Survey: How are SL entrepreneurs doing?

Hi all,

I'm wanting to get a good feel for how selling things (clothes, vehicles, service, etc) is going in SL. Although of course we have some rough data available, it doesn't give us a very good feel for how successful businesses are becoming in SL.

For those who would like to answer (either publically to this forum or privately via email - [email]philip@secondlife.com[/email]), I'd love to have your quick answers to the following questions:

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?

Thanks for any help you can give us! Again, feel free to answer in this thread or privately.

I don't own a store or sell a service but I am an entreprenuer. So I will answer anyways.

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)
A fun time and the thril of potentiall winning money. (Casino).

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?
Multiple Locations - 6 currently, looking to consolidate but will still be multiple (maybe down to 3 locations).

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?
Dozens.

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?
Around $10-$20 a bet, or $100 for 'high roller' games.

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?
Enough to cover taxes, and pay prizes, and a little more.

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?
Fairly large land costs, texture uploading and time building and maintaining scripts and calculating odds and comming up with ideas. Yes.

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?
A little bit of everyone. Some veterans, quite a few newbies. Probably more explorers than builders but I could be wrong.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?
Others have games in my arcade, Omega Games owns around 50% of the games. I get no profit from games I don't own, beyond an initial $100 from the game owner.

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?
Partnership with my RL wife, Alek Wu. And of course all the games owned by others through a lease like agreement.

1. Custom Avatars &/or Custom Modeling

2. 'One' Place, where ever I am based at the time.

3. Few - basicly those who come and ask, for count say 1

4. Aproximatly 1-2k per avatar, price ajusted for special effects, sounds, research etc....

5. When I have a customer 1-2k heh.

6. uh... 50-100 L$ for textures I guess

7. Vetrans, newbies, all of the above.

8. I build all of my custom avatars, furnature, buildings, weapons etc.

9. I subcontract out some things, 1-2 partners at a given time

1. I am selling my architecural skills.. I design and build homes, shops, and other things for people.

2. Everything is done on-site; my customers tell me where to make it, and I do it.


3. One, maybe two if I'm fast


4. I only charge prim cost, plus whatever people deem to give me as a "tip". I basically want to build for free... although having the funds to do it helps

5. around 6000 on a week of me getting something finished.


6. Lately I've been breaking even, but more or less I make money.

7. My customers have so far been socializers, unable or unwilling to build something grandiose and complicated. That's my job

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?

8. All of my designs are of my own.


9. Just myself at the moment... I need to organize the Architect's union some more, though.


LF

One question I forgot to answer when I talked to Phillip online was my costs. Each texture takes me 5-15 uploads to iron out the kinks, so a jacket or binkini that has two parts would be double that range. I have about 60 items so far. Also each item gets a texture for its box (1 upload per boxed item)

In addition to texture uploads I've also developed my own mapping templates that have gone through around 100 uploads/revisions so far.

I'd estimate my hard costs to create my current inventory has been around $10,000-$1500, not including the shops themselves.

I'm selling prefab homes ranging from the ordinary to the exotic.

I have a couple of items in Darkwood but the store I'm working on in Aqua will have everything.

So far not too many, maybe a couple a week.

Depends on the item, somewhere between 100 to 500 SL. This is for the prefab buildings. I'm not asking for alot because they are stock items. Having not done any custom building I'm not sure what I'd charge for it.

Maybe 400 a week, not much yet.


It's hard to say, I know I'm not loosing money.

Mostly newer players but I've had a couple of old timers buy stuff.

I build everything myself. Some of the textures probably came from other players.

By myself.

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)

~ I am selling mostly objects, or as I like to call them, my creatures (Moogles, Chocobo, Spooky, etc.). I am also thinking about selling some avatars that I made (fairy tale av's, video game characters, etc.).

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?

~ I used to have some items in the mall in Natoma, but I took those down in order to just sell them from my place in Taber.

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?

~ About 4 or 5. Not enough people pass by to sell more.

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?

~ I try to keep the prices as low as possible. Since I make them for myself at first it's hard for me to set a price. I usually take a while to decide to sell them since I tend to get attached to my babies.

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?

~ Not really keeping track (I rarely look at the sales tab in my account)...maybe around 500L.

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?

~ Again, not really keeping track. If I notice that I have made money or lost some, then I check my account.

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?

~ I think it's a mix of residents. If they like my items enough to purchase one or two, then they do.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?

~ I build all my items. I love making them.

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?

~ Just myself, though I have partnered up with some people for different projects.

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?
Just one location - The Bhodi Tree Gallery in Jessie.

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?
This, and a lot of other questions, I can't answer because the BTG sells the work of other artists, and we don't use a sell-bot or anything to track or take commissions. So payment goes directly to the individiual artists.

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?
Varies widely.

