Zanara Zenovka

Just put in a marketplace support ticket - silly reviews get removed pretty easily, usually within a day or two, especially if you can demonstrate that they misrepresent your product, etc

Josh Susanto wrote: People will buy my stuff even though it's somewhere out there for free, because somewhere out there isn't always very convenient to get to, especially if you're not 100% sure about exactly what you're looking for. See this is something I have often wondered regarding the whole copy bot thing. Pam I'm really sorry this has happened to you and I in no way want to trivialise the trauma and annoyance of someone stealing your work, but I just want to come at this from a slightly different angle. What are the hardest and most important parts of creating a successful business (ie, selling lots) in SL? I'd say marketing factors - advertising, building a brand, finding customers, generating good word of mouth, actually getting your products in front of customers, getting a good reputation for quality and support. Anyone can make stuff, and quite a few people make really good stuff, but whether people actually find it and buy it is another matter altogether. How many copy botters really put in the effort of marketing anything effectively? How does anyone find their stuff? I suppose they can stick it up on the SLM, or put it in a freebie box? I could see you losing some sales on the SLM maybe, but your core market of people who buy $US 20 houses are not going to be digging around in freebie yards. I guess my point is that many of the things that make marketing a challenge in SL for legitimate businesses, also make things harder for copybotters to actually make any profit (apart from those whose motives are purely griefing). Eg a shopper like me never even *knows* if there's a ripoff version out there, because of the way I shop. If i want lingerie, i'll go to Blacklace, plants i'll go to Heart, and if I were ever in the market for a kitchen or mansion (highly unlikely because I spend my days on a platform surrounded by scripts in boxes) but I'd go straight to la Galleria. Why? because I know they make good stuff, it suits my tastes, it's good quality, the owners are decent human beings, their stores are beautiful, inspiring and a nice place to spend some time, and one way or another their products are in my face regularly enough that I'm reminded they exist. And most importantly, at some stage in the past all these things together have converted me from just a shopper into their customer. I would suggest that if you're good at the business of making customers, not sales, there is a limit to how much these things can affect you. I'm lucky in my business that scripts can't be copied the same way as builds (and I do have sympathy, I know it's sickening), but people eventually copy every new idea I have - it's the price you pay for being innovative. It pisses me off, yes, but I've just resigned myself to creating quality, value and ease of use and to keep turning new problem-solving ideas into reality. Any skilled scripter can copy a product's functions, but not many have the design ethos and imagination to do that in a way that is efficient, intuitive and user-friendly to the point where they have customers like mine who say "I want to buy an x but I want one made by you." A couple of things people have said lately that have stuck in my head: "No one in business ever went wrong providing quality and value" (I forget who that was now, sorry) and Sassy Romano who said "I worked out long ago that my customers are my greatest sales force." All you can do is keep doing what you do better than anyone else and keep your customers happy. 

Yeah I've noticed this for a while, and others have mentioned. It seems to recover within a week or so. Might have been a Jira started a while back

OK - Spelling it out slowly: It's Not about You. No one cares about whatever drama you want to create over this. I stated one fact - SLM search uses quotation marks for specific phrase searches: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Searching-and-browsing-the-Marketplace/ta-p/817001 That is all.

Cerise wrote: Zanara Zenovka wrote: Good grief - it's not all about you. Merely telling the OP how to do their desired search. You replied to my post, so you made it about me. And you did not tell the OP how to do anything, you merely said it can't be done without any explanation, not very helpful at all since it is possible to get better results with better keyword choices and custom query strings. ROFL are you serious? I replied to the last post on the thread - hardly makes it personal lol And yes I told the OP exactly how to do their search - I'm sure they understood, but how about I spell it out for you? Using quotes "green hair" gives you only the results that have both terms. In many commonly used search engines now, eg Google, this is implicit, ie you only have to type green hair, not "green hair" to achieve that result. In SL search this needs to be explicit, you have to type "green hair". My original post gave all this information for anyone with average reading comprehension skills who's not overly paranoid and looking for personal attacks where there are none. I suggest you develop both these attributes.

I guess they have their reasons, but anything that makes it harder for your customer to pay is just daft.

Good grief - it's not all about you. Merely telling the OP how to do their desired search.

