Tavo Vella

Whilst I see the great things that rigged mesh clothing can do, especially in allowing surface detail and a finite thickness, would it have been better for clothes makers if more Linden meshes had been provided? The Linden skirt has many problems, not least the sliders are rubbish and stretching is restricted to a very narrow zone, but it instantly fits and is easily editable. Rigged mesh can be great if bespoke, but will rarely fit another avatar who wants to keep their shape. It is also a complex process that is beyond the reach of most clothes makers. Surely it would now be easy for the Lindens to produce a far better skirt mesh along with a similarly rigged upper body, leg and sleeve meshes that likewise are surface draping. Best of all would be a 'whole body' Linden mesh from shoulder to floor allowing one piece dresses, cloaks, coats etc. Tavo

The real problem with the ratings are the very low numbers that are given.In XSL I reconed on getting a rating from 5-10% of sales. In marketplace I am on less than 0.5% of sales giving a rating. This distorts the whole concept of feedback 3 ways: The small numbers mean that it is very easy for sellers to game a high rating by getting one or 2 friends to leave a positive. The small numbers mean that a buyer with a grudge or who is misinformed can give a low rating that isn't diluted out As more ratings were given under XSL, most high rated items got their ratings then, and are therefore old, and may even be obsolete. I would like to suggest that LL have feedback an opt out rather than opt in option after buying After some time, when new feedback has built up, the old (pre marketplace) ratings are removed. Tavo

I would say that is spot on; quality (and "junk") is in the eye of the beholder, and as most of what I sell would be "junk" as defined by one of the other posters (stuff of little use on its own you can use to make useful things out of) I don't think we can judge. In addition I just had a look at my sales over the last 6 months and although they are OK overall, maybe a third of (older) products would have not broken even if there was a L$10/week fee. Maybe I should remove them, but they are still sometimes selling and getting good ratings, so if some buyers like them, why should I?. It is the obsolete items that either no longer sell at all or have no support available that are the problem. Who is now going to buy pre-sculpted shoes for hundreds of L$ or high prim, pre-sculpted furniture? There are still hundreds of these items out there clogging up listings. Maybe there should be some sort of 'opt in' for products where sellers have to actively keep listings going (maybe as simple as ticking a box every 3 months), so products from absent sellers and those where the seller has not bothered to remove old stock will go. Tavo

I actually agree strongly with the OP, even though it would cost me, even if the listing fees were offset by a lower % on sales. I have a lot of items that sell for too low a price and too rarely to be viable with a $L10 fee, but I have others that would be in profit that would offset them. I have a couple of inworld shops and they are profitable overall, but many items in them lose money. I would be happy with Marketplace being the same. I agree that there are a lot of obsolete items on Marketplace, and others that are wrongly priced (such as pre-sculpty shoes). Removing these would let the new, small sellers show through and woulds ultimately improve sales. Tavo

I've been in sl for a couple of years just over breaking even, but over the last few months have started to make a bit of money . It now all seems a bit serious as i suppose I have to put this down for tax and start taking it seriously. Actually, earning money seems to have taken some of the fun out of it. Spending the first bit of it in 2 days and going off to Egypt for a week! tavo

Since it went to Marketplace I recon I get reviews for about 1 in 200 sales; not exactly valid. As this dribble of reviews adds onto the much more frequent reviews that came in under XSL, it means that only old (and possibly obsolete) items now have large numbers of reviews- exactly the opposite effect that what a buyer would find useful. Tavo