Madeliefste Oh

Zanara Zenovka wrote: The vast majority of my customers are merchants and I love it. They're knowledgable, interesting, creative, and just generally cool people to deal with. Though I do have some customers that build just for their own fun, most of them are merchants. And I have the same experience, interesting, creative people. They know how SL works, so they don't come up with a lot of drama when a delivery fails or when they discover for example a permission fault in one of the products. So when it comes to customer support they are the nicest people you can have. But it might not always be easy to get a merchant as a customer, or to keep him coming back. In general you can say they have a very good nose for quality and they are prepared to pay a bit for more to get the quality they want. They are always busy and don't want to spend much time on shopping. Though some people do shop for fun, most of them mainly shop when they need things to complete a project they are working on. So in most cases they are looking for this specific 'this or that' to realise their idea. You can jump low or high for them, but when you don't have the desired object available, you won't get them as a costumer, at least not at that moment. When I talk to customers it happens now and then that they spontanously start to tell me in what other sculpty shops they buy, and also why won't buy anymore at others. The reason I hear most why people keep being a customer somewhere is quality. When people decide to leave a shop as a customer, there are two important reasons: quality and the relation with the merchant. By time they discover shops with better quality then where they used to buy. For example people have bought several things already from a merchant and though the items look good on the product pics they are each time a bit disappointed about how the sculpt can be textured. When they discover alternatives that offer much better texture possibilites the first merchant is loosing his customer. The second but surely not unimportant reason has to do with the relationship with the merchant. I have often heared "He/she really makes good quality stuff, but I don't buy there anymore, because..." and after this because can come something like: she has such a bad customerservive | you have to wait for more then two weeks to get a repair for a product | he has such an attitude | they just won't help you when you have an issue with their products... and so on. And in those cases I also often hear: "It is with pain in the heart I decided so, because I really love his sculpts." So you can also conclude that most merchants are sensible to how they are treated by fellow merchants, they want to be treated with respect, like they do with their own customers. Once you loose a merchants customer for not treating him with respect or for lack of supporting your products, you have lost him forever. Because they have their principles.

Maybe you must just look at it from the bright side. I will make a few scripters rich. Who is the first scripting hero who is going to bring me this brand new automated 'sort out my develivery folder on log-in' product, that automated sends new notecards to my notecard folder, textures to my textures folder, landmarks to landmarks and so on? I'm sure you can expect a lot of sales for a product like this. It would even be more nice if I can customize such a product for my own needs, and tell it where I want my snapshots to go by default, or make a difference for where I store textures that I bought and textures that I uploaded myself. And who is the first to come with a work around that repears this RLV problem?

Couldbe Yue wrote: I'd certainly like to see some kind of weighting that would penalise sellers who haven't logged into the marketplace in a period of time (6 months is fair I think, even though I'd rather it was something shorter). That way at least stuff would be shown where the seller is around - even if it's only to log in. I like this idea. It is better for the customer to have merchants that are around to give customers support for their items then merchants who don't. So it would be a good thing, both for the customers and the merchants that active merchants gain more visibility on the marketplace. I think it is not too much asked from a merchant to login once a month to both the marketplace and in world. If you are not prepared to do so the cost would be a sink of visibility of your items on the marketplace.

My guess is it has to do with some sort of technology with servers. I think they are trying to make the system lighter, and for that the way how, (or the place where), the inventories in are stored must change somehow. I don't know much about technology, so for me it is hard to understand how the inventory works now anyway. I know it works with the asset server, but what this actually means, no idea. Now cloud computing seems to be hot. So maybe they are working on that, put all inventory items in a cloud. And it is probably too much demand from the system to let this cloud split up items again in different folders in everybodies inventory. Or maybe it is just cheaper to deliver all at the same folder, and let the residents do the hard work of sorting it out again.

Anaiya Arnold wrote: Thanks for keeping us in the loop. It's nice someone can be bothered doing the job the Commerce Team are paid to do. :matte-motes-big-grin-squint: I don't see the advantage of getting all and everything in my received items folder. I don't see the problem with the current system where notecards come in the notecard folder, scripts in the scripts, textures in the textures and so on. Why mess up the current system, for what purpose? What problem does it solve? None, for me, it will only give me extra work. Why must I drag all received things by hand to the folder where they belong? My most important question is: will I be able to answer a notecard that is in the received items folder? Or must every single customer request for support be dragged into my notecard folder first to be able to answer it? I fear the latest will be the case.

http://www.ipromisephilip.com/ Who want to promote himself in public as someone who has no friends, but needs Philip Rosedale to make a silly deal like this? Who wants to be a loser?

