A Little scared :(

[Fergie Finesmith]

Hi, I'm skin designer. I sell my stuff on SL Marketplace and inworld. I dont why the avatar called "Removals3 Linden" was today on my store, some friend told me that maybe my stuff was reported for something and LL is removing the illegal stuff. But HEY! ANYTHING ON MY STORE is ILLEGAL. Then, after "Removals3 Linden" left my store I checked my products and everything was complete, nothing is missing.

My skins were made using templates by Evely Lane, and Eloh Eliot. And I don't know why but  Winter DiPrima (Mallory Cowen husban, Laqroki owners) was on my store yesterday and bought 2 skin demos. Also some famous fashion blogger contacted me yesterday because she wanted the name of her blog removed from my search terms on SL Marketplace..... IS That the main problem?? because to bump a little my brand on the search results pages I putted famous brand names as redgrave, laqroki, belleza, but they are not even showing up, they are only search terms that are hidden, it's something as SEO. But well I removed all those names yesterday, but today "Removals3" visited my store!! why???

What's going to happen??? I have almost 2 years selling skins, they are 100% legal

[Randall Ahren]

Sounds a bit like IMVU using "2nd Life" as key words to bump themselves up in search results.

[Marigold Devin]

Wow, I never heard someone's guilty conscience **bleep** them so much!!!

You could try IMing Removals3 Linden and ask them directly why they were on your sim. If it is a "bot" you should get an auto-reply.

If you're not doing anything illegal, then you have nothing at all to worry about.

Edited to add:

(that word that is bleeped out is "prickle" without the "le" on the end. Apparently that is a "rude" word?!?! Darn this software.)

[Ann Otoole]

If you are legit and a take down happens then file a counter DMCA and LL has to put your stuff back up. This happens constantly.

[Zanara Zenovka]

If you use other's brand names in your keywords, in an environment where unauthorised copying is an issue, you shouldn't be surprised if those brand owners object, or turn up to check out what you're selling.

If you're not selling the unauthorised work of others then there's probably no reason for concern, although buying a full perms template pack doesn't guarantee that all its contents are legit either.

[Ry0ta Exonar]

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Fergie Finesmith wrote:

because to bump a little my brand on the search results pages I putted famous brand names as redgrave, laqroki, belleza, but they are not even showing up, they are only search terms that are hidden, it's something as SEO.

---

 

That's called keyword spam and you may not do that. You should read

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/listing_guidelines#keyword-spam

Maybe that's why those people visited your store.

 

[Josh Susanto]

>(that word that is bleeped out is "prickle" without the "le" on the end. Apparently that is a "rude" word?!?! Darn this software.)

Have we tried the word "prique"?

How about "pr1ck"?

[Ariel Vuissent]

You can't actually use the names of unrelated businesses or blogs to promote yourself or bump your search results. It's possible the owners of the stores whose names you were using complained, likely because they heard complaints from customers or had some friends/customers who told them unrelated stores were popping up when their stores were searched for. It's also possible that the reason this person bought your demos is that he believes you may have copybotted their skins, because you used their name. Which also may have been something this Linden was investigating.

Keep those unrelated terms out of your search terms from now on. If "Removals3 Linden" does not contact you or return, and you don't notice anything missing, you're probably fine - as long as you don't put any of those names back in your search terms. Keep the terms narrowed to those related to YOUR brand, no one else's, and no blogs you haven't been featured in and/or whose names you don't have permission to use.

[Fergie Finesmith]

I remove those terms yesterday. I just have to wait, all I know is that I'm not selling any illegal stuff on my store. I've been working with the Evely Lane templates from 2 years ago, and I'm not the only one working with those templates, Evely Lane is a top selling template desinger on SL Marketplace, I trust on her work, and the Eloh Eliot templates are free to use, almost every designer that I know, knows about Eloh's templates.

[Ariel Vuissent]

Whether or not you removed the terms, the report still has to be checked. Better that then your items being removed completely! And whether or not YOU know you're not selling anything illegal, that also has to be checked; especially since other skin designers, having had your store pop up in a search for theirs, may suspect that you copied their items. Not saying you did, just that it has to be checked out. Just wait it out: if you've removed the terms and haven't done anything wrong, nothing bad will happen. No need to panic.

