Why Shopping in Second Life Feels Broken?

[@djgizmoe]

It's really interesting to see (mostly clothing) shopping from the female avi's perspective. As someone who almost always buys for a human male avatar, we have a real paucity of regular events and sales are (comparatively) rare. All items for men are usually full price at said events (and at SL stores in general), and moreover, I'd say a majority of what's available isn't something a normie like me would even find appealing (stuff like hypersexualized fetishwear, tattoos and guns).The only sales men usually get are on stuff that is years old and/or clips because of poor design.

[@gabbylipherps7454]

I am a reasonably well known creator on SL, done many events, know many other creators, and I can tell you right now that there is some extremely annoying things stores do. The single most annoying thing is making ANYTHING no mod. ever. there is literally no reason for it, not one. Obviously I can see why things like scripts are no mod but as for the models, it's actually mind boggling that people sell things no mod. any creator that gives you an excuse about making things no mod is just %100 pure full of crap, because it's typically some nonsense about copybotting, and I can tell you right now, mod perms mean nothing when it comes to that. The only reason I can even think is that they don't want you tinting the clothing so they can sell you the fatpack k, but even that makes no sense because even when you buy the fatpack it's no mod. it's actually insane. As for the whole full pack scheme, I'm sorry, but it's just grimey, I can speak first hand when i say that if you buy a shirt, and have to buy each color separately, or buy the over priced fatpack, that in the VAST majority of cases, the difference between the colors from the creators perspective is slightly changing the HUE in photo shop, even with logos and stuff they just slap a different logo on and act like its a whole other shirt, it's not. Now there is certainly some items where the different textures are elaborate and they put alot of effort into them, but those are very very rare. They entire concept of the fat packs is just a cheap marketing tactic to convince you you'd be better off paying an absurdly high price for a single item, then only getting one color of that item which is more reasonably priced. Just because it's normalized doesn't make it any less grimey. As for the over saturation of events, well, I dunno what to even say. I always had a very steady customer base, but there is a massive crowd of people who basically just spend all their time on SL going to events, even when I would make the lowest effort items for events they ALWAYS made an absolute insane amount of money, basically in the course of a month, a single event with one or two items would more then outpace the entirety of the rest of the store. Not to mention that it pulls in new customers, both from the event, and people who would see the person who bought at the event. It spreads the stores brand into many more circles that it other wise would never reach. Events were NEVER about showing creativity, other then a small handful of themed events (which by the way are always the most fun events because those ones end up actually bring creators to talk with each other about ideas and stuff or do collabs, always alot more thought and effort and creates a sort of competitions with the stores to lean into the theme the hardest). It's basically just a way for people find new stores they might like. Also, bloggers mostly get those blogger packs from the event back room. is there too many events? I dunno, I don't really think so, it's basically just the main way for stores to release new items whilst creating singular "malls" where lesser known stores might found because someone went there for the more known store. I don't really see how it's a bad thing for stores or customers. I do think there should be exclusivity at events, as in no old items allowed, which pretty much all the bigger events do, so like, whats the issue? You want to know about pricing and practices with events? trust me, there is not a single vendor "barely breaking even" (at least not at any notable events) it costs almost nothing to do the events by SL creator standards, and just by being in the event no matter how low effort your item is you WILL make money, the event organizers certainly pull a very good profit from entry fees, but it's %100 a win win for both the organizers and the creators. The real exclusivity isn't about the cost of the event in the slightest, it's just nepotism, you have a friend of a friend that organizes events, or a friend thats been in the events. You basically just have to know people, and once you do a few bigger events, and your brand has recognition, you'll quickly be in with the entire event circuit and other groups will happily add you, and at that point once you are in the event groups, it's just first come first serve, they send a group notice, you goto a spot with a set number of openings and pay to to reserve your spot. the only real exception to this is like the "donator booths" which are also first come first serve, but alot of the event organizers will sometimes let the bigger brands get first grab at those spots ahead of time privately for the sake of having the coolest looking stuff out front for the event (the dono spots are kinda pointless anyway). Whilst the nepotism thing can seem annoying, I don't really see any issue with it, you can't just let anybody join an event, otherwise the event would just be endless garbage from people still learning how to even make things. I certainly never saw anything nefarious with the way 'most' events are run. it's a special club for people who make decent quality stuff, and i think it makes more sense that way. Once you get good at making things, gain a bit of notoriety, other creators will notice you, and you'll just sorta end up in the fold at some point. As for sales, screw sales, stores that do sales are annoying, it's a dumb practice. It costs literally nothing for stores to sell stuff, there's no overhead aside from the absurdly high sim cost (but any half decent store can cover that), so the entire idea of sales is just a dumb marketing tactic, but with everyone doing sales all at random times it just becomes some stupid blob of RNG pricing down of random old assets. The only ones that will hear about the sale is people following the store are ones that are in the store group, and those people likely buy all the new stuff at events anyway, so I truly don't get the sale angle even from a marketing perspective, the only version that makes sense is like the popular collective sale event things, and even those are pretty dumb. The biggest thing killing the "economy" on SL is that its a dying game, and LL constantly raises the taxation on cashing out lindens and punishing the very content creators that even allow SL to exist at all. We typically don't put up any fight over it because the amount being made from the store is worth it, but it is still very much disrespectful on the part of LL who at this point no longer even seem to grasp that the stores are literally the developers of their game, having spoke with the lead lindens directly on many occasions, their ignorance as to what made secondlife popular in the first place, how people use it, how things function, how stores operate, is astounding. They literally have no clue what goes on with secondlife other then to pop in once in a blue moon with their furry avatars and say nothing of value. It's their lack of awareness in terms of what the community wants, and what would actually improve the experience or draw new people in that is killing every aspect of SL, including the economy.

