Czari Zenovka

Spica Inventor wrote: I would say that 90% of Merchants are found in one way or another doing an SL Marketplace search first these days. ;-) Speaking only for me, I find the vast majority of new stores in hunts.

Very interesting, Deja. Thank you for sharing that info. I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from you re: number of products I offer, amount of sales, etc. thus, re: in world sales, I can get a pretty good idea how the customer arrived. In my case the majority of my in world sales (which is teensy compared to the MP) I find are directly related to hunts. I can tell by my transaction records if a person came for a hunt item and also purchased something in the store in the same timeframe. Whether someone purchases an item when she is there for the hunt item or not, I do believe that it is great exposure for my shop. When I'm wearing the hat of a hunter/customer and not a merchant, I rarely stay to shop at a hunt location - BUT - I keep a notecard handy to list the shops that sell the type of items in which I'm interested and that I will return to. This also works in tandem with "word of mouth." Let's say I have not gone back to a particular store I noted during a hunt but I hear in group chat someone asking, "Where can I get xyz?" If I have a store noted for xyz, I offer that in group chat. Awhile back on the General Forum someone asked where they could get a Medieval gown for rp. I had just completed The Rennaisance Hunt and marked a shop with which I was quite impressed that sells Medieval clothing/accessories, so I posted the shop name in that thread. Being a small merchant...*any* method that helps people find my shop is wonderful. I'll keep participating in hunts because they're fun and it motivates me to think outside the box in creating my hunt gift.

Madeliefste Oh wrote: Now when you save the png file as 24 bits, the alpha channel is excluded before you upload. You can do this by not using the 'save as' button, but instead use 'save for web and devices', there you can select the png 24 bits. (At least that is how it works in Photoshop, I don't know how to do it in Gimp or other programs). In Gimp the two processes that deal with keeping alpha layers or not is to either merge or flatten prior to saving. One of them keeps the alpha layer and one doesn't. I haven't used this method in awhile so would have to go back and read up on it. What I do when an alpha texture is not needed for the final result, I save for the format I want (.png or .jpg) and Gimp asks if I want to "export" the image which apparently takes out the alpha layer/s. The other option that I sometimes use is to just delete the alpha layer prior to saving to .png or, for MP ads, .jpg.

Deja Letov wrote: Madeliefste Oh wrote: Hi Drake, The tga 32 bits is for texture with an alpha channel. The tga 24 has only three channels: red, blue, and green. It can have a 4th channel, the alpha channel. But you must create that yourself, and that is a bit complicated. Now png is a texture format that has the alpha channel already included. You don't have to create it first, it is already there, so that is much more easy to work with then with the tga 32 bits. I avoid jpg for uploading. Jpg had its avantages for pictures you place on the web, it creates small size files. But this small size has its price in term of quality. Jpg creates groups of pixels, and 'remembers' this group as one pixel color. Now when you upload to SL, you have already lost quality. Then SL itself writes your picture to a jpg2000 format, and then you are loosing some quality again. So you have two times a loss. Tga a texture format that was original designed for 3D objects. It simply can 'remember' more information then the jpg format. So when you upload that one to SL, you just have 1 time quality loss when SL writes your picture to jpg2000 format. Great post Mad! I agree on the JPG issue, but since you said you use PNG for alpha's, is there any reason not to just use png's for everything? Is there a significant difference between png and tga quality? (sorry I know this is off topic from the OP). I took a 10-week Gimp course offered in SL - three times!!! I knew absolutely nothing about graphics programs at the time so my first time through was basically learning what all the icons did; the second time through I understood more about how to use Gimp for my intended purposes. The third time was because I was determined to complete the final project - a man's shirt. Ugh! That's a story for a whole other time. Anyway...the person who teaches this class is what I would consider a Gimp "expert." She believes in using .PNG for everything in SL, including alphas. She went so far as to say she would immediately fail someone from the course if she knew .tga was used in any of the projects. I'm just at the point where I can wrap my head around all this a little bit. As I understand it, and has been mentioned, .PNG is a loss-less platform as opposed to .JPG, which is better suited for posting images on the web. Honestly I still struggle a bit using .PNG with alphas and can do it easier with .TGA but for the instructor to feel so strongly about the use of .TGAs, there must be some reason to not use them. One of the great things I learned from taking that class is that for ad copy it is absolutely unnecessary, and laggier, to use 1024x1024 images. I have found that for most of my in world ads, using 256x256 works fine. That's about the extent of talking somewhat intelligibly on the issue but your post brought to mind the comments of the instructor re: .TGA.