Toysoldier Thor wrote: If they did... the logical question and related fear is.... WHY? LL has endured criticisms of their results in the past and still released. Why did they decide to stop? Apart from not wanting to reveal declining figures, a reason might be they don't focus any longer on businesses as customers. For a long time LL aimed to sell SL as a business platform, where corporations can hold their meetings, meet businesspartners, advertise their products and so on. In my opion the aim from these quarterly reports was not to inform current customers and merchants about the in world economy in the first place, but they were a marketing tool for pulling new corporations into SL. Now the targetgroup LL aims for has changed. It is the consumersmarket that they focus on now. This target group doesn't need to be convinced by economical figures to get them as customers. So the marketing tool 'quarterly reports' became superfluous.

A point is also that you have much more competition now then five years ago. I did a bit of research on this and found these figures: 2007: total businesses in SL 42.597 2010: total businesses in SL 64.651 More recent figures are not available, but I guess the number of businesses is still growing, while the hours spent online by all residents are declining. The number of items for sale grows and grows. When every merchant releases one item per week and it comes in for example 3 color variations or permission variations, this means about 200.000 new items available per week for customers. In this pile of new goods your item is burried soon. Not even to mention the items that are available already and that have gained visibility on the marketplace or by being rezzed in many places in world.

Luna Bliss wrote: This has been mentioned before in this thread but it can't be emphasized enough - be very very clear on the boundaries of the job and create a written agreement that is signed by both parties. Include exactly what you will add to their land in terms of garden elements (waterfalls, streams, pathway, lights, general feel and style or theme, time-line for when job will begin and end, and so on). You may not know the design until it unfolds, but you can give a general idea of what will be included so your customer can't come in at the end of the job and say something like "but I thought there would be more waterfalls". To begin the process ask the client to write a list of what they want, and then add to it or change after a first consultation. Ask them to be very specific, and ask more questions if they have trouble articulating. The fact is that most clients don't quite know what they want until they think and write about it. I'm such a customer as well, who don't know what she wants. But when this project had started with forcing me to think about what I want, I'm quit sure my parcel would not have been reshaped by now. What I want from a designer is not only to do the work for me, but also do the thinking. I'm the kind of customer who thinks: you have the talent for this, you might be able to envision a landscape that is beyond my dreams, so please go ahead, do what you think is best for this place (taking in account this and that). It's a creative process, you cannot know on forehand what you will need exactly. Ideas grow while you are busy with shaping (even when you start with a clear cut concept). But I realise that all customers are different, the other end of the spectrum might be someone who exactly knows what he wants, but has not the talent or time to do it himself. I think you should be able to work with both kind of customers, and all tastes in between. But anyway, I'm a satisfied customer, both in the way we worked on this project and the end result.

Madeliefste Oh waves at iCade Nice to see my parcel here in the forum. I'm indeed very pleased with your work. It's a pity I never made a pic of how it was before. That might be an idea for you as well, 'before' and 'after' the metamorphosis pictures.

I DON'T want an improved search. So they better NOT make it possible to refine search with a search filter for mesh, sculpt or prim. And DON'T exclude merchant names from item search. I really love to see all product from someone named for example 'House Music' when I'm looking for a house.

I also DON'T want the possibility for co creators the have access to my marketplace store.

I DON'T want the possibility for one merchant to have several different stores on the marketplace. Imagen that one merchant could have several brands in different stores just like in world, that would really be a disaster. I DON'T want an 'agreement button' that must be clicked by buyers of full perms items that come with user licenses.

I see that a lot of people like the idea to have a folder for received items from the marketplace, but not at all for items you rezz and pick up again. I would suggest to change this "Received items" folder to an "SL Shopping Bag". In the shopping bag comes everything you buy, whether it is bought on the marketplace or bought in world by using the buy or pay option of an object. What I would consider as a big help is when I can open my shopping bag in a floating window. So I can have my inventory and my shopping bag (de-attached from my inventory) open. That would make it more handy for me to sort out my new purchases.

