slexchange.com VS secondserver.com...

...What do you think? Pros? Cons? Preferance?

I use both...
Double the market...

gonna sell on both, but i have to find somewhere to host picts of my items to list on the web for secondserver, or that the picts have to be 100x100. otoh i like that it can be combined with in world venders, although 11 prims for a vender is rather steep. i also like that secondserver dosnt make you pay into an account first.

It's secondserver.net, I'll have to register .com.

-Adam

Ah, you dont need to do this anymore.
If you go to the 'WebData' page, there is a new button which looks like a yellow & blue box, that will let you upload up to 12 images per item.

If you look at some of francis' items, say the Seburo CX, you can see how the images appear when uploaded. The first uploaded image will become the thumbnail used, providing you havnt already specified one.

-Adam

I tried that and it told me I wasn't allowed...
So I link to the pics on SL Exchange instead

Yes, I noticed that a few hours ago, it's since been fixed.


-Adam

What are the fees on secondserver versus slexchange?

As far as I can see, slexchange is 10-15% and secondserver is free on the web and 3% in world?

Yeah, that's right.

IIRC, SLX is 10% for PG items, 15% for Mature items.

SecondServer is free for items bought over the web, and 3% for items bought through the GigasVendor inworld.

-Adam

I'm excited to see the evolution of SL shopping. The move to the web greatly improves shoppers ability to find what they want, and improves merchants ability to reach customers.

I've tried both services now -- first SLExchange.com, then secondserver.net (Gigas). Visually, there's an obvious difference. The guys at Gigas have put a lot of work into creating features and packaging them in top-of-the-line graphics. However, when it comes right down to it, for the moment I lean towards SLExchange.com for it's usability. The interface is simple to follow and clear, and adding items to the catalog is dead easy -- something that I found difficult and confusing with the Gigas website, even with Adam's help.

From what I can tell, it's possible that Gigas has a larger feature set -- if you can find them and make them work. Unlike Gigas, SLExchange.com came out of the starting gate with its features working and a friendly UI. I'll be interested to see how Gigas evolves, but for now, I'll stick with SLExchange.com.

I don't get it.. why not just go on both?

Two advantages to listing in both places I see:

a) More customer exposure
b) Negotiating leverage to get listing prices down .. 10/15% is kinda high.

I am putting my items on both. just wondering what you all thought of each

I have to agree with most though. SLX is a lot more user friendly. I love the features of SS but I'm not really much of a vender person. I might sacrafice that though because I HATE updating all my vending spots. 11 prims is steep for the vendor. I hope they come out with a more low prim friendly version.

Both sites, however, are still in beta and I can't wait to see what's coming next

Gigas launched out the gate with all of its features working as well - and the UI is in the eye of the beholder - I don't like SLExchange's interface. I much prefer not having to place money into an arbitrary account, or having to pay 10% of sales to sell through it. To each his own, I suppose - it is wonderful to see the evolution of these sites. I had no problem at all listing my items - the system even delivered the vending machine to me in the first place to put them in, after first delivering an item to me to link my avatar. No going to some terminal someone in SL to make any of it work. Simple, elegant, and nothing less than I expected from Adam.

Competition is good - it will keep both (and any other sites that emerge) on their toes, which can only be good for the end customers ultimately

I agree, the fact that you don't have to deposit cash to shop is a plus on the side of Gigas, but it's not a severe problem. Maybe that will change? (Hint to Apotheus and Merwan ) On the other hand, I consider myself a fairly advanced computer user, and I had difficulty finding out how to set up to sell on the Gigas website. Their instructions, once I found them, mixed two different methods (vendor sales and web sales). On SL Exchange, I didn't have to ask for help -- it was clear. In this area -- which is, in my opinion, the most important one -- SL Exchange wins hands-down.

Regarding the difference in fees, right now Gigas charges 3% and SL Exchange charges 10%. A difference of 7% isn't onerous, and maybe they'll arrive at similar rates in the future, with Gigas raising the fee or SL Exchange reducing theirs.

If both services continue for the long term, I'll definitely use both, but not until Gigas works on their interface, which I found frustrating. It looks great, but it's too hard to use.

Actually, the web-shop for SecondServer is completely gratis, 0%.
The 3% is only for using the vendor, and sales made through it.

