L$1 a freebie or not ?

i sell many L$1 items, mostly sounds, some textures or silly/odd creations

once in a while i will receive a complaint about L$1 not beeing free ?
and will be accused for false advertizing ?

since i came to sl i have taken to the belief L$1 is a freebie, i bought many myself and didnt feel tricked ?

So whats the opinion here ?

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I see free as free, not $1. Paying for something, regardless of how small the amount, isn't free. I'd suggest changing the name to Dollarbie, as that is what it is.

I've always considered the L$1 items to be a freebie, I think vendors "charges" L$1 so they can track how many are given out, which can't do if the item has no cost.....

Although 1$L isnt technically free I do believe its a good way to give items to the community and keep track of them, because 1$L will show in transactions. As far as I can remember the GNUbie Store was like that. Personally I would ignore people who have to pay 1$L for anything. You're contributing to SL.

As far as I'm concerned, any price higher than zero is not free. Yes, L$1 is not expensive and I don't mind paying it. But, those L$1 add up to real spending over time so, no, it is not a freebie.

zero L$ show up in transactions as well so you can track a zero L$ tranactions just as easy

Even a newbie can pick a Linden from a tree so L1 is certainly next door to freebie.

But, while 'dollarbie' is a dumb word, signs and boxes should be labelled as such. The newbies who click on something labelled "freebie" may suspect fraud when they're then asked to pay a Linden.
The other day I came across a stand with a huge sign: "FREE UMBRELLAS". But, when picking one up, I ended up paying a dollar. In this case, although nitpicky, it is false advertising.

Although 1$L isnt technically free I do believe its a good way to give items to the community and keep track of them, because 1$L will show in transactions. As far as I can remember the GNUbie Store was like that. Personally I would ignore people who have to pay 1$L for anything. You're contributing to SL.

you can track L$0 sales in your transactions as well.

L$276 = $1US

have you made 276 dollarbie purchases in your SL lifetime? if so, i hardly think that's made a dent in your pocket book.

I like the term "Dollarbie" for $1 items. Freebies need to be totally free.

i remeber when 276 L$ ws big money,so yea if your new or not set up to buy L$ from ll or slx/streetwhatever.and your earning L$ scrubbing floors or camping what ever. a single dollar can be alot.

now for you and me who drop a hundred bucks into the system ever few months yea 300 l$ is not that much i spent twice that on a new cat yesterday

i'm not a crazy cat lady trust me

Free for L$1 reminds me of "No purchase necessary. Details inside package." (=_=)

Ain't nuth'n wrong with the word "dollarbie". In fact, I've searched for the word before. It's another good way to find stores with good stuff to offer. (^_^)y

Probably the only ones that can't get 1L$ items are those that are freshly rezzed and are still figuring out how everything works, to them 1L$ is to much simply because they have 0L$, for everyone else 1L$ is close enough to free that it is seen as free.

Free Is 0l$ Very Simple.

There is a reason that the "dollarbie" was created, and it was due to a technical restriction in LSL (the programming language behind every working item in SL).

Put simply, there are three ways to "get" something in SL, from an object's conetnts.

First, the object can be scripted to "give away" it's contents, when triggered. Ususally by a touch. Simply clicking the box.. will result in your getting the item(s). This is the exact same mechanism behind lucky chairs. The "sit" provides the trigger mechanism, and a convoluted scripted mechanism decides whether your name has the chosen letter, and bam, if you're supposed to, you get the item(s).

Second, the object itself, can be set "for sale"... this is a pretty useful feature. Commerce is built right into the nature of every prim. You can sell the object itself, or you can sell a copy of the object, OR you can sell just the "ceontents" of the object. This is what we call a "simple box vendor".. When you encounter one of these, you right click it, and select "Buy" from the menu. (there's a way to set the left-click action to "buy".

The third way, is actually a combination of the two. Pay. Pay vendors, or "Scripted Vendors" usually do more complicated things. By being scripted, they are generally easier to use for the seller, and they can do things that simple vendors CAN'T do (profit sharing, networked communications, selling multiple products for multiple prices from a single vendor, etc). Scripted vendors can also provide the seller with better transaction records. Pay vendors have limitations too. It's harder to preview what the item's permissions might be, and of course being scripted, they can suffer failures due to SL network problems, lag, etc.

Here's the kicker though. You can "touch" for free, you can "sit" for free. You can set an object "for sale" for 0L... but there's no way to "pay" 0L. the "money" event in LSL won't recognize less than 1L. So scripted vendors CAN'T deliver freebies.

Way back when, about a billion years ago, I suspect that the first "dollarbie" came from a hair shop. Wanting to allow people to try their hair before buying, they used their handy scripted vendor to set up the demo for sale.. and figured out that the minimum was 1L. I'm sure their competitors were offering demos too, for free. At some point, I know it became popular (for a time) to return the 1L to the customer. I've seen some signs explaining that the 1L was returned. There's even still an option for that, in some networked vendor systems. This practice (returning the 1L) seems to have gone out of fashion.. which is fine, really.

The "Dollarbie" has been embraced by most newbie-friendly shops as a way to encourage new users to get L$, and a way to somewhat offset the costs of doing business. Once upon a time, Linden Lab would actually subsidize educational groups, and popular places with discounted or free tier. Nowadays,all that LL help is gone, and in nearly every hair or skin shop, the 1L Demo is accepted as the norm.

