[So LL will be sending 1099s, beginning with 2018]

On the OP - this is not new - LL have been classed as a TPSO (Third Party Settlement Organization) for some time now, and have issued 1099Ks as a result.   However the thing that is not settled for me is are L$ a virtual currency or a game token.  If the former, the recent IRS guidance does count. If the later, does it?   I know a lot of merchants have used the token method for tax purposes so pay taxes on the point they convert into USD as that's now income.     However, if virtual currency the treatment from the IRS was refocused (due to Bitcoin etc) which makes it a much broader reporting need.

 In November 2018 the IRS published more guidance some bits from that below around virtual currencies:

(1) Virtual currency you are holding is treated as "property" by the IRS .

(2) Virtual currency is not treated as currency that could generate foreign currency gain or loss for U.S. federal tax purposes.

(3) A taxpayer who receives virtual currency as payment for goods or services must, in computing gross income, include the fair market value of the virtual currency,  
measured in U.S. dollars, as of the date that the virtual currency was received.
(See Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, for more information on miscellaneous income from exchanges involving property or services.).
So this seems to apply in your example of selling a sim.

But to then confuse us some more:

(4) For U.S. tax purposes, transactions using virtual currency must be reported in U.S. dollars. Therefore, taxpayers will be required to determine the fair market value of virtual currency in U.S. dollars as of the date of payment or receipt. If a virtual currency is listed on an exchange and the exchange rate is established by market supply and demand, the fair market value of the virtual currency is determined by converting the virtual currency into U.S. dollars (or into another real currency which in turn can be converted into U.S. dollars) at the exchange rate, in a reasonable manner that is consistently applied. (It doesn't state you have to sell the L$ to realize the fair market value, just simply determine it).

Also I noted in recent advice (again assuming L$ is a virtual currency and not a token), if you pay somebody in L$ e.g. you have a contractor, blogger manager etc - they are also required to report that L$ income using the same rules above (and far wider rules ofc) and if you pay them over $600 USD in the year if you are treating them as an independent contractor there is more reporting for you to do.  It gets even more tricky if they are a NON US person as there are withholding requirements to navigate.

With wider points: let's say you sold that sim for over USD 600 equivalent so for the purchaser and seller:

(5)  Payment made using virtual currency is subject to information reporting to the same extent as any other payment made in property. For example, a person who in the course of a trade or business makes a payment of fixed and determinable income using virtual currency with a value of $600 or more to a U.S. non-exempt recipient in a taxable year is required to report the payment to the IRS and to the payee. Examples of payments of fixed and determinable income include rent, salaries, wages, premiums, annuities, and compensation.

 Question is how would you know where your sim purchaser lived, or if you are the purchaser yourself where the seller lived (this would fall on LL I guess who facilitate sim transfers and still technically own the sim - who knows haven't read the TOS in a while?).

The million dollar question for me.  Is L$ really a virtual currency or a game token.....   🙄

Does LL being a TPSO point to virtual currency or just because they facilitate the exchange and cash out to USD is that why they are classed as one - needs a professional to figure that out.

LL's TOS points to a game token. 3.1.    "Linden Dollars" are virtual tokens that we license. Each Linden Dollar is a virtual token representing contractual permission from Linden Lab to access features of Second Life. Linden Dollars are available for Purchase or distribution at Linden Lab's discretion, and are not redeemable for monetary value from Linden Lab."  and further in "You acknowledge that Linden Dollars are not currency or any type of currency substitute or financial instrument, and are not redeemable for any sum of money from Linden Lab at any time."

I spoke to two CPAs and both differed on opinion!  So it's tough for any merchant really to get this right I suspect unless LL come out and clarify their TPSO status rationale and whether the L$ is a virtual currency or a token. Also we do need to clarify if a token falls under the IRS definition of Virtual Currency (both CPAS differed on this one thought yes, one thought no) which is in opposite to LL TOS technically but linked still to the TPSO part and the fact whilst LL won't buy them other residents do so they have "value".

