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Callie Cline

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  1. my understanding is she said "the" designer" (on the marketplace) of said product. not a new designer. the context is someone uploading an empty box with an established designers logo on it. so she's asking for verification of identity, not if one can design or not. (which is subjective anyway) hope that clarifies.
  2. this is great i will pass this on to our community! thanks! (KittyCatS! owners)
  3. hi grumpity! this thread has exploded so it's hard to know if you have commented or answered on some of the posts i've written asking about the double hike in cash out fees. i am many of my colleagues who are content creators who do business in SL would like to ask you to please reconsider this enormous increase coming with such a short notice. the costs of doing business are high as it is, and the short notice leaves no time to adjust. not to mention that just a few years ago it was 1 dollar then 10, then 25 then a huge hike to 250, now it will be doubled to 500 (per 10k, your numbers) it seems really off and the way it's been done seems and feels aggressive and so many creators have some really great views on why this is a really hard pill to swallow. since i said more in my other posts, i'll close this now and share one suggestion i've made for years then i'll go see if you answered somewhere else! thank you for being open to listen and for suggestions. here is my number one suggestion i think would help you all soooo much. and it is what kept me in sl. 1. make the learning curve easier. (bring back live help) if it were not for live help i'd never have been able to figure out sl. the number one response i've gotten from people i show and have invited is "it's way too hard." and with little dumb games online that are easy, though sl may be appealing, it is a steep learning curve. helping new people in that way who log on and never come back are potential dollars lost. just this alone would increase the user base and then in turn revenue. i still get im's from new people who can't do much, and it takes a lot of time to help them which i try to do but if there was a place to send them (like when i send them to a CSR for our cats) it helps them SO much and they become sooooo loyal! i still remember Dotedote Edison who was the person who i'd get every night when i logged in who showed me how to shop, rez, put on clothing, buy lindens, and so much more. not sure how you all try to retain customers now but to me SL is basically is a social and glorified chat room with amazing bells and whistles. relationships are key. sincerely, callie cline p.s. i am happy to offer any other ideas if you all want to contact me, and i'd be happy to share ideas i think would help sl grow, make more money while being generous to their loyal user base, including creators.
  4. yes, that's true however we've not raised out prices ever. in over 8 years. we're mindful of listening to our customers and know it's tight for them. also, moving stuff to the cloud has actually lowered server costs (from what i have been told, if that's true) the higher rates are (from what i've heard) something they've wanted to do because other 3d sites that sell content make 30% of what people sell and they feel they were too low. (if that's true from the articles and interviews i've read) however, that is not a good reason, just because you can doesn't mean one should. especially when they are not apples to apples. i can understand feeling like "wow we could make more" and being tempted, but there seems to be a big disconnect from people who are creators or at least that's the feeling and they are customers as well. also, bitter pills are much easier to swallow with better communication and not an annoucement with a short window. when it went up from 25 dollars max to 250, we had about 4 or 5 months to adjust budgets, etc. this was a bigger increase with little warning. one wonders why it wasn't given with more regard to the impact it would have. especially since they said it was a bitter pill. anyway, we'll see what they say, and being mindful of how you raise prices (so drastically) and not communicate with the ones it will effect doesn't promote a good feeling. i just really love SL and think it's an untapped place in the potential it could have, and just think that there are so many ways to increase revenues besides this way. it's basically doubling their revenue in a month from those who work here. that's a LOT. with us not getting anything in return (at least not said in the way it was communicated) so it seems greedy and not a fair way to do business. and i hope they will consider this and not take it as people whining. thanks for your comment! and yes, we can raise our prices, our business model has been delivering more than we promise and increasing value without hiking prices. take care i think this will be my last post til we hear back!
  5. Hoping they come back to us with a new decision on cash out fees. there's a good reason the lower ones have worked. my fear is more amazing creators leaving and giving residents less amazing stuff to buy. in a way creators are working for LL, making experiences and products they don't have to pay a staff to make. it's a great biz model really. encouraged by them listening to the voices about the groups and adjusting that. hoping they do the same with doubling the cash out rate ti's a HUGE jump with not even a 30 day notice. that's harsh. still waiting! (and reporting back inworld to creators busy making stuff to make deadlines.) c;mon LL don't disappoint!