As for item setup, right now, I've just finished making some tweaks which make it easier to setup. (such as automatically adding a default catalogue, instead of relying on the user to create one.), and we are working at the moment, on making a version which is just 'drop item in, and it is just about ready to sell, - please give it a price and a description.'

-Adam

Isn't it free to sell on the web with gigas? That's 10% difference (or 15% for mature items)..

As for 7% not being onerous.. That's like adding 7% to your incomes taxes

Well it actually is exactly like adding 7% to your income taxes. If they tried that where I live..

What we really need to do here is create an open standard for listing information so anyone can publish the information and sell our goods for 1% per transaction in world.

Anyways, I can understand why Merwan or Adam might be promoting one or the other.

But why cubey? Is SLExchange giving out special favors to individual sellers?

As far as my poor little brain can see, he should be rooting for more competition like the rest of us.. Nothing personal, Cubey. I just don't understand - but that could just be me.

to each their own tastes.

Whilst I am not too thrilled with the graphics aspect of the gigas website (cmon, orange...) I find the overall usability is much better than SLX's.

SLX strikes me as a bit minimalistic in web design - this isnt a bad thing - if you want to get things done *now* you dont want to be waiting arounf for gfx to load.

But if forced to pick one or the other, I think I'd prefer Gigas. The general usability of it is much more friendlier for my liking, and does not involve an escrow like payment system.

not that i actually have all my items listed on both SLexchange and Gigas (secondserver.net) i have to say that it took me alot longer to set up gigas even though for SLexchange (which i did first) i needed to take picts in SL of all my stuff. on both sites i added all 18 Fountains that i make all at once so i spent a bit of time on each adding items. anyway so far i think SLexchange is better for the seller and Gigas is better for the buyer however both are new and i think the competition will be great for getting new features for everyone

also i still think 11 prims are too many for a vender, the ones i use now are 3, the prim count of the venders is the main thing stopping me from really looking into changing over to gigas venders.

my 2¢

Hehehehe...well, I've been trying out SLExchange, but I haven't made any money via it. I expect it's possibly because I don't have much of anything real useful to sell. I don't do too many clothes (read, only a few), and I don't know enough LSL to even BEGIN contemplating some cool scripting tool. x_x

Basically, I'm stuck selling artwork and vehicles. *shrug* Oh well.

I doubt I'd do much better on secondserver.net either. *shrug*

Personally I like Slex better. I enjoy having to put my money into an account before I spend it because then I dont go and spend everything I own. Not sure about the latter site, does it deliver to you once you purchace like Slex does? I love that feature Also, do I have to use an 11 prim vendor to sell on the other site? I do not need a vendor because I only sell on the web, I have a 512 plot of crap land that I just tossed the 1 prim box on for Slex. As for the 10% commission, I do not mind it. Most things I sell are under 100, so it isn't that big a difference to me.

Huh?? You're kidding right? HeatherDawn's question was: "...What do you think? Pros? Cons? Preferance?" I've tried both, so I gave my answer -- the pros, the cons, and my preference. That's the topic of this thread.



As I said in an earlier post (that I think you should re-read), "If both services continue for the long term, I'll definitely use both".

Nice attempt at trolling, but it didn't work.

SecondServer has a cash-on-delivery payment system, you dont need to prepay into your account, you only need to pay when you order an item. (you get sent a box which 'unlocks' to give you the item, once you have paid into it.)

You dont have to use the vendor system for SS.NET, it's sort of like a freebie extension, if you want to use vendors, you can share your item pool between your web-shop and your vendors, without running through multiple setup stages.

-Adam

Well Cubey, you were able to take my statement personally, even after all the warnings not to. You were making a decision which simply did not compute, and I was asking for your reasoning behind it.

I'm sorry you were offended by my ignorance.

However, I've thought it through, and I think the answer to my question is that you simply aren't selling enough to make up for the hassle of putting your products on both websites and trying to get the extra 10%.

If you were making, say, 100$ USD a day, you would definitely take the time to upload to another website in case you were missing out.

You'd also be more interested in the 10$ / 300$ a month you'd be giving to SLExchange for providing basically the same service you were giving 0$ to.

I guess my point to you is this: consider the time when you are making $100 a day. Don't you think it would be nice to have an option that you didn't have to pay $300 a month to?

Please note that I don't really care if SLexchange or Secondserver win out. I think fostering competition between the two is very important, however.