Tiffy Vella
-
Posts
9 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Blogs
Knowledge Base
Posts posted by Tiffy Vella
-
-
Don't be downhearted. I think many here commented on your written style and profile because you said you were getting lots of rude people, so we looked at what could be causing that. I know I did, as I tried to put myself in the shoes of your customer...went to your MP store...looked....imagined I'd bought something...then imagined what I'd do if I needed to contact you...and there you have it.
People here may sometimes be a bit glib, but you will find that they want to help. We don't know you, and are probably judging you from the same level of intimacy that a first time customer does. That might be a valuble thing for you, or not...you might just decide that we are all arses. I can assure you that not everyone here is, and that the forum is a great place to learn.
I've made lots of forum threads and posts I regret and should have pulled
Usually after way way way too many wines. See there's another oops -
Hisa..I just try to be helpful, because you said creation and your business gives you joy, and you deserve to have fun, as you obviously do a lot of quite good work.
Your written English is very casual. Mine's overly formal, probably, and polarly different to yours, and I worry that I always come off as preachy-sounding when I don't intend to be. As I write, I hear my voice in my head, and it's familiar and friendly-sounding to me of course, which is what I wish everyone would hear, but I'm aware that it won't sound like that to someone just reading my words without knowing me. Likewise with you, you are familiar with your inner voice, but others aren't.
Nobody's perfect.
Streamline a way to give most of your customers most of their answers in most languages before they have to ask you. Then you may get more joy, and less rude.
Melita..I sympathise too, with what you say...we all cop a bit of that at times. I only seem to have issues with malcontents when they aren't paying.
-
-
I think every merchant has had a few customers that can test patience. We've all been there once, I supect. You just have to take a deep breath and try to explain things as clearly as possible.
People are very polite and friendly when contacting me, even those I've had to use a translator for. I like my customers, and problems are usually very simple to fix, like MP delivery issues. But I had one once that was a loony, beyond all help, and who had me in tears, as she threatened to AR me for fraud, since she'd bought an item and then wanted a refund as other items had been on sale at the time. This sort is rare thank goodness.
How to cope-
Think about how you present things in your store, so that information is there. Do this to make it as easy as possible for your customers, and minimise future issues. Head problems off first.
Be polite (like what I said about profiles and presentation). Use your profile to welcome customers and be the first step towards helping them. Then once they land on your doorstep, they are in a better mood.
Know that there is a tiny minority of people who are just antisocial, like my friend above, and that you aren't responsible for their bad attitude.
Listen to customers, as they are teaching you how to make them happier. If you get lots of requests for removable scripts, thank them for telling you about it, and adapt your ways. Let them know what improvements you have made, and send them a fresh updated copy. The script issue isn't ridiculous at all, and if you are using old resizers, then updating to efficient removable ones is a brilliant improvement you can make to your product.
Perhaps make some notecards with FAQs about how to do do some basic things. Things that customers keep asking you, like perhaps how to adjust an attachment. English at the top, and other languages below to cover your customer base. Pass this out to your group, and make it available at the landing point to your store. Put it in your boxes. Some merchants even have notecards with links to Torley's tutorials, which cover lots of good basic SL skills.
I think part of our issue here is that LL do little to educate residents, and the onus falls onto merchants when somebody can't use a product because their SL skills are basic. If somebody can't adjust a necklace on their avatar because they've never had experience, they don't go to the blogs or wiki, they IM the person who made it. Merchants are the frontline for this sort of thing.
-
Hisa...If I had bought something from you and had an issue, the first thing I'd do would be to open your profile for information about who you are, and how best to contact you. Your biography, which has nothing helpful in it at all, apart from the charming line "Im a good dog wit the sharpest teeth. Ill f***n break yer face tonight." This tells me that your social skills may be wanting a little polish, and I'd most likely be on my guard from the start, as my expectations of anything positive from you would be a bit low.
You are frustrated by customers who are less than polite. Well, I'd say that this is entirely in your power to fix, as those customers have probably come straight from that biography to your IM box, so you are getting what you just gave. You say to us that you are a nice friendly person, but your profile is rude and nasty.
A translator from English would have a hard time making sense of many of your sentence structures and spelling choices. Translators are very handy when you have non-English speaking customers, but they are imperfect, and need patience and correct use of language.
