xstreet undercutting

Ive noticed that quite a few people on xstreet sell items that seem to be so cheap that it makes me wander why they bother. These particular items I noticed arent just a way of promoting other products that they may be selling. It seems that its basically just sort of undercutting other people just to be spiteful or something. I mean why would you spend a whole lot of time making something and then sell it for next to nothing to try and ruin other people's business? It seems very nasty.

Profit isn't always a motive.

● Some people will undervalue their work.. ie "I made it, it couldn't possibly be worth much".
● Some people aren't trying to make big money in SL.
● Some people want to make their items accessible to new users, who often don't have lots of money.
● Some people may feel that since they can't make an item better than the competition, at least they can make it cheaper.
● Some people think that they can make more money selling 200 items at 10L$, than selling 15 items at 100L$.
● Some people lowball their prices when they feel their items are lacking features. "It' would be worth more if it did X"

The cheapest I have ever sold an item for was 20L$. While I still do sell some items (eyes) for 20L$, for new items, my current bottom price is 75L$ (my scripting ability is much better now). I also sell items for 750L$. I usually try to make my prices accessible to my target audience.

lol what?

Some people are not here to make money and prefer to produce items for the community as opposed to producing items for their bank account.

There is nothing 'spiteful' about it. The only thing spiteful here is your choice of adjectives.

So everyone sell their things for higher prices if they spent a "whole lot of time making it" according to you? Since when do you get to set prices on the grid.

A person can spend 3 months on a project and release it freely.

I am about to spend dozens upon dozens of hours on a totally freebie project that makes me ZERO dollars and requires LOTS of effort on my end. So what, big deal, I want to do it.

A lot of people like releasing items for free or very cheap in price it makes us feel good about helping out the greater community by providing products the masses can have access to for free or next to nothing.

Deal with it.

*boggles*

It doesn't seem nasty to me. It seems perfectly reasonable.

Some people make things just for the creative satisfaction of making them. They are happy to make these things available to the rest of us for nothing or for virtually nothing.

I realise that this is annoying for those who are trying to make a large profit out of similar products, but that is life. It just means that their products have to be better.

It was unfair of you to accuse the freeby makers of spite. That is not their motive at all.





PPP (who believes in a free market)

Well for me I just like to make stuff. I like to challenge myself to see if I can make it and if I do then I put it up on SLX. A few are free some of the textures I do price to make up the upload charges in a few sales. But I dont do it to be spiteful to other buisnesses.

But all in all I create because it is fun!

it is funny how you cannot "undercut" your own prices on xstreet but you can undercut your own prices in world on xstreet. I.e.; you are not allowed to have your in world prices more than 20% lower than your prices on xstreet but you are allowed to price your items on xstreet as low as you want as compared to in world.

If I'm not mistaken, the OP may be referring to the infamous Anshe Chung $10L store items, which are indeed market killers where they appear. At the time, the rationale given for this tactic was that "content is too expensive in SL."

Check the prim count on those products, and remember what's really for sale by that seller (at least it used to be)

xstreet sellers arent following the rules though. I just picked up a bunch of outfits/items for 50L and under, which, when I checked inworld, where 275-350 each. Thats a big markdown.

As far as working months on something to then give it away free, I guess I dont get it either, it makes no business sense. But each person is free to do as they wish. Thats SL.

The reason for the XStreet undercutting like that is that products are ordered by default by the amount of sales. Lower priced items will sell far more often than higher priced. The more XStreet sales you have, the better placement you get in advertising and on the default listing.

If you want to get on the first page of listings on XStreet, you need to have a very high selling product - hence the lower sales prices.

I don't sell on xstreet.. but even in my line people undercut all the time ... and when I did sell stuff, I always undervalued it both in the idea no one would want it anyways, and well I made it, it can't be worth anything...

Then I started a new idea... Never put a price on anything, do the work people want (yes I only do commission work, no retail or store) and let them pay me what they feel it was worth to them, and the results have been surprising... and I've definately been low balling myself.... from 2000 for something simple, to 100,000 for something more advanced... while before hand I never would of imagined anyone wanting what I can make for more then 500....

But, as Ann said, steep markdowns in THAT direction are allowed. I can sell my skybox in world for $L1,000, and sell it on XStreet for $L10, and commit no policy violation.

If I sell it for $L1,000 on XStreet, though, I'd better not price it at less than $L800 in world.

as a land baron who rents prims based on lotsa content being sold, I approve this message

(just kidding! but srsly, cheap content sure doesn't hurt the land biz. makes ya question motives a little...)

I've got a friend of mine who enjoys making clothes. Over the years, her work keeps getting better and better, and her prices keep getting lower and lower. It's not uncommon to get a full outfit, complete with jewelry, shoes, and all accessories ... for under L$100.

Why so cheap? She loves making the outfits, and wants them to be available to most everyone. That's the same reason she has a MM board (which pops every night), and 2 lucky chairs set on 5 minute changes. She constantly swaps out what's in the MM and lucky chairs. Given enough time, you could collect just about all her stuff, for free.

I have a frew freebies which are priced low for these reasons:

My two skins are non-Caucasian, which is almost non-existent among skin makers - which appears to be a white-girls-only club, so I wanted to give the "rest of us" some easy choices. I put them at 1L to cover my upload costs, and generate a very slow amount of background revenue, but I really wanted them to just be available so that anyone who wasn't Caucasian could at least have an entry skin to feel comfortable in.

