Marcus Hancroft

Deja Letov wrote: Kampu Oyen wrote: >'inflating prices on the SL Marketplace, in comparison to in-world or other e-commerce sites' is Anti Competive and abusive behaviour. There's no real logic behind it. When LL uses the term "anti-competitive" they actually tend to mean "demand-driven"; that is: "competitive". By contrast, price-fixing would seem to be just fine. In fact, by LL's standard, price fixing would seem to be the very model of "competition". What they really mean is "inflating prices on the SL Marketplace,in comparison to in-world or other e-commerce websites could make your customer purchase from your store instead of the Marketplace and that means we wouldn't make money off of you...so don't do it!" This is EXACTLY what I think too, Deja.

jazon Uxlay wrote: [RESOLVED] Marketplace Page Delays lol who are they kidding it was a saterday, they just wanted to leave work early or not be there in the first place. anyone else notice that you can just about ignore anything they post on the grid report on weekends? I know I do. I tried to get in this weekend AFTER that notice was posted and the marketplace would not even ATTEMPT to load. Personally, I think it was someone at home, logging into the system and making that post. I have seen no evidence now or in the past that convinces me that somebody is there in the Lab on weekends. I can just imagine...4PM friday afternoon...mass exodous from the Linden Lab building with not even a backward glance.

Dartagan Shepherd wrote: Marcus Hancroft wrote: Dartagan Shepherd wrote: Medhue Simoni wrote: Heck, with all the BS, they should just drop the commission they get all together. It's like we pay them to stress us out. Apparently Direct Delivery means to be administered as a suppository. Fairly direct, but a bit uncomfortable. Not something you'd normally consider paying a commission to a middleman to do. LOL! Thanks for the laugh first thing in the mornin, Dart. Oh sure, laugh now. Who knew these things would so long to disolve? That's the real bug. And THAT'S the truth! I just wonder how much longer till everybody doesn't feel the dam%$d things stuck back there.

Sassy Romano wrote: Marcus Hancroft wrote: We can't set our own prices differently than our inworld stores?? I see inworld store sales all the time (albeit temporary sales) that are not available on the marketplace store. This is abuse as well according to Linden Lab's policy isn't it? Yes it is and in this instance since LL offer no method of facilitating that sale on MP to match and any edit of the listing is detrimental to the search positioning of the listing, LL should think about rectifying this, oh wait, we did get a Facebook button. Oh yeah! I forgot about that! LOL! Except...I don't have a Facebook account with my SL account. I don't think Facebook allows accounts with Second Life Avatars do they?

Sassy Romano wrote: Marcus Hancroft wrote: I agree with Lasher. I see no problem and no "abuse" in charging just under 6% more to purchase from the marketplace compared to the inworld store. Every retail store in the real world increases prices to offset costs in advertising, payroll and other uncontrollable expenses. The commission that Linden Lab charges us is an uncontrollable expense so why can't we do price increases to offset that cost? Not necessarily picking on your post Marcus but I don't understand the inflating the price argument at all. Do the same merchants who do this also add a bit on to their advertised price to cover a % of tier cost? I've NEVER seen anyone do that so why add it on to a MP listing price? If they don't, why not? It's a cost of doing business, just as a mall rent spot is, each of which has a different rate, do they charge "a bit more" for each mall, based around that mall cost? Nope. Do they charge a bit more to cover LL's commission on exchanging L$'s when they cash out? Nope. Do they charge a bit more to cover any commission given away to an affiliate? Nope. MP is effectively an affiliate, nothing more and an incredibly cheap one at that, most affiliate programmes are between 20% to 50%. It's a very controllable expense too, there are two ways to guarantee no marketplace commission costs:- Sell for less than L$10 Don't list on Marketplace Good mornin, Miss Sassy! :smileyvery-happy: Yes, I see what you mean. I guess there's always two sides to everything, huh? I've never inflated my marketplace prices to cover the percentage Linden Lab charges in commission and I don't inflate them either inworld. I guess my biggest thing about this subject is that Linden Lab expressly forbids us to do that. We can't set our own prices differently than our inworld stores?? I see inworld store sales all the time (albeit temporary sales) that are not available on the marketplace store. This is abuse as well according to Linden Lab's policy isn't it?

I agree with Lasher. I see no problem and no "abuse" in charging just under 6% more to purchase from the marketplace compared to the inworld store. Every retail store in the real world increases prices to offset costs in advertising, payroll and other uncontrollable expenses. The commission that Linden Lab charges us is an uncontrollable expense so why can't we do price increases to offset that cost?