Now clean up that potty mouth, pull up your trousers, and keep flogging that cute hair you do. Or I'm calling your Mum.
-
Some of my least faves....
" I know this is rude but I really need a loan of $500 for my rent. I'm very honest and can pay you back tomorrow." (yep)
"hi" (immed by random naked noobie male with wood hovering 30m over my head)
"show some linden love" (eyetwitch)
"hun" (condescending rudeness)
"giggles" (always surrounded by ascii bling and childish giggling sounds)
"oooh lalalala I luuuuuuve dis chuuuuuuuuuuune" (more eyetwitch)
"just sayin" (needs no explanation, but one of the rudest lines ever added to what was always intended to be insulting from the start)
My favourite lines are too many to list..anything said by a friend that invites play...genuine greetings by anyone...all the nice things we do as friends...they can't be listed as they are spontaneous and fresh
I actually like "git-er-dun" as to me it's quite positive, and means "lets roll up our sleeves and do this thing"..but I didn't grow up with it, so it's not as annoying to me.
-
I agree with much or what you say, Deja. I'm another who uses MP for it's search, but then usually buys inworld to support the merchants who re-invest into our community. I find that those with an inworld store have more of an interest in performing well (in general, of course), and supplying superior service. It's a pity that they are the ones who miss out on being publicly reviewed for the efforts they make.
MP customers almost never have any contact with a merchant unless something goes wrong (eg, delivery issues which aren't even the merchant's fault), so their experiences are often skewed when rating them. Inworld, customers can have contact for many reasons, not all of them negative, so product/service reviews may be fairer. (Of course I expect that someone will say that this will only be gamed, but that's true of anything, and the existing system already is anyway.)
Sassy's idea probably won't affect my buying habits, as I'm already one of the converted. But as a merchant I'd like to be a part of this system. When a customer buys from one of my inworld vendors, I'd like them to be able to leave a review (or not- their choice ) in my MP listing.
I appreciate anything that supports inworld shopping. Without support of our community, we will not have anyone to sell to anyway.
-
I suspect some groups exist merely to supply an amusing group name and tag. They mean little more than this.
-
That's so frustrating. I spent hours in a garden store, looking for the vendor for a set of trees that were on display there. It doesn't exist, as the creator made the set up from other trees and doesn't sell it, even on the MP.
And I've fallen in love with hair shown on gorgeously glamourous vendors, which often turn out to not having even been photographed in SL, so the hair doesnt exist here.
(raising my fist in rage.......snort
) -
Yay sassy; I'm glad you made it back into your old account. I agree that the new viewer is a bit weirdie at first, but it does get easier with familiarity. I hate how LL has changed a few basic terms, like "mute" is now "block", etc.
Lots of us also use other viewers which may make it easier for you, as they combine many of the features of the recent LL viewer with a more traditional interface. Phoenix and Firestorm are very user-friendly, especially if you are a builder. I'm sure others may have good suggestions too
-
Um....I'd join. Any parent who has had to listen to PinkiePoo sing till their brain bleeds might really enjoy it. But destroying their taints is a bit extreme, IMO.
-
"Friends" list is such a bad term for it, but we've all had that conversation already. I certainly don't have anybody on mine that I dislike, but I'm never going to be BFF with every single one of them.
-
I like that
-
/me slaps her own forehead...ohh I'm such a derr! You are quite logical and right.
-
Agree...this thread has to be up there with my favourites
I wonder if SL has a puppy pound, for strays?
-
Yes that is a huge Fail.
Don't friend more than one Resident, or you are screwed.
-
Kenbro Utu wrote:"...in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes and people feeding trolls."
Ahhh...but you see...nobody here did feed the troll, so it went away.
-
/me runs off to your MP store and searches "Price: High to Low"....snort
-
This happened to me too.... I recently had my connection slowed down due to using too much broadband and got "shaped". It came back after inventory fully loaded.
Either that, or..... it could be in your Lost and Found Folder, caused by some rift in a time/space continuum. Don't even try to find it there, or think about that too much even, as I heard that's how portals into other universes are caused.
-
The breaking of invisiprims is a sad thing (if I turn graphics to ultra, a favourite cognac bottle made from them disappears). Shoes are just one of the problems, but a very common one.