[@secondlifespectrum]

Thank you. I will have to re-read that a few times. I could do a whole new video with your comment. I don't know who you are, but I appreciate your insights.

[@clydievoight]

Thank you for this. I couldn't agree more.

[@Meta_Mez]

@@secondlifespectrumthat certainly was a read😅

[@reinyawah1046]

Agree, so many events. Used to look forward to seeing new stuff, now it's same thing, sometimes rotated to other events, can't possible check them all

[@forestmaiden]

@@reinyawah1046 noticed this week, that some even rotate for the weekend sales. 😕

[@rockridgeconstantine]

I love that you mention Food Court. I love that event. It's unique, fresh and creative.

[@OemaResident]

I completely agree with what you said in the video. I've been saying the same thing for months. I also have a store in Second Life, but I only manage it in my spare time, so it's not my main job, just a hobby. In recent months, I've stopped selling well because I stopped participating in events. Basically, I can only sell when I participate in events. When I leave things in the store, I hardly manage to sell anything. I can't meet the event deadlines because it's not a full-time job. So I can't bring things to the events and, of course, I can't sell either. I don't participate in weekend events. I participated in some events by putting things on sale, but I regretted it because it feels like I'm underselling work that took hours and hours for very few lindens, and I don't find it fair. Currently, I'm not participating in any events, neither regular events where I would sell at full price nor sale events. My sales are extremely limited. In the inworld store, I sell almost nothing. I sell mostly on the marketplace, but it's nothing compared to when I participated in events. The situation in Second Life is indeed as you describe in the video. In my opinion, there is no magic wand solution to this problem, except for the awareness among stores that this situation is intolerable. All stores should stop participating in events, especially sale events, because this way attention could be brought back to the store. It's not fair for buyers to purchase products elsewhere than the store, because traffic to the store is extremely important for a creator. It would be important to bring sales back to the stores and remove them from events. For this reason, events should be few and of a certain quality, not an excess that leads creators to put out things, even copies of what has already been made before, only slightly modified, to meet a deadline. This way, quality is also penalized, and end consumers don't have quality products to choose from, but simply products put out solely to meet a deadline.

[@rnpsl]

Since SL is in the middle of 'They shoot horses, don’t they?' movie, I believe it’d be great if you shared your thoughts from a customer’s point of view directly in the forum post too. Keeping everything in one place would make it easier for merchants to gain a fresh perspective.

