Amiryu Hosoi

I noticed one of my best performing classifieds was removed. I don't know why and I don't know what caused this removal. What I do know now is that the titles of the classifieds are suddenly limited to 30 chars from now on. I didn't read any announcement about this did any of you? Are we forced to rework all our classifieds now? Ami

MMmm, if this only applies to clothes I have only a few high detail in my collection. But if you are looking for high detail Japanese themed Prefabs, Buildings & Lifestyle you should def visit our Hosoi Ichiba and the surroundings. You can find us at Japan: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Japan%20Kanto Ami

We make our own ,oney in Second Life so I have nothing to worry;-) Ami

Ziggy, you might want to explore this website a bit;-) http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries.jsp If I didnt have yough children I already moved away... Ami

For me it would not be the fortune I am after but more like living the life I would like with less stress, better environment, better food, more friendly people. In other words, quality of life. The older I get the more I find myself searching for just that. I have said this before and say it again. I think the people working in SL and other virtual environments are the real pioners. I also think that there is a good future for them. I don't believe the development of virtual worlds is just a new gimmick. I believe virtual environments are here to stay. So there will be plenty of work for people that hang in here. And if so, why not take your laptop to a better place to live a better high quality life? Ami

While it is good to hear a lot of us make some good money in SL it still very much depends on where you live and work. I live and work in the Netherlands and havew around USD 1500 netto. If on the other hand I was located in Indonesia or Thailand the same USD 1500,- would be a fortune. That brings me to the next question. Have anyone of you ever considdered moving to a country where living is better and cheaper? All you really need is a stable internet connection. Ami

So Shockwave, you suggest that all inworld stores and markets should just be a platform or a box full of vendors? Do you really think environment isn't playing a major part in sales. In my world shopping is also exploring, when the atmosphere is okay I will hang out longer and take a look at other products then I first came for. Atmosphere also can trigger emotions that when targeted will "force" your customers / visitors to "want to have" and thus want to buy. I hear some of you say; "I am a merchant and I am here to shop and not to explore". I just don't get that. RL is fast and busy enough as it is, why not slow down a bit, relax a bit and enjoy while you are shopping? What I am trying to do and what I think works for my product range is create a seamless combination of scenery and shopping area. In fact I lure people in with atmosphere. Ami

The difference is that my market is in fact a garden with a very clear floorplan surrounded by open pavilions so it is easy to find your way. Besides from a shopping area it is also a lovely serene garden where you can do tai chi or just hang out zipping your green tea. The point is that the market is walled and themed and it is surrounded by rpg ground. I could choose to block flying in the other 3 sims and leave the sim with the market as it is, flying enabled. But maybe it will break the enchantment. What strikes me in the answers is that not a lot people actually want to take the time to explore inworld shopping area. In my eyes a good shopping area can be an attraction an sich. It is always good to sow down a bit and enjoy the wonders of SL Ami

I didn't know Phoenix was able to bypass the Fly settings. What is the use of setting your land to "no fly" if people still can fly whenever they want. I think LL should stop allow viewers that can bypass land settings. If I am right, it is the land owner that decides about the settings, not the visitor. Btw, what other land settings can be bypassed with non LL viewers? Ami

I did a quick search but can't seem to find any answers or suggestions. I have 4 sims and only 1/4 of 1 sim is my inworld market / store. Because I want to force my visitors to explore and experience my scenery sims better and because we are starting Edo period Japanese roleplay I decided to block flying. Now, what I would like ti know is this; would block flying have a negative impact on my sales or are people smart enough to use the map and tp where they need to go? Any case studies? Ami

Well, if I didn't have to pay tier for my scenery sims (4) I would have a decent RL income. Only 1/4 of 1 sim is used for my inworld market all other space is used by several rpg groups and people having great times. (free of charge) I could choose to close them down and only maintain the Marketplace but, well, it wouldn't be so much fun and besides that I would let people down. Ami