If this will be implemented anyway, which I hope not, then at least make it possible to open the received items folder in a floating window apart from the rest of the inventory. So you can have both open next to each other and organise your inventory by dragging the received items to the folders where you want them to be. But even better: reconsider the plan and cancel it.

Hi Deja, Like others already said: focus on your main store. It was a pretty good strategy in 2007/08 to have a lot of satelite stores along the grid. Though even in those days it was not always easy to find good selling spots, it was a lot trial and error. But it was still possible to find some places where you could make a good profit. Like Porky I also had about 30 profitable satelite shops, but since LL took over the marketplace, I have seen them become unprofitable one by one.

A source of troublesome complexity.

I do my very best to do business in SL in a honest way. I do that both in the energy I invest in my products - I try to make things that are worth the money for my customers –, and in the way I treat my customers, when it comes to service. As a creator of full perms items I'm vulnerable to copyright infringements. I had to file DMCA reports several times. In all cases I was tipped by someone that this or that avatar was selling my merchandise with full perms, which is not allowed by my user license. Most of the time I was tipped by customers who recognisated my work, sometimes only after they bought it. I use a logo in my sculpty map, and often it's the logo that leads back to me as the original creator. I'm also in groups where sculpty creators tend to warn each other when someone is discovered who sells full perms of several creators, it can be on the marketplace or in world. When I get those tips I check the landmark or the marketplace shop to see if any of my products are there. Sometimes I recognise work of other sculptymakers, and then warn them as well. And then we have this vague category of tips that is only word of mouth. Or where proof must be found on an open grid, or where the proof is already gone, the land was abadonned, or LL has already deleted or whatever story, that you cannot be sure of. My assessment has been that the number of people who spread these accusations because they are hurt by a copyright infringer must be much and much larger then the few people who are so sick minded to hurt an innocent person by spreading rumors about him being an copyright infringer. So for me it was more or less weighing the chances. For example messages that suggest a lot of drama, or a message that comes from a ten days old resident, are typical cases I just ignored. Actually I relied on intuition, when it seems to me it was a serious warning by someone victimesed, I tended to do what this person asks: ban the infringer and all his alts. But after this experience and reading your comments, I think indeed, that is not the right way to handle it. The trust that you might loose when someone turns out to be perfectly clean, is not worth what you will gain by banning the bad guys. I'm not going to listen to rumors without proof anymore. Thanks for your opions.

Tonight I came in contact with a customer who had some questions about my licenses and additional licenses for other grids. After I had explained him we had a nice talk. Then he told me he had found me on the marketplace, but the planned to buy a lot so he wanted to do that in world. I send him a landmark of my shop. A bit later he told me he could not enter and sees banlines all over. I went to the shop and tried to tp him there. He still could not come in. Then I checked my land settings, and saw him on my ban list. And a whole bunch of alts that had names very much like his. Let's say his name was John Doe, then there about 6 names like that: Johnn Doe, Johnx Doe, Johnny Doe, JoJohn Doe and so on. I must have picked his name up in a group chat or group notice, where he was presented as a copybotter, who operates with these alts as well. But from the talk we had before, where he was asking me for a license to use my sculpts in an alternative grid, I came to the conclusion that that was the opposite of what a copybotter would do, asking permission from the original creator. So I unbanned him. He came in and I really felt embarrassed to explain him that his name goes around as copybotter and that I had banned him for that reason. He was really surprised to hear about it, and indignant as well. I never touched such I thing he told me. And I believed him, because the whole talk we had before was pointing out I had to do with someone who does his best to do everything in a legal way with respect for the rights of the original creator. I asked him if he uses alts. One, he told me, and gave me the name. Then I told him about the alts that where also in my banlist. He assured me he did not make them and was interested to find out who is behind it. I didn't remember the source of the rumor. You now and then get a warning from this or that group about a copybotter. After the first shock was over, he told me he did not blame me and actually was glad to find out, what was happening behind his back. It didn´t stop him to buy at my shop either. He spend for about 50 usd at sculpties. Anybody else similar experiences?