[@JacobGiannasi]

As a creator, I got tired of racing against time to prepare an item for an event. Sometimes I wanted to create something more interesting but the dead line for the next round made it impossible. Today, I only participate in 1 event and even then I make my item calmly. If it's ready in time, I enter, otherwise I skip the round. I still dream of a SL without events. lol

[@RobotShaz]

I'm in the same position. I have like 1 event left that I am participating in. 1 other event that I was in...I wouldn't be surprised if i'm kicked out of it again due to inactivity. It really does feel like a race against time and especially if you get distracted in rl by other things or experience technical problems or get stuck knowing how to do something. I just recently made a crop top for the first time and even resizing and rigging takes me ages. I usually do footwear and socks and smaller accessories.

[@forestmaiden]

My fellow developer in IMVU once said. Believe your product and value your time that you charge a fair and price that makes you happy. There are too many sales, and I am always wondering why. To get their name out there? Got to say even though it will effect the developers cash flow, I just wait for a sale for many things unless I have a reason to use it that day. Like an event or pictures.

[@RobotShaz]

You should definately have faith in your work and always price your work for what you think it is worth. I said to my friend ages ago that sometimes when you are selling things it is good to start off with a higher price and then it enables you to always put that thing on sale later on down the line. As for myself I would typically create new things and put them in a weekend sale and then put them to a normal price after an event ends so that way these items that I was pricing for 60L$ were like a promo and giving people a chance to get new stuff cheap and for a bargain before upping the prices after an event ends. That being said though I know how it feels to buy something and then the thing goes half price and on sale 1 week after. It has happened to me in rl a few times aswell and it is the worst feeling to pay fullprice and then the thing drops in price 1 week after. I also never forget 1 store I love had a dress on sale and then pretty much right after i paid for it... I spotted it on a lucky chair for free and I could've won it.

[@LunaSims33]

If it’s a company I like and I noticed they post to the weekend sales I just wait until they add it to the weekend sales but if it’s a good creator that they make amazing items I will buy full price if I need it when they release new items but I learned them. They will not put something on sale that’s new until months later. If I notice someone who does the item in a sale then I wait. I learned who posts to the sales that I like

[@DEFENDER-lx2hs]

Anything that keeps the cost of outfits down is a good thing as far as I am concerned especialy as the price of outfits keeps going up.I find markets useful as they showcase new designers I can check out,realy for me markets are great when looking for unique styles.I find Quality will always sell and usualy are rarely on special offer.

[@camzxo]

I agree that there are too many events and sales, but I prefer events over sales because the sales are starting to get too overwhelming every weekend.

[@jhylt4171]

You are 100% on point

[@clydievoight]

With Marketplace as useless as it's become, events are 95% of my shopping.

[@MN-yx4xp]

Have you seen the full prices now? Who got raises in order to pay for that increase? Prices are up for everyone irl. It is jaded - all the sales. Slap a diff color texture on things and resale it. There is a push to only put out female avi items, I have found a few males ( normal males) things, but once purchased there are no longer choices. I seem to thing there are a few decent bloggers that give out good info, then there are allot that just comes across as noise.

[@RobotShaz]

i'm a bargain hunter in secondlife and a creator. I don't buy things at full price ever and always shop in the sales due to past trauma. Happened a few times when things I have paid for suddenly drop in value and price. I am also getting more careful now when it comes to gacha collecting too because even gachas have dropped in value and the rares are so easy to obtain. Lots of resellers and dealers in secondlife so everytime whenever I do get extra rares and gachas that I want to trade and sell on... I have a lot of competition with other sellers who are selling their gachas and stuff cheaper than my prices. So many sellers on the marketplace they are undercutting each others prices. Same goes for people who sell breedables like plantpets and that too.

[@RobotShaz]

I would really want to do events but I'm starting to think that doing events is out of my depth because rl gets really busy and i'm starting to find that i'm getting less time to spend on secondlife which is sad really as my rl is starting to interfere and take over. I'm getting tired of all these technical issues aswell. I tried to download the latest version of firestorm for hours earlier on and the download just kept getting stuck and failing. I do have alchemy viewer downloaded again but I need firestorm so i can test out my mesh properly with local mesh and being able to get access to beta grid.

[@SomeIdiotLUL]

P Diddy should do a Comercial for sl. : feel like you're in a cage an just need to party . Good news 😂🎉

[@ChloeDragonfly]

You are absolutely right, the market is in need of regulation, it will not grow the number of players offering everything nearlt free because it takes out a part of the interest of the life in sl for me.