Charlotte Bartlett

Creators who do it themselves, mostly prices are stable e.g. Adobe subscription has not gone up (still under 40 bucks a month for PS and Substance Painter) Blender is still free for those who use it etc. But their other costs may rise, for those who have SL as a business versus hobby e.g. electric, rent etc which may put a bit of pressure on to increase income. We also should not expect prices to remain the same always in SL cost of living raises are fair. We also benefit hugely from the weekly sales, put something new into the sale, huge volume makes a decent profit then next. So when you can hit volume events with low cost items it tends to even out. The creators who use third party teams like some clothing big brands and some of those newer H&G designers who use 3rd party mesh or teams and the ones who have "staff" might find it more difficult as contractor rates are going up in the market so either they will take a bite in their profits or have to increase prices. Personally I try to keep mine the same because I know people have limited funds and if something is fun and creative enough it will get the volume needed in sales to make it worthwhile to do.

Honestly you have gotten a lot of good information in this thread, there is no reason to delete it because you aren't agreeing with the answers or feedback. Take it as also research but you can also temper it with the fact the forum is a tiny sub set of users some of whom are highly experienced users with years on the platform. If you have polled say 100 users in-world, your research there is equally valid and may totally differ. Particularly if you are polling new joiners who may certainly struggle to find things. I do remain unconvinced that you will make any profit doing this. However, if it's a hobby and just for fun it may be hugely rewarding to help other new people coming into Second Life find things, Generally, any service which helps new users remain on the platform is beneficial. So it really depends on the why you want to do this, so don't rule it out as you can always try and see.

So you want to know if there is already a service that finds things and services before you set up a service that finds things? Joking aside, can I ask why you would want to do this? Most brands don't use marketing services, they use the regular channels and gradually grow their own followers. For exposure Events (and event websites) that's saturated already. For products there are also aggregation feeds that come via Flickr, Facebook, Blogs, Instagram etc and showcase new releases etc. If you mean for a private client who shows you a picture from Pinterest or something and it's your job to go and find a SL version of it - not sure how profitable that would be as most items cost a few bucks max, so even if they paid you 20% commission your time would not be compensated for. But if you were then also styling the person - perhaps? For new Groups, Regions etc - that one I don't know about. For resources like decorators etc most people in Facebook Groups etc or by following blogs/Flickr etc find them there - I have not seen an aggregation of service providers because I don't use them so worth perhaps seeing if you can find something there if there is a gap. (Like an Angie's List?)

10k poly? Highly recommend that you should be doing retopo and getting that down to below 2k poly if you can. Bake the high poly to the low poly for the detail in your uploaded textures.

1. No point doing KYC if you don’t have a verified PayPal in your own name or a bank account to wire money to. When you go to cash out the process will get cancelled if you are trying to route money to a third party. 2. Multiple people have explained how you can get a bank account for free so you can set up your verified PayPal. So do that first and get it sorted. 3. Once all done re apply for your Tilia approval for KYC. Use the first bank statement for the second part of the ID. 4. All will require your SSN if you do not have an SSN you can use your ITIN. 5. You can also set up an online account for your Social Security I believe and use a print out from that with your benefits and address on for ID. 6. Remember to include all amounts you cash out in your tax return. Once you reach 600 USD Tilia and PayPal also report it to the IRS and you will receive a 1099 tax form.

I don’t self advertise but am sure other creators do similar and create some houses that come in a skybox version and ground version so you can switch things up. You can then do as a standalone skybox but then if you feel like a platform or surround you can add exterior items and just Rez the ground version in it to have a larger space.

Never liked D&G, have never purchased their products and now seeing those Ads never will. I def think there are some elements of different cultures. In the UK, generally humour sells well.

Sometimes I then see Adverts that I remember for years (for the right reasons). Framestore did VFX for this UK advert back in the day which was pretty impressive for the 90s - and it is still one of my favourite ones.

I am not sure if this counts but pretty sure this was when I was on my long retired Mole account and a friend took the picture way back. As you can see I was a master of staring at my own kneecap and ignoring that half my arm was missing and under carriage.

I hope in my lifetime for a holodeck... Just imagine how it could be used in Education or Therapy or Stress Relief. But also, I want a secret garden in my spare bedroom with tones of Alice in Wonderland!

I wonder why High Fidelity... but not Linden Research Inc...

Honestly giving your customers the opportunity to do more with your stuff doesn't limit your income, it increases it - as the market is bigger for mod/copy so you get more sales. That being said if you are using building assets (full perms) and don't create your own builds and just compile things, I understand the restrictions you may be under. I have had customers on my side reuse windows, roofs, doors, walls to create their own "versions" of things. They can't resell them so more power to them creating something they love. To the point a customer created a version of a build using my arches, windows, floors etc to a brand new style of build that was so popular I am now making a version of it (with their permission!) as customers love it! Spread the creativity I say.