 

 

 

 

 

[Taking down existing home/garden, remodel, how often do you do it?]

On 11/2/2018 at 6:01 AM, Marianne Little said:

I was just walking through Redgrave Homes. Been there before. Even picked up footprints. I like them, but why don't I love them?

Maybe the Luton Manor, but that has a "summer" feeling. Or the Lakeview. It's the tight entry there that's not just what I want... and the floors aren't all that.

And the Roost houses. I have the Palm View up, and the Lake Side or New Port would work so well for the winter season. But the mesh... I can see they are from 2013/2014 and it's much more refined doors and windows in the new builds.

And the Onsu Cucumber house, it's the one I love the first floor but not the second floor.

The last house I bought was the Magick from Scarlet creative and I have the prims for it. It's the house where I love the kitchen area, but not the rest.

I don't complain! I bought so many things in SL on a impulse. It's not the creators fault. I just can't find something that inspire me.

I think what you are looking for a lot of other people are too.  The trouble is we don’t always know what that is.   If you ever want to sketch a layout that would be your dream home and have a Pinterest of images you love, I would be happy to take a look.

[Marketplace November Updates]

Love the Gacha one!  

[Is this, "Was this review helpful?", helpful?]

On 10/3/2018 at 1:56 PM, Alyona Su said:

Creators (and other people) can always leave additional comments on each review. Whenever I shop MP and there are negative (less than three stars) reviews I always look to see if there are comments and sure enough: most often it's the creator explaining whatever the reviewer was complaining about.

that's not really what I meant.   It's more about Q&A like you see on Amazon which allows a far more in depth response/answer/interaction on the product.   Versus some review that says I didn't like it, it's blue and the creator who may or may not be notified there was a review (because half the time the notification system is wonky) and be able to respond to that specific complaint.   There is a whole thread on this somewhere on this forum, and I remain to this day more than hopeful that LL will remove reviews from Marketplace and replace it with a far more useful mechanism.

[Recent Marketplace Deploys]

Bumping:

Thanks @Grumpity Linden  do you have any rough timescale for the store owners to add managers to manage their lists - accepted on the JIRA below.

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-216104

Thanks so much!

[Is this, "Was this review helpful?", helpful?]

I am still hopeful for the day when LL remove reviews totally and instead provide product questions/answers the creator or other community members can answer.

 

\

[right or wrong?]

Those were the days hah!   One brand that was more liberal from memory was Coca Cola they let their logo be used or am I imagining that.

[right or wrong?]

On 8/8/2018 at 3:40 PM, Alyona Su said:

I'm an attorney, but based on what I know bout Copyright law (in the U.S., anyway) is protection against a work. Since that show is a 3D model with a texture on it the likelihood of anyone buying it thinking it comes from the original copyright holder is unlikely. In short: it does not break copyright. If I were accused of copyright infringement on this I'd fight it in court (were it financially feasible to do so).

It also doesn't break the patent law because it is not a functional design that can be patented.

Thus, the real question is about Trademark, not copyright.

Re "Confusion"  Historically it has been possible and Adidas HAVE had a presence in Second Life officially many years back.

I think any solo creator who thought they could fight a large corporation like Adidas in US court, would be misguided in this example and it's regarding Trade Dress.  Financially feasible to fight?  I hope you have very deep pockets and the time this will take.



The stripes are protected under trade dress.   In principle, you do not have the right to copy the design in any way shape or form and that includes making a 3d model. 


In the history of sands of SL, another furniture brand did protect their Trade Dress specifically and make a well known SL creator remove their equivalent items under a legal agreement.  It did not however reach court as the creator adhered to the cease and desist.  


To state a trade dress infringement claim under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act a plaintiff must meet three basic elements: (1) distinctiveness, (2) nonfunctionality, and (3) likelihood of confusion.


