Arwen Serpente

Hi Malaika, No, this particular wierdness hasn't happened again for me. The reports are being listed on the Dashboard transactions and on the Marketplace transactions as they should be. The issue right now (as reported in other threads) is with the reliability of delivery to customers.

I just got this response to my support ticket: Thank you for contacting Customer Support regarding purchases through the Second Life Marketplace web site. The Marketplace Team is aware of an issue that is causing delays with Marketplace Orders and a message has been posted on the Second Life Marketplace web site to alert users to the issue: "We are currently experiencing delays in our delivery system. We apologize for any inconvenience and will remove this message as soon as the issue is resolved." So, best thing is to watch the Grid Status Reports.

I just woke up and the queued items are still queued. I filed a support ticket. This is very similar to the issue that was happening last week and then was cleared up, and now is happening again. I really hope this is not in some way tied to the testing that is being done with DD, but it seems to be getting worse as the DD implementation date gets closer. On a side note, and probably unrelated (but who knows), my inventory is acting very strangely - when I am editing my inventory, things that I move or delete, start to move back to the original place or jump around constantly so that I can't be sure that something I've moved or deleted is staying moved or deleted. I can't imagine what would happen when I'm trying to edit a DD file and the items are jumping around like popcorn...

I don't know what's going on. I'm getting reports of failed deliveries from customers even when the orders say delivered,. I've got things hanging in que. Something is happening - something is not working properly.

Hi Darrius, The delay might have been related to some issues with the Marketplace today (see this thread: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Merchants/items-not-being-delivered/td-p/829393/page/2 ) Brooke/LL said they were working on it and after they posted that, a number of my orders that were hanging in "que" or undelivered, started to deliver :smileyvery-happy:. The timing looks like it overlaps the tests you've been doing over here in this thread.

Thank you! :smileyhappy:

hmmm, I usually don't look at the status of my transactions unless I hear from a customer, but based on your message here, I went over and looked and low and behold, I too have "queued" and "being delivered" incomplete transactions. I have no idea what's causing it. Not a bad head's up for Merchants to take a look at the status of their transactions and see if anything unusual is going on for them too.

lol, Argus, you're probably right. I find it interesting that for all the "hype" there is no sign of this deal on the Marketplace home page...I haven't received the "weekly" email which kind of doesn't make sense for a 24 hour special...and I'm not a Facebook/Twitter follower...so I guess shoppers like me aren't really the "target". Not sure how this promotion is being really "promoted" unless you happen to see the blog post or look here for this thread. What am I missing?

Hi Brooke, I hope you are reading this thread. The more I think about this system and the good and bad possibilities with implementation, I really hope that there will be a blog posting soon that explains more about how the system is going to work, including: 1) What's the "failsafe" or rollback plan in case something does go "rogue"? As I'm sure you've seen there's a thread about how llGiveInventory failed for some recently - a script that no one ever thought could break - for that matter, there are always new threads about things we never thought could happen, but do - so in the event something "breaks" with this system, what's the safety plan? 2) How will a Merchant know if something goes wrong (unless a customer notifies them)? 3) What's the Support Plan - will there be a dedicated Merchant's Support phone number so they can get immediate help if something happens that's out of the ordinary? When someone's inventory or business is at stake (and LL is a stakeholder as well in the success of its Merchants), filing a JIRA or a support ticket just isn't the fastest way to get a resolution or fix. 4) What should a Merchant do if something fails? Do they deactivate their whole store temporarily until it is fixed? 5) Even though it has been stated that at some point the Magic Boxes will be defunct, isn't there a way to build the option to keep them into the plan? Even if it takes more time to build that option, isn't it worth it for those who are just unsure about the new system? 6) Can Merchant gifting to themselves at no cost please be reenabled so that we are able to test this on an ongoing basis as we add new inventory? I for one, will want to test and test and really paying commission every time I test deliver something to my main or alt account is not effective. Believe me, I really don't want to just focus on possible failure scenarios, but in any good plan, there's the "what's great about this new feature" side of it and how it will be helpful, and then, there is the "what are the potential downsides and how they will be corrected" side of it. A blog post outlining both sides of the issue would do a lot to insure that the Merchants are fully informed about such a major change.

