Clarification on the 100 Item Limit

[Darrius Gothly]

I discovered something VERY neat about the "100 Item Limit" in the Unassociated Inventory Items listing on the Manage Listings page. It turns out that the only items in there that count against the 100 are those marked "Direct". You can put 10,000 items in the list if they are from a Magic Box; those aren't counted at all. But you can only put 100 Direct Delivery items in that list before it starts spitting errors.

That means you can upload the contents of a Magic Box in chunks of 20, 30, 100 ... whatever works best for you. As the Magic Box items get automatically moved into the Unassociated Inventory Items list, you can just let that list grow as long as you want. Then when you've completed the whole Magic Box, Take it back into Inventory, remove it from the Magic Box Status page .. and Sync Marketplace with Magic Boxes; those items will automatically vanish and you do NOT have to delete them manually.

So to make this into a stepwise process:
 

1. Copy the Entire Contents of a Magic Box into your Inventory .. preferably into a temporary folder.
2. Drop 20 of them into the Merchant Outbox.
3. Once those 20 are uploaded successfully, delete them from the temporary folder you made in Step 1
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you've deleted the last item from the temporary folder.
5. Take the Magic Box into your Inventory
6. Use Inventory > Magic Box Status to Force Remove the Magic Box you just took
7. Use Sync Marketplace with Magic Boxes button on Manage Listings page (ignoring the Unassociated Inventory Items list)
8. Wait a few minutes then refresh the Manage Listings page.

Presto! One entire Magic Box done!

[Lasher Oh]

All Good steps Darrius however some folks might need to add a 9th if the unassociated items will not budge. Which has been my experience with every box so far.

9: Mainly log out of Marketplace  altogether and then back in. When you navigate back to your inventory the list should be cleared.

Another problem that sometimes arises is that some listings seem to get stuck in purgatory. This has  happened to me a few times and always with the second tranch of uploads from a magic box that holds more than 100 items. They appear  in the managed list but the tick is greyed out and the tick box for for bulk editing can't be activated.

The only solution then is to activate them 1 by one  using the actions  drop down on the right and just choose list.

When it refreshes and you  do three click through on the sort list to get back to where you were then you can see that it is active after which you can  progress to the next one.

With the snails pace of the site it takes approximately 5 - 10 minute to reactivate each individual 'lost in the ether' listing.

By the time we get to put questions about DD to the commerce team on the 2nd of April they will be answering back with all the solutions we already handed them on a plate.

^L^

[Darrius Gothly]

---

Lasher Oh wrote:

By the time we get to put questions about DD to the commerce team on the 2nd of April they will be answering back with all the solutions we already handed them on a plate.

^L^

---

LOL Prolly so. Thanks for the additional info on the "Listings from Hell" issues. I've not encountered it yet, but then I've only done the one item for real so I've been lucky.

(Filed under: "It's easier to dodge a bullet at 50 yards than to duck a shotgun at 2 paces" LOL)

[Kurt Ludd]

You can use multiple windows to make the wait time better...

I have used as many as 4 windows concurrently on Marketplace...

3500 so far and another 2000 to go LOL

Kurt Ludd

"the Gesture Maker"

[Rya Nitely]

Many people are unboxing items first, which is the way to go (If not now then later). It's much more convenient for customers to receive contents in a folder than receiving a folder with a box in it.  Also the new feature of seeing the contents of your purchase before buying is too useful to ignore. This is also useful for merchants to check contents and perms.

Now people with boxed items usually have the word BOX or BOXED in the object name.

So before you get the step 2 you need to remove the word BOX. 

Step 3 is to go into edit on the item listing and manually reassociate each uploaded item with its listing.

So for many of us the process is not as automatic as LL intended.

[Pamela Galli]

Thanks for the tips, which I will be referring to when I get around to migrating my stuff.

 

But I thought I would try again to delete my 316 unassociated items I have listed now. Nope, still can't do it.  Any clue how to get rid of these things?

[Rya Nitely]

Pamela, have you removed them from your magic box and then resynced?

[Darrius Gothly]

You raise an EXCELLENT point Rya, one I hadn't even stumbled across yet ... the little word "BOX" stuck on the end of each of my "Associated Objects". I've done the same thing as you discuss; made sure to put the word BOX on the end of the name.

