Czari Zenovka

Vegro Solari wrote: You should still be able to put them up via a magic box though? Was going to say the same thing...plus, Demon...the date for Magic Boxes to be shut off was pushed back to "no sooner than Aug. 1 with 4 weeks advance notice" according to Commerce Team Linden. Just an FYI in case you thought MBs were already shut off. (Still using mine :matte-motes-big-grin:)

Arwen Serpente wrote: Hi Zantyago, One possibility is if you ever had that outfit on promotion for 0L, the shoppers who put it in their shopping carts at that time but did not complete the transaction until now, will get it at the 0L price even if you have raised the price since then. It's called "stale shopping cart" and one reason why the Marketplace is not a good venue for price promotions. That must have been what happened. I went to the link for this dress and in one of the ratings comments someone wrote that this is a good dress even for a freebie. (Bolding mine.)

Pricing products in SL is tricky at best. I have been spending some time on the MP looking at items similar to what I sell, mainly because one of my merchant friends keeps telling me my prices are too low. I am comfortable with where I have set them, but did want to spend some time comparison looking. I was absolutely amazed to see prices for the same general type of item all over the board. There are some really, really lovely items (talking in the furniture/furnishings arena) that are on the MP for like 10L!!!! I'm talking items with a gazillion MLP poses, gorgeous texturing, etc. On the extreme opposite end of the spectrum, I've seen a similar item that, imo, is waaaaayyy overpriced - let's say for example a sofa, very similar to the one for 10L that is priced at 1500L. I'm not kidding! How one decides where to land between those extremes is an exercise in futility and frustration. My thoughts swung to, "How can I EVER compete with someone selling something similar to mine for 10L" to "People actually BUY that for 1500L???" I've pretty much settled on the selling a few more of an item for a little less as a model that works for me. (Talking about my own internal pricing rather than trying to match/undercut/whatever someone else's price.)

Dilbert Dilweg wrote: Yea I noticed odd behavior logging into the forums started yesterday for me. Same thing today. It took about 5 attempts to log in Same here. I check "Remember me on this computer" and have never had any issues with what you describe, Brenda. Until yesterday.

I sent my answers to you via forum IM as well.

Seven Overdrive wrote: I tend to leave rather than enduring that long walk to the teleporter to see the rest of the sim. I came to see the sim and not the mall. Totally agree. I do realize that sim owners often need other avenues to help pay tier but personally, when I want to go dancing and the lm dumps me in the middle of a maze of clothing vendors that I have to navigate to get to where I wanted to go in the first place, I generally don't return to that venue.

Madelaine McMasters wrote: Hi Teagan, You may also "follow" other residents, which means you'll get notifications in your feed's inbox if they post things. You can control following from the "People" menu on the left of your feed home page. If you don't plan to use my.secondlife.com, I'd suggest you make sure that the "Post on your feed" setting in "Privacy" is set to "Nobody". Ah- Ha! I received an email message from SL about a week ago saying a particular Resident was following me. It spooked me a bit...like I was being stalked...lol. This was the first time I'd ever seen this. Makes sense now. I was never in favor of M's desire to make SL into TwitFace to begin with, and I still use the v1 Phoenix so wasn't aware of all these new *ahem* "features." Thank you for letting me know how to go and stop any further "following."

Spica Inventor wrote: QFT! Quantum field theory??? hehe ;-) Close :matte-motes-big-grin: Quoted For Truth!

Spica Inventor wrote: The D.D. bugs seem not to be treating everyone equally, but we all seem to notice some amount of changes and erraticism in our item sales individually and/or collectively since D.D. came on line that was not evidenced before to such degrees. QFT!

WADE1 Jya wrote: This has been going on for a while, but don't worry. Let's stay focused on rearranging these deck chairs. *Wipes monitor clean once again.*

Phil Deakins wrote: PeachJubilee wrote: With respect to the market, that's nice for you Ceka but it does not help the person with G rated products who has someone's BDSM gear showing up on their G rated listing, in their G rated store which they are checking up on while they are logged in with their settings set up to only see G rated items, from their place of work in Saudi Arabia. Nor does it help a teen checking their store in similar circumstances while their parent is over their shoulder, and if it comes to that and the parent happens to be particularly "sue-happy" it probably won't help LL much either. Haven't they fixed that problem yet? It's been quite a while since I read about it happening to a lot of marketplace merchants. It's completely ludicrous that it started happening at all. Has LL said anything worth saying about it or are they still in the 'we don't have to tell you anything' mode? It's still happening with more merchants regularly adding to the ranks of this happening to them. CTL's response has been "We're aware of the issue and are working on it" and pushing the deadline for stopping Magic Boxes from May to August with 4 weeks advance notice. And then there's the merchants not getting paid from their sales...all the stuff I just posted.