[Tiffy Vella]

err....Just say you were really really good at making something, and had a unique name, and had spent years working hard to build a good reputation, and had invested probably hundreds of thousands of linden dollars plus over the years on promotion, and countless hours working on blogs, flickr, plurk and twitter promoting........and somebody else who made another product in the same area ( a rival merchant ) decided to use your name in their land description/ MP keywords so that people who were searching for the famous store found yours as well.......if you were that merchant, would you see a problem with that?

If you are great at making original skins, power to you, go for it and make something of it, but do it on the strength of your own reputation. (And I do truly wish you the best if you take this approach)

[Pamela Galli]

---

Tiffy Vella wrote:

err....Just say you were really really good at making something, and had a unique name, and had spent years working hard to build a good reputation, and had invested probably hundreds of thousands of linden dollars plus over the years on promotion, and countless hours working on blogs, flickr, plurk and twitter promoting........and somebody else who made another product in the same area ( a rival merchant ) decided to use your name in their land description/ MP keywords so that people who were searching for the famous store found yours as well.......if you were that merchant, would you see a problem with that?

If you are great at making original skins, power to you, go for it and make something of it, but do it on the strength of your own reputation. (And I do truly wish you the best if you take this approach)

---

I sure as hell would have a problem with it.  This person is trying to gain from the hard work of others by ripping off their brands. I can only think of one reason someone would be so desperate as to do this rather than stand on the quality of his own work.

[Lyra Blackthorne]

Off topic but if you use terms to boost you in search that have nothing to do with your products all you will do is anger customers.  When people falsly advertise and I get to their shop but do not see what was promised, I never go back and would never trust the merchant again. 

Be honest, not just in what you create but in what you sell to the public too

[Marigold Devin]

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Josh Susanto wrote:

>(that word that is bleeped out is "prickle" without the "le" on the end. Apparently that is a "rude" word?!?! Darn this software.)

Have we tried the word "prique"?

How about "pr1ck"?

---

When I write pen1s, I always change the i for a 1, but I just expected pr1ck to go through, especially in the context it was written.  It actually amazes me - even after all this time - that the software can be quite so "censorable".

I like "prique" though. Q gets underused on this keyboard. I think we should start a campaign for more Qs inour language. Qoq, for example. 

I expect fanny will go through, and yet that, to us in the UK, could be seen as "rude" a (slang) word as pr1ck is, being the female equivalent and not slang for posterior, rump, buttocks, arse. :matte-motes-sarcasm::matte-motes-tongue::matte-motes-nerdy::matte-motes-big-grin-evil::matte-motes-evil-invert:



[Ziggy21 Slade]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

I sure as hell would have a problem with it.  This person is trying to gain from the hard work of others by ripping off their brands. I can only think of one reason someone would be so desperate as to do this rather than stand on the quality of his own work.

---

I agree absolutely, I am constantly a victim of this in the inworld classified, where another merchant insists on placing ads that are clearly designed to look like my own.

As Pam points out this is an attempt to gain from the hard work of others which is clearly wrong but I think this is a massive mistake for another reason. Building a brand should be part of your overall marketing strategy, thats how the names you are hijacking became names, if your strategy is to ride on the backs of other brands you cannot possibly be establishing your own brand and consequently you are destined to remain unrecognised.

By all means look to these big players, and try to emulate their quality and range, learn from their branding and marketing strategies, but devote all your efforts into establishing yourself rather than re advertisng them. They may be big and very popular, but not everyone is looking for a really popular skin and not everyone can afford those high prices especially early on which is when many purchase a skin.

Figure out your USPs (unique selling points), remember the big players can't compete with you on everything, they can't offer the same level of exclusivity that you can, because they sell to 1000s of customers a week, they cant offer the customer service that you can because they dont have time, 200k per week may put them first in search but its also forces up their overheads allowing you to compete on price.  

Perhaps present yourself as 'The local skinsmith' carefully crafting unique designs, this will be far more appealing to many than those big swish stores. Make sure every item you sell features your brand name in the package name, so customers will see it everytime they go to inventory, put it on your packaging and in your listings, advertise, sponsor events, run competitions, put YOUR name out there and keep putting it out there.

      

 

[Josh Susanto]

When someone sells knock-offs, they're essentially betting on their competitors instead of betting on themselves.

That's sad.