I suppose it does no harm as people don't really see the folder name when they purchase, however they will see it in the Order Summary email they get and they'll see it in their Received Items folder too. When they drag and drop the folder from Received Items into their regular Inventory, that folder will still have "BOX" on the end of its name unless they rename it. And if they'd gotten a box with BOX at the end of the name then did the "old fashioned" rezzing and copy to inventory to get at the contents, the folder it creates in their Inventory is also named with "BOX" on the end.

But .. umm .. geez, as a programmer I'd hate to automatically chew off the word "BOX" on the end as you might very well remove a valid part of the folder name. For example "Easter Gift Box" or "Birthday Box" .. something where the word is actually pertinent to the item name and not just saying "this item is in a box".

[Rya Nitely]

Darrius, did you unbox your items? Your original post suggests you didn't.

I'm a bit too pedantic to settle with 'it does no harm'. I'm betting that most serious merchants are the same about their listings. Leaving the word 'BOX' on items that aren't boxed is just, well...not good enough.

So the process for most people who want to do things properly from the start is to unbox items, rename the folder and then reassociate it with the listing. Unfortunately, the only way to do this is one at a time.

Of course, people with 100s or 1000s of listings may not have a choice right now but to leave their items boxed and follow your easy guide. Unfortunately, they will miss out on the advantages of content display and customer convenience.

 

[Darrius Gothly]

So far I've only uploaded one .. a test Freebie. I really need ANS to be running before I can convert my entire inventory. I will be unboxing though, and as I don't have 100's of items, it shouldn't take me more than a day or two. I will also most likely remove the word "BOX" when I do .. because I'm the same as you, I prefer every detail to be right.

[Lasher Oh]

"Unfortunately, they will miss out on the advantages of content display and customer convenience.'

Sorry Rya - I have to stick up for good old Boxed products, especially where the box itself has a marketing and presentation purpose. Eg finely crafted creative gift boxes and shopping bags which convey brand values and  often amuse and delight. Also is the benefit of pop-up notecards and other alerts we may wish to utilise in order to draw a customers attention to something important. These are just a few advantages you are giving up by opting for pre-opened folders

As for missing out on content display, it doesn't need to be. - I have always put in a little extra work on my listings to show a picture of the actual box contents.

I personally don't believe that delivering items in already opened folders is more or less convenient for either merchant or customer. There are strong pros and cons for both. If merchants continue to send  boxed items (and there are a lot of us) to their customers they will have weighed up 'the advantages and disadvantages'. Yes they may well be missing out on one benefit, mainly the highly questionable customer convenience, in favour of what I and many other believe to be the better more pragmatic whole.

In the end it's horses for courses and really comes down to what you are selling and how you choose to interact with your customers.

^L^

[Rya Nitely]

Yes of course Lasher. Each to their own. 

Though, it does seem to me that the Marketplace is favouring unboxed items - making them appear more attractive. Compare the description for 'Use it Now'  to 'Unpacking Required'. And in time customers  will expect to see contents in the contents section. I have a feeling boxes will slowly disappear. 

I've always suspected that merchants love their fancy boxes and the pop up notecards much much more than customers do.

But as merchants we do what we feel is best, and we either gain or lose by those choices.

 

[Nefertiti Nefarious]

---

Rya Nitely wrote:

I've always suspected that merchants love their fancy boxes and the pop up notecards much much more than customers do.

 

---

I think so ... I seldom keep a box or shopping bag, but almost always keep the contents. The exception is when the box has independent decorative value, such as an Easter Bunny that comes packed in a decorated egg.

[Pamela Galli]

My customers lose stuff from their folders all the time -- I often tell them to look in their box, it is the 7th item down. 

[Lasher Oh]

Absolutely Rya - and should sales start to drift downwards or customers complain then I would of course look  at it again.

My feeling is, that just as in RL we do still have a need for packaging even in virtual worlds. For instance in RL would you be inclined to give a gift of some lovely hand made chocolates all clumped together in an old paper bag - or some jewelery in a plain brown cardboard box?