Kazimira McConnell wrote: I think with the recent server problems and now one of my favorate stores haveing a closeing down sale Yeah I can see the love of the lindens slipping. The econimy is istting us all very hard and those that are runing busnisses here are being hit by tier and needing to pay more to get lindens to pay it plus people not able to buy as much because not as much money to turn into lindons. SL is diffrent for everyone and everyone relies upon everyone else. A busniss woman that uses SL for busniss meetings nees a good professional AO good professional gestures probably for lots of diffrent cultureal greetings and a very good looking smart busniss outfit. That busniss woman is relieing upon lots of other people in SL to get what she wants to get done all sorted and done. The thing that I think might help keep people in SL is probably whats imposable. We need to have land at a price that means shops can be shops and hangouts can be hangouts and dont need to push the shop aspect in anyones face in order to make tier. Another thing is we used to have advertiseing I came to SL origonaly beccause it was shown on brittish TV, Perhaps some advertiseing showing how far SL has come might help. Excellent points. The bolded part has been my "battle cry" for years. I truly believe if the tier prices were adjusted down a bit with smaller jumps between levels, more people would go premium and buy mainland. I was a premium member for years and have owned varying amounts of land, but finally went back to basic and rent land because I can rent more land at a lower price in a wonderful location than paying monthly premium fees plus higher "rent" in the form of tier for less land.

Ceka Cianci wrote: market place was crap because M pushed everyone to it with his V2..now that users use it for their main source of shopping..it was getting over used..laggy and almost took forever to do anything on it.. a new system was put in place to help with faster more reliable delivery and it works..in seconds i get my things..it's not as laggy as it used to be either.. Errrrmmmmmm....have you taken a look at the Merchants Forum lately? To begin with, not all merchants are using the direct delivery system yet. In my case, I can't because I have an older PC, v2+/Firestorm are required to list products using it (any viewer can receive, ie. customers), other merchants are waiting to migrate because of the gazillion issues that are now occurring and waiting to see if they get fixed (LL has now pushed back requiring merchants to migrate to DD from May to August and the way things are going I would dare to bet the deadline gets pushed back again), and other merchants haven't even heard of it yet. So if you're getting your items delivered more speedily, it isn't necessarily due to DD...it's probably in spite of it. As for the current MP issues, where to start...but here's a few: *Mixed listings - A merchant's item has the correct product description, but the image from another store. (I currently have 3 listings of heart candles that show images of shoes.) Jira 4587 was created for this one. Just glancing at this jira alone will give you an idea of how messed up the MP is and has been since DD was deployed. (https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/WEB-4587?) *Mixed listings 2 - Then there's the correct image of a merchant's item, but the description from another merchant's item. For awhile, my Victorian Hearts Welcome Mat had the description of "Hopeless Romantic Seeks Filthy Wh0re." Just lovely. These two issues alone are wreaking havoc. Customers, especially non-English speaking ones, are purchasing an item according to the image and getting mad at the merchant when something else shows up. G rated items have X rated images in the mixed listings, which is a whole other can of worms. *No payment received - Some merchants have had a product sold, the customer paid, product was delivered, but the merchant not only did not receive their money, there is absolutely nothing in the transaction log that shows the transaction occurred. The only reason some merchants know about this is that in one case a customer contacted a merchant to ask a question about the product (which the merchant had no idea was sold to this customer due to the preceeding) and other situations where the purchasers were friends of the merchant. There is no way to tell how many merchants this is happening to. *Strange sales cycles - Many merchants, including me, are experiencing sales cycles that are not their "norm." All sales go up and down depending on different circumstances, but merchants who have been in business a number of years pretty much know those cycles. Since DD was deployed, there have been periods of times where sales literally stop...then one item will sell a lot out of the blue (an item that never sold) while previous top sellers aren't selling...various merchants have different issues with this but there is an overall wierdness. Considering the "No payment received" issue - sales could be great but some of us may never know. There are many other issues going on with the MP at the moment but these are the main ones. I've noticed that even the merchants who loved the idea of DD when it first began are now very displeased with the entire situation. Oh...and Rodvik did comment on this situation. A one liner on Twitter!!!!! Not on the Merchants Forum or anywhere on the official SL site. In my opinion M. was the absolute worst...but given this action by Rodvik, he's not gaining high marks from me yet. Just an FYI on the MP scene and why many merchants are currently very upset.