Honestly at the end of the day back to the OP - their post states already it looks like a copy of the brand, historically we can show Adidas has had official products within Second Life.... so has confusion been caused, have they, in their mind, linked that shoe to the brand? Also the quality of the 3d model.  If, well poor, could it lead a court to infer that the fact that 3d model exists and linked a consumer's thought to Adidas, it is therefore likely to harm Adidas' reputation?   Confusion does not necessarily mean you think it comes "from" the brand directly.  Perhaps this is a marketing gimmick etc authorised by the brand.

Adidas have already got precedent in US courts (and recently) showing those stripes have become a design that is recognisable (point in case, the OP recognised them) and they are not functional, so they have protectable trade dress on them.  Applying those stripes to stickers, websites, 3d models, whatever derivative medium you want to chose,  would therefore I suspect (highly) to be a infringement on that basis.

US law in this area is highly complex, so any creators reading this please never EVER think it's the right move to go to court on a quick sand defense for trade dress infringement.  Get an IP lawyer (better still stop copying trade dress items and bringing harm to SL's reputation and other creators here - make your own stripes up it's NOT hard).

 

 

 

 

[Recent Marketplace Deploys]

Thanks @Grumpity Linden  do you have any rough timescale for the store owners to add managers to manage their lists - accepted on the JIRA below.

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-216104

Thanks so much!

[LL Policy for Gacha Games is a need]

13 hours ago, Gadget Portal said:

The point is, if L$ were valueless, tax law would never come up at all.

I have to file taxes due to the L$ I get in SL, even though I rarely cash out.

I don't have to file taxes for my SWTOR credits or WOW gold. Those are valueless play currencies. 

I am not disagreeing, just that you are paying tax on the realized currency (USD) not the L$s.

[Just a little rant about marketplace slurls]

For a very long time I have wished LL would revert marketplace to an API and open up the front end to a TPV in combination with vendors like Casper etc. The TPV could bring the glossy user experience,  vendor services  like Casper push and pull the data we already capture in product set up to the API and LL just worry about the back end server stuff.

I am not technical but in essence I hope that makes sense!  ?

[LL Policy for Gacha Games is a need]

On 7/13/2018 at 1:12 AM, Gadget Portal said:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Required_Tax_Documentation_FAQ

Tell me again about no value?

We pay tax on the USD only as that is realized revenue.  For Linden Dollars (tokens) left on the account they have not yet realized a value so are not taxable until the point of USD conversion.   Now once you do a LINDEX transaction and they sit as USD in your account - you have to declare them even if you don't "process credit" to exit them from the platform.   

It's why we pay for our sims in USD too versus Linden Dollars, as LL require real currency to pay for our tier.  It's how we use Tier as a deductible (plus fees etc for LINDEX) in addition.

Obviously all countries differ on tax law, so this assumes US residency above.

 

 

[LL Policy for Gacha Games is a need]

To the Op, Honestly your list is so long it seems like you are trying to introduce over complicated regulation into SL.  The only regulation required is what is mandated under law.   Anything beyond that (and what the platform needs to function commercially) would make for an over complicated TOS that would be expensive to police and manage.

Also it is my choice to swap transfer gachas for copy versions as a complimentary service and have done it for years.  Also my choice should my customers want a gacha where they can either play the machine or simply pay a bit more and get a copy mod versus versus transfer mod right out of the bat (non arcade ones due to event rules), they can.

I find it disappointing when somebody takes so much effort with a long OP but litters it with sweeping statements.  Not all merchants are rude, not all merchants provide bad customer service.  Some do, some don’t; and when you find sub par simply do not purchase from again / buy one inexpensive item first to see how comfortable you are with the merchant before investing a lot of money.

One final point as a merchant for years I have dealt with failed deliveries, wonky marketplaces and whatnot.  The good merchants tend to always pick up the slack with the platform limitations and issues.   I have spent literally hundreds of hours doing support over the past 12 years for issues in LL’s control versus my errors - it is part of what a good merchant does. We also have a policy on our picks so you can check before playing.