arabellajones wrote: In the time I have been here, there have been several new pieces of shiny announced. Their arrival has been slow to happen, and associated with obvious bugs when it does. Can we trust the Lindens to deliver on their promises? Should they spend a few months on the basics of delivering a reliable Grid? I don't have any use for Pathfinding, I admit, and many of the things I come to SL for have become worse during the long delivery process. And it is only now that you have realised you have to fix groups, and how HTTP is used, and sim-crossing, and the cching system, and.... And now I hear of outsiders being brought in, of Mesh deformers and materials. I hear of added complexity, and more data to download, when so often SL if failing to deliver textures for what seems like an age. I hardly need to ask the question. If Linden Labs were a pizza shop, I'd be on a diet. It's been this way since I began in 2007. LL used to take customer polls...at least informal ones on what features residents wanted. I swear it was like they took the answers and did the exact opposite. :matte-motes-sour: There are bugs that are still broken since I joined, features residents have begged for (that, according to some gifted coders who post, are not that difficult to do), the Marketplace issue alone would take all day to list the current showstopper bugs, but what does LL do? Release new shinies and hope the residents who have been here for years just go away to be replaced by new residents who don't yet realize how buggy the platform is.

HisaDrug wrote: Not argument perhaps but its weird to me that you look at my personal profile n present it to public n say you wrote oh fuk this fuk that, thats gonna affect yer customers. Sure I agree wit you if thats the case. But customers would contact the shop owners no matter not, cos of the products, not based on how the shop owner wrote his profile. Thats just a really ridiculous thing to say. My post is about HOW THEY DONT COOPERATE ME COS THEY HAVE NO PATIENCE TO LISTEN TO ME IN THE FIRST PLACE. Not me, not the owner, not the shop keeper who has no patience. This is like repeating myself over n over n this is so strange !!! lol Yer first few posts were very helpful I appreciated very much. I even copied n pasted em on my memo so I can look at it again, n then idk now I need to change my profile n how i think out loud or how to behave n how to speak properly like a public speaker just becos I have a shop? Im a friendly person no matter how strange my profile might look to some ppl, most of the time ppl dont even look at it. If they did they woulda stumbled upon my feed to look at the pictures. Now I understand this forum is just a personal exposure n set out for flaws becos ppl wanna look at the negative than positive. But I'll really end it up at this point n im sorry if i sounded harsh but take a look at all those ridiculous replies. on top of that now ppl sniff at my profile n say ok Im doing it wrong becos some shyt I wrote, n its gonna affect my personality. well not really. Preface: This is not an attack but an attempt to help. Whether it's fair or not, whether we like it or not, it is human nature to sometimes "judge a book by its cover." A merchant friend and I were talking the other day and both agreed that forums were a good way to get a "feel" for someone - their personality, general helpfulness to customers, etc. and posts that consistently rub us the wrong way (everyone can have an off day) from particular merchants, we make note of and will not buy from that merchant regardless how wonderful their products are. How we present ourselves to the public in person *and* on forums, blogs, etc. can and does make an impression. Likewise our profiles. If I go to a new store, I tend to pull up the profile of the owner, especially if I may make a purchase. There have been times that the profile has been so offensive to me (and what is offensive to someone varies from person to person) that I immediately leave, never to return. This *is* an issue. Maybe not with all customers, but I'd rather take measures to avoid offending as many customers as possible. I do understand about social activities and there is certainly a place for that in a merchant's profile. I have found over the years, however, the more seriously I want my business to be taken, the more space I use in my profile for that reason. If you enjoy rp (which can take up a lot of group space) and other social activities, I would use the suggestion already given to make a dedicated alt as your public relations alt and have all your store policies, etc. on the alt with a note on the front page of your main avatar to the effect of: "If you have any questions or issues with <your store name> products, please contact <alt> via <whatever method you choose>. I suggest email and then set the alt to receive in world IMs to email so you can receive those offline and log in the alt to attend to the issues. Most of the posters here are truly trying to help you. If you respond with, "Yes, but..." there's not much more anyone can do.