Josh Susanto wrote: >At this point in time, you need an in world store. No, really I don't. And I realize the fact that I still don't, in spite of everything that has been tried to persuade me that I do, must be a bit of annoyance to the person whose job it has been to convince me of such. Sorry, Linden - you'll either have to straight up kill the Marketplace, or I'm going to keep using it. Hi there, me again The quote about needing an inworld store was from Flea - I elaborated on some SL lifestyle/purchasing trends I've seen lately that were different from when I first began SL. Honestly, since 99% of my business comes from the MP, I've debated on if I truly need a store in world. I mentioned that it appears at least some of my customers come to my store to see an item (I'm assuming) then purchase it on the MP. I still don't quite understand that, but anyway... I have no really strong feelings on having a shop in world or not, especially with mine being small. There are apparently other merchants who get most of their sales in world. I'm a proponent of everyone running their SL business the way they choose, assuming the obvious ethical practices. I do still like having my small store in world so people *can* look at my products if they wish. Depending on what happens re: getting rid of the MBs in August...or beyond, if I get any exposure/sales due to my participation in the June hunt...all will factor into what I choose to do going forward. The great thing is, I LOVE the parcel of land where my shop is. It would be a lovely place to put a home if I opt out of an in world shop at some point.

I second Builder's Brewery!!

Flea Yatsenko wrote: At this point in time, you need an in world store. I have slowly been noticing that for nearly a week that my in world sales have been making up a bigger and bigger percentage of sales. You need SLURLS in your product listings too. I've always had an in world store, in fact, I had an in world presence before I began listing with OnRez and Xstreet; however, 99% of my sales always came from the online sources. An interesting phenomenon I've noticed are customer names that show up on my store visitor counter, thus I know they've been in my store, but purchase my items on the MP. One of the primary reasons I've kept an in world store is so customers can see, sit on, etc. an item. Apparently this was sound thinking, but then the actual sales still come from the MP. Part of less sales in world is my lack of advertising this past year. Having regular sales from the MP made me a bit lazy. (As well as numerous RL "issues.") I began advertising again by offering gifts during my "Rez Month" of May. They are two of my regular good selling items that I temporarily inactivated on the MP and placed in my store as free gifts. I sent notices to the designer groups I'm in, including one for free items that has a kazillion members. In the past, even if I didn't get any sales, I sent out a "free item" notice and in minutes lots of people were dropping out of the air into my store for the free item. I was extremely surprised to see that only 3-4 people actually came to get the free gifts. Where is the army of freebie hunters?!?! For the month of June I am participating in The Silk Road Hunt 3 so I expect a lot more traffic in my store. It will be interesting to see how much of that exposure results in sales. Oh, I do include lm's to my store in all my products, including those sold on the MP. I also specifically list the SLURL to my store within the MP description as well as including it in the space provided that generates the "See this item in world" notation. Flea Yatsenko wrote: People need to buy things to be happy in here. They need homes, builder's kits, etc. It's what keeps people in SL. Right now I think a lot of people are giving up on purchasing in SLMP because it just doesn't work most of the time for them. <snip> Getting people to sign up a lot is supposed to be the hardest part of a social platform, and LL is doing fantastic with it. It's when they step into the world and try to do things and purchase things that it all falls on its face and they leave to never log in again. I'm not so sure anymore that "...homes, builder's kits, etc." are "what keeps people in SL" anymore. Along those lines, I've been wondering if there's been a change in purchasing attitude among newer users. Or maybe the RL economy is having an effect on SL. Here is a trend from the past and how I have seen it change as an example: When I began SL in 2007 most of the people I initially met were employees and patrons of a vintage '40's dance venue where I worked for a time. I was new, I met many new people over the time I was there, danced with a fair number of men, etc. Back then the trend was to almost immediately purchase or rent land and build or buy a house, furnish it, and invite friends over. I rarely met anyone who didn't have a home of some type. Accumulating a wardrobe for one's various activities (formal dance venues, themed venues, beach wear, casual wear, etc.) including accessories was another "priority." I found this true for both men and women. "Things" seemed to hold more importance to begin living a "second life" in 2007. Fast forward to the last 2 years - present. Most of the people I know who have homes have been in SL for a long time. The new "trend" I'm noticing is based on men I meet when I go dancing and quite often meet relatively new residents. Some have been in SL for several years, others several months. Over the last couple of years, none of the men who have been in SL 1 year or less that I've met/danced with have homes, and I'm talking more than a couple of people. If they want to be alone with someone, they choose one of the many garden type sims that have dance areas, cuddle areas, etc. This really surprises me, especially the ones who have been in SL for a year+. One man I know not only does not have a home, but seems to own maybe 3 outfits (formal, casual, bathing trunks). I asked him recently if he ever tried building in SL. His response was that for him SL is purely social and he does not have the time or patience to build. Ok, not everyone is a builder (the question was only asked when he joined me where I was in the process of a new build), but for someone who has been here several years, spends the majority of his time on the dance floor and only has 3 outfits, plus the other similar types I've met, makes me wonder if many residents who are in SL for purely social reasons aren't bothering with homes - thus no purchases for houses, furnishings, etc. Years ago, one of the regular "forumites" (previous forums) who had been in SL since at least 2007 - maybe dating back to 2006 or earlier - used to mention enjoying being "homeless" in SL whenever where to live, whether to rent vs own, etc. was brought up as a topic. There have always been the "free spirits" but I'm really noticing this lately as almost a "norm." I'm wondering if somehow the SL advertising is being aimed at more of a "gaming" experience (like the new quest game) instead of the "create your own world" motto that was prevalent when I began. Just interesting points to ponder as it relates to SL sales. I would project that older residents will be the majority who purchase at least the more expensive items, especially in housing. Except for a few items for their Linden Homes, if they have that, are newer residents not as interested in purchasing as many items? Another thought just occurred to me - I'm seeing newer residents post, "SL looks like a great game." Calling SL a "game" in 2007 was akin to the old Westerns - "Them's fightin' words!" Entire threads debated the issue. Are newer residents coming from MMORPGs where housing isn't an issue? One just logs in and out from wherever? (Interestingly EQ began offering housing communities a few years ago. IMO it's fairly bleh, but if one has only been in MMORPGs it may seem wonderful.) I know nothing about IMVU, but it seems like some newer residents have come from that world and, based on some of the posts I've seen, housing may be provided free of charge there. *Wanders off for more caffeine to ponder this*

