Commerce Team Linden (AKA CTL) has announced on the official forums that Magic Boxes will start to be retired in April, although they aren’t being fully retired as there’s an issue still with Direct Delivery and no copy items.
Magic Boxes have traditionally been used to list items on the SL Marketplace. However the time is now approaching whereby you will need to switch to Direct Delivery, the important information:
April 2, 2013:
Merchants will no longer be able to list unlimited-quantity items for L$10 or less using Magic Boxes.
Any active, unlimited-quantity listings for L$10 or less using Magic Boxes will be unlisted.
April 16, 2013:
Merchants will no longer be able to list unlimited-quantity items using Magic Boxes, regardless of price.
Any remaining active, unlimited-quantity listings using Magic Boxes will be unlisted, regardless of price.
However if the items you’re listing aren’t unlimited, for example a breedable for which you have no copy rights and therefore have to sell it as a limited quantity item, there is no migration date yet.
Moving to Direct Delivery is quite painless in many cases, but as with anything, it will take up some time. There’s a nice guide in the knowledgebase regarding migration: Marketplace Direct Delivery Migration Guide.
One result of this will be that some merchandise goes missing from the marketplace, because merchants won’t bother migrating items for a variety of reasons. However if you are a merchant, you should be getting en email about this shortly, I haven’t received one yet, but they are apparently on their way….. I’ve just received the email in the last few seconds!