Melita Magic wrote: Even offering a sim or freebies one can run into this type of behavior. Enough is not enough for some who you will cross paths with in SL (or also RL.) We have to create strong boundaries, especially those of us who tend to be 'softies' or endlessly patient. It's too bad those types of customers can't get a sense of perspective. For most I recommend a note card of instructions for common issues, and refer them to google if they need a translation. <snip> ETA after reading OP's latest post: If you haven't yet (I do not look up profiles when people post here so I do not know), then, put a customer service panel in your picks or in the first page of your profile. State that you will attend to customer service issues as your personal time permits, and if they have not heard from you in (reasonable time - I would say 48 to 72 hours) to send you a new IM or new note card, in case it was capped. The above made me think of an "interesting" experience I had awhile back with someone. I give complete, clear instructions on how to use, resize, etc. my products on the included notecard. At the end of the instructions I add, "I will make "Housecalls" at no charge if more help is needed" and provide the best way to contact me. I also have (or had...now I can't recall) that same line in my MP listings. The main thing I wanted to emphasize is my customer service. So I get an IM from (I thought) a customer one day saying he can't get his drapes to hang straight and could I go to his house and fix them. I responded that I would be happy to, but would prefer to meet him at his house so I could show him how I aligned the drapes. He said he was rarely at the house but it was "open" so please feel free to go over anytime. Okkkaayyy...kind of odd and part of me wondered if I was walking into a booby trap...lol. I did go over and began looking for the drapes he purchased from me that he wished fixed. As it turned out, he had not purchased drapes from me or any other product (confirmed by checking my sales transactions) but had a set of drapes from another merchant that were indeed hanging at an angle. I sent an IM to the person telling him that the drapes were not mine and he needed to contact the merchant from whom he purchased them. His response was "Oh." /facepalms

HisaDrug wrote: I'll just delete this post as soon as I can becos I think theres no point of presenting new prejudice among others, cos most of the users in SL are customers, not shop owners so they wouldnt really understand this type of dilemma as a shop keeper, n how excruciating it is to deal wit ppls diverse needs at once. Thanks again for paying attention to this post. (Emphasis mine) In the future you may want to post merchant issues on the Merchant Forum. I'm actually surprised the moderator didn't move this post there.

Luna Bliss wrote: oh NO...someone who does math! We better get you a DarriBarri552 alt account quick and send u over to Linden Realms (don't forget to buy your premium account/linden home along the way though) ...and pick up the dune buggy!

Pamela Galli wrote: Innula Zenovka wrote: As you say, too, people create content without being "content creators" in the formal sense. Friends of mine create wonderful environments on their sims or in their homes, not for any commercial purpose but because they enjoy doing it, or simply putting together different looks. This is so true. Many people are avatar artists or home decorating artists - they do not personally make the elements they use in putting their home or avi styles together but they really create the end products. I make homes and furnishings, but I am not really very interested in decorating. Many of my customers do an amazing job of it, much better than I would. Certainly I am astonished at what fantastic avatars some people create and outfit -- poor Pamela wears the same outfit for months. (Emphasis mine) I know a brilliant scripter that has worn the exact outfit for the 3+ years I've known him, complete with pink bunny slippers. For all I know he's worn it the entire time he's been in SL...lol. I used to change my outfit at least daily (more often when partnered due to dressing appropriately for wherever we visited). Now I'm getting too lazy to change since I mostly stay at home, at my store, or in my workshop.

16 wrote: one thing i dont see a lot of is complete kits for Linden Homes. <snip> they just need like curtains, floor coverings, maybe 2 or 3 pictures, a bedroom suite (dont have to be Adult) a lounge, small side table with say a lamp and some flowers in a vase, and maybe a kitchen unit and a table and 2 chairs. and a simple radio I have a Japanese Room (which I need to update, built it long ago) that I advertised as perfect for the Linden Japanese-style homes when they were new. When I'm out at other furniture type stores I do see a lot of room sets put together, usually sets for separate rooms, but your idea *would* be a good one for the Linden homes, especially with the lower prim limits.

And the "hooks" for Steam players becoming premium begins.

I haven't been Premium for the last few years but checked out the 50% off promo and saw that fine print. I also saw that when one becomes Premium now they get...a dune buggy. Well sign me up fast....not. That so reminds me all the promos one gets in WoW, for example, for various reasons: purchasing a year's membership, getting x number of people to sign up, etc. except in WoW the gift is generally something that would be very helpful in game - a faster horse, more powerful weapon, and so forth. Seriously, a dune buggy??? Can we all say "Steam."