  6. thank you so much for hearing what people have said. i know business is hard and always needs to adjust and listen to their customers and i really appreciate you guys listening AND making a change. Seth Godin (whom I read and study with) teaches a lot about the new way of marketing and how companies who want to succeed really need to listen to their loyal customers. and you changing this really is a positive thing to me. will you please also get back to us on the doubled fee for creators? i've gotten tons of messages from creators who are so discouraged. like really. the feeling is not realizing without what we make, what we create, what we contribute, you'd have no product. to hire people to do what we collectively do would cost so much money and make you none unless you charged a ton for products. we hope you will please reconsider this enormous increase to us, and realize that we have a LOT of costs and to take that much, double what we pay now with less than even a 30 day notice is really bad for business. thanks for listening about groups and I and many of my fellow content creators await your reply. sincerely and respectfully, callie cline p.s. many said they couldn't post here as they are swamped getting ready for releases... and those releases and events and things make you a LOT of money. please somehow try to see it from our point of view. thanks so much for considering!
  7. yes i know there are fees... however, i'm really doubtful they are this much. i'm going to inquire and find out from someone i know who works in this area. i'm really curious now as i just can't believe it's double what it was. (2.5% more) and before that it went up from $25 max (per 10k usd) to $250. and that was a huge shock to so many people. and a huge cut in pay instantly (though they did give us like a 4 month notice unlike this one) which leaves NO room to adjust real life budgets. etc
  8. i hope they do!!! really!! we always listen to our customers and have adjusted decisions we were off about when they spoke up, so who knows!
  9. i'm not sure if it's still true but i was told by the owner of paypal who was an early investor in SL and hung out there (ebay owner) that sl had the $1 cash out fee with pay pal forever as part of some deal they did with LL. that it would never change. i'm not sure if that was true but at the time (about 13 years ago) he was telling a group of us about investing in sl and why it's a great place for people to create and try to earn money and how this deal with pay pal made it so they kept almost all they earned (except for the conversion rate) however, it does cost money to keep up with federal law and sl is an economy and they have to abide by rules of having an economy and that really is their biggest asset (or one of them) so they must be compliant in all ways. however, i still think the increase again after one a bit over a year ago which was huge is just too much. way too much.
  10. no, actually it doesn't have to be that way. there are many many ways a business can increase revenue. people are upset about premium going up 3 dollars a month but what about people who could make 1000 a month? they went from paying 1 dollar (after conversion fees from lindens to dollars) to then 10 dollars (max) to 25 dollars max to (per 1000) to now overnight 50 dollars????? that is INSANE. ebb indicated when he was talking about Sansar years ago predicting it's huge success, how they would give free land and make the money from the multi million dollar economy he expected to have. and charging fees to creators and making a lot of money of creators. so i think it's his core belief slowly being rolled over to SL because Sansar did not even come close to being a success. from what i read the peak users online last year was 140? or so at one time. 140???? that to me would be classified as an Epic fail. i LOVE second life. i've had amazing adventures in this virtual world since i joined, but charging content creators so so so much from one dollar to now 500 (per 10k) is CRAZY and it is really disrespectful. if there are not BIG creators there will NOT be little ones. the bigger ones set trends, make markets, and create reasons for people to engage and stay. their value can not be diminished. (as far as what they provide for residents to enjoy) anyway, i understand businesses need to occasionally raise prices however, moving servers to the cloud they SAVE money. why not pass that along to the creators? we have a ton of expenses to do business. in our particular business we pay for many outside servers, staff, and just countless amounts so another 2.5% increase in a bit over a year is startling. my guess is he's going to keep doing it to meet his value of a 20% or more amount. (he said something at an event about making money from the economy and how they had not done that well in SL. and how it should be like taxes... sigh. like taxes are something people really have a good feeling about. i would really ask them to reconsider this doubling for cashing out. i have never in my life heard of any company increase anything so much ever. seems wrong. anyway... sometimes i wonder what they are thinking at LL. it's such a great place (second life) yet to a long time resident who saw it grow and then watch them make change after change that has made them lose so many people, i wonder why they keep making what seems like "mistakes" (if they want to grow). there is so much potential for growth and yet changes keep happening making it go the opposite way. i don't get it. i hope if any Lindens are reading this they don't take offense to it. i rarely if ever have posted in forums but it saddens me to hear of more people leaving now who give and contribute so so much. it's really sad.
  11. i just meant, the increases started a few years ago going fomr $1. to $10. then from $10 to $25, then from $25 to $250, then from $250 to $500. are you saying you've increased your prices the entire time to reflect those changes?