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?
Personally, almost none from item sales. The BTG is supported by the events held there weekly.

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?
Costs include texture uploading, taxes and prizes/grants to artists for specific projects. With the events, the BTG is almost - but not quite - breaking even.

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?
See answer to 3.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?
See 3.

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?
There is a burgeoning Artists Collective that will, as group tools become more robust, begin to make managerial decisions about the Gallery. For now, they are primarily made by me.

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)

Clothing.


2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?

Just one place, my store in Kissling.


3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?

Well, I haven't updated recently, (though I'm on the verge of a big one now that we have texture protection) when I first opened, I was getting on average 3-4 customers a day.


4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?

Anywhere from $80 for a basic shirt, to $300 for a dress.


5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?

Hardly anything at the moment, perhaps $200. But that's due to lack of updates. I hope to see that change.


6. What are your costs? Are you making money?

Rent for my land and taxes on the building, plus texture upload costs. No, I'm not making money.


7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?

I think they're socializers. People who like clothes, actually. So that covers a wide range



8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?

Selling my own textures.


9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?

Just me.

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)
I sell clothing, jewllery, furniture and plants. I'll do custom made furniture on request.

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?
Three at the moment, ranging from a large complex in Mauve to a small stall in Boardman.

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?
I average maybe 2 customers a day, so about 14 a week.

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?
$80 for clothes, $30 for plants, $50-$300 for furniture (custom jobs a bit more).

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?
It seems to have dropped off this week, but usually I make around $800 - $1000 a week.

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?
I have texture upload costs for the clothing and plants (typically clothes take between 1-5 uploads to get right, plants 1 each). A snapshot to put on the clothes boxes. At the moment my bonus is covering all my taxes, so it's pretty much profit.

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?
The furniture and plants tend to go to home-makers. Custom furniture has gone to veteran players so far.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?
Everything I sell, I've made myself.

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?
I share land and stores with Matina Appleby, although we haven't got anything deeded to group as there is just two of us.

My Gallery and Botique has only been open for a little over 3 weeks now, but is already doing very well in my opinion. So much so that I am being asked constantly to continue to put new items in. I will chime in on this discussion as someone who is just getting started.

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)

I sell clothes that I design (currently just for females, but I will start working on male clothing in the next couple of weeks). In addition I sell furniture, pictures, and other objects. I also run a Mature Gallery in my upstairs that contains erotic photos and artwork as well as some adult lingerie and T-Shirts. Many more items will be for sale in the future both in my "For All" section downstairs and my "Mature" section upstairs. I also have plans to incorporate more "visitor interactive" items in my store in the future. I also take requests and offer modifications as I think most business owners do.

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?

Currently just one location, though I do have plans to have a few smaller shops in various locations in the future.

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?

I already have about 8 regular customers who come in weekly (or daily) to see if I have anything new to offer. These regulars usually buy at least two to three new items a week if not more. I also seem to get at least 2 new buyers each week. Though I have others that come just to browse the Gallery even if they do not buy items. I find that with each week the number of visitors I have is growing.

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?

I have items that range from "Free to copy" up to around $200L. Price just depends on the item and a lot of factors are taken into consideration. My clothing outfits, which are my top selling items, usually go for between $45L and $70L, with $50L being the average price for most.

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?

Right now that is hard to determine, but I seem to be bringing in over $1k LindenDollars a week just from items sold. This amount may be a little lower than actual, but I have been so busy making items to sell still, that I have not really sat down to figure just how much I am bringing in.

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?

I'd say right now I am not really making a profit, but only because I turn around and use any money made to make new items. As my Gallery and Botique fill up, and I start making just a few new items a week, I predict that I will be making a profit of some sort.

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?

My customers are across all these ranges. Veterans, newbies, explorers, and builders.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?

80% of the items in my store are created by myself. I do also sell some items that others have created. I recieve 10% of any money they make off a item, but only *if* it sells. This is mainly to help with the cost of taxes and such. Mostly the people that sell items in my store do not have any desire to make a store of their own, but would like to make a little extra money from some of the items they make. A friend of mine is currently working on a script for me that will automatically deduct the 10% to my account when an items sells that is not mine. This will make it more convenient for my "renters" and myself.

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?

I am just in buisness with myself. However, there will be an addition to my Gallery in the very near future that I am developing with another person. We are going in 50/50 on this project from costs to profits.


I am loving reading how others are doing as well. Thank you for posting these questions! =)

Pendari Lorentz
Pendari's This and That Gallery and Botique
Located in Federal (107, 9)

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)
Guns, Camo, combat extras, boats (marine consulting) and other custom builds

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL? multiple locations. The Bunker in jessie and the mall in clara.

