Sales plumeting?

People aren't reading just jumping in. I said my three parameters to judge are: Quality, value and creativity.

Avawyn...I too love your enthusiasm. I have done a large amount of business and marketing consulting in SL with very satified clients. I also teach many many classes to folks from newbs to experienced biz owners on how to run and grow an SL biz. I dont talk from RL experience, which i also have, i talk from sl experience because that is really what what is relevent.

My suggestion to anyone who wants to start ANY kind of SL biz, including a magazine, is the take at least some basic level building, scripting, etc classes. That way you have the working knowledge to really know the ins and outs of SL. Then if i particular area appeals to you, take additional classes and become an expert in that area. Without the working in world SL how to knowledge, really anything you offer is just a subjective opinion and we all have one of those..hehe..

In my experience, the majority of people in SL do not read magazines. However, thousands visit the fashion blogs daily including myself. There has been some pretty heavy discussion lately about bloggers attempting to ask creators to pay them for an opinion. Once someone pays you for an opinion it is no longer valid in my mind for the public. It is simply an advertisement. Even a rating system that is assigned on a paid request for review is simply a function of the "advertising" costs and not a real review to me.

In this thread you have been interacting with some true powerhouses in the SL fashion and biz world. They are all attempting to help you understand the climate here. My suggestion would be to listen and take in their information and take it to heart. They know of which they speak.

When i first started out in sl in biz i made it a point to ask creators alot of questions...i KNEW i didnt know squat about biz in SL and therefore my mind was open to the information. That type of open minded research is what i suggest to anyone who asks me about starting an sl biz.

NO. If your object or avatar slider are not all the way to the to the right You are seeing an inferior less detailed mesh. Nothing close to what the creator was seeing while making it.

I highly suggest you upgrade you machine so you can see SL through clearer eyes.

Oh another problem I've got with things I've recently purchased are shorts. Not just shorts to wear as shorts, but say shorts that go under a long skirt as well.

Okay, the shorts do NOT go completely around the legs of the avatar. They just kind of lay on the avatar like triangles in the crotch area. I also a female avatar at a club recently just wearing shorts like these cruddy ones made and they looked awful when she danced. Like triangles pasted on her legs.

I have spent a lot of money and gotten a lot of cruddy things and have no recourse to get my money refunded.

This is why I plan to go to more fashion shows. The creator's won't return my IM's or MY MONEY nor will they get any more of my money if they have this attitude like I'm seeing in this thread "which is kind of SO WHAT?" Hey, what a minute NO! That's my money I spent on a misrepresented product and I am left with no recourse to get my money refunded period!

/me vows to spend the rest of her SL on freebie islands soon!

I already said I turned it all the way to the right and the holes did not go away!

After this thread I'm not spending another cent on SL. I have 900 lindens left. I'll spend them on donations.

I'm done. You've lost an interested customer. And I'm spending all my stimulus checks and all my extra income on my rl because at least rl stores have morals and except responsibilities!

I did send it, if you did not get it, oh well. I changed my mind anyway, I would rather you not do it, thank you.


no one asked you to spend your money, I was under the impression you were going to have a look at the store for "fluff prim usage" type thing, not so much my product.


actually the more opinions the better, that way one can get a more wide overview of what people like and want, instead of asking 5 people, I would rather the opinions of 50 or 500 people.


--snipped the huge ad for the magazine--


Again don't bother... I dunno if your comment about how you were going to spend 900 lindens was supposed to make me feel like I lost something..., however it only makes me think you are a con artist... here only to advertise your planned magazine... (I could be wrong, but that is the impression I am getting now... that the real reason behind the posts is to eventually talk about the planned magazine) (like we need another magazine in SL... blech)


--snipped the rest of the magazine plug--

awww you mean you are gonna take the 900 lindens you were planning to spend at my store and give them away... I am crushed (please DO note the sarcasm)

as for interested customer... I highly doubt you had any interest in anything

I believe you never intended to visit anyone's store, no matter who took you up on the offer...

IF you really wanted to, and really did not get the LM, you would have found my store and gone there... IF you really wanted to....

have a nice life, be it RL or SL

OH.,.. you mentioned that you had bad eyesight in RL, would that be disclosed to those people whom you would be reviewing? with bad eyesight, you would not be seeing things the same way those who have perfect or near perfect eyesight....

I guess it is a moot point now though, since you are leaving...

this thread has been interesting

No, I'm a SL consummer who wanted to fight back since SL has no quality control department and no refund policy that is clearly stated, and thus I thought of a magazine. Taking on the task is obviously not worth it with attitudes like these in this thread. Get your new suckers to buy the shoddy SL products that many designers are selling!

It was my idea. My team would have been the far more better judges. Assumptions, assumptions galore. I could even talk to my team on SL while sitting back in my chair with eyes closed to rest my eyes and not even need to look at the screen at all times to run a magazine. Running a magazine would not need to be all visual all the time as I would put the reputation and responsibility on a trusted team and their research within the protocols.

however you are the one going on about how shoddy stuff is
and not to be mean, just being blunt, maybe it looks shoddy because of your eyesight....

(I know, now you will say... oh but others said it was shoddy too)

*shrug* as I said... moot point now, you said you are done and leaving...

with your attitude here, I am glad you never got the landmark... I acted too quickly.. I am actually glad you will not be going to my store

while I value my customers.... I do not value someone who thinks they are better than anyone else, and looks down on the creations of others, AND from my impression, looks for fault, instead of the positive...

You have to stop seeing SL as some monolithic factory. It's not.