Jo, if the shoes are moddable, select the invisiprim and shrink it down to as small as possible, and hide it inside your foot. Then find an alpha layer to help (if you can't, give me a yell, as I have some I made for some similar shoes).
If the shoe isn't mod, check the creator's store, as some have updated their older shoes. Or contact them for a replacement with no invisiprim (I've had luck here too, and found some very nice helpful people).
-
-
You weren't trying to alt/mouseclick I hope...........................were you?
-
It's every merchants right to decide what perms they are willing to provide for their price, just as it's every customers right to make decisions about how they spend their money. This is fair, and just how it is, especially in SL, where let's face it, no merchants are supplying SL residents with utilities. Nobody has to buy anything a merchant sells (in the vast majority of cases), as it's not water, electricity or health services. Sorry darlings, it's yummy clothing, sex furniture, impractical shoes and luxury sailboats (laughing). And that's a great thing, because this is SL, after all, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
It's unfair to call every merchant "greedy" who doesn't supply you with what you want. This rift between customer and merchant is as old as the human species, and customers, as a rule, always want more for less from merchants. Heckers, I do, just as my customers want the best deal from me. But if a merchant always folds to popular customer demand, and subsequently goes out of business, will all the people who guilted them into lowering their expectations sit by and support them? Bet not. Bet they all run off to the next shiny thing and forget the insolvent merchant's name within 5 minutes.
The problem that merchants have is that they usually have to spend to have their business. This spending is distinct from the "non utilitarian" spending I mentioned above. Merchants accrue real costs to run businesses, if not at first, they certainly do gradually in the longer term. Every creator I know invests countless hours into creating products and running their business, and they do it usually because it's enormously fun and creatively rewarding. But eventually, despite the fact that they might try to do do everything for themselves to neutralise their business costs, they are forced to spend. My biggests costs are land (tier and rent), then advertising. Most merchants can't dodge those.
I sell copy/mod, as I think it suits most of my customers and gives them what they need with no detriment to me, but I sell worn accessories. I know furniture makers are less likely to sell copy perms, as rezzable items are more easily 'shared', and this can work very unfavourably for the merchant. I just bought a stunning couch, and it has obviously taken the creator quite a few months of development. This creator deserves to make honest sales and do well. He does not deserve to have one person buy it, then rezz it 'for free' in all their friends houses. That would frankly suck, be incredibly rude, and I think any creator should have the right to protect themselves against that.
Side note...despite the perms I sell by, which I try to make as lenient as possible..I can't make everyone happy. I think most merchants try very hard to please all, but we are such a diverse group of people in SL that it's impossible. My experience is that no matter what I do, there is always one person who wants it different.
-
Sassy Romano wrote:I've always maintained that there are two types of people in SL. I classify these into "inny's" and "outy's" and from my experience the two do not mix well.My profile states this clearly and has a simple question which determines quickly which sort they are."Where are you now and what are you doing?"An inny will typically reply "I'm at a ballroom/beach/shop/whatever and i'm looking at <insert inworld thing>".An outy will usually reply something like "i'm in my office looking out of the window, drinking a beer waiting for SL to rez on my PC".In my classification, inny's are INworld whereas an outy is OUT of world, just using SL rather than being immersed. There's nothing wrong with either but from my personal experiences they just don't mix well and the following sort of discussion ensues:-Me: "Hi"Him: "Hi, where are you from?"Me: "Cape Romano, it's a short teleport from here"Him: "I'm Bjorn from Sweden" (immediately I think he's blond and sings Abba songs all day)actually I can't be bothered to write the rest of the conversation but it rapidly degrades into phrases like:-Him: "but I really want to know where you live, something about the REAL you, so that I can better connect with someone"and a total failure to disconnect from that and do something different.As I said, neither is right or wrong, just that they don't gel well together.
Well said
If ASL-ed...my answer is always.."well..Tiffy, of course, I'm five-and-a-half, and I'm from sunny Sinaburoe. And yes, the weather is very nice there today! "
Usually after way way way too many wines. See there's another 
And thanks for posting this.
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
Flickr
This thread is ended
in General Discussion Forum
Posted
Hmm..I never thought we were arguing at all. I tried specific help and encouragement. Oh well. Best of luck.