Rya Nitely wrote: I'm imagining Brooke or any other commerce team member spending time inworld creating items that will actually sell successfully enough to get the whole merchant experience. This isn't easy. It takes merchants several months and even years to get to the stage where they are fully active. With luck and some talent most people would start off with one or two sales a week. This isn't going to give them enough exposure to marketplace issue. They do have those teddy bears so maybe they are getting some experience. On further thought, I don't think LL staffers are allowed to sell items, even as alts, unless it's freebies or for charity as with those teddy bears. Agreed Rya, it took me 2 years to get to this point and it's been a slow climb. No question building a successful business is extremely difficult. For a Beta though, it probably doesn't matter if the business is really established since the items could be bought by other LL staff, so not sure that an already successful business is a "must" for a test. Just an avatar Merchant with products listed on the Marketplace and in their DD file in thier inventory (and probably about 20,000+ other items to mimic what many Merchants carry in development materials, personal inventory, and finished products - who knows, maybe that number is high or low depending on the Merchant). I hadn't thought of the conflict of interest side of it with selling items and possible issues there. Although it never stopped me from standing behind a counter and selling rather than sitting behind my desk planning programs, but every company is different. I've volunteered for other Beta programs/submitted NDA's, however, there just isn't enough info released about this yet. For instance, do we know that the system works with all viewers - that hasn't actually been clearly indicated yet (as I've read the transcripts of the last meeting)...a little more information would be helpful.

Hi Brooke, I wish a little more info were released so people could decide whether to participate or not. Just curious, aren't there any LL staff who have alts that are Merchants who build and sell inworld and on the Marketplace? In my real life I come from a Marketing background - we were required to spend 6 months in the field actually doing the Sales job, and then after we were back in the home office, we had to spend 2 days per month "behind the counter" so we knew exactly how our programs were affecting the people who lived with them on a day to day basis. Maybe it is a naive question...If not, maybe it is something for some of the LL staff to consider when they aren't "on the clock". Would certainly provide a little bit of a different perspective for you that might be helpful.

Hi funkilicous, If the item is no transfer, then no it can't be returned. If it is transferrable, it could be, but I would hold onto it (rebox them if they take up too much inventory space for you). In the case of "messing" something up, the Merchant might actually replace it for you when they do hear what's happened. I doubt they would give a refund for something that was messed up in usage, but a replacement, maybe. Sounds like you've tried both the im and the notecard route. As has already been said it's true that the Merchant could be on holiday (read their profile to see if they left a message - for instance, I change my profile to say "Offline until xyz date" when I go out of town without internet access; or, they could have computers issues (I just had my hard drive fail and waited thru 2 defective hard drive replacements until the manufacturer sent a good one - put me offline for almost 10 days). Another possible way to find out if the Merchant has been around: see if they have a store group and join it. Then you can open the group and look at the login dates - that will tell you when they were last online, so that could help. You can also see in the roles section of the group who else has managment of the group - maybe there is someone else and you can contact them. If the group allows group chat (some don't), you can also try im'ing the group and seeing if there is anyone else who can help you.

Thank you Darrius for the explanation. I pretty much had understood "lag" the way that you do. I guess in the case of the DD system and our personal inventories, even if it does not cause lag for other avatars, if it does slow down the Merchant as they are working, that's almost as bad. I try to be as efficient as possible with my time inworld, every minute counts when I'm doing something. If there's any chance at all that this new DD folder/system is going to hamper Merchants in going about their usual work, that's not a good solution to our current Magic Box delivery issues. Basically, solve one problem and create another. I really hope these issues are addressed in upcoming information from the Commerce Team.

Darrius Gothly wrote: Can you link to Pamela's blog entry please? From what I know about how the Inventory and Asset Server system works, the size of the Inventory is only an issue for the Viewer and shouldn't impact Sim load. But, having been massively wrong (perhaps once maybe) in my life, I'd like to get a gander at the source of this concern and see what I can learn. Thank you. Sure thing! and thank you Pamela for the blog! the blog page I was reading is: http://lagalleriasl.blogspot.com/p/recovering-lost-inventory.html The section (scroll down) was: HOW TO (SORT OF MAYBE) PREVENT INVENTORY LOSS AND OTHER BAD THINGS and the quotes were: • Keep inventory counts as manageable as possible (more inventory = more lag), and individual folders <1000 items. • Keep your inv under 25k and you'll likely never see tp failures.

Darrius Gothly wrote: If the decision is made to implement a secondary Delivery Inventory (which is my preferred choice btw), this pushes release of Direct Delivery out many more months. However the Marketplace Dev Team has already suspended making any other fixes to the site until DD is done. Pushing DD out by months will disrupt THEIR schedule in horrific ways .. and thus results in even less assurance it will happen. Second Inventory does sound very appealing IF it can work for all viewers. And the fact it takes time to develop would allow TPV to "catch up". A change like this one is huge...it's actually bigger than the changeover from Xstreet to the Marketplace which was painful for all...this change IF something goes wrong, could cause much more serious harm to a Merchant than the listing glitches, the reporting holes, the delivery issues, etc. I'd much rather the right amount of development time be taken than going forward with something that could have start-up problems (and yes, I suppose even the Second Inventory idea would have start up issues too). Further thinking about the DD system going into my personal inventory: as I was reading the info in Pamela's blog, there was information there saying that inventory levels contribute to lag (I just thought they made it slow for me to get started in the morning like starting work without my cup of coffee). If that's true, what happens to Merchants who are in the process of building, helping customers, or omg, even enjoying themselves in Second Life socializing or in RP? Do they become the kings and queens of lag as their inventories not only grow due to the DD File, but also the constant accessing of it to deliver products?

