In Responce To Complaints Against Dialuxe Skins

Ok im not gona go into detail about the 2hr long conversation with someone. But I would have liked to have posted this with its original post.

I am a second owner of a company who does not recive all profits. DIALUXE can be found on Delphi. We have had demo skins for each of our skins and they sell for 1L and have the same permisions as the real skins. The real Skins range from 1000L to 2500L.

I have only just started to add skins to this already existing store. My real life friend was the original creator and he will not be doing much with the company for some time. He still gets payed for the skins that he had made. I made it very clear that the person who had decided to tell me how I stole from her and was missleading with my product. That i was not the creator of this skin and i could not help her with a refund.

Im sorry but untill Second life has some way of me verifying that a Skin or any other object with <nomod,copyable,notranz>permisons set is removed from the buyers invintoy. Refunds are kinda like saying here is somethign for free that I spent hours of time on. SO WE MAKE SHURE THERE IS A DEMO VERSION OF THE PRODUCT SO YOU CAN TRY IT FIRST. EVEN MORE SO WHEN ITS SOMETHING LIKE A SKIN THAT ISNT CHEEP.

The Display is proveded by a 3rd partner who also gets there part of the sale for providing space and all the vendor work ....AGAIN CANT GO TRAKING DOWN EACH PERSON WHO GOT PAYED TO GET THE LINDIN THAT WAS SPENT....SO WE HAVE DEMOS.

The person had after over a hour of sending me IMs bosting how they would destroy our busness buy posting on thies forums. Finialy decided to tell me that there was a Language Problem and they didnt understand short hand for NO MODIFY, COPYABLE , NO TRANSFER
example <noMod,Copyable,noTranz> and also after my eforts to go see the vendor for the Skins my partner had made some months ago. I whent there to see that on the Picture of the skin DID IN FACT SAY....Xnumber hair styles Xnumber makeup styles .....this was clear and yet again HAS A DEMO SKIN.

Im not upset but it needs to be made clear that I had comunicated with this person to see if there was anything that was in fact OUR MISSLEADING THE COSTOMER.

I make the fantasy skins for this store and if someone can tell me why I should open myself up to theft or the posablity of someone taking a skin I spend 5-6 hours on and modifying it and they reselling as there own please send me a IM in game at any time.

Did you mispell your first name or do you just like odd spellings for popular names?

Briana Dawson

Nope was 100% not a spelling error was a name that i have had the past 3 MMORPGS and the first game I played you cant have the same spelling of a first name as anyother person SO had to be creative After 5 years of gaming it kinda stuck.

I can empathize with your frustration. Selling skins can be very customer service intensive, and even when you have demo versions sometimes people are going to buy one and decide in a day or two that they're not happy with it, even though they tried a demo version before they bought. You have to decide if you're going to facilitate that or not, and if not you need to post it clearly in a spot where any potential buyer will see it. Personally in such cases I always let them refund or exchange, even if it's no transfer. That opens me up to getting scammed, but I'd rather not punish honest buyers who will always vastly outnumber the odd scam artist. I can understand how you feel. There have been times when I've thought about no longer offering refunds or exchanges, but when push comes to shove, the old cliche about the customer always being right became a cliche for a good reason. It's the best way to do business. Good word of mouth and a reputation for patience and accomodation will serve you much better in the long run.

Just my 3 cents.

Some thing does not sit right here. You try the demo on if you like it you buy it right! How could she/he not know if she/he did try the skin on. 1L for a demo is not going to break anyone. If you feel that cheap sit on a money chair or dance on a dance pad to recoop your 1L. Gesh Even my self have japanese as my second languge undstand this concept. Don`t let people like she/he tell you everyone is this way. If you can`t afford it don`t buy it. Its just another version of What americans call the WALMART Factor" Buy play away and then return....... Gesh.

Chip I cant say I agree that the customer is alwasy right. First off this is a vertual world. Unlike the real world the product or service I proved isnt real its for fun. This is what we all dreamed of when we were kids a place where you can dress up and be a fairy princess or the knight in shining armor.
My art and your art taste and dislikes are two worlds apart. There is no real product but what is in my mind. Once a customer had payed for it with the pretend cash it is now there property a image of what was in my mind ... imagine if I whent back and told a friend from long ago I want him to pay me back for all the bad pretend games he made up and wasted my time with because I didnt like them now. But I had fun then.
Its not a mater of a customer. It plain and simple most people in Second life know that a large percent of the skins that are sold have limits to there use. Only to protect the original artist. WHY BECAUSE ART IS A DREAM AND YOU CANT PUT A REAL PRICE TAG ON IT.

Now DIALUXE is not the only project I work on. I have my personal projects and have a life where I cant be around all the time to fix every thing ....SO I cover my bases and make shure the costomer can try out things first and they have clear infomation. That the average person can understand.

Almost every store you can shop at in real life has a return policy. Some have none ...some are large enoff that they simply take back everything even if it clearly not from there store. Now does every store in real life post large signs all around the store saying hey WE DONT REFUND. Nope they dont because there is alwasy a chance that they did provide bad service or bad information. But most places do pot a sign in many places
NO REFUND WITH OUT ORIGINAL PACKAGE.

I will gladly refund anyone for something that is proven defective. Or not what was advertized. But untill i can put a sign up that say no refund with out original package BECAUSE SECOND LIFE IS ONLY A SHADOW OF REAL LIFE. AND DOENST HAVE A WAY FOR ME TO RETREAVE MY OBJECT FROM THE CUSTOMER. I cant refund.

