Deja Letov

As a merchant, I'm not sure I would use it. Everything you listed "could" be classified as roleplay but can also be classified in a current listing. For example, period furnishings, why put it under roleplay instead of furniture? Sure you'd reach a community of roleplayers but you'd be leaving all the people just generally looking for furniture. Same with docks...why under roleplay? What about someone who just wants to put docks around their fishing shack near the house and it's not for a specific roleplay. I'm just saying...I think that would narrow it down a bit too much. Plus you would basically need to have every category listed now as a duplicate under roleplay because there would be a whole home and garden section under it. There are lots of options. NOW...if they gave us the option to actually select more than 1 category...how awesome would it be then? totally!

Hey guys...I am in need of someone experienced with rideable bikes in the game. What I am looking for is a chopper style bike done in my store colors, theme, etc. It's a gothic store and I'd love the bike to be red, black, skulls, fire, etc. Just gothic. No fancy features, just need to be able to ride it. I will need this to be given to my in full perm as I will be giving it out to my VIP group members, which is a paid group. It won't be sold...just given to t hem and als put on display in my store. If interested, please send me a notecard in world with your contact info and what your fee would be for such a project. Thanks! Deja Letov

mmmhhh wonder if we can file a DMCA against SL for theft?

I'm also one of the many merchants who still have yet to be paid for sales from yesterday but my customers did receive their products. I have to say...this is EXACTLY why I focus more on in world sales than I do on my marketplace listings. And after this, I will be focusing on making in world sales even better. I'm already working on crafting a letter to send out to every group I'm in and to my entire customer list explaining the pitfalls of the MP and why shopping in world is going to benefit them from here on out, at least at my store. Definitely on an anti MP campaign after this one!

Thought I would give an update on this. I went out of town and couldn't kieep up with it so here we go. After sending in the fax, I sent LL an email telling them to cancel my dispute. My husband was really concerned about others having our personal information and since I don't have an alternative business address I used my real name and real home address and phone number. So ya...I don't want some freak having that info, I have a family ya know. Not a big deal since the item in question appears to only be a simple grass sculpt. So I've replaced that sculpt with a different one, and put the new item out for sale and made a new marketplace listing. Now, to protect myself for future I am now treating things in a much more business oriented manner. And honestly, I do take fairly decent profit from my little business here in SL and I file taxes on it every year so might as well. I've went and got myself a PO Box and also will not be putting my personal name on any form in the future, they will get my business name or nothing else or worse case my initials but no more real name on those things. I've also made a commitment to myself and am learning how to create sculpts for myself. I already do most of my own textures and I want to eventually move to only using 100% of my own textures (I'm about 70% there I think) and sculpts I would like to only use others for very specialized things that I just can't do myself. Weird thing though...apparently when it comes to these claims, your Marketplace listing, not the item is actually affected. I changed out the item associated with the marketplace listing to the newly created item but the entire listing was actually removed not the actual item. It was actually left in my marketplace box.

Well I have no doubt that they can help with the traffic numbers on certain sims I suppose if you can get people to camp them. I guess what I'm meaning is I'm not sure, atleast for my type of business, that traffic really counts. Me personally...I don't think I use the SL search feature at all anymore, mainly because I can never find what I'm looking for, so my vision on this thing is most likely skewed by that. I'm just not convinced that people find my store through the SL search as often as maybe other business rely on it. I can see where some businesses can really benefit from traffic...clubs, entertainment type sims, RP, etc. But I dunno...when it comes to retail, there are so many other ways to market your business than to rely on the SL search, that is broken most of the time anyway.

Well I officially freaked the heck out LOL I called my office assistant and finally got hold of her and it did get faxed in today but she said it did give her a weird tone so we're hoping maybe it didn't go through possibly. However, I've already responded back to LL in the email and voiced my complaints with this and asked them to cancel my counter if they received the fax. I also told them how stupid it was to just give out personal information with no proof that any crime had been commited and that any nut job could get their hands on my information. I kinda feel like I'm being bullied here and taking it up the whazoo for not doing anything about this but my hubby has been reading some of this, and we have kids and he's really concerned IF in fact this is just some nut job trying to get my personal information. So ya...I guess I am in process to just let someone boss me around on this one. I can't even tell you how livid I am about this and just sick it makes me that someone would do this over a video game.

I'm actually talking to a few people in game right now who saw this forum (thank you by the way for letting me know) and so I am officially freaked out now because apparently this is a tactic used by stalkers to find out your personal information. My only hope is that my secretary sat on her butt yesterday and never faxed it over for me. I'm checking first thing in the morning. But assuming it did get faxed, and most likely it did, is there a way to cancel it? I;m hearing some crazy stories from people who have had this happen, one person has had it filed 3 times against her by some nut job and I don't want any part of that. I've already emailed back LL at the original email inquiring in case it did go in but ya...I'm officially worried I've got some crazy nut job stalker after me now. How in the world is this a good policy to just give out personal information to anyone who "claims" they own the copyright? I don't understand why someone doesn't have to prove they ownt he copyright first and then get a court order for the information of the person behind a character. That to me makes much more sense since it would take actually going to court and ensuring the real person is the one doing the filing and not some nut job.