I live on a mainland parcel and have not had this issue (yet). I've been building tonight and rezzing all kinds of things both at land level and 2000m high, plus in my home at 4000m. Glad I read this in case it does start happening to me. And I agree - when I began in 2007 all the regular "quirks" such as shoe up the rear were not only expected, but made for great comedy.

Princess Verwood wrote: I don't think she is needing a place to quickly change clothing and rez boxes. Since you said you create clothing a sandbox is your best option like others have suggested. At a sandbox you will at least be able to take your time and edit clothing. They are free and most have a sandbox cleaning every 5-8 hours (where all items rezzed from people are deleted). If you need help finding a sandbox or need help on how to set up and go high in the sky (so you can have some provacy) just IM me in-world. :matte-motes-wink: True - was just adding the other locale since it sounds like she does not have a home spot. When I was in world to send the lm, I did notice that NeoQueen belongs to what looks like a very nice sandbox group as well as a place that offers free apartments to residents already, so it looks like she already knows "where" to go for building or a bit of privacy - at least the SL version of "privacy." lol

Calamari wrote: All good points. The loss of diversity of things like education, and the presents of business like IBM for me really take away from the over all appeal of SL, It was things like that that made it feel that you could do anything in SL. The idea of it just being a social gaming platform with a marketplace is not very appealing at all to me. To me one of LL biggest problems is that they tend to focuse all their effort in one directions, when they should be trying to create a more diverse world, it's all the little pieces that add up to make SL what it is. This ^^ Especially the bolded parts. If SL is going to become a social gaming platform, personally I'd rather play WoW. I enjoyed SL for being a virtual WORLD - not a virtual slice of a world.

Dartagan Shepherd wrote: Glamor masquerade? I generally tend to think of masqueade in mostly full dress. While SL is not a prudish place, you used to be more mindful of work safe shopping.<snip> It says period erotica. Is that what you meant? I had pretty much the same reaction when I saw the banner, Dartagan, and I wasn't at work, nor am I a prude. It was just not the usual LL advertisement. One of the pages of the SL site (not sure if it was the home page or the join SL page) used to have an avatar that looked very much like this: I had purchased this dress (purchased the hair in 2007, fan around 2008, and already owned the jewelry) quite awhile before I first saw the SL ad. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw a similar photo (including the same hair) on the SL website because it was almost identical to this photo of me at a masquerade ball in 2009. (Hmmmmm...wonder if someone from LL was at this party...lol.) Anyway, my point is - this was the last image LL used for a masquerade. Quite a bit different from the current one. Again, not complaining, just...very curious in the change of art style for LL.