The idea's not particularly new or problematic. I remember buying some Spanish language audio tutorials this way when i was going travelling - bought a pack off the SLM whcih when rezzed gave me a URL and login for a site to download a zip of mp3s - worked well. Pretty common for file formats that are used outside of SL, eg PS files for clothing.

"green hair" neither SL search or marketplace do this implicitly

Your PS settings are fine, your problem with resizing is mainly going to be the text because typefaces don't respond well to being stretched. Go back to your original PSD, save a copy, then resize it to 700x525 (or whatever it is) and delete the text layer. Then redo your text or copy/paste the text from your original (in text edit mode) into the new one and enlarge the text size in the text edit - not by stretching. You can also copy your text effects by R clicking on the effects layer in the original (altho you might want to scale back the bevel and emboss a touch - it makes it a little hard to read).

ROFL What a ridiculous waste of time that was. Not surprised after seeing those shoes - they look like a lampshade tried to mate with a pair of hooker heels and got strangled by the curtains in the process.

I have affiliate vendors in my store from two other scripters whose work I know and respect because I'm often referring their products to customers for specific purposes. It works well and it's a nice extra convenience for my customers. I think affiliate schemes can work well if they're positioned appropriately.

Most commonly they're actually there, but just not showing in inventory. Start by clearing your cache if you haven't already, then log in somewhere empty so it can load without extra stress (one of the Gov Linden sims like Platinum or Rhodium are usually empty - check them first tho). Other factor - how many items in your inventory? over 10k you can start to get problems (Torley actually recommends 6k max - yes, merchants - 6k ;p)

Tiffy Vella wrote: Hi Valois..this is an interesting topic, and I'm looking forward to seeing what others have to say. While my Marketplace sales are increasing, and are now on a par with inworld sales, I still intend to keep my mainstore and satelite stores. The decision is partly business-based, as I believe that I'm covering two demographics- those who immerse and shop inworld (like I often do), and those who like Marketplace convenience. Inworld, I can participate in sales events and fairs, and have an actual presence that customers can see. It's very much an emotional/lifestyle choice too. I really enjoy making the store an expression of what my business is about. It's a space that I enjoy, and it's a chance to display info and items in a 3D environment. In fact a big part of my brain really wants to understand how it can be that we have this potentially gorgeous and unique virtual world, and the people who were attracted to that concept are now supposedly shopping on a flat conventional website. It's a bit arse-backwards, I reckon, or is the average sl-er today not the same virtual citizen as 3 years ago? As a shopper, I'll often use the Marketplace to find a product, and then I'll usually go to the inworld store to look about and purchase. Or if I'm in a store I'll look up a product on the Marketplace to glean more info from the merchants description. Anyway, while my inworld shops continue to profit, attract new customers, and bring me joy, I'm going to continue doing what I came to SL to do.....and that's live in a virtaul 3D world. Same here really - with the one difference being that I'll sometimes deliberately buy on the marketplace if I think I'll want to review the product later, as a way of supporting people who make really good things. And an in-world store gives you a lot of information about the quality of a product. I wouldn't buy a dress from a designer if their inworld store betrays a lack of visual aesthetic or attention to detail, or from a scripter whose store shows a lack of organisation and incompete realisation of ideas. A store tells you a lot about how someone's mind works. I still get a lot of new customers from in-world, more than half my sales come from there, and a good proportion of my SLM sales are from people who've visited the shop in the past anyway, or recommendations from them. I gets lots of existing customers popping in regularly to see what new things I have, or to ask advice on what sort of script or gadget they can get to help with a particular business issue. I also spend quite a bit of time giving customers pre-purchase advice, when people are looking for solutions to complex issues, and want to know *exactly* how something will work before they buy. I've also quite deliberately designed my store as a place where people can come to get a quick overview of available devices to make their SL easier, or get ideas for ways to improve their business, eg I put in a reading room with links to useful online articles about business and marketing ideas that apply to SL, and a collection of free basic business scripts to get people started. I worked out a while back I'm not in the business of making sales, but of creating customers, and my inworld store is an essential part of this. I just think having an inworld store is a no-brainer. Without it I'd be cutting off half my market. Can anyone name a single serious merchant who doesn't have one?

