for later payment and delivery.
Editing your cart and paying
When you've finished adding the items you want to buy to your cart, click the Cart button in the upper-right.
For each item, you can choose to:
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- Remove it from your cart by clicking the Remove From Cart link below the item name.
- Buy more or fewer of the same item by changing the number in the Qty box and clicking Update quantities. You can also update the quantity of individual items by clicking the update link next to that line item.
- Change the gift message (if it's a gift).
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Once your cart is edited to your satisfaction:
- Click the Check out button.
- Review your invoice, then click Buy now to purchase the items using your Linden dollar (L$) balance..
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.
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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
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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.
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.
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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.
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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