  12. it was just increased a year ago as well from 25 dollars (per 10k) to 250 dollars. over the years it went from 1 dollar max to now NO max, and 500. per 10k (the most you can cash out which they state when you cash out so going by their numbers)
  13. you're going to double your prices? is that what you mean? just curious. if we did that, our customers would be really upset and would lose most. many are on fixed incomes and sl is already for discretionary income. can you clarify? thanks!
  14. I can't believe that the fee to cash out DOUBLED after it just went UP 10X (from 25.00 to 250) and before that it went up 10x (from 1 dollar to 10) i know that Ebbe said in a live event a few years ago when pitching Sansar that his model was to attract creators from around the world and make land free and make the money off the economy. I cringed when i heard that rationale as I really don't think he understands what is attractive about SL to users and creators. To charge creators from 1 dollar to 500 in a few short years is crazy. that would be like making Land charges go from 200/month (for a sim) to $100,000. usd. how can that be anywhere near fair? LL's income from creators' work has gone up THAT much. 250% wasn't enough? I'm just flabbergasted. I can't imagine charging my customers 10x what I charge them now, in fact we've not raised one price in 8 years because many are on fixed incomes to begin with and one must take that into consideration. this is all discretionary income they bring into SL, so we can't really pass on these huge costs of doing business onto them. They'd leave the game if we all did that. if all creators start charging more to make up for this, SL will become far too expensive to do business in. We've already lost many amazing creators over the years because of what is perceived as "greed" and sticking it to creators/land owners/ etc. I just can't believe something this drastic could even be justified. so basically in a month you will be doubling your income with this change. It's not in proportion to the other adjustments and I would appeal to LL to reconsider this. Content creators are responsible for so much growth in income and economy you'd think you'd want to reward that, not penalize it. AND, with such an increase one would think one would take time to meet with creators who are now losing 2.5% MORE of their income (and going from 1 dollar to now 500.00 per your limit of 10k in just a few short years) to get them on board (if possible) instead of losing more. In the end, we build communities via our brands and keep people IN second life via those communities. it really saddens me to see something this drastic AGAIN after it just happening a bit over a year ago (from 25 dollars to 250 dollars per 10k) I recall when Pierre Omidyar (owner of ebay and paypal) who was an early investor and used to hang out on the grid (and how i found out about SL) was singing the praises of it and he told me about the "sweet deal" that was made with paypal for only a 1 dollar cash out... and at the time i didn't understand what he meant until he explained it to me, and i thought it was really cool that PayPal did that. (made a low fee) but now i truly can't understand this and it just really does seem suspect. anyway my question: Is there anyway you will reconsider this drastic action? I am honestly asking. Will the Lab go back to the drawing board and reconsider not a DOUBLE fee? I'm guessing my fellow creators will be very enthusiastic if you would do so. As some are already leaving, some that are really amazing. In the end many are artists and this is just ONE place to make art. I'm sad we'll be losing more than we already have over the years when cash out fees became so high. so, will you reconsider? sincerly, callie cline p.s. i think it's great that this time you left a thread open for discussion. it's very important. thanks. and i apologize in advance if this sounds mean or attacking, it's not, i am shocked though and would love a reply and some authentic engagement. after being here 13 years and quite an advocate in RL for Second Life, I am finding it harder and harder to sing it's praises.
  15. Would love to know how it can be justified to make huge increases to cash out, going from 1dollar a few years ago, to 10, then to a 25 max, then a percentage increase and no max so from 25 it’s now 250 Usd? If any any other business did that, they’d go out of business and what is frustrating for content creators is we have no way as your customers to speak to someone about these drastic increases, how it affects us, etc. If we raised our prices from 10L to 25 the following year to 250L we’d be out of business. Many creators have felt so discouraged about this and felt there is no one to speak to about these huge increases. And in the last announcement about all the new things, it was mentioned it would be going up again! For those who try to make a living these increases are like getting huge pay cuts with no benefits. We have staff we pay and many costs to run a business in SL and making it harder for us will make it harder for people to have incentives to create in sl which will lower revenues for sl. It seems like something is way off. And this is discouraging because if we all were to raise prices on our customers to absorb our losses, then people would not be able to buy as much as they do now. Can you please reconsider the last huge increase with no cap, and please give us a place we can bring our concerns as your customers? Like we provide for our customers inworld? I don’t know a business that could stay in business if they did this. Thank you you in advance for your consideration.
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