Tag: SL Marketplace

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.

Continue reading “Magic Boxes To Be Semi Retired In April”

I think it’s probably coincidence but I’m seeing more reports of dodgy market place stores appearing and end users getting ripped off. Let’s get some things straight here, The SL Marketplace is not a hive of villainy, the vast majority of people shop on The Marketplace happily, they receive good service and goods they want.

Dodgy goods and practices in Second Life are also not exclusive to The Marketplace, long before The Marketplace arrived copybot was being misused. I’ve had a skin creator in tears inworld showing me a store selling her ripped skins and she was extremely frustrated about the options open to her.

However The Marketplace, unfortunately, makes dodgy practices easier, the question is, is there any way of minimising the issues? I’ve seen suggestions such as requiring premium membership or PIOF to operate a Marketplace store. PIOF hasn’t stopped dodgy Mesh items being sold on The Marketplace and a premium membership requirement would drastically cut the number of sellers on The Marketplace, whilst at the same time punishing honest sellers who may even spend more than premium membership fees each month renting land.

However I don’t think doing nothing is an option anymore. Maybe we need to see a simple verification scheme, whereby people who have a payment history with Linden Lab become verified merchants and can display a verified merchant logo on their listings.

Continue reading “How About Introducing A Verified Merchant Scheme For The Marketplace?”

I’ve seen a few complaints recently regarding people receiving items that are not as described via the marketplace. One was a complaint that the buyer purchased three full perm mesh items, but received two boxes with no mod notecards in them, for the princely sum of 18,500 Linden Dollars: About Marketplace and thieves.

Another thread details how someone paid 6,000 Linden Dollars for a Mesh Avatar and after purchasing discovered that they also need to purchase a client from the Marketplace for the sum of 20,000 Linden Dollars : How do I get a refund from a Marketplace seller who falsely advertised?

In the latter case I can find examples on The Marketplace of something along those lines, they can be found in the :::Next Gen::: store on The Marketplace (Listings have been pulled). Those avatars actually look pretty impressive, the description states:

“The New Age range is entirely compatible with ALL mesh & rigged mesh clothing. You will look better than most of the people you know in this brilliant avatar.

All of our worn products work in conjunction with Premier Life and give the user such an enjoyable experience that has given us the opportunity to be in 3D development for the last 3 years.”

Maybe the buyer should have asked what Premier Life is before purchasing, but the description does not say that you must buy Premier Life, whatever Premier Life is, even The Marketplace description for Premier Life (Listing has been pulled) contains little details:

“This is the Premier Life Client which is needed to view ALL Next Gen Wearables.”

That line should really be in all their product descriptions, although if Premier Life is a third party viewer then it’s in breach of policy on client names, however as it will cost a buyer a whopping 20,000 Linden Dollars, it should be firmly pointed out in all listings that this product is required. I doubt that the merchant is trying to deceive anyone, it looks more like an oversight to me but it’s an oversight that should be rectified.

The bottom line here is that The Marketplace should have a dispute resolution centre similar to eBay’s.

Continue reading “Marketplace Could Do With Buyer Protection”

There’s a raging debate over at New World Notes about land ownership and The Marketplace. The case being put forth is that of requiring land ownership to list items on The Marketplace. This isn’t something I agree with, not because I don’t think the idea has merit, but because I feel that the horse has bolted on such suggestions, the time for ideas like this was when Linden Lab unleashed The Marketplace, to make changes like this now would cause too much mayhem and ill feeling.

The Marketplace has undoubtedly eaten into the need for land ownership in Second Life, some would say this is simply evolution and that this is Second Life’s very own bricks and mortar challenge. The problems are many, sims used to rent shop space to help subsidise other ventures, such as art, entertainment and roleplaying. These ventures are struggling in the face of The Marketplace Juggernaut, ultimately the reason is that the tier is too damn high.

However The Marketplace has made some odd decisions, Direct Delivery which means you don’t even need a plot for a magic box and having a shop link in the viewer that takes you to The Marketplace being two very odd decisions by Linden Lab, both of which help to negate the need for land ownership and help to accelerate the struggle for sims who want to provide a location for someone to do something. The shop link is the most annoying to me because to be found in inworld search, not only do you need to have some land of some sort, rented or owned, but you also need to pay a Linden Dollar 30 listing fee each week. Ok Linden Dollar 30 is peanuts, but there’s a principle here, why should marketplace merchants be found inworld for free? Ok they lose some of their sales fee to a commission if they make a sale, but that still stacks the scales in favour of The Marketplace merchant.

The Marketplace is great for merchants and it’s great for those who want to try their hand in more niche areas, where inworld land ownership is prohibitive because of upfront costs. However inworld merchants deserve a bit of Linden loving too. Rather than undermine The Marketplace, how about listing inworld items on The Marketplace automatically, by use of a Marketplace vendor?

Continue reading “Bring Inworld Vendors Into The Marketplace”