If LL is going to use the 50% we pay to lower tier it would be a winwin situation... Ami

comma's without spaces. I have test it. Ami

I have played around a bit with weekly auctions in my inworld market, only a few people came back to check out the weekly discounted products. It didn't attract many people. We blogged about it back then and our blog is well read. Still not a few customers that followed the auctions. I think the auctions didn't work out because we weren't able to promote it enough. Linden however has all the tools to promote this new idea. I think this new tool can be great to get new people into our inworld shops. I am not scared it will devaluate my products. I already give big discounts when I feel like it or when I meet nice people. Next time those people come in my market they don't ask for bargains again. Ami

Just give the items away for free or delete, that is what I do. I can remember myself giving away the complete inventory of a building half a sim size. To give you an idea amongst countless items there were 40 chandeliers, total worth should have been around 50K or so. Btw deleting is a very good option, it keeps SL fresh. Ami

Reselling freebees is a no go zone. It is simply not done and very unfair the the original creator. Instead of thinking and posting about making money on other people's efforst you should create some items yourself and try to sell them. Ami

Well, I didn't say Hippo is expensive at all. I only want to get rid of all the double work that is involved in setting up servers and configuring products with the Marketplace and Hippop interface. I can tell you it is not funny when you need to redo 1500+ listings on Marketplace and after that redo them again for Hippo. A note on the affiliate idea. You build special vendors for your affiliates so they can sell your items and get a % of the sales. In my case I have set up 16 different categories for my products. Every category has its own affiliate vendor package and my affiliates get 30% of the sales. The use of affiliate vendors is a very good, if not the best way to get your name out their. Ami

Some time agoo people were talking about the possibility we were to have Marketplace Affiliate Vendors in the near future. Does anyone out here know if LL is still working on that? I realy would like to know because I started working on redoing all my 16 catalogs. (1500+ items) Right now I am using Hippo but when Marketplace Affiliate Vendors can replace I won't think twice. I would be happy to loose the double work. Anyone? Ami

So, when I put a 3 weeks of valuable work in a castle that I sell for 100K I am ripping p[eople off? Let me give you something to think about; Let's say I have put 200 hours into texturing and building the castle. Then there is all the hours that a merchant needs to spent marketing, designing, writing descriptions, managing blogs, managing sims, updating catalogs on the Marketplace and Hippo servers, etc. Uhm, how many hours do you think a merchant needs per week? I can tell you, a lot! So, I would not talk that easy about people ripping other people off. Btw, it is the customer that buys who is in charge and decides if he or she is ripped off. None of my customers think that is the case. Strange huh? Ami

Hi guys, I am working on the catalogs again and I am getting a litle bit grumpy about editing listings. 1. Why doesn't the system "see", copy and preset the permissions of our items 2. The price is another of tyhose labels. If the price is set on the item why not preset the price field? 3. Why do we have to click to add an image and then click again to open the browser? 4. Most wanted; Can't we have a checkbox in front of the "related products" in the list. I would like to be able to select multiple related items and transfer the data in one go!. Editing listings should be as easy as possible. As it is now it takes us way to much time. Ami

You could look at what fellow merchants are doing but that won't help you understand the / your market. Tagging your items is all about the level of quality of your items and how exclusive you want your items to be. For me, I am very expensive, my most expensive item is a castle and it will cost you 100K. I only want to sell to people who actually care about quality and uniqueness. I rather sell 5 houses a week for 15 K each then 50 houses for 1500 each. I want my customers to feel special and privileged. Ami

Please Lexie, can you please, please focus on what needs fixing first? Ami

Great Kim, we at the Hosoi Cluster are also doing our very best. To help the people of Japan Hosoi Ichiba has set up a Relief Fund to be delivered to The Red Cross. Hosoi Ichiba has set up donation signs in all the Hosoi Cluster Sims. Hosoi Ichiba already made a starting contribution of L$ 50.000. Please help the Japanese people and join us in contributing. The signs will stay up for a month. More at: http://hosoi-ichiba.blogspot.com Ami

4 Dutch sime, Japan Kanto, Japan Kansai, Japan Chubu en China Sichuan. Kom maar ens langs en waan je in Edo Japan;-) Ami