Jennifer Boyle wrote: Deja Letov wrote: That suggestion would be a management nightmare. While technically possibly, everyone can make an alt, it's not feasible or user friendly. See my response to Madeliefste for a description of how to do it. It would be a nightmare if you were doing it with a pencil and paper, but it would be pretty effortless using a computer, once you had it set up. The quote above, to me, demonstrates what the problem actually is: the tendency to put convenience and ease for the merchant ahead of convenience for the customer. Think about Wal-Mart---they try to give the customer the best deal they can, and squeeze their suppliers in order to do it. The customer comes first. Look where it got them. Not sure what the Wal-Marts are like in your area, but the ones where I live have horrible customer service. Not in the sense that they don't do what is "necessary" - ie. Wal-Mart is great about refunds - but the sales staff act like they're doing the customer a favor to give them the time of day. This is not one isolated incident; I have encountered this over and over. Common example: I was having trouble finding a product. Looked for a sales person. Found two in the same aisle talking to each other and popping gum. I approached them and said, "Excuse me" politely. I was ignored. I said "I need some help please." One slowly turned to look at me with disdain, while continuing to talk to the other service person. Finally I got a heavy sigh from one of them and, "Yeah?" This may be an extreme case, but overall I don't find the level of customer service as in one-on-one to the customer in Wal-Mart that great. Personally, I will pay a bit extra to go to Target where the customer service is excellent. (I know this has nothing to do with the issue per se, but since you mentioned Wal-Mart as a bastion of customer service, just thought I'd give a different viewpoint on that.)

16 wrote: about the field of roses and the lady with the lamps i bought a whole bunch of wild flowers. they were quite nice and reasonable price so i end up buy about 30 of them. they were no copy can know why the vendor sell no copy. if they were copy then i wouldve only bought 6, one of each, and then fill up my whole parcel for like 1/5th price or less maybe + i think sometimes that can learn off the animation makers about bulk buys. like can get copy/notrans or nocopy/trans. at one shop where i get quite a lot of dance anims then can also buy the nocopy/trans ones in packs. more i buy then the pack cost less i think would be good if people who made flowers and trees and lamps and curtains and stuff where you need more than one kind did this. like make some of each kinds and put in a box and sell the box. some people do this already but not all that many i find Thanks, 16. Offering both permissions is the ideal; it covers all scenarios. It is more work to set items up with varying permissions but, in my case, my store is so small that I could do so. I do have some of my items "bundled" and sell the bundles for less as a set than each piece individually. I do this a lot for holiday items that can be given as gifts. What I have found, however, is that I sell few, if any, of the bundled items. I've never tried it with my curtains. I may think about that one.

jamie Cheeky wrote: I guess what im trying to ask is has things picked up at all..... are inworld stores worth it at all or is it all just MP now? any opinions on this would help greatly Thanks In my case starting back in May of this year my sales have been the worst they have ever been in 4+ years. Some months have been better than others during this time; other times I go for a week or more without a sale. Granted I have a small store, but, until this summer, I would normally get at least one sale a day if not every other day. If you read some of the posts on this forum re: sales you will see that many merchants are experiencing lesser sales currently. I'm not going to get into the "whys" as that has been discussed a lot in this forum all summer as well. 99.9% of my sales are from the MP, but a lot of that is due to my not marketing my in world store. I have begun doing that again and have seen a few sales in world. If you enjoy having a business in SL and love creating, I would not discourage you from beginning again, but as for your specific question on sales - it's not great at the moment.

Sassy Romano wrote: Teagan Tobias wrote: I have seen this all to often and I see it more and more. I look at an item in a store and there are no permissions listed. I click on it to get a price and all I get is the amount to pay, nothing about what I am trying to purchase. I also believe that MP should show the last logged in date of the merchant, on each listing. Then you'd also be able to spot dormant or potentially unresponsive merchants. I like this idea!!!

Ry0ta Exonar wrote: Czari Zenovka wrote: As a related question to the OP, are you using Direct Delivery? If so, not having used it myself yet, I would also like to know how to change something within a boxed product, ie. a notecard with updated info. From what I've read on the forums about DD, to do so one would put the box with the updated info into the Merchant Outbox folder then associate it with the MP listing. If that is what the OP is doing and provided it is done in that manner, why would it keep getting flagged for replacing an existing item? Yes, that's what you have to do when you want to replace something within a product. Instead the OP deleted the first listings and remade the new ones that is why they get removed repeatedly by LL. So like Alicia suggested, clarifying the reason for the relisting might help or not. Who knows... Ahhhhh ok...somehow I missed the deleted listing...duh. *Blush* Thanks, Ry0ta

Morgaine Christensen wrote: I am not sure about that, there are quite a few merchants that sold prior to SL promoting MP. I actually think I did better on MP prior to it being promoted. And, most of my sales are on MP despite the fact I have an in-world store. I am thinking of closing the in-world and going back to MP sales only. Will still have a demo area but tear things down and get some prims back on my sim for other things. 99.9% of my sales are from the MP as well and I've thought over the years if my in world store makes any sense, but I've read quite a few posts similar to Deja's about not buying from a MP merchant if they do not have a presence in world so I'm happy I've kept my little shop. It sounds like your demo area will serve a similar purpose. Seeing some type of in world presence seems to be key for many customers.