That's what I thought...no way for me to do that - once I make an outfit, I set the perms, then do all the color variations, then box them up. I'd have to redo every item I have, so that's almost 500 items multiplied by 15 pieces per item - can't do it/won't do it. The time it would take would be ridiculous. So, as it stands today, I am very worried about this new system for all the reasons that have been highlighted. I remember last fall, one poster commented something to the effect that this was like dipping into my wallet, like a pickpocket. I don't want anyone else dipping into my private inventory and plucking out something with even the smallest chance of some kind of glitch. I feel like this brings this whole discussion full circle: one of the sources of Magic Box delivery issues is the shopping cart. Just get rid of the shopping cart and keep Magic Boxes. Or fix the way the shopping cart communicates with Magic Boxes. I do a decent % of my business from the Marketplace...obviously, the details of the DD program need to be seen, but for me, if it concerns me at all, I will be rethinking my presence on the Marketplace. I also keep thinking of Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".

Thank you! That's a wonderful resource and now it's bookmarked. Is it ok to share with my store group? Some ask for help when editing and I really don't have a good place to refer them, so I end up walking them through editing step by step. I think they would love it!

Making people happy and helping them enjoy their Second Life just a weee bit more, and then "hearing" the smile on the face behind the keyboard when they put something on and type "Oh, I love it!" Makes everything worthwhile! :smileyhappy:

Hi Toy, yes, your suggestion of a Merchant Alt for the DD program is one that I like. The only thing I don't exactly understand is that my items are all no transfer. So how do I transfer them to an alt account and have them be deliverable to someone else?

Thank you Brooke for the transcript. I was encouraged to see that the stale shopping cart issue is recognized and planned to be fixed, that was good news :smileyhappy: When the details are shared with Merchants for the Direct Delivery project, will they address whether this "DD" Folder will add to our inventory numbers (I expect it will since it isn't a separate part of Inventory like the Library is)? Here's why I ask: If I have to set aside inventory space for a special DD folder, I will consider it "locked" - meaning, I won't be going in and out of it like a regular folder for fear of changing something that is an active/live sales item. That means I would carry double the inventory of my finished boxed products. Right now, because my finished items are either in the Magic Box, or rezzed in my inworld store, I don't worry about how I use the "finished" boxed items in my inventory - I'm constantly working with them. If for some reason, my inventory doesn't load, or something is missing, right now I can pull it out of my Magic Box, or from the wall in my store. Given my current inventory count, it does take time to load inventory. So what happens if the DD Folder is "waiting" to be loaded, or even doesn't load entirely? Does it result in a failed delivery? Even worse, what if we get that dreaded "missing from database" message (which has happened to me just this weekend when I went back to some things I bought but hadn't used in some time) - is it possible that something in a DD Folder could become "missing from database"? Trying to keep inventory levels at reasonable levels for a Merchant is very difficult as it stands given all the working materials, prototypes, etc that we have, in addition to finished work. For the way I work (and this may or may not affect other Merchants depending on their inventory management methods), basically, the DD Folder would add substantially to my current inventory, and due to duplicate naming of items that are in different folders for different purposes, lead to possible confusion and error as I manage my day to day operations. I am also concerned about missing from database issues that could occur... I hope the Commerce Team will be able to address these concerns. Thanks!

The past 2 days for me have had more delivery issues than normal, so I am concerned that something changed. Customers are contacting me. My logs show everthing from user exception, to delivery failed, to being delivered. Yes, in the past, I've had issues, but in the past 48 hours it has been more concentrated.

mine are currently going from pending to failed.

Hi Zanara, I thought maybe that was it too, but the transaction posting corresponds exactly to the sale that was made on the marketplace. Right now, the wierd reporting has stopped, so it was most likely some kind of "blip". I'm glad it didn't affect anyone else.

Actually, it affects us all right now. The stale shopping cart issue is a current issue. Any merchant running a promotion of any kind will discover as I have that if a shopper places the item in the cart during the promo but doesn't complete the transaction until some point in the future - even after the promo is finished - they will get the promo offer. I'm no fan of the Dash Deal at all, btw. To me, it's just another one of the deep discount promos that have overtaken SL in recent years. Promotions have their place in any marketing plan of course, however, the deep discounting that is currently done ad infinitum in SL plus the soft economy has lead to bargain hunting overkill (in my opinion). It's very hard to back off promotions once you've started, but a healthy business does not rely on the short term gains of promotions only. They have their place to gain visibility, offer opportunity for trial, offer reward to existing customers, etc - but the current rate of "everyday" is some kind of promo day in SL is just too much. Fixing things like stale carts, providing the basics stats for analysis, insuring reliable delivery, enabling ease of listing and editing of listings for merchants - those are the kind of things I'd like to see in this Marketplace before all sorts of new things get introduced.

Agreed.