I see the linden dollar as a part of the experience of a world of imagination. We must not loose that. It is like Bouttime says: it doesn't feel like real money. And that fits well to our world, where we know that our clothes are not made of fabric, but of pixels, but still we accept the suggestion that a dress is made of satin or a jeans of denim. We know that linden dollars present real money, but the fact that it is another monetary unit that can only be used in this world gives us more freedom to play around with it. In my opinion it is much better for a fantasy world that people now and then change some money according to their budget to spend. That is the moment of confrontation with the real money. Once the lindens are bought, they stand apart from people RL budget. It has become money without sorrow... there is already paid for them, they are ment for your amusement, so nothing witholds you to spend them with joy. When you get rid of the linden dollar, every single buy with confront people with RL money. It is not that they buy for 10 dollar (or 50 dollar according to someones budget) and then have a good sum to spend for a while. But every single buy will be considered in terms of rl spending, it can make the whole proces of buying more stressfull. Though I admit that sometimes in RL situations it is a bit strange or even embarrassing to explain to people that anonymous strangers buy your merchandise with 'monopoly money'. And that other anonymous strangers are prepared to pay hard dollars for your 'monopoly money'. But in the end it is not much stranger then telling people that you make for example breedable animals. I think many people consider the trade in breedables as something even more odd then getting paid in with play money. I pleat to keep rl money out of the play field. Let's just dream on, with our L$.

No, it is stuck at 248 because LL wants the rate to be at 248. When I sell my lindens for 247 per dollar, this means the buyer is getting less L$ for his us dollar. They won't buy my less linden dollar as long as LL keeps flooding the market with cheaper L$ then mine. And that is what is happening. When the demand for L$ is higher then the L$ offered by residents, without intervention of LL the price of the L$ would be higher for the buyer. Since LL want the L$ to have a certain fixed value, they just 'print' new L$ that they offer at the current market rate.

The best price you can get now is 1 dollar for 248 L$. This is a fixed price for more then a half year now. It usually takes 2 or 3 days before your linden dollar offer is taken by someone. Sometimes (mainly in weekends) it goes faster, and you can sell for that price within a day. You can see a pattern. The L$ is often stable for a very long time, for a year or a year and a half or so. Then something happens (something at LL or something at the financial markets worldwide) Then the L$ is unstable for a while. Till about a year ago the price has been stable for a very long time at 258. Then for a few weeks the Lindex is flooded by linden dollars. Many people want to sell and then you see the value of the L$ decline for a periode. Last time when it happende prices down till about 270 per usd. After a few crazy weeks, the available L$ at the market start to shrink again, and the prices go up again. It takes another few weeks, where the prices slowly rise up again more and more. And then it stabelizes again. Till a point where LL decided that the linden dollar is at a good rate, and then they keep it there, by offering additional L$ when the demands for L$ gets higher then the L$ that are offered by residents.

Medhue Simoni wrote: Besides a line or 2 of products for couples, Valentine's day was generally just a normal day for me in past years. This year is a bit different too tho, because this is really the first year where half my sales comes from the MP. For the first 4 years of sales in SL, my inworld sales made up around 70-75% of my sales. So, my end result for this V day. Oh, about 20% of what I usually make on an average day. The day before, was only 40% of what I usually make on an average day. Your results are very comparable with mine, Medhue. My day before was about 50% of what I ususally make on an average day. How about 15 feb for you? I'm back to normal average since then. Pamela Galli wrote: I only had a couple of sales in the category of delivered but I was not paid -- I just got a small percentage of what I usually get on MP, which leads me to believe that for some of us, either our stores were down totally, or there was no record of some orders at all. Not much to do about that. It is possible, Pamela, but we can never be sure. It might also be the downtime of the marketplace for a big part of the day combined with a different buying pattern of customers this year. Like Medhue I saw a large decrease in the reduction of my products the day before V day. How was that for you? Do you also fit into his pattern, or was 13 feb a normal sales day for you?

In another thread I wrote: For me the most important thing is that they show that they care. Just a stupid standard 'we apologies for all inconvienence' is not satisfying at all. It would be so simple to make a gesture to show that they do care. Thanks Linden Lab. This is a nice gesture to show us that you do understand the impact of what happened and even more important, that you do care. For me this recovers a bit of my trust.

I did not even make 10% from what I make on a normal everage day. 80-85% of my customer buy at marketplace. They are merchants themselves, so they are the first ones to discover when marketplace is broken or acting different then normal. It influences my sales immediately.