Window-shop from SLM and Buy Inworld… if ya want. Or not.

Please note: this is a post from 2011 and rather outdated. Read on with that information in mind. -ME

This is in response to Toysoldier Thor’s recent post, “10 Reasons SL Shoppers Should Window Shop SLM & Buy Inworld“. I think he’s onto something when he suggests that the Marketplace (SLM) should be used to find objects, but that it’s better if consumers go inworld to make the purchase. After all, he says it and so do plenty of others: Search is unreliable.

Before I get to the list point-by-point, I have to be Grouchy Old Elf for a moment and express my dislike of the hyperbolic use of the word “rape”. I quote: “Basically LL is raping all the Merchants with higher priced items and not fairly spreading the costs of SLM operations among all the SLM Merchants’ sales.” I have to disagree with taking an equal 5% percentage out of every item’s sale being comparable to rape.

But that’s not what I’m here to discuss, really; that’s just an aside. On to the list:

1.When you buy a product from a Merchant’s inworld store, the sales transaction is direct between your Avatar and the product vendor (for basic vendors). This reduces the chance for a delivery delay or failure. It can still happen but far less likely than the frequent delivery failures that are occurring between the SLM website to the Magicbox to your Avatar inworld.

2.Your product delivery will almost always be instant after paying the inworld product vendor.

Reasons #1 & #2 are really just the same thing, so I’ll address them together. I recently found that a sizeable percentage of Clover’s Kitchen’s gross sales–anywhere between a third and a half, varying month to month–come from Marketplace Sales. I get to see in my email inbox, a message of the purchase, followed by a later message of delivery. In nearly all cases of sales, be it from my inworld vendors or from the Marketplace, delivery has been within 1-2 minutes of purchase. In those rare occasions that it takes 5 minutes or more for a delivery, I see no substantive difference between the inworld vendors or the Marketplace being responsible for the delay; they’re about equal there too. On the very rare occurrence of a customer needing to IM me, to tell me they didn’t receive their purchase, what few of them I’ve experienced are almost always inworld sales.

So, I don’t see any hard data to back up the claim made in reasons 1 and 2. In fact, my data appears to contradict that claim.

3. If you have a purchase problem of any nature whereby you are entitled to a Refund, the Merchant is able to provide you 100% of your purchase price back. If you have the same issue from an SLM sale, the Merchant can only offer you 95% of your purchase as a refund. Why? Because LL has the other 5%. So if you are looking for $1000L refund, the Merchant can only offer you $950L of it – he doesn’t have the rest.

Most of the items I have for sale are Copy/No Trans, and as a result of that, there are two circumstances in which I’m likely to give a refund: first, if the product doesn’t work as advertised (a problem I’ve had with a scripting bug in one product); second, if a person purchases multiple instances of the same item for themselves. If a pizza I made is Copy, the customer can rez as many copies of it as she wants, so she doesn’t need to buy a second or third identical pizza. If she does, I assume it’s in error, and I refund for the redundant purchases. And I don’t adjust the amount of refund by sales venue. She paid 150L for the product; I’m giving her back 150L. And if I don’t have the 5% difference (which is so statistically unlikely as to be near impossible), I would find a way to make it right, either with a replacement, store credit, or something comparable.

Now, no two ways about it, LL keeps 5% of every purchase. I’m not disputing that. I’d rather have that 5% in my pocket than in theirs. I absolutely agree with that. But I don’t think that the idea of a 5% cut forcing a customer to take a loss is valid. I take a loss. Of course I would prefer not to. But I would prefer taking a loss to saying “Sorry, I’m only giving you back 95% of your purchase. Thank you for shopping with us. Tell your friends!” and I can’t claim to speak for other merchants, but to me it seems only logical that others in a similar situation would do the same.

4. When you come to the inworld store to buy the product you found on the SLM you often will get to see the product live or in action… You can’t get a good experience of the product from photos on SLM.

This, I can get behind. If I’m making a purchase of something big (like a building) or expensive, or that can’t be returned, I would surely rather see it and test it out inworld before taking the risk and purchasing it. No disagreement at all here.

5. When you take the time to visit the Merchant’s store inworld, you will often get to see several other products created by this Merchant that you might also like or that might even better work for you than the one you initially found in SLM. I have had countless of my Customers that changed your selection of products after visiting my landscape sculpty store.