It's an artistic outlet for some. For others, it is serious business. Different people have different styles and different business models. For most people, this is a hobby. HOBBY. People enjoy creating things and they are gratified if others buy them. The pros like Nicky Ree, Blaze, Simone, Armidi, etc. are on a different level than most people because they have excellent skills with Photoshop and other tools. Other smaller people are still honing their craft to get up to that level.

As a consumer, the best thing you can do is to shop carefully and avoid designers who are disingenuous with their advertising. And getting over yourself - you still have a way to go in learning about the market, learning about the limitations of the building tools, and valuation inside of SL, which most people consider to be a game.

In an earlier post you mentioned about adjusting sizes, and it read as though you don;t know how to do it. When you edit (stretch) a multi-prim object, the whole things adjusts, which didn't work for you and you found fault with the maker because of it. You need to learn how to adjust the dimensions of each individual prim to suit your own individual body part. Makers can't create out-of-box fill-all items, because there are any number of body part sizes in SL. It's not the makers who are at fault, Avawyn. It's you who doesn't have the experience yet, but you are judging the makers, and your own inexperience leads you to make incorrect judgements.

The thing is, how can you judge quality if you can't see well enough?

All in all, I do think you should give the magazine idea a good deal more thought before jumping into it - not only because of your own current experience limitations, but also a magazine needs a good distribution, and I don't think that comes easy in SL, even when the mag is free. But if you do get into it, I strongly suggest changing your plan so that the mag's content is *only* for the readers' benefit, and not limit the content by any form of payment. I also strongly suggest that you see it as a labour of love or just a hobby, at least for some time while the distribution builds to a level that potential advertisers *want* to be in it. I may be mistaken, but I don't think that a "my time is not free" attitude is a good one to have for some time - not until the mag has such a distribution that people *want* to get each issue, and potential advertisers *want* to be in it.

Sounds like a driver or gpu issue. Try updating your graphics driver.



OT: Last few days sales have picked up dramatically here. I have made no really big changes, just set out a few new things. =)

Its also probably good to note that transferable things sell better than copy this time of year. For obvious reasons. =)

I noticed an increase in sales too (actually got sales LOL)

and I too have been putting out new stuff

the key is new stuff... put it out...lots... hehe

phil check your inbox (you have a misquote in one of your previous posts hehe)

CHICKEN SALT?????

hmmm

ok garlic salt

Avawyn for what it is worth the people who are 'just jumping in' know their stuff and you really don't yet. Do what JoJo said, and go take some classes, LEARN about what you post about. ONOES a marketing consultant just helped a consumer lol

I don't want to bash you, or negate your ideas, but you are putting your head on the chopping block here. Save yourself some angst, and by the way, don't argue with Phil. He will win. He loves a good debate...then on the other hand maybe this isn't a good debate.

Personally I tend to think that at least some of the issues you are having with product quality have a lot to do with your vision and your graphics. JMO.

Have some popcorn before you go! No chicken salt...I promise.

(yeech chicken salt?)

what the heck is chicken salt?

For me it paints a funny image of a crowd of chickens lined up outside a factory waiting to be ground up into salt. =P

You're conjuring up that Sarah Palin turkey video.... ugh.

ick

wikipedia is a wonderful tool LOL

"It is known by many other names, including seasoning salt, season salt, and, in Australia and New Zealand, chicken salt."

Wewt! Conrgats!!

I am stuck in a bit of a catch 22. My stores have been full for ages. I sell wonky furniture and it takes up some space to display it well. Usually adding something new requires removing something old. Soo...If i really want to display my 09 stuff well, i almost need to pull my 08 and earlier stuffz.

I suppose its all in the layout. Perhaps i need a "last years stuff" store or section off somewhere else.

HAhahahaha it is salt and chicken stock basically... we add it to chips here in australia... yummmy yummy.

Hot chips with chicken salt and tomato sauce.




Oh and on this idiotic discussion. You will find that most people refuse to offer refunds cos most stores are no trans. Therefore the person hs the item AND their money back. Cant say i blame a shop owner for refusing just cos you didnt like their item. Most consumers in SL want copy perms no trans *shrugs*

Personally my stuff is copy or transfer permission, anyone who chooses trans cn get a efund by dropping the item back on me, but hell no ill refund someone who got a copy version unless it is broken.


I will personally fit items to people like Arwyen who havent worked out how to fit items and ill fit it to their shape speficially.

Asking for a refund on a item you can keep is like asking for a refund for an icecream you already ate

Ah that explains everything =P

I can edit, stretch things are modifiable. Want to come inworld and watch the things I've taught myself and had to figure out myself, when it would have taken the designer three seconds to have corrected the problem in the first place by making the shoe base the same color as the boots.

And I already know that about having to put in my free time to begin with until or if the magazine had a following. I said that because I didn't want a bunch of designers coming on the forum and say "yes" do my shop, meaning come and spend your own lindens at my store. I was willing to do one. I've been what's called a secret shopper right now, doing research out of my own pocket.

I do know how businesses work. If you read what I wrote about my art, antiques and selling background, then you should have taken it for granted that I know one has to spend money to make money. These are givens. I think I am assuming too much that people on this forum understand certain givens of starting your own business.

And I can see well enough to see holes and see that the color in the photograph is not the color of the one on my avatar. Eye strain is what I need to worry about. Not over doing it with my eyes because eyesight is a very precious thing and eye strain or an eye sprain hurts and is painful. And I may see better in that I'm examining with magnifiers!