Although undoubtably practical for some - the pre-opened folder is just one more step towards bland standardisation. Some would argue that  it is a digital environment and that there is no need to emmulate RL standards, to whom I would then ask back why on earth do people put roofs on their houses in SL when it never rains?

And perhaps I'm right  out on a limb on my own but when I buy a new computer or something techy I actually enjoy the process of unwrapping and discovering whats inside - especially when  they are wrapped by Apple :-)

^L^

[Pamela Galli]

---

Rya Nitely wrote:

Pamela, have you removed them from your magic box and then resynced?

---

Yes. Nothing I do gets rid of them.

[Darrius Gothly]

What type are they? Magic Box or Direct?

[Perrie Juran]

---

Rya Nitely wrote:

Yes of course Lasher. Each to their own. 

Though, it does seem to me that the Marketplace is favouring unboxed items - making them appear more attractive. Compare the description for '

Use it Now

'  to '

Unpacking Required

'.

And in time customers  will expect to see contents in the contents section.

 I have a feeling boxes will slowly disappear. 

I've always suspected that merchants love their fancy boxes and the pop up notecards much much more than customers do.

But as merchants we do what we feel is best, and we either gain or lose by those choices.

 

---

I know you Merchants are living through World War 5 right now with this conversion, what a mess.

But regarding receiving purchases in a box rather than a folder i have started this thread:

"Why i Prefer Receiving My Purchase In a Box.....:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/Why-I-Prefer-Receiving-My-Purchases-In-Boxes-Rather-Than-In/m-p/1455403

[Josh Susanto]

>What type are they? Magic Box or Direct?

If they're deleted or originally nonpresent to both Magic Box and DD Folders, they should be neither Magic Box nor DD items.

That is, they are strictly SLM items, not SL items.

(and, yes, the ones I deleted from my boxes are still on the SLM)

[Rya Nitely]

---

I know you Merchants are living through World War 5 right now with this conversion, what a mess.

But regarding receiving purchases in a box rather than a folder i have started this thread:

"Why i Prefer Receiving My Purchase In a Box.....:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/Why-I-Prefer-Receiving-My-Purchases-In-Boxes-Rather-Than-In/m-p/1455403

---

Thanks for the link, Perrie. Should make interesting reading. And I guess I really am doing what I prefer as a customer. I absolutely hate boxes, but it's my opinion only.

 

[Madeliefste Oh]

Getting rid of those magic boxes and make everything 'direct', was not so much work, it was done in one hour. But then when I discovered that customers can actually see what they buy in 'contents', when you put your items in a folder in stead of a box I found it worth the time investment of unboxing almost all my merchandise. Some items I left in boxes, but that is not more then 10% of my merchandise.

I have always liked when I shop inworld that often you can look in the box, see all items and their permissions (when there are no vendors used). For me as a shopper it is essential information, and it is one of the reasons I use the marketplace to search but I buy inworld. I guess I will still buy in world, even when this information becomes available on the MP, because I still have other reasons to buy in world. But the extra information that 'looking into the folder' ads to an article is certainly of value to me.
I also like to receive the items in a folder in stead of a box, specially when you buy 'fat packs', they often come in a box that contains (for example) 20 seperate boxes, and all must be unpacked and you end up with 20 landmarks and 20 the same notecards that must be cleaned from your inventory.

I could have saved me some time, by unboxing first, before putting all once again on marketplace. But thanks to Darrius' instructions, it still was doable.

The bad thing is that I discovered that a lot of my older items still are not fully repared from the xstreet immigration. In xstreet I had all of them translated in all languages. I knew I gave up after I had worked more then 120 hours on my listings after the immigration, and that some still would need attention in the future, but I never look at them again, since the products were at least available on the marketplace. But now I have seen there is still a lot to do, not only in putting up translations, but also in improving keywords.

I think I won't be producing very much coming weeks but in stead getting some dust off some shelves.

[Darrius Gothly]

---

Madeliefste Oh wrote:

I think I won't be producing very much coming weeks but in stead getting some dust off some shelves.

---

That's what I've been doing since I'm on hold waitng for ANS to be released. I've updated my entire Teleporter line, and tonight I did actually roll out a new product. (But it was one that's been rotating around my brain for a while now. I just had to grab it outta the muck, code it up and document it.)