Only new people seem to buy things

Well personally I don't do much shopping, but I didn't when I was new either... Hmmm, I don't in RL either.

I find that about 30-40% of our business is recognizable repeat customers. Varies depending on item.

.. what shall I by after months in SL??

I have a house.. (wrong colour).. I have furniture, clothes, shoes.. boats, trees, flowers.. flying carpet, my frog...and more...

I have learned to build, learned to do furniture, fans, vases, frames, fishbowls, and lots of lamps.. my lovely GF helps me with scripts.. and many nice ones are for free...

New clothes can sometimes be nice to by.. New shoes.. and new animations.

Better made textures can be a thing... or gift to friends..

...so... in my case I shopped a lot as new.. and now.. close to nothing....

I've never tried to determine much information about the people who buy from me, so I can't really say if the folks who buy my items are new or not.

I am a basic member, and I've been here a little over three months. So I guess most people here would still consider me 'new'. When I started, I spent some cash and bought enough Lindens to cover my basic needs purchases - a nice Avatar and some other pretty things. Now, I try very hard not to spend any more cash for Lindens. The commission I paid for a builder to create my home may well be my last real-cash purchase for quite a while.

In my first three months, I accumulated most of the clothing that I might need, I have a commissioned a very nice house (built on group land), and I have most of the furnishings, animations and 'toys' that I could ever want. I have collected several nice Avatar skins to choose from, and don't really need any more. So I am not buying too many 'basic' items any more.

I like to shop, but I don't buy much now. I'll still buy clothes, if the work is outstanding, and is a fashion I want. (Traditional Japanese kimonos or the like.) I'm still looking for a few special items of furniture, and may pick up a pair of Japanese swords to complement my period outfits. Maybe a few special gift items, as well.

But really, there isn't much left that I need to buy now. I am learning to build and to script my own items, so I can make clothes, wings, and basic furniture on my own. I don't do combat sims, so I don't need weapons or defensive gadgets. I don't bother with vehicles (I have several free ones that I played with once or twice, and which now gather digital dust in my Inventory). I don't gamble in SL, and don't generally go to 'events' that have a cover charge... not much else to spend Lindens on, is there?

I would imagine it's similar for most Players. Once they get a new Avatar's appearance the way they like it, and get their basic needs covered, there isn't much left to buy for them.

I noticed 90% of Blaze's threads are polls or asking our opinion in some manner. I keep thinking he works for the census.

Well, being quite geeky and having an unhealthy need to graph stuff, I took a look at where my market was with a script to peek at the rez-date of my buyers a few weeks ago.

Stuff to keep in mind about the chart: A good deal of my helis are aimed at newbies, price-wise. This includes all my products, ranging from L$25 to L$800; aircraft, one L$ "freeware", baubles, and the like.

I could stand to buy some new threads....

This thread is for sale...
/112/f5/77339/1.html#post800050
Baby needs new shoes! That'll be L$50000, please...

Ditto! Neph rocks!

That's how it is for me. Actually, since I don't advertise much, it's probably 60% returning customers.

A lot of people presume you've at least walked through the Ivory Tower of Primitives (which is still the best place to pick up the absolute basics, IMO) and thus are concentrating on the next step beyond "how do I make plywood appear?".

I'm not saying that makes omitting that kind of thing in a beginner's class justified, only that this may be why.

Indeed. the rapid growth of SL means new people far outnumber even not-that-old people like myself.

That's an interesting graph. Then again, old-timers probably have a little more disposable income, SL-wise.

I spend less then I did during my newbie rush, but I definitely still spend > 1000 a week on something. As for my customers, they range from very newish players to players who have been in SL > a year.

One of the more interesting things is that I have gotten a few people buying my button bar who have been in SL > 6 months and yet don't know how to open a box and drop things inside. I find it strange since the first thing I did was learn to shop.

Agreed. I think it also depends on the type of item for sale though (as others have already said.)

I still buy clothes all the time for instance, and I do spend money on events, because there is a tip jar at every event even if there is no cost.

One thing I noticed however is that when you are a newbie you buy all kinds of stuff simply because you dont realise how easy it is to make it yourself.

For instance I bought several radios and several sets of Teleporters when I was newer. If I knew how easy it was to make those things at the time, and if the scripts were freely available, I certainly would not have bought them.

I have a lot of return customers who aren't new, but I do notice a big difference in the amount they purchase. Returning customers will come by and purchase the new items, while new customers/residents seem to throw down great steaming wads of cash buying up everything in the store. (Bless their hearts.) Which makes sense, because they don't own everything already and have these neat inventories just waiting to be filled.

I don't shop nearly as often as I did when I was a newbie. I can make things for myself now, and I don't 'play' as often when I'm logged in, so I don't 'need' as much stuff. When I do shop, though, I spend about 10 times as much as I used to, because I have more $L now.

Plus when you start an alt, you realize just how many things in your inventory are no copy and/or no transfer and you just can't live without them.

Eggy the cross dresser..

Anyway, a large percentage of mine are, but I sell furniture, theres only so much furniture you can have in a house, litterally.. I do get repeat customers when I update or when they refurnish or move I suppose, but not very often..

If you sell clothes or something you can't have enough of in my books, I should think they get quite a few repeat customers..

But of course its going to be new people mainly buying, they don't have the basic stuff you need. Well not need, that don't point out immediatly you're a newbie

Could it be, champ, that folks who have been here longer than six months aren't as impressed by nuclear grief bombs?

I have 2 reasons for not buying as much now as when I was a newb:

1. I used to get 2000 Lindens a week in welfare payments and now I only get 500. Since we closed our shop this is my only source of income.

2. Except for clothing, if I need something, I just ask my partner to make it and she is happy to do so! It also keeps her out of trouble.

I do this all the time. I don't shop often, but when I bother to do it, I make that register sing. Usually I buy groupings of items. I feel like a helicopter, I go buy 5. Looking for some shirts, ring up 10 or so. I create what amuses me, which almost never coincides with what I will actually use as a house, for clothing, etc.

It also could be that one only needs (honest, Sean G! (needs not wants)) 20 pairs of shoes to have enough doesn't one? Also, maybe I start to make a lot of what I need: another reason to buy less.

The instructor probably doesn't know he or she isn't being clear. Ask questions about terminology to keep the instructor rooted. This will help other classmates too. It is true,
though, that the Ivory Tower is a huge help and can't be beat for learning basics on one's own time.

Lol your things maybe

Hey, I teach classes m'self, I know this.

(That said, I do get a lot of people who come to my more advanced 102 class asking questions I answer in 101, and I don't have as much sympathy; I pretty much tell people to either know basic C-like programming language syntax and terms or take 101 first.)

Gah. I did it again! Charissa Metropolitan was the person to whom my last comment should have been directed. (sorry for an incorrect attribution for the 2nd time, Aliasi! You're the only person I do this to, that I know of, Honest!) heh