While that is true of inworld shopping, it can also be true of the Marketplace, when you list “Related Items” in your shop listing.

6. Often when you visit the store, you might bump into the actual Merchant / Creator. This is a great experience as you can engage him/her and learn valuable tips/tricks of the products or find out deals in the store that were not available on SLM. I have met many inworld customers where I have engaged in great chats and often came to their sim to provide them advice on how to solve their landscaping challenges.

If a customer has to meet with me in person to understand how my product works, I’ve failed to represent my product somehow. However, I understand what you mean about the value of having a conversation with the creator right away while considering a purchase. It puts a human(oid) face on the experience and I think it’s a large reason people go to stores rather than buying online IRL.

7. When visiting a Merchant’s store, you often get to run into other stores as many of stores are in malls. You might just find an amazing gem of a product you were always looking for or find something that you didn’t even know you wanted!

That does indeed happen inworld. That also happens on the Marketplace. Therefore, while I agree that it’s a great thing about shopping, I don’t see how it’s better inworld than in the Marketplace.

8. THIS IS A BIG ONE: When you buy from the Merchant inworld and not on SLM, you are making a powerful contribution to the SL’s general economy! Why? Because 100% of your purchase stayed within the SL economy. When you buy from SLM, you are assured that 5% of all your purchases instantly leave the SL economy. That is because LL takes its 5% and removes it from the SL economy – that is their real life $US profit (a complicated source / sink model but it’s gone from SL). It’s not to say that the Merchants don’t take your $L out of SL – because many of us do. BUT, unlike LL, almost all of us Merchants spends a good portion of the $L they make to pay rent, buy other Merchant goods, donate, pay tips, etc.

I will say that as a merchant, I don’t mind 5% of my Marketplace sales going back to LL. I really don’t. That’s less than the sales tax in my state. If I paid it and a listing fee, I’d be pissed off; but for now we don’t so I’m not sweating it. I will once again state that of course I would prefer that 5% to go into my pocket than into LL’s; but I don’t sweat it, when I’m making a good bit more than I’m spending. It’s not up to the customer to do what I would personally prefer.

9. When you shop inworld you help the Merchant support his/her inworld store. Remember that LL considers their Merchant’s inworld stores as direct competition to their SLM operation. SLM sales are funded risk free by sale’s based commissions. But inworld, the Merchant takes on big risks by renting or buying land that charges tiers to the Merchant – even if the Merchant makes no sales! If the Merchant’s inworld store costs more each month then it generates revenue, the Merchant has no choice but to close its doors. This has ripple effects in the economy since the rent stops at the mall – the mall owner needs to shut because of no rent…. etc.etc. etc. So, buy inworld and support the SL economy.

Buying inworld and on SLM both support the SL economy. When it comes time for Clover to pay tier on her shop, a third to a half of that money going into the rent box came from SLM sales. If a merchant’s expenditure exceeds their revenue, that’s something they need to fix; and not by begging more people to come and give them revenue. It’s not the customer’s job to make my life easier; it’s my job to make theirs easier.

10. Finally, when Window Shop in SLM and then go inworld to buy your products, you are sending the LL Commerce Team a powerful message – a message we Merchants have not been able to send to LL. You will tell them that they will not be rewarded 5% commissions for running a SL Marketplace with terrible service stability, development priorities that do not have the Shopper & Merchants in mind, and making poor decisions that are often half baked.

Again, I’ve personally not experienced any problems with stability and/or product delivery greater than that of my inworld vendors. I agree, they’ve had some insane and half-baked ideas–some so much so that they caused me to leave SL for three months–but most of the half-baked ideas I’ve heard regarding the Marketplace have remained just that: ideas. I mentioned the idea of a listing fee PLUS commission; that might be a deal breaker for me, if ever implemented. But it hasn’t been yet.

In conclusion, I would absolutely prefer, as a merchant, that customers buy inworld rather than on the Marketplace because of that 5% cut. Obviously I’d rather have it than give it to the Lab. And if I had my way, absolutely I’d rather people come inworld and buy from me. But it’s not all about me and what I want. My basic needs are met: my tiers are paid, my uploading/production/listing costs covered, and I have a tidy bit in savings to call my own at the end of each quarter. How customers prefer to make that happen isn’t my concern, so long as it continues to happen. So would I prefer that customers use SLM to window-shop and my inworld store to make purchases? Of course, only a fool wouldn’t. But it’s a preference, not a necessity.