Just FYI however...I've already removed the items just to be on the safe side and recreated them with another grass sculpt so the objects are gone and recreated. And...I'm on a new mission to learn to create my own sculpts. I don't think I;ll ever go so far as to do animations but this sculpting side seems to be alright so far.

yes you're right I suppose but does that mean anyone should be able to bully others around simply because they can anonymously...assuming they are not the actual copyright owner. There is no way to know for sure. I do have one question though...it says they send my information to the person accusing me? Do I also get theirs as well?

I have 2 lucky chairs and 2 MM boards in my shop, but I don't think they attribute to my traffic at all. I honestly couldn't tell you what my traffic is. I really doubt many of my customers come to me through a SL search based on traffic. I have them there to give the occassional customer who stops by a nice little thank you for coming by. I've never seen anyone camping my chairs in the 3 years I've had my shop, but I have seen a few times where people brought in a crowd to get them to slap them MM board, but they pop in and pop out. As a shop owner in SL, I see value in them as a nice little perk for customers, not to increase traffic. My increases in traffic is MUCH better through the use of hunts. My experience has been that a good hunt is where it's at. My sales are always higher during hunts. I'm not sure of traffic counts because I'm just not convincd they matter all that much for my shop these days.

Well I did file the counter. I talked extensively with the creator who I was fairly certain this resolved around since one of the items in question is a single prim item. He assured me he was the creator of the sculpt and the texture on it and said he has never had anything filed againt him so he doesn't understand how it would be filed against me but not him...since his name is listed as the creator. Either way...I've remade the items and got a different grass sculpt so at this point I don't really care, I just need to figure out what to do in future cases, because most of the time I buy many sculpts from the same creators, I've got a set of favorites. And yes, I know, i really should learn to make my own sculpts but then that can also be said with the animations, textures, scripts, etc. If this was an actual full time income for me, I probably would but this is "supposed" to just be fun for me, so I guess that's my excuse for now. But I think I agree with you and look into at least starting with sculpts. Thanks for the feedback everyone. This was a first time thing for me and I was very stressed out about it (freaking out imaginging myself in jail and being some girls biotch).

Just an update...the maker of the sculpt in question finally got back to me and said he didn't file it either. One of the items sent to me from LL is specifically a one single prim item that he made, a patch of grass I had laying around on my sim that wasn't even for sale. He says he's never filed a complaint against anyone nor has one been put against him. Is it possible that this is a fake complaint from someone? Everything has been accounted for, permissions on everything down to animations, sculpts and textures.

Well I did already fax my letter in. I put all the details in it including my transaction history of the purchase. Thank God I am so crazy organized with my stuff or I might not have had it. I also plan on sending a notecard to this person and seeing if he will contact me, but I'm almost convinced it's not him I think he was the one doing something wrong. My plan is to take this sculpt item out and just go buy another grass sculpt, they are a dime a dozen, but it still irks me that I even have to do this. It's crazy and I dont even know how to protect myself in future instances of this when you have someone selling you something that isn't even theirs to sell!

Well, Im doing some digging because I just received more. And all of the emails I got ALL revolve around one particular sculpts. I keep ALL Of my transaction history, expenses and sales, and I found the receipt for the item and can see the creator, the object name and the price I paid...and sure enough it was full perm bought by me in Feb 2011. So I I click on the link to see the product on the Marketplace and it takes me back to the MP home page. SO ok the item has been removed. Well I've bought several items from this person in the past so I go look and his marketplace listings aside from a couple of crappy ones are ALL GONE. Every sculpt, every texture,everything. What can we even do about this? I'm assuming the person filing the DMCA against me isn't even this person I bought it from. I'm guessing it is from someone else who maybe sued him and is now going after everyone who bought from him? I'm seriously stressing out because I"ve bought several things. And now I'm wondering how many of my creations are gonna be yanked due to one grass sculpt or whatever else I've bought. Are my customers who've purchased this item going to lose their items as well? Can I attempt to go and buy another full perm grass piece and take out the one in question and replace it and still keep my item as long as that sculpt is removed? I'm fine with replacing it for my customers if they will lose theirs I just have never had to deal with this before and not sure exactly how it works.

Hey guys...have a question. I received an email that something I made had a DMCA filed against it. If the item in question is made with sculpts purchased on the Marketplace and animations bought through a merchant that I have to be invited to the group to purchase and the textures were made myself...and all creators involved say didn't file it against me...how is that possible? I've never been contacted by anyone and I am always on the up and up on my TOS, I never violate them. And if the creators all say it wasn't them...how do you handle it other than just submitting the counter letter? And will my customers who bought this item also lose it from their inventory? How is this even possible? Don't you have to be the creator to file a DMCA or can say competition for example, seriously just go through your marketplace listing and start filing DMCA's claiming they own them simply to jack with you?

Thanks Unnula, that's what I've been mainly doing, trying to find sculpts or animations that are freely distributed or have a license that states only the actual sculpt map can't be given out with full perms. I guess I need to just learn to make sculpts myself lol.