Deja Letov wrote: But aren't you talking about updating the actual product being delivered Czari? I think the original poster was talking about completely deleting a listing and then creating a brand new listing. It's not allowed because a lot of times merchants can do it to get rid of a negative comment. Most likely it's being removed because either a competitor or a disgruntled customer is reporting it that way. I dont' think SL actually goes through those and does it themselves. Right. I was going by this comment by Alicia: "Hopefully this will indicate that the actual content was changed and not to get rid of a bad review." That made me think there was an update. I re-read the OP and it now sounds to me like the product itself was not updated but the OP wanted to change something "in the box" which could be a lm, notecard, etc., both of which I've done many times. As a related question to the OP, are you using Direct Delivery? If so, not having used it myself yet, I would also like to know how to change something within a boxed product, ie. a notecard with updated info. From what I've read on the forums about DD, to do so one would put the box with the updated info into the Merchant Outbox folder then associate it with the MP listing. If that is what the OP is doing and provided it is done in that manner, why would it keep getting flagged for replacing an existing item?

Deja Letov wrote: Wow that is just crazy stuff. At least you know to look out for it now. I was thinking that too, Deja. And lightning striking twice in the same place and soon after the first strike makes me wonder if there's someone "out" for the OP. A particularly nasty competitor, someone who came to the club and asked someone to dance and got brushed off...who knows...but a loony just the same.

Lovely skin, tako. I like my avatar being an in world representation of how I look RL - at least the "elements" of it ie. fair skin, red hair, blue eyes. I'm partial to vintage looks, however. The 40's is one of my favorites. Sometimes I'm a fair-skin, blue-eyed Rani: Ooopppsss, went with green eyes there. I have been known to appear as a Japanese Geisha: Errr, with green eyes. I love that I can explore different looks and different ethnicities within SL.

Alicia Sautereau wrote: Relist again, but: At the bottom of the description, add something like: * Item relisted due to content changes and update * Hopefully this will indicate that the actual content was changed and not to get rid of a bad review, tho if it`s a competitor reporting the relist, your sh!t out of luck untill LL stops removing it... I had some concerns about this awhile back when I updated an item. I wanted to keep the same listing name but didn't want to get the item delisted by LL for unlisting/relisting the same item. I contacted LL about this. Now I can't recall what the contact person said exactly, but something that indicated that updated items were permissible with the same name. To be safe I entered a version number that shows up in the listing by default apparently and did not have any trouble. @OP, maybe add a version number and list and see if that helps. I'm sorry this is happening; it is definitely frustrating.

Alicia Sautereau wrote: Fan of inworld shopping and only use the MP for search, when ever search works... Why give LL that 5% for a broken system they don`t intent to fix? Now if people weren`t so lazy and didn`t rely on the MP and actually had an inworld store, even if just small and cycle trough say 20-40 of the new releases... i`d be buying more A thought popped into my mind as I read this... Of the merchants who only have MP listings and no inworld store, it would be interesting to know the percentage who became merchants after the MP was so strongly pitched to us by LL. My hunch is that, barring other issues such as a RL financial crunch, etc., merchants who had in world stores of any size prior to the MP still have in world stores and the majority of the MP-only merchants began selling after the MP was heavily promoted. (Sorry Sassy, didn't mean to derail your thread, just thinking out loud as I see Alicia's sentiment expressed a lot on the forums.)

Perrie Juran wrote: When it comes to objects that are going to be rezzed, I'd like the option to choose and would pay appropriately. Landscape items as an example. Maybe I only need one or two copies of a rose for landscaping. Buying no copy for less wouldn't bother me. But if I were making a whole field of roses, I would pay a premium to have them copy so I don't have to buy 50 individual copies. These would be my overall preferences. Ok that was strange. I typed in a whole long response and when I saved it just had the first two letters of my post. Gah! Instead of retyping all that again I will summarize...lol. Thanks, Perrie. As a merchant who sells small home furnishings, whether to offer mod/trans at a price point that if one wished to purchase multiples it would still be reasonable vs setting a higher price for mod/copy, knowing that, in my case, the number of people who would buy a LOT of the same item is relatively low. I'm comfortable with my permissions (copy/mod) and price point currently and, as another merchant told me recently, that is most important. I start second-guessing myself when I see comparable products to mine priced quite a bit higher at no copy. OTOH, I've also seen some amazing products that surpass what I currently offer at lower prices. Thank you all again for the great, well thought out responses. I really appreciate it.