Dana Enyo

I'm blown away by the possibilities of PBR. In my case, it's for clothes. Unlike buildings and furniture, PBR clothes are going to change appearance constantly as people move around the grid; I find it hugely fun not knowing how I'm going to look after my next TP! So I figure my challenge is to prepare my potential customers so they're not disappointed when their new outfit doesn't look like the Marketplace photo! To that end I've been building a big Flickr album with Experiments and comparison montages; lots of videos too. (URL: http://tinyurl.com/danaenyoPBRflickr ) Who else is very excited are SL's machinima artists. They have the time (and they care enough) to tweak each shooting environment so it's perfect, and PBR opens some whole new worlds. Dang, this is fun!

I'm probably going overboard providing information about my PBR items. My vendors have links to my PBR Experiments Web page and a lot of photos and videos on my Flickr. On the MP page and inworld vendor photo I include an image of what to expect in a non-PBR viewer. My vendors will give a detailed pre-purchase info notecard, and another one if they buy the item. If they want a PBR-wearer education, it's all there. (Also, I'm small enough that I contact every single customer to thank them and invite comments and questions. Takes some time each morning yo do that, but it sure heads issues off at the pass.) (By the way, since I make clothes, my stuff is going to be moved constantly between environments over which the wearer has no control. I let them know those surprises are part of the fun!)

Hi Nipah! As a customer, I think it's happened to me exactly once (in 15 years). It was a very special experience and I'd like others to have that too.

You might look into the Nonprofit Commons, which is a big SL group including educators and nonprofits. Website: https://nonprofitcommons.avacon.org/

Up front, maybe I'm just weird, but here goes: All the clothes/shoes I make are Copy Only. I see EVERYTHING in SL as being art -- every piece of clothing, our bodies, eyes and hair; everything around us; even the way we move are all creations of someone. When you select the items that make you You, you're creating a unique piece if art from the works of all those artists. So when I create something, taking time to paint textures and select colors, that's my art. I put it out there the best I can make, and it's an honor when someone decides that my art will enhance theirs. But it is still my creation, just as it would be if you bought it in a RL shop. I sell several things most days; I really have no clue whether that's considered "successful" but it feels pretty good. I'm sure I've lost some sales because I'm No Mod but this feels right to me.

I'd say my experience is the opposite of Artorius'. But maybe one factor is I sell clothing, and I make everything I wear. Sometimes, if I see someone standing in front of a vendor, I'll switch quickly into that outfit before I go in, making it a private modeling session. I come in, ask if I can help, and if not leave. But that's rare; we're far more likely to start a conversation.

Interesting to have three totally different responses!

How many of you ever have the privilege of actually meeting a customer in your inworld shops? I find it among the very best experiences I have in SL, and one of the best reasons I can think of not to just do Marketplace. I had one such meeting this week; had the chance to talk about some items she had already purchased and discussed ideas for more. Anyone else have experiences like that?

Thank you! I've been experimenting with PBR on clothing and will take a look!

Yes, maybe Reborn and Legacy are the two I should add. That's assuming those models are included in the full perm mesh items that I buy, of course. I definitely have some that include one or both of those. THANK YOU to everyone who responded to this! Looks like it was time to revisit the issue here.

I'm a texturer; have to watch for the full-perm modelers to make some stuff. I would love to add some Senra!

(Just a chuckle...) thinking if the title of my original post " Most popular female bodies for 2024" was in a forum of ESQUIRE readers. It also brings up some interesting articles (and a LOT of photos) when dropped into Google. We do live in a different world, yes?

Trouble is, my customers will be overwhelmingly Maitreya because I make everything for that first (and in many cases only). It's folks who AREN'T customers that this post is about.

Thank you Rowan! Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I'll bookmark that.