I managed to quote myself somehow - deleted! Now who's the "Silly merchant" 🤣

Most savvy consumers can read past a low effort review particularly if you have a prompt, professional crafted response in the comments -e.g. the light one "I am so sorry you were not able to enjoy our product! Per the description, if you turn on advanced lighting you'll find it working and hopefully can enjoy it going forward. If you need any one to one assistance please do contact me in world as I would love to help you. I can show you how to use preferences on your viewer (under graphics) and get you all set up" When I buy things if I see responses like that I always go "silly user, great merchant". Honestly I have had one stars with comments saying "ugly" - literally just that through to how somebody doesn't know basic SL stuff on how to move an item (didn't realise there was a thing where you can use right click edit). It's just the nature of user reviews - people get frustrated and use it to communicate negative thoughts. LL doesn't always remove reviews (even ones that clearly breach rules) so best way to look at it is an opportunity to flex your merchant professional skills in responses for your future customers who will read your response and gage your quality/attitude etc.

Seeing Twitch discussed reminds me - did anyone see the stuff on Reddit where they did a R/Place recently using tiles (god the battle on the flags and then Streamers and the void) but overall quite interesting to watch the artwork and the communities/negotiation (and reactions!) and how people organised. The Germans even had a night watch! Imagine us doing the above in SL "metaverse" with prim cubes (ok the region would crash in 5 minutes and only 20 people would be able to even move through the lag) but being more serious for a moment, it did make me think that's where SL has to push forward when that word metaverse is used - it's the communities here (in all their glory) and what our shared "canvas" is, which is still truly unique across the space.

I am so excited, I have already alpha'd the bottom half of my avatar to fit in to the new "Meta' Verse. What a marvellous....1st April announcement

I live on a prim - well 4 of them maxed out in the air. Pretty shameful considering there are around 70 houses below me hah. I try to make things for realistic sized generally - but there is a good script called FixIt (free) you can pop into mod furniture and scale it all as one, even if a thin plane normally stops you doing it manually - if you want to ping me inworld can send you a copy just in case you aren't already using it. Obviously doesn't solve for the animation part....

Honestly I thought this was all going to be resolved by Prince Harry's second child growing up and becoming US President so we would take you American's back into the family and sort all these tax dollars out. But then we Brits.... did a thing. Well you know the rest of that story.

I really recommend NOT passing through the money you make on the dress to any third party avatar (unless your own alt). I do get your point though it would be lovely if Linden Lab did set up secure charity avatars they control where they can make the donation / cash it out directly and take care of the fees/tax balancing as a result and we could set any vendors to that official avatar to put in the sales to as distribution from the vendor. Without that: If you cash it out, make a direct donation to the charity in rl currency and keep the receipt as evidence. Remember if you are US based (and most other countries) it will reflect on your taxes required to be paid as the cash out will show as income. But if you are a business (US based other countries may vary) you can offset the charity donation in the appropriate schedule to net it out as a deduction to take off your gross income. Just keep proper accounting and all receipts.

Hi there, you have some very posh horses if they get that barn ha! You can probably bring down the LI on mine it depends on which bits you are using but especially if just one wing. If you want to IM me in world I can help you if you didn't find your prefect stable. I will be next on line this weekend so apologies if it takes a few to come back to you,

On the weekly sales Generally for us New releases mainly first go through them and annually the product income has remained stable over time (I don’t do fashion so may differ). Customer gets a bargain and I know we have gotten new people who have found us due to Saturday Sale. It is also flexible so if time doesn’t allow you can not do a round or revisit an old release. Monthly events that I have been in may have rules that sometimes make it incredibly difficult if RL interjects and disrupts your time planned. You lose at minimum the fee and perhaps your spot etc plus make extra work for the organizer which isn’t fair on them. Again I am sure very unique to just my situation. My main concern is related to what Salt mentioned, and does it depress other products and if you slow on volume you suffer. I think that’s potentially the risk and these sales are all getting larger to the point the whole grid each weekend will be one sale. Does that exhaust customers too by that stage I am not sure. Prices have been racing to the bottom since 2006 but volume has relatively remained higher and stable particular in the last few years. If the volume goes then it will be interesting to see what creative minds come up with. The commercial merchants I know are doing well enough (especially those who buy in their mesh from offshore teams as their volume of releases is insane and they make high returns as a result).

I agree on the land part. And hey sorry for my comment on NFT. I can understand why it led to that reaction and do appreciate the feedback. My apologies.

To me NFT's benefits are in the unambiguous, decentralised ownership of non-physical assets and where I see the real value in the future: Identity. My hope would be LL are also looking outwards on this, but I have to say I expect they are not really at the forefront (perhaps not even in the room). Albeit, Philip being back makes this interesting timing, considering how High Fidelity approached some of the blockchain strategy.

The main article is in business vogue and very much mentions SL. It’s great to see such positive coverage and Blueberry did an amazing job.