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to? on a good week 10 to 15 if i host a a couple of shootouts. avg maybe 8

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling? 150 to 400 but avg price is around $300

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week? 2-3k a week

6. What are your costs? Are you making money? well with v1.1 i can now sell my guns in boxes so i recouped almost 6k in rezing costs and lowered my prim tax by $600 a week. My land taxes are still pretty high but more manageble now. Im slowly climbing out of the hole i had dug myself into prior to v1.1

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders? All sorts but mostly combat enthusiasts

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built? I have built all the models and clothing textures i sell. The scripts are bought with perms to resell in an item.

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself? well other members of my group sell items at my bunker in opfor and the land is group owned so we all pay taxes on it.


Thanks for any help you can give us! Again, feel free to answer in this thread or privately

1. Vehicles mostly, clocks, scripted stuff.

2. Primarily one location. I have a couple partners for various projects but mostly selling out of my home.

3. When I make a new contraption to sell I tend to get a rush of people the first few days. Maybe 3-5 sales/day. It drops off very fast after a few days. Partly because of my location, those buying almost always tend to be neighbors (although I've recently moved to a higher traffic area, but not set to sell yet cuz of 1.1 updates and, umm, bugs).

4. Typically around $100-$750. Although about 80% of what I "sell" I sell for $1.

5. Not enough to notice, Slowly going in the hole. I did very well the first couple months after the beta ended.

6. Not really making any money. Breaking even.

7. Mostly vets and people that have seen my goods. Most seem to be fellow script writers. Actually most are my friends.

8. I do all my own scripts, and a lot of the building, but I'm a sucky texturer. Hence I have hired henchmen (and women) to do textures for me. If others help me we enter a partnership (typically). I don't like reselling others' work, unless it's with permission and profit sharing.

9. I have one primary business partner for my most active "project" and a few others partners for other projects. Sales are split 50/50 in most cases.

Bos

1. Guns

2. One place (Stamps Mall)

3. useually 5-10, within last month 0 - 0

4. 200-700

5. used to be atleast a k each week, now 0

6. 200- 600, no

7. A mixed selections of newbies and vets

8. I build (and script) everything i sell

9. I run a company, so many others.

NOTE: Sorry, this is incomplete (accidentally clicked wrong button). Full response follows this one.

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)
I offer plants, flowers, and landscaping services. I also sell jewelry and a few art objects, mostly with a fantasy theme.


2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?
My main place of business is my garden in DarkWood, but I also have a stall in the large shopping mall in Clara.

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?


4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)
I offer plants, flowers, and landscaping services. I also sell jewelry and a few art objects, mostly with a fantasy theme.


2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?
My main place of business is my garden in DarkWood, but I also have a stall in the large shopping mall in Clara. There is also a store in DarkWood (The Magery) that Soren Romulus and I own jointly; it is the outlet for my jewelry and other non-botanical items.

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?
Roughly 4-5 people buy plants each week. I get perhaps one landscaping commission a month.

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?
$30 for plants, $80 for wings, staffs. $50 for jewelry. $25 for one-prim art objects.

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?
ca. $400 for objects. Varies for commissions, which have ranged from $60 to $4,000.

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?
Costs are for uploading textures and prims for making plants or other ojects. Before the current tax and bonus glitches, I was making a small amount over expenses (including taxes).

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?
Depends on what is being sold. Wings and magic items appeal more to newbies and possibly explorer types; plants and landscaping services are more often sold to veterans, especially builders. Jewelry and art objects appeal to most types.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?
I sell only things I have created.

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?
I'm in business on my own, except for the store in DarkWood that I share with Soren Romulus.

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)

Working Musical Instruments

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?

Just my shop in Aqua

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?

unknown. i haven't been paying attention lately

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?

anywhere between 20 and 500 depending on how much it cost to put together(and how many samples i had to upload)

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?

roughly, no seriously roughly 1k maybe.....
6. What are your costs? Are you making money?

Costs:
1. Taxes
2. Impulse buys from others shops(he...i can't help myself)
3. Uploading Sounds and Textures.(have blown amazing amounts on this one)

Making money?, All i can say is that i've not gone into debt.

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?

Anyone who's into live music in SL.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?

Built everything i'm selling except one item, it was commissioned. Plus i've used free textures from packs in items i'm selling
9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?

I've got a couple of business ventures on the side for fun or profit and i hope they all work out

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)
Decks, furniture, melee weapons, and electronics.

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?
The two Avatar Central stores and the one place in Zoe.

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?
About five.

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?
μ = 73.64
σ = 60.83
There is one outlier at $250. Everything else is ≤$100.

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?
I made $360 over the last week.

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?
Some sunk costs incurred to rez the stuff, plus maybe $50-$100 in taxes to keep it every week, a large proportion of which goes to paying for light primitives. Before the last tax day, I was cash-positive, clearing a couple hundred a week after taxes. Now I am several grand in the hole due to some kind of wierd accounting bug.