I've searched back as far as 2022, and it looks like nobody's updated this for a while. I'm a texturing creator, and I always make first for Maitreya Lara (or now, when possible, LaraX). Beyond that, I really have no clue which are worth the trouble. Many mesh models come with some combination of Belleza, Slink, Reborn and/or Legacy; quite a few include the "Fitmesh 5 sizes" which are actually a good option since they fit everyone (though not perfectly). So the question I'm asking: What are the "most worn" female bodies right now? For those of you that aren't creators, realize that once the design is done, making the other bodies is just noncreative, boring grunt work. If I make 10 colors, that's the same 10 processes done over and over for each body type. I find myself preferring to make something new instead of taking the time to do work that is neither interesting nor fun, while realizing that I'm costing myself possible sales by doing that. (As an aside: there are lots of comments about "not enough for Kupra." That may be because the super-curvy bodies stretch textures so far that they look awful, and it may not be worth the time to create entire new textures (including Normal and Specular) for just that one body. Maybe that's why I often see Kupra sold separately in MP while the other body varieties all come in a package.)

Given they don't want to share it, at least having the warning come up immediately would be a huge help! I would have yanked the dress immediately and changed its name prior to putting links to it all over the place.

I just had the same thing happen to me and filed a Support TIcket. Had an excellent conversation with a support specialist and learned what I had to do to fix the problem (which was to get an offending word, not just out of the item name, but in the Description as well. The word was "tequila." Which is not mentioned as any of the offending categories in the document you can find in the Knowledge Base. I realize tequila is an alcoholic beverage, but so are Brandy and Sherry, which are just fine. (And you'll find many GENERAL Marketplace items called "tequila" which slipped thru the filter, so you can't get any guidance there. So I filed a JIRA. I'm suggesting a few things: The fact that this filtering happens should be a lot easier to find out than it is now. The guidance should be a lot clearer, and if the "banned word" categories go beyond sex and violence, it should say so. Ideally, that word list should be made public somewhere, either as a document or a page where I can type a word in and see if it's classified Moderate or Adult. MORE ideally, if MP changes my item (which happens within an hour, I think), I should get an Email that tells me. MOST ideally, a warning would come up IMMEDIATELY when I saved a Marketplace item with the wrong Maturity Level, and showing the banned word. At least #1, 2 and 3 should be doable?

Hi! Not sure why, but the first notification I've ever received that there was a response to this post was about 5 minutes ago! Let's see, that's 4-1/2 months since Sitearm commented! Thanks to you and Shining Sun for checking in. (If you would ever like a personal tour thru the museum, send me an inworld message--I always get those!)

I DID do the complete process that Dakota Linden described in his October 2021 post above, and I thought it worked. But this morning those dresses are back to ADULT again. I really don't know why; I sure don't think they violate any of the standards detailed in the SL Website page, and there is nothing sexual or violent in the descriptions. You can take a look: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/En-YO-MIEL-Foil-Minidress-Maitreya-Gold/25001844 https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/En-YO-Sindra-Sequin-Minidress-Maitreya-Lara-White/25007769 Am I missing something? ADDED: I just noticed I do have the words "domme" and "dominant" in the KEYWORDS. Are those triggers? I've removed them from one color of each of the dresses and will report back on what happens. ADDED SEVERAL HOURS LATER: YES, that seems to have been the problem! My dresses are still GENERAL after that change. So we all must take the lesson--it is NOT just the words that appear on the page that are important!

THANK YOU for the complete explanation! I just did that for the different versions of two dresses I made that inexplicably switched themselves to ADULT. I hope it works!

You're exactly right. But when there's 20 empty storefronts earning zip, seems to me another option might be worth trying. And I see that all over the place. I guess to me it's a viscous circle: more full shops> more interesting place> more avs come> shops do better> everyone makes more $ and has a better experience> cycle back to step one!

WHY don't more sim owners offer this option? It's a very simple matter for the merchant to set the vendors to split the payment. Having more interesting storefronts just seems like a big win for everyone.

Thank you Polenth! The commission model certainly doesn't guarantee you'll sell stuff from the shop. (Alhough the inworld presence might help MP sales too; hard to know.

I'll come take a look! Thanks!

I'm a small, independent clothing creator. When I started out I rented a couple of shops by the week and it was killing me. The urban sim had lots of empty storefronts so I offered the sim owner to split all sales 50/50. She accepted and I've had that shop for two years. Since then, 50/50 is the only way I rent shops, and I think if it was a lot more common SL would have far fewer dead downtown streets. Marketplace is really convenient, but it wipes out SL downtowns just like Amazon does in RL. Even though I make less than an MP sale, it's a lot more interesting contributing to the inworld environment. And since my success benefits the sim owner, they have incentive to help advertise the shop. What does this group think?