I was just thinking would a "server" type script work for this? Is maybe what people are doing and just hoping they stick around for all eternity so people's products don't break?

For builders who are giving items on touch, for example, if I have a book on a desk that when touched gives out another book, is there a way to do this and stay within licensing rights of the sculpt or do I need to find a sculpt that the creator gives permission for me to do this? If I am selling this desk to someone, even if the desk is copy only, wouldn't the book inside have to be full perms to give it out to others aside from the owner? Is there a script or anything I can force it to change permissions when rezzed? Ive seen this in a TON of creations, so are people doing some sort of scripting trick or just ignoring licensing?

The Marketplace search is exactly why I focus on my inworld store with a much higher attention than I do to my marketplace listings. The marketplace has become a joke and not useful for finding anything of real use lately. I focus on making the in world experience so good that people know me for what I make and always come back. Word of mouth in the world is the only way to go these days. Marketplace has become garbage.

Ya, I don't quite get the "why" of why it takes so long and why it's not just automatic. I can see maybe the first time to verify and all that but repeaters who withdrawl regularly I don't see why the big long delay. Going on day 6 for me now so I guess Ill just keep waiting.

Maybe I've just been lucky but usually when I process payments to myself to Paypal it arrives in around 3 days. I noticed this time it seems to be taking much longer. Passing up day 5 and onto Day 6 tomorrow and never seen it take this long. Just wondering if anyone else has seen a slow down on payment processing?

I disagree. They no longer have an effect on Search ranking, true; but they most certainly matter. If your friend/customer/alt is out somewhere and someone goes peeping at their profile, there's the Picks. So I agree, it may not matter in the same way that it used to, but it does still matter. Yes you are exactly right. That's what I was mainly referring to was the search. I still use picks to find the LMs for items I see in world. But search was what I was mainly working towards. If that's what you find works for you, then by all means run with it. I for one hate subscriber kiosks with a passion that burns with the heat of a thousand suns. And what few I remain subscribed (willingly) to, nine times out of ten I get a notecard and discard it without even opening it. That may be true for you. But like I said, I am thinking for the general populace, not just one individual person. And sometimes...even if I am not a fan of something, if the bulk of my customers like it, I will do it to please them. I for one, dont subscribe to many groups or kiosks probably for the same reason as you. But my customers seem to. And most of the merchants I solcialize with are claiming the same excellent results. So while I may not (and you may not) if it works for business I am all over it! I will add...I do use a group for my store. But it is a PAID group to join. It's 200L and is my VIP member group. They get a monthly gift as part of that and access to special discounts. I just started that in February and are around 50 members so far for that. I use a simple sign on the wall, they touch it, and if they want to join they pay the 200L on the join button and it's done. SO with this group, obviously I will agree it is important and is a great source of extra little freebie linden for me. That's great! Much as I like being right all the time, I don't mind being proven wrong on occasions like these. If I may ask, did you do anything different during Twisted (eg, having specials on display by the entrance point, etc) than you would have any other time? Because I think, much like freebies in general, if tools like hunts are used wisely they can (obviously) be of great help. So I guess what I'm saying is, I (and likely many others) could use information on how to use hunts wisely. No, I didn't do anything extra during the hunt. We have an in store hunt as well but that runs all the time, not related to the Twisted Hunt. Honestly, I simply put my item out and made it VERY hard for people to find it. In fact I moved it around a lot so people couldn't blog the locations. It forced people to stay there longer and because it was a puzzle to find the missing box, they looked around a lot. I think the key thing was simply that a lot of people doing the hunt had never been to my store before. I did part of the hunt myself, and I will tell you I dropped close to 10,000L randomly throughout the hunt on stores I had never been in before and found some really beautiful new builds I plan on going back to visit. With hunts, you have access to a potentially whole new customer base, who may not have ever been to your store or maybe just haven't been by in awhile. Right now I try to do atleast one hunt a month to keep a good flow of new people coming into my store.

I wouldn't bother blocking flying...it annoys the heck out of people and almost everyone can bypass it.

Not a bad article but definitely in need of updating which since the author posted here we can see is aware of that. It's an old article obviously, but I did enjoy it for the humor sake of it.. On a more serious note, some changes to update... - Profile picks no longer matter. - I wouldn't bother with groups for shops anymore. Nobody has room for groups. Subscriber kiosks are way better. I jumped from a measly 150 group members that took over a year to accumulate for my shop, to over 600 in just a few months by using a kiosk instead. Everyone touches it and joins. No worries about removing a group. - Classified ads - In my opinion...compelte waste of money. Does anyone even read those anymore? - Grid wide hunts - I think this is very bad information. I've gotten a lot of sales from Grid Wide hunts. I am ending the Twisted Hunt here in a few days and trust me...I watch people come in with that "hunter" tag on and I see people all the time lookng around my store and buying quite often. One of my highest spenders for the month, spent 7500L in my store on 2 separate visits. She had never been in before the hunt. I think these are crazy successful, at least they have been for me. Other than that I think the article gives some great advice. Customer service being most important I am in total agreement with. Alot of businesses lack that even still.