Talia Davidov wrote: Marcus Hancroft wrote: With over 8,000 views now, it's apparent to me that many merchants (including me) have been checking that thread constantly in the hopes that something...ANYTHING...new has been posted from the commerce team about all the problems with the marketplace. And yet...since the 11th (as of this writing, 11 days ago), not one peep from them about anything. Come on, commerce team! Tell us what's going on! When is all this going to be fixed? When does the commission free days begin? It will be for an entire month this time right (not just a weekend)? You can't hide behind your Battery St. walls forever, ya know! Quoted since its so right on the target!! its worth saying again! Well thank you, Talia!

Dartagan Shepherd wrote: Medhue Simoni wrote: Heck, with all the BS, they should just drop the commission they get all together. It's like we pay them to stress us out. Apparently Direct Delivery means to be administered as a suppository. Fairly direct, but a bit uncomfortable. Not something you'd normally consider paying a commission to a middleman to do. LOL! Thanks for the laugh first thing in the mornin, Dart.

Kampu Oyen wrote: It has been a month since they dropped DD on you people. And in that time, how much of an improvement have you seen over the service you were getting from the magic boxes between 1 January and 13 February? Maybe instead of just dropping the commissions for some period of time, they could also make them an opt-in, with the provision that anything collected will be used to hire someone better to replace whoever it is that, by now, they must know they need to replace. Mornin, J. Me personally? I've said this before on several occasions, but I'll say it again here...I've been unaffected by all the problems with cross-linking, orders stuck in "being delivered" status, and Merchant Outbox problems. So I can only speak to my personal experiences with direct delivery. I find the merchant outbox efficient. It always opens and syncs quickly and uploads quickly. Once I can log into the website (sometimes difficult because the site is slow or non-responsive) creating the listings is as normal too. Except for the 5 minute wait for something to show up in the "Edit Associated" window, which I find silly but have worked out a system of updating so I only have to wait that 5 minutes one time. I have had no failed deliveries. So I don't see any increase or decrease in service from the magic boxes. And I think that's as it should be. However...I have to watch my store and my listings like a hawk now. Once I can get the marketplace up, I go through all 400 of my listings to make sure I don't have any cross-linked problems, etc. I have had to teach customers about what and where their Received Items folder is and that their purchase is now in it instead of their objects folder like before. I really like the option to deliver folders instead of boxes and have been working to move all my listings to foldered. This way, customers can use the "view contents" option. This wasn't possible with the magic boxes. BUT, I read these forums every day and read about all the massive problems others are having and it looks to me like world war 3! I want to fix it. I want the commerce team to fix it. I want everybody else to have the same experience with direct delivery that *I* have. That's why I've called out the commerce team on not communicating with us. 12 days with no new information is unforgivable. They have GOT to keep in contact with us.

Medhue Simoni wrote: Heck, with all the BS, they should just drop the commission they get all together. It's like we pay them to stress us out. You got THAT right, Medhue!

With over 8,000 views now, it's apparent to me that many merchants (including me) have been checking that thread constantly in the hopes that something...ANYTHING...new has been posted from the commerce team about all the problems with the marketplace. And yet...since the 11th (as of this writing, 11 days ago), not one peep from them about anything. Come on, commerce team! Tell us what's going on! When is all this going to be fixed? When does the commission free days begin? It will be for an entire month this time right (not just a weekend)? You can't hide behind your Battery St. walls forever, ya know!

Pamela Galli wrote: I'll be damned if I can't get in AGAIN today! I can't either, Miss Pamela. It's ridiculous.

As far as I know...the only time you can redeliver an order is when the order was delivered in the first place. If it's never been delivered, you can't redeliver it. Did you get the money for the item(s)? If no, why would you want to deliver something you haven't gotten paid for?

Medhue Simoni wrote: Not to dump all the fault onto LL, but the fluctuations are almost always because of changes/bugs in the search results. Back in the day, when LL had a working inworld search engine and web purchases on Xstreet were more marginal, I would literally make 5-10 % more every single week for a good 3 years. Then LL started screwing with the search and the very day they started it was obvious in my sales. They have yet to understand how the inworld search should work, and likely never will, or care enough to understand. Now, with the MP, I see the exact same thing. Every time they mess with it, things go wacky. You can quite easily tell when they do screw around with it because your online store will have different results. Your online store should never really change too much, as it's your store, and those products have a history that is not going to change drastically overnight. So, your store should not be changing radically from day to day. When it does, you know that some clueless person at LL feels the need to mess with crap. I do find it funny that the changes never benefit me. You'd think with the law of averages, that at some point I'd be thrown a bone for a week or 2, lol. I agree, Medhue. I just got up and I'm lookin now at my store. The last two items that sold are, for some reason, now in 1st and 2nd position. My top seller is now in position 3. I had zero sales yesterday (rather typical for my store though. I'll go a day or two with no sales and then ka-wham! here they come again.) so I'm quite sure somebody is playing around with search. You know...they really need to hire somebody at Google to take care of their search engine. Both inworld and on the Marketplace. I know, I know. That's a stupid dream and I'd be better off dreaming about somethin else. I can't help it though. Luckily, my store has been completely unaffected by the cross-linked listings problem or any of the other myriad things that's going on right now. But this search thing affects us all.