My shape is a freebie because I don't believe a shape is ever worth more than that if it is just a shape - just the dials. It also free because its not a Frankenbarbie, which I think makes it the ONLY SHAPE IN ALL OF SL, that is a freebie and not a frankenbarbie. (ok, maybe there's 1 more out there somewhere, but I haven't found it)

My height meter is free because its one of the only ones in all of SL that actually measures the height of your avatar in the units SL uses and tells you that number... and resizes itself to the same number (without moving off the ground), so that you can see the proof of its accuracy.
- That is something I should be charging 500L+ for, because its both very useful and very unique. But I am sick of being told I'm short on a 6'11" (with shoes) avatar... so I'm giving it out free with FULL PERMS precisely so people will copy the thing allover the place and spread it - whether or not I get credit, I just want to knock out all of the competition because they're not reporting the right numbers. If they were reporting the right numbers, I wouldn't be doing that... but they've been setting the wrong standard for too long in SL. Ie: if you refuse to tell people how tal they actually are, and claim some other biased result, I'm on to you, and my freebie will hopefully replace your meter in that club people are going to. Sorry if that's hostile, but we've had how many years of SL for people to notice that the GetAgentSize function didn't return the same value as the height of an avatar???
- I even made the script mod so that the other height meter makers might edit it, steal my code, put it in theirs, and turn around and sell them... Go ahead, ninja my code, 90% of it was from the script library anyway (so while I can charge for it, my ethics say that is another reason not to) - please. Just get the right metrics out there.

My skybox is only 150L right now, despite being, in my opinion, worth a good 1000, because I'm new, and not a brand name, and people don't have any reason to trust my skybox other than visiting it (its used as my shop - and my home, I rezzed two of them. Wanted to make sure I could stand living in my own product after all - which was a smart move because I changed the box a day after making it my home when I realized one of the interior walls could be moved to a better spot).

One I start making clothes, they will start at 10L, until I get something of a product line, then I plan to jump into the same price range as Bare Rose uses - 100-200L depending on how wide a market the item is likely to appeal to, and how intricate the design.
- and if I get really good, I will flip right back around and pump out a few freebies for the NCI boards and Free Dove just so new avatars can look nicer. Not too many, maybe 3. I like the number 3. I think 3 and 13 are my favorite numbers... but 13 is just too many.

Pussycat ... you rock!

The furniture in my home cost my 50L on xstreet - the same merchant sold it at the same time inworld for 800L. It was an xstreet limited sale to attract attention to his xstreet page. I was glad to find it, and glad I bought it because the set is worth 2000L - its that good, and I tend to believe nothing in SL is worth that much.

He's now selling it for more. But you know what - EVERY SINGLE GUEST to my home starts with 'Wow, your couches are soo nice!!!'
- Then they lol at my mouse named Danger or gasp at the Grigbertz art posters...
But it always starts with the couch. Maybe I should rez a copy on the public space of my land and put a LM to his shop near it. That's why he did that, because anyone who sees it is going to want to find out where they can get a copy.

I like this answer.

Why would you take the time to make this post complaining about this.. now that seems kinda nasty to me.

Who makes more money over time?

Merchant A, in a boutique in a mall, who sells 100 pairs of levis for $80 making $30 profit on each sale

Walmart who, in all it's locations and web store, sells 1,000,000 million pairs of Lee jeans for $35 making $5 profit on each sale

Hope this answers your question about loss leader marketing and reach.

Hi Marly, welcome to the forums! I sympathize with what you're saying.

There's a lot of free or very cheap good content. So the barrier to entry for new clothing makers and furniture makers etc. is getting higher all the time, which is really kind of sad. Now, you either have to have REALLY different stuff or pretty good skills to feel like you are offering something the general public might buy.

I have a suggestion. A lot of people nowadays are looking for unique things - things that no-one else has. And a lot of people would like to buy from friends.

If your skills are not amazing (that's a foolproof way to charge higher prices), then make things that are fanciful and fun, cultivate your OWN personal style. Give them to friends and other folks you meet. Keep a list of people who like them. Then, eventually, open a shop and you will have a list of potential customers. People who want to buy/use/wear your stuff because it comes from Marly.

And have fun!
.

I was just saying to a friend last night in world...:


[2009/09/16 17:11] Pussycat Catnap: Kinda like - why sell 1 ferarri when you can sell 50,000 Pintos in the same time period.
[2009/09/16 17:11] Pussycat Catnap: "Als used cars" makes more takehome money that Luigi's fine imports.
[2009/09/16 17:12] XXXXXXXXX: good point to remember
[2009/09/16 17:12] Pussycat Catnap: Even if he does smell like cheap cigars...

- Of course, I was talking about land barons and how they stay in business by buying and selling the trash lots rather than the choice ones. But its a concept that works in a lot of economic models.

I've had a similar experience - several times I've had a price in my head, but felt I was being greedy, asked the customer to pay me what they thought it was worth, and not one has offered less than the price I was thinking, some have been close, some have paid much more than I would have charged. Needless to say I never turn down a high price if the customer is happy to pay it.

$80 for Levi's? I never pay over $40, and usually wait for sales. 501s are $37 at Kohl's - and that's on the high side.