The shopping cart was the result of the blind pig-headededness of the original marketplace migration "team" who insisted on the damn thing, despite much hew and cry from merchants at the time. I doubt if It could be removed now, technically, without significant disruption, even if they wanted to. To the merchant with screaming customers because they won't redeliver transfer items (sorry not going back to check who) - sometimes you just have to err on the side of keeping customers happy. Who cares if someone gets another copy of one item? It costs you nothing, and makes the difference between someone else having a good or bad experience with your business. I always figure that if a tiny effort on my part can make a big difference to someone else then it's worth doing, because of the simple efficiency of the equation.

If you get a review that's obviously unreasonable just put in a support ticket on the marketplace and explain why. To make it easier, check the marketplace TOS and explain what rules they're breaking (misrepresentation of the product is a good one). If you follow the right channels and put your case clearly they'll fix it.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Wanted/bd-p/Wanted

Around 50-100. After 100 you really start to get a noticable delay when updating contents. Although that shouldn't cause huge stress for the delivery script itself, I like to make its job as easy as possible. I use 50.

WADE1 Jya wrote: I've been getting inworld notifications from the boxes, as well as emails (if offline). Nothing changed here for me..... So, if it helps you at all, this issue is not effecting everyone.... Same here

Brooke Linden wrote: The following requirements must be met for the commission refund to occur: The customer has attempted to purchase the same item(s) in multiple orders after experiencing a delay in delivery and has asked for a refund on all but one of the orders. As a merchant, the full order amount or purchase price of the item purchased more than once must be refunded. Thanks Brooke - good to get some acknowledgment. Another situation you should be aware of is customers making one or more purchases that fail to deliver within a reasonable time, and come to the inworld store to purchase instead, in which case all SLM purchases are refunded. (see my ticket 01098555 as example). The issue of increased failure rates of shopping cart vs single purchases as mentioned by others has been ongoing since SLM's inception (you'll find a jira or 2 on the subject). Anyone familiar with SLM workings avoids using it and advises customers to do likewise.

Toysoldier: Reading comprehension really isn't your forte, is it? I haven't said the implementation of DD is going to be all sweetness and light, I'm merely trying to inject some basic technical information into this discussion, having seen people getting all worried because of erroneous assumptions that demonstrate a lack of understanding of how asset storage and delivery currently works. I'm actually trying to help people by sharing information, and a couple of lines of impassive technical facts from me do not warrant the histrionics and personal attacks you're determined to indulge in. You need to pull your head in and stop just trying to wind up hysteria for the sake of it, because you are one of the least knowledgable people here. A week ago you were *amazed* when I explained the basics of how magic boxes work. A few days ago you were seeing LL conspiracies everywhere because *OMG your messages had been capped for the first time!!111!!! and LL must have changed something!* You didn't even know how ordinary transfers of inventory and messages occur, let alone scripted ones, yet you want to carry on here like people should listen to you as some sort of expert. Get a grip, really. Don't you have some rocks to bang together or something?

Everyone needs to stop worrying about this until the technical specifications of its actual implementation are announced, because people are making all sorts of assumptions based on a lack of understanding of how asset storage and delivery actually works. For example, people are so worried about their inventory. **The inventory is just a file structure showing the items on the asset server that you have access to. ** When your items in your inventory aren't loading, that's happening at your end - the files are still there on the asset server. Why do you think you're able to fix "lost inventory" by clearing your cache, ie by actually deleting something? http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Inventory

Steph Catseye wrote: Thank you Mari! I believe this issue can be reproduced by Lindens and the outcome will be as expected! I have faith in that! if anyone cares and want to follow the Jira Topic, here is my JIRA ENTRY: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-25536 You might want to set a priority on your Jira

Steph Catseye wrote: I thought live Chat Support will straighten it out... they aren't online at this time! So i called billing support, 5 times to wait in line, when it was my turn it said CALL COMPLETED and hung up! Eventually i got a Supporter, let's call him Mr Douchebag since he didn't wanted to tell me his name! Maybe you should just put in a ticket now then contact live chat on Monday? They don't do weekends. You're not going to get anywhere with billing - it's not their department. I doubt the CEO or Torley do notecard support... Jira's a good idea too.

Jens Shinn wrote: Well, I sent you an IM in-world, but you did not reply yet. So I will do it again here in the forums: I'm a native german speaker, perhaps I can help out at least partially? Hi Jens - thanks! sorry I didn't get the IM and only just checked back here - I'll get in touch