I think the post re loot boxes does not quite yet wander into this realm because so far this is niche versus mainstream, but it may do one day, who knows.

Anyway I am pretty sure none of these will end up in the TOS at this stage.

[Just a little rant about marketplace slurls]

That works if you sending people to a generic landing point.  But most customers want to be tp’d to the actual item so each item has a unique SLURL for things like furniture houses etc.  

[Process Credit Fees Raised. Again.]

7 hours ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

But is that really the goal they have set themselves?

I usually don't complain about this topic because there isn't anything I can really do beside clenching my teeth as I watch hundred of work hours get shaved down by fees and taxes.
Feel free to point and laugh at me, I don't care, but yeah, once the bills have been paid, that's a couple meals that I'm gonna skip.

If you look at the math cashout fees are basically geared towards a specific kind of person:

• Less than 120$: You are basically not supposed to cash out (from 100% to 2.5%).
• 120$ to 10000$: Normal fees. (2.5%)
• Above 10000$: How may we serve you better my lord? (2.5% to 0% Why does this bracket even exist? Oh yeah because otherwise the Chungs are gonna start their own currency)

I don't believe you can cash out more than 10,000 in one transaction, so you would have to perform multiple transactions each attracting 2.5%.

[Doesn't Anyone Actually Make Anything Anymore]

On 5/3/2018 at 1:03 AM, ChinRey said:

Provided all the gacha resellers remember to mark their listings as no copy that is. Some of them can be a bit forgetful when it comes to getting all those little details right.

 

and using keywords that are store names which are nothing to do with the listing (pet peeve when they use my store name).      But using the Copy option on the left hand side of the screen when you search is a great way to get rid of most of the gacha listings, then search by newest versus relevant.

[The new Marketplace Features coming - Merchant Survey Requirement]

On 5/5/2018 at 12:47 PM, Rya Nitely said:

OK, thank you for explaining how simple it is. I'll keep reminding myself of that next time a customer asks me something like how do I make my item bigger. It's my job to explain it to them, how to select stretch texture and how to select edit link/unlink. I'll remember how simple it is. Thank you 

I get a lot of questions like this, but honestly I see it as an opportunity to engage with my customer and most of them remember helpful merchants, and are very loyal.   Yes it takes time in my day (every day) providing customer support and these days I have some "responses" pre saved that I can quickly paste back from experience.   But I like it and it's nice to help people get invested into the platform.  I also have the funniest moments helping customers - my favorite was "Hi Charlotte, your house is in my butt.  I need help as my husband is coming home".     (She had attached the house to her bum, somehow).  

[Making clothes for inworld Blender avastar and MD -What a mess...]

On 4/26/2018 at 10:21 AM, CougEr Vultee said:

I just find it incredible that so many people had no problem and went on  creating  importing and even making tutorials  and I.  with so much experience  in 3D modelling and  rigging for animation outside second life  i cant do a simple process of  rigging a cat suit to an avatar using avastar latest version and Blender  lates  version. 110 joints...?   the 12 patters that stitched make the single object could have more than 110 connecting vertices but when i  unified  the pattern i also  welded it  so the vertices are connected. so litterally its a single  piece. that just needs to be rigged.  i managed to succesfully rig and import one version of  that using blender and avastar . i made a mistake in the patterns  and did not double sided or turn the faces of the 2 d pattern. 

maybe a catsuit is too much? 

It it likely because SL is quite unique and very different to character rigging you would see in regular 3D studios.  Avastar was created to help guide creators through the quirks of SL but it sounds like you have perhaps missed a couple of steps (that are very SL specific) that are creating some major issues on import.

1 - Which body (avatar) are you using to rig to / when did you download from?

2 - When you used Avastar (it's been ages since I used it)  are you transferring or copying weights over as part of the weight painting?