If another example needs to be made. Pretend for a second someone you know just whent into a store and stole 1000$ worth of product. The next day he goes to the store and returns it ......He now that is a new day is a customer is he right? I can keep going the old
cliche as you put it doesnt aply to pretend or real life anymore I as a artist and vertual designer need to protect my rights.

-RL tattoo art original design 100$ US (days and the talent are needed)
-SL tattoo hand drawn 100-200 Lindin =aprox 35cents(same amount of time and talent)

If I buy something from someone in Pretend time and I dont like it I go look for a beter product and respect the fact that someone worked hard on what I payed for good or bad.

Last note on all that again the part of DIALUXE im defending was not my part.

the walmart factor

We look at it differently. I use the same skills and tools to make skins that I use to do professional work for RL clients, and for which I bill $200 an hour. Of course I don't charge those kinds of rates in SL, but my point is that you most certainly can put a real price tag on it. You are certainly entitled to the way you see things, you just need to let your customers know up front that all sales are final. That's all.

I'm not familiar with the details of whatever happened with this particular customer. I'm just offering some friendly advice on the bigger issue you raised. If you're not going to offer refunds or exchanges (and nothing wrong with that. Many people don't) you just need to make people aware of your terms up front. $1000L is a lot of money to many people. It doesn't really matter if they should have exercised better judgement and not bought the item if they weren't completely sure they wanted it. People are going to do that (with amazing frequency!). When it happens you have two choices. Let them go away upset and probably never buy from you again in the future, or accomodate them. They walk away happy with the experience even though they weren't ultimately happy with the product, and chances are they'll buy something else from you in the future.

Bottom line... just put a sign up that says "no refunds or exchanges." Problem solved... well, not really. People will still ask for them from time to time because they didn't see the sign or some other reason, and you can repeat the same fun all over again. Or just accomodate them and be done with it much quicker and with better feelings all around.

Again I never said your View is not valid. But it is not nesisary to put a sign because exactly what you said. People no mater what if they want a refund beleave if the complain enoff and try and tell you 100 difernt ways why the deserve the refund. They will only say O I didnt see the sign. It as Usagi said the WALMART factor. People have been told just complain and you will get your way. The skins sold at DIALUXE are noMOD Copyable noTranz there is no way for me to deleat the item they payed for. So refunds just cant hapen.

You wouldnt go back to a store and leave what ever you had baught in your pocket and say I want my monie back but the product was never given back?

It clear when a vendor puts those Modification rights on a object that they are not going to give refunds.

Yes you dont know this situation but I can also say you dont know the many happy people that dont have complaints because they know they had a chance to try a DEMO first.

The DIALUXE skin was not my product and I cant refund monie I never recived but I also will not refund just because the only complaint is about MAKEUP not the skin as a product just the fact that my partner didnt make the makeup Modifyable. That was the makers style and I dont beleave you can go get your Hair cut and then complain to the person who cut your hair and say im not paying because I dont like it.

I have taken your advice but I dont feal any store should have to post a sign sayign they dont offer refunds because there may be a few times when the costomer is 100% corect and deserve it.

But as a whole SL hasnt gotten to a level that protects the buyer and the seller equal yet.

I don't understand why people expect more from SL than RL. I expect less because it is, after all, a virtual world. If I buy anything... I get what I paid for..... usually. IF not then I eat the cost and lesson learned. If what I paid for isn't in the folder/box then I do i.m. and mention it because it will probably happen again, and my telling the creator may help him or her avoid future customer problems. Even if I buy clothes and put them on and they are of poor quality(IMHO) I don't blame the creator for selling their object in the best light possible. I blame myself for not having done my research before buying, especially if it is a skin. With this many people in a virtual world and a forum to post to, it is possible to get feed back and do research BEFORE buying a product. If it's clothing I do get that " SUCKER" feeling now and then but hey, it happens and this is a game.

A big huge TY to all the creators who supply us with wonderful quality stuffs to make our SL cushy.

I know .. I may be way off base here....

Z

I sell my skins with the same permissions. I still don't believe honest customers should be punished because of SL's limited permissions system. I understand where you're coming from, believe me. I just find it to be beside the point. If you sell something expensive in SL this is an issue you're going to have to deal with often whether you want to or not. I handle it the way I do because I've found it to not only be the quickest way to resolve it, but also best for my business in the long run. Your mileage may vary.

Ok Chip realy man I can see you point and did from the start. I dont feal im punishing anyone everyone who buys anything from me has the same rights to like or not to like what I sell. But I cant see why I should refund when there is no way to know who is cheeting me or not.
I have to be fair to everyone not just one person because the Makeup wasnt what they liked.
I have spoken to other people who have baught a DIALUXE skin from the store Before I was even a Partner. You know the Makeup was also not to there liking but they didnt serch out my partner and complain or ask for a refund. They did how ever ask him to make more with difernt options. Because of this he had come to me and asked me to take on a side project and make Fantasy skins and add as much to DIALUXE as I can. Im shure in the future there will be people asking for a refund for another reason and im gona have to cross the same bridge. The skin wasnt defective and it came with everything that was advertized there was no cheeting from my end but thats what I was blamed for. I was told I Stole from them because the makeup wasnt what they expected. The original maker of the skins likes his style and so do others. I take any input given better than asking for a refund is help the maker come up with more ideas.