Is it right to advertise a "dollarbie" place as a "Freebie" place? honestly I don't think it's too deceptive. On average, 1L translates to 1/3 of a US penny. Just uploading a texture or sound costs 10L. (this is why most freebies don't have pictures on the boxes). A dollarbie is still the same spirit as a freebie. And frankly, as long as I've been here, there have always been some 1-10L cheapbies mixed into freebie places.

i was referring to Kathy's comment when i compared 276b to a real dollar. and it's easy for newbs to get L$1 by using money trees & camping.

Since the question is if a $1 L is a Freebie- no, obviously not- does it matter? Should it? To me, it does not- but I would prefer it was called anything other than free- I like Dollarbie

There is a reason that the "dollarbie" was created, and it was due to a technical restriction in LSL (the programming language behind every working item in SL).

Put simply, there are three ways to "get" something in SL, from an object's conetnts.

First, the object can be scripted to "give away" it's contents, when triggered. Ususally by a touch. Simply clicking the box.. will result in your getting the item(s). This is the exact same mechanism behind lucky chairs. The "sit" provides the trigger mechanism, and a convoluted scripted mechanism decides whether your name has the chosen letter, and bam, if you're supposed to, you get the item(s). That sounds complicated, but landmark and notecard givers work exactly the same way. Touch.. give. It's not hard to turn a landmark giver, into an object giver.

Second, the object itself, can be set "for sale"... this is a pretty useful feature. Commerce is built right into the nature of every prim. You can sell the object itself, or you can sell a copy of the object, OR you can sell just the "ceontents" of the object. This is what we call a "simple box vendor".. When you encounter one of these, you right click it, and select "Buy" from the menu. (there's a way to set the left-click action to "buy".

The third way, is actually a combination of the two. Pay. Pay vendors, or "Scripted Vendors" usually do more complicated things. By being scripted, they are generally easier to use for the seller, and they can do things that simple vendors CAN'T do (profit sharing, networked communications, selling multiple products for multiple prices from a single vendor, etc). Scripted vendors can also provide the seller with better transaction records. Pay vendors have limitations too. It's harder to preview what the item's permissions might be, and of course being scripted, they can suffer failures due to SL network problems, lag, etc.

Here's the kicker though. You can "touch" for free, you can "sit" for free. You can set an object "for sale" for 0L... but there's no way to "pay" 0L. the "money" event in LSL won't recognize less than 1L. So scripted vendors CAN'T deliver freebies.

Way back when, about a billion years ago, I suspect that the first "dollarbie" came from a hair shop. Wanting to allow people to try their hair before buying, they used their handy scripted vendor to set up the demo for sale.. and figured out that the minimum was 1L. I'm sure their competitors were offering demos too, for free. At some point, I know it became popular (for a time) to return the 1L to the customer. I've seen some signs explaining that the 1L was returned. There's even still an option for that, in some networked vendor systems. This practice (returning the 1L) seems to have gone out of fashion.. which is fine, really.

The "Dollarbie" has been embraced by most newbie-friendly shops as a way to encourage new users to get L$, and a way to somewhat offset the costs of doing business. Once upon a time, Linden Lab would actually subsidize educational groups, and popular places with discounted or free tier. Nowadays,all that LL help is gone, and in nearly every hair or skin shop, the 1L Demo is accepted as the norm.

Is it right to advertise a "dollarbie" place as a "Freebie" place? honestly I don't think it's too deceptive. On average, 1L translates to 1/3 of a US penny. Just uploading a texture or sound costs 10L. (this is why most freebies don't have pictures on the boxes). A dollarbie is still the same spirit as a freebie. And frankly, as long as I've been here, there have always been some 1-10L cheap-bies mixed into freebie places.

I run a "getting popular" freebie blog. While I frequently point people to dollarbies, I don't really call or consider them free. 0L is free. 1L is not free, because all those 1L things can add up quickly.

I voted yes, but I actually meant more like yes-ish. 1L does not equate to any RL monetary denomination - using the 276 conversion mentioned previously, it's about a third of a US penny - so I have difficulty seeing it as any sort of actual expenditure.

That said, I would prefer a different label for 1L items, just for clarity's sake. And I do believe items meant for new players should be 0L.

Well I still consider them cheap enough to be a freebie but the new name for $1 items are dollarbies. Which brings me to another subject of demos. I try more demos when they are $0 then when they are $1 because believe it or not they do add up after a while. I bet store owners make a lot off $1 demos .

Elinah

It didn't in the past which in part contributed to L$1 freebies.

Also historically everyone (except for small portion that verified by phone instead of putting payment info on file) started out with L$250 so you could target L$1 freebies at newbies since everyone could afford them from the very start and if they spent it all there was always their L$50 stipend next Tuesday.

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As for the question; it depends. If someone sells nothing but freebies (ie Yadni's, although I wouldn't know if it's still L$1 or free now) then I don't really see it as "false advertising". If it helps offset their tier in any significant way then all the better, they're offering a service.

If it's a demo in a store on the other hand the L$1 does seem rather out of place.

1L or even 10L is pretty close to free in my book, but if you can't buy Lindens and got to depend on camping I guess it could be a hardship. Dollarbie though does sound good.

i wouldn't assume that all freebies and dollarbies are meant to target newbs. there are lots of reasons to give something away for free, or L$1.

This was close to my thoughts, when confronted with people complaining L$1 was not free, i would explain that L$1 being 1/3 of a penny was considered free.

Today i got a complaint from a 2006 AV, hence this poll


* i was not aware of the "dollarbie" expression , thats indeed a good alternate

* at the time i write this, the opinion that L$1 is not free nearly rates 2 to 1
- so i think i will change my "setup" to advertize dollarbie too and set more L$0 items

Thanks

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