3 - Did you remove unused vertex groups?  

4- You mention you welded into a single piece the 12 patterns.   Have you tried to upload without welding (and when did you weld in your workflow).

[The new Marketplace Features coming - Merchant Survey Requirement]

14 hours ago, Gadget Portal said:

 

A few years back they closed virtually all open JIRAs as no longer relevant, and said that the initial JIRA creator was the only one that could re-open it. Due to "platform upgrades", if I recall it correctly.

They "solved" many issues that way!

That would make sense as I couldn't see anything before 2014 and the ban one looks to be closed.

[The new Marketplace Features coming - Merchant Survey Requirement]

16 hours ago, Elvina Ewing said:

Ban List for Marketplace JIRA should be as old as Marketplace itself. I remember voting for it (and watching it) many many years ago, and back then there was already something like 50+ votes. It was also filed under "nice to have" priority, which was like the least priority possible. I imagine JIRA system has been updated since then or something, but that's not our (merchants') fault or problem.

It looks like a few years old for sure but doesn’t have more votes than noted.  Perhaps there is a duplicate further back I could not see anything prior to 2014.  Am guessing it would show up in your dashboard directly if voted for an older one.    The others as mentioned don’t have much support at all.

[The new Marketplace Features coming - Merchant Survey Requirement]

If you look through the JIRAs (on assumption I am doing this right) under New Feature Requests opened over the past 4 years, there are about 4 JIRAs with more than 4 votes from residents asking for marketplace improvements/features that I could find - I found that really surprising!

1 - Add a Store Manager Option - 55 votes.

2 - Add bulk discount optionality - 45 votes.

3 - Ban List for Marketplace - 9 votes.

3 - Batch Upload to Marketplace - 8 votes.   

I think unless merchants can actively go and vote for Jira's to prioritize their interests, we never will see improvements as looking through the AGILE boards/EPICS - it looks like there is barely any interest for changes.     There is a small minority on this forum who are vocal, but often that gets lost in the noise here and LL have said to us multiple times to use JIRA for our feature requests.

I don't know what the answer is to that, the Store Manager one we blasted across a ton of merchants, and still not a huge vote turn out but it did get it into the top 13 which gives us insight to the fact that most merchants don't really know about/use the JIRA - so perhaps some education/promotion of that would help people focus their efforts into the right arena to get their changes sponsored.

[Thoughts on the Town Hall meeting?]

So is a concierge user treated the same as premium user, I know you don't get the premium perks per se, but I did wonder about that?

I still hope this can be treated as different account types versus blanket "premium" tiers.  As a creator I don't want free products, or a Linden home, but I certainly want two storefronts on Marketplace etc, as a consumer I may want more stipend and perhaps reward points that accrue across my shopping that I can redeem for Lindens (think like credit card rewards etc)...

 

[SmugMug buys Flickr - Huge price increases likely]

I have a pro account because my feed has promo shots on to stay in line with the old TOS.

I think the Smug a Hug or whatever they are called thing is potentially good news because the Bad Panda days were getting out of control with Yahoo.  In fact on the Smug a Hug (must stop calling it that) they put a picture of a professional photographer in the spotlight and in the background looking sheepish a Panda - very clever of them.

I am not sure about price changes, but I suspect if they are going to invest into the platform they will be a little more expensive, but I am still hopeful that investment gives us a better platform that will make a price increase worth it.  Nothing in life is free, so they may still offer free accounts with ads?

[How long have you been a Resident of Second Life?]

twelve and a half years...... waiting for the Linden Pension to kick in 

[The new Marketplace Features coming - Merchant Survey Requirement]

I am little unsure about posting in this thread again hah, but I wanted to let people know:

The Manager option for Marketplace: - was raised under JIRA https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-216104?

It has been accepted by LL (not sure what that means as I am not too familiar with the workflow used) but if you are still interested to follow that specific feature request.

Thanks,

Charlotte