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?
Veterans and newbies alike. I don't know the ratio of exploring to building that each does.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?
I sell what I build, and I service what I sell.

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?
All on my lonesome. Partnerships are a bad idea in real life and are probably irksome in second life. I am not hugely into business, I do it to subsist. I usually turn down contract work unless I really need money, or the project is something I can do in ten minutes. (Or is something I find personally interesting.)

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)

A: My services as an entertainer. I dance

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?

A: I work mostly out of the club, but I'm often hired by other clubs.

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?

A: Lots

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?

A: $100 topless and $200 nude.

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?

A: Depends on how hard I work, but average would be 2K a week.

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?

A: Very little overhead, I'm doing OK.

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?

A: Across the board from first day noobs to old time beta folk.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?

A: n/a

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?

A: Yes, I have 2 partners in the club.

1. What are you selling? Clothes, almost all women's (I'm planning to add more men's stuff, I promise).

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL? Right now, I have clothes for sale at my place in Tan, at the Second Life Mall in Clara and at Aphrodite's shop in Slate, but I will be pulling out of one of the two latter ones soon, I just don't need to sell from 3 locations.

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to? Eight to 15 or more, it varies widely.

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling? My items range from $30-70 for individual pieces or outfits.

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week? I average $800-1000 in sales each week, sometimes more.

6. What are your costs? Are you making money? I have taxes on my land and shop and on the boxes the items come in that I sell. I am also now advertising in the new directory at $500/week (which I believe is a bit steep in price). I make plenty of money on my stipend (at least I do when the stipend/taxes aren't screwed up ), so I don't count the cost of my land or shop, so with other costs, I'm probably still coming out ahead, but just by a bit with the advertising fee. When I add more inventory, I anticipate my sales will increase and I will begin to make more money.

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders? My typical customers range from newbs who want new clothes right away to veteran players to Lindens, even! I have taken on a few commissions, but I'm not very good at working for other people and prefer creating what I want to make, so I am slower than molasses in January on these projects.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built? I make my own stuff.

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself? I now have some items for sale by Cubey Terra, Lordfly Didgeridoo and Cienna Rand in my shop in Tan, but I'm not charging rent and offer the selling space free for friends since I have a large shop.

I don't approach selling things in SL as a way to rake in the bucks (hence my relatively low prices), it's more a matter of making things I like and offering them for sale for others. It is super to make back the cost of upload fees for textures, though.

I pretty much have three distinct sources of income, so I will be answering the questions thrice.

1. What are you selling? (Clothes, vehicles, land, access to clubs, etc)

a - ALSL - Custom and stock scripts (basically contract work)
b - SL Media - Various media aspects (games/animations/advertising/etc) Currently establishing the "brand"
c - Wings - A single pair of wings.

2. Are you doing business from multiple locations or just one place in SL?

a - ALSL - Where ever I happen to be.
b - SL Media - Everywhere almost.
c - Wings - My house thing in Tan and Avatar Central (plus I sell some just out of inventory)

3. How many different customers a week do you sell to?

a - ALSL -About .56
b - SL Media - Unknown (I don't deal with the bulk of the current sales)
c - Wings - 17 last week

4. What is the typical price of what you are selling?

a - ALSL - Varies on project (range thus far $500 - $4k).
b - SL Media - Not involved with current sales.
c - Wings - $200

5. How much total revenue are you taking in each week?

a - ALSL - Well, since I don't have constant projects nor a consistent price, a bit difficult to determine. (perhaps approximately $800/wk average if I had to guess)
b - SL Media - Not involved with current sales.
c - Wings - Last week $3,400

6. What are your costs? Are you making money?

a - ALSL - Sleep. Yes.
b - SL Media - Upload costs, rent, asprin, sleep. Yes.
c - Wings - None at this point. YES!

7. Who is your typical customer? Are they veteran residents or newbies? Are they more explorers or builders?

a - ALSL - Veteran builders primarily.
b - SL Media - ??? (Although we have our veteran fan base. )
c - Wings - Not sure. I don't recognize the names of the buyers, so I would imagine newbies. Not sure their current position in life. Dark.

8. Did you build everything you are selling? Or are you reselling things others have built?

a - ALSL - The scripts or functions I sell I created.
b - SL Mecdia - Collaboration.
c - Wings - I made them. Actually were my first upload.

9. Are you in business with anyone else, or just yourself?

a - ALSL - Me, myself, and I.
b - SL Media - One partner.
c - Wings - Myself and the Lindens for their great Avatar Central.

I make enough to cover the taxes on what is being sold and a FEW extra dollars. I am selling candles, parrots and parrot stands. And some "posters" for halloween