Orca Flotta wrote: Tried "harajuku"? LOL Ann, I started my SL with the official SL harajuku n00b avatar. That was in 2007 tho, obviously before the republicans took over the lab. Oh, she was so cute with her underdeveloped body and the neon blue system hair. A real cutie and probably the perfect rape victim. I have no clue if they are still offering female starter avies like that. I LOL'ed!

Amethyst Jetaime wrote: Just browsed throught the Madstyle items. A tiny percent percent of what i saw has anything do to with Madstyle let alone the 60's. Of the two designers of the avatars on the banner, one doesn't have a store on MP the other has 6 items that are actually variations fo the same thing that has nothing to do with the 60's, If the goal is to attract people into SL with this style they are going to be sadly disappointed. Other than an occasional club event for best of the 60's i don't really see many people wearing or using 60's style clothing items. It wasn't all that attractive the first time around and it hasn't improved with time. Its just kitsch. Madstyle looks like a massive fail to me. ^ This!

Phil Deakins wrote: Marcus Hancroft wrote: That's exactly what I heard too. Another thing he said was that his team told him it was no longer possible because this, because that and because "we said so." I lost a LOT of respect for Rodvik that day and so far...he's done nothing to gain it back. Just have a look at World War 3 going on in the Merchant Forums! And Rodvik just let's it continue.... World War 3? Do you mean about the marketplace being borked? Yes, indeed I do, Phil.

Sassy Romano wrote: Lasher Oh wrote: It seems the only people who didn't see this particular flag fest coming were the Commerce Team. Having rushed out a vague and badly defined promo theme they now have to waste valuable time manning the barricades as the flag happy trigger fingers get to work. ^L^ I disagree, I feel that the reason it was done was to incite a flag fest as a change from the boredom for support, who until now must have become bored at the constant referals to JIRA "yeah we know about that bug, just add your name to the JIRA" responses. It's abundantly clear that some merchants have merely added "madstyle" to every item with completely abandon. This, I would have to agree with. Taking a look at the items with that keyword, I see sex poses, makeup, meeroo nests. It's just silly.

I moved to direct delivery on the day it went live (and into the 2nd day) so I am fully on direct delivery. I've not had any of the cross linked listings so many others have (I don't have any listings in the 14xxxx range) and had no problems with sales not getting credited or being hung up in "Being Delivered." Over the past several days, I've added several new items. My Merchant Outbox has performed perfectly (just like it always has) and I still have no cross linked listings (/me knocks on wood) or any other problems for that matter. I say no other problems...I had two prefabs I thought were perfect for the 60's "madstyle" keyword and used it. They both got removed for keyword spam and so I had to remove it and relist them. I guess "madstyle" is subjective and only meant for clothing designers. I think you should be fine adding your new stuff, Miss Pamela. :-)

I had two prefabs that I used the "madstyle" keyword in and they were both flagged for keyword spam and removed. I relisted them minus the new "madstyle" keyword also. I thought they were perfect for the theme. I have come to the conclusion that the keyword is only meant for clothing designers. So that leaves ME out.

This happens because the Commerce Team installed a "maximum 5 minute" delay between uploading to the Marketplace from your Merchant Outbox to it appearing in the Edit Associated list. They did it to help "streamline" or "speed up" the page load times when they first rolled out direct delivery. So there will ALWAYS be a small delay between upload and the new item showing in the Edit Associated window.

Howdy, Myrylyn If you didn't change the name of the updated item, but went into "Edit Associated," and picked the updated item out of that list...then it is the old one that is in your Unassociated list now. Is there ANYTHING at all in the new item folder that would show it as the new one? If so, go to your item listing, and click "View Contents." If you can see the new something in that contents, then the reassociation is correct and you can delete the old item. You'll have to delete the old one either way once you are sure the new item is associated with the list. Once you do the reassociation, the old one is pushed out to your unassociated list. I hope that makes sense. I feel like I said in 10,000 words what should have been said in 20 or something. LOL!

That's exactly what I heard too. Another thing he said was that his team told him it was no longer possible because this, because that and because "we said so." I lost a LOT of respect for Rodvik that day and so far...he's done nothing to gain it back. Just have a look at World War 3 going on in the Merchant Forums! And Rodvik just let's it continue....

I'm assuming now that the "madstyle" keyword is only to be used for clothing. I had two prefabs that I thought were perfect for it and they got removed for keyword spam. OK. Fine. I took off the "madstyle" keyword. It was only made for clothing designers anyway.

Hmmm...I didn't know it was even possible to hyperlink in the photo section. It's not normal I can tell ya that. I've never had that happen.