Sassy Romano wrote: Czari Zenovka wrote: ...then one person said (paraphrased) - The MP problems are only affecting a few merchants. I migrated to DD and haven't had any problems at all. My items are selling, nothing is with the MP. A few people responded...Oh...ok. If you count the posters on the forums and even add up every watcher of the top showstopper JIRA's, it's still only a few merchants out of all of the merchants. I agree some won't be aware of it, some of the problems are self inflicted by not following the processes properly, not all of course but some are. I agree, Sassy. I haven't been active in the forums (until a few months ago) since the previous forums were discontinued and replaced with this version. (Long story, but I'm sure you recall the frustration/anger among some of the then-very regular posters, many of whom have since gone to third-party SL forums.) Anyway, the forums were always my main source of excellent information, especially the "Resident Answers" forum (that was removed). I was always amazed when I mentioned something about the forums in world and would invaribly get, "SL has forums???" In the conversation above, I finally said, "Go check out the SL Merchant Forums" and closed out the chat. Maybe a few will come here. (Edited my previous post to properly read - "....nothing is wrong with the MP." Case of typing not being able to keep up with my thoughts...lol.

Vick Forcella wrote: I was never a successful Merchant but was able to balance SL costs with SL income. But at the moment, since about two months, it's zlich, nada, nothing, no-go, rien, niets, nix, ingenting, niente, nichts. Even less. I can relate, Vick, although I will say, for me, "success" depends on one's definition. Did I ever make big money? No. But I choose to keep my business small for a variety of reasons. However, as you note, I made enough - mostly on the MP - to have not put any USD funds into SL for the last 3 years or so. I was a premium member for the majority of my time on SL, owned differing amounts of land, paid rent and expenses for my shop, purchased whatever I wanted for myself in SL (I'm not a huge clothes shopper - but 3 VKC dogs, gadgets, etc.), was able to tip nicely at clubs and classes and most recently have been renting a lovely parcel of residential land. For me that was success. However, I am now at the point that I either give up my residential rental or pay for it with USD$, which I really can't afford, due to the lessening of sales over the last few months. My landlord is so kind and each time I give my notice of moving he offers me a free month or rent at half price for a few months in the hopes that my MP sales will go back to normal, but even at half price it takes just about all I earn in a month currently.

Spica Inventor wrote: Oh come on Medhue. You would at least wait around and see how it effects your bottom line first wouldn't you before you'd make a decision to pull anchor? Besides, does the so called competition to SL even have an outworld marketplace that you could flee to? ;-) I'm not promoting this particular "other virtual world;" in fact the only reason I occasionally step foot in it is because a dear friend is primarily there now, having moved her entire, very profitable, business there as well (as have other merchants who are still also in SL), but to the question: The one to which I'm referring does have its own version of the MP. Again - the above is strictly informational. No matter what happens with SL, that is one "world" you won't find me in. (Let's just say I had a very negative experience there with its "owner.")

Emma Krokus wrote: Is it true that if you edit your listing - even to just add the correct unpacking requirement - you loose your place in Listings? Or is Search so broken it doesn't matter anyway? At the moment I am only editing the unpacking information if I need to make an important change to a listing... I'd be grateful for someone clarifying this. Emma I'm still using MB's (and will be until I'm absolutely forced not to) and have edited a lot of my listings over the past month - changing permissions, updating description info, etc. Each time I edit and synch listings and update my MB - the edited items sell immediately, even if they are not one of my typical best sellers. To me that says that editing somehow boosts one in search.

For a great place to set as your "Home" as well as changing clothes in private, I highly recommend a place called Changing Rooms or The Changing Room (I forget which). It's a sim owned by Melita Magic (her profile will have the info in picks) and is a charming place that features private changing rooms, each with a door that locks automatically behind you when you enter so no one can open the door when a person is inside. Each dressing/changing room is decorated in a different style. You can rez boxes to unpack (there is something like a 5-10 minute timer on that) - and dress in private. There is a central pavilion with a changeable juke box for music, a beach, a house to sit and relax in, a spa type of area that is very relaxing, etc. Anyone can go there to change clothes and enjoy the sim. To set it as your home, you have to contact Melita Magic. There is a sign to click when you arrive at the sim that will provide all the info you need. I'm going in world now to send the lm to you. As for building - going to a sandbox and rezzing a platform in the sky is the best suggestion for building in privacy.