Just How Bad is the SL Economy

I think this is a very narrow-minded classification of people who are doing well with their stores. My shop is not a big name in SL ..nor do I do anything besides use my theme products in the title of my stores for searching. I pay $3000L a week for my main store classified and $650 for my mainland store. I have no campers or bots...the only thing I use besides search are my return customers and word of mouth. I have spent the last 14 months building a business. I have never used any any distasteful practices and very much take offence to your post.

not all free stuff (as you mentioned) is bad

I used to put out free samples (not demo's) of new items I made, using the same template as the item for sale, just making it in a different color

and I like to think my quality is very good, yet ppl took the freebie and never returned to buy the item or anything else... I just stopped... and have not noticed any change in sales...

that is because they are only on slex at this time

I redid the store again, reduced my land (sold some off) so had to remove the kid stuff until I can figure out where to fit it in at

but it is on slex still, so just go there and look me up

Girrrllll.... looky here, you said the Price is Right 100L. Please send me a lm to your store and I will come by and check it out. I don't need any furniture but I do love a good sale.

just wondering why you took offence

the poster said at times...

I took that as... some people do it, but not all

I do not sell furniture
I sell female clothes, shoes, hair, skin, shapes, boots, etc


I will drop a LM on you when I log in world (I used to have the link in my sig, but removed it, not sure why now LOL)

Ditto on the sales... but I consider anything over 2500L a successful day. I rent 1/4 of my sim to a friend with her own store at tier cost so that helps with the overall expense. But I do not make enough extra to take Lindens out of SL except for tier payments...and I just leave that in my account for LL. Everything else I spend back inside SL....including 1000's on textures alone each month.

Now you've done it! Replying to Jojo with words about textures is gonna derail this thread good and proper

Okay...did not notice the 'at times' at the very end of the post. IMO..it was in general a very negative post.

It took me over 14 months of hard work to get to point of considering myself a successful store owner. If you were in my place you would understand where I'm coming from and why I took offence.

I've been holding steady after a small decline that timed out exactly with the RL financial system crumbling in the fall.

Things to keep in mind:

1) The level of content quality has drastically improved in SL over the past year or two as RL professional graphics people have started producing more and more content. This makes it much, much harder for us amateurs to keep up. If you want to compete in this market, it's time to start upping your game.

2) Stop with the freebies, already. The number one thing killing sales in SL is freebies. There are enough high quality freebies to keep anyone set so that they never have to pay a cent. Freebies used to mostly junk, but the market has become flooded with quality items. Stop giving stuff away if you want people to actually buy.

I understand how hard it is to get anywhere in SL, I am into it almost 3 years and still pretty much unknown and still struggling

heck I see folks posting that 5K in sales is average for them, per day

when I am lucky to get 500L in sales per day

I just wish I knew what I was/am doing wrong

yes, I would love to be able to pull out 600 US from SL each month, hell that would help the RL situation a hell of a lot

things are bad, and taxes are around the corner, so even more money to pay out

as I mentioned in another thread, we all have our sob stories, our woes and our own reasons for needing more money


so... someone tell me how to get more money!!

(I tried the stuff jojo sent in her notecard and either I am too dumb to do it right, or it is not working for me)

*shrug*

I feel like I am too dumb to figure it out


edited to add:

If I were in your place and considered myself a successful business owner in SL, and knew I did it legit with no ill means, I would not give a damn what others had to say about the fact that some folks do use undesirable means to get up in business in SL

I know better than to get into traffic botting discussions here, but that's really only one of many controversial ways people boost their business. I choose not to discuss the other areas in detail because they're already being abused and I'd rather not help people learn how to abuse them more.

As a consumer I don't mind spending more for quality items. What I hate is everyone wearing a knockoff. For example I bought a dress from Blaze last year and I think it was in the 800L -1000L range. I haven't worn it in over a year and was thinking about putting it on for an evening out on the town. Well last week, my hubby and I were at a concert there were at least 6 women that had that vere same dress on but in different colors. Luckily, I didn't wear it. Now, I don't even want the dress anymore. I would love to give it away to a newbie but of course it is "non-transferable" Which I hate even more. I can understand the no copy/no modify, but after I have spent my money its mine and I should be able to give it away if I want to.

Additionally, I am moving away from the more "popular" fashion designers for the same reason and seeking out lessor known designers. Because again, I see a lot of women with the same dresses on.

Please answer why won't designers and I don't just mean in the clothing industry won't allow you transfer? I find that really irritating.

it is a little of this and a little of that

in my experience the majority of the shoppers want to be able to mod something

and to be able to mod it and still keep it safe, one wants the ability to copy

if one has the ability to copy, then the creator would be shooting themselves in the foot, if they also made it transferable

If sellers make things transfer no mod no copy, then consumers cry they want to be able to mod and copy

if sellers make it mod copy, consumers want it transferable (usually for the reason you specified)

there is no happy medium

on the other hand, there is no harm in asking a creator to do the transfer no mod no copy perms on something you want
the worst they can do is say no

*shrug*

If that is the case, they should offer those options and charge accordingly as I do see with some vendors. Charge more for modify/copy, charge a little less for transferable items. I have tons of stuff I can offer to newbies that I no longer use. Or like in one of the other threads contribute to a yard sale.

Well that's just one of the differences between us

I know she did not mean me personally...she doesn't know me from the next yahoo down the road....or I her. It's just that other residents are reading this that really want to learn something. I hate for them to come away with the impression that all successful business owners in SL are shady.

So you see..this isn't about you or me...at least not to me. Now what you get out of it may be a different story...and that would be the second of the many differences between us

I just know that I'm going to regret posting this, but you are your own worst enemy, Rha. I know that people have given you their advice time and time again, and that people have spent time teaching you what you need to do. You take it all in, but you won't do anything about it. You *won't* get a good amount of sales if you don't try to get them.

So sell them MOD. Yes, people can screw up their only copy of something. So what, they should be given the right to screw it up.

did you miss where I said I DID try the things mentioned.

I did the things in the sticky thread (at least the parts I understood) and I got the notecard from jojo and implemented the things from that to the best of my abilities
I optimized my parcel description, I sent out notices to groups, I got blogged, I networked, I did what I knew how to do, and still to no avail

so please do not give me this crap about "you did not do anything", as you do not know what I tried, or did not try for that matter (and I will not resort to using bots, or paying for picks, or any other means to artificially inflate my traffic or such)
sometimes, no matter what one does, the sales are just not going to be there (for whatever reason)

and it is depressing to watch person after person walk through the store and not buy anything, YET have many folks tell you that your stuff is great, awesome, etc.

it is not because I have not tried... do not assume I never tried the suggested things

people say my stuff is nice, but apparently I am missing something....

I have not given up, however my attitude has changed.

and I will be the first to tell people who are considering getting rich in SL, to not expect miracles

then if they sell a modded item that ends up looking like crap, then folks will think everything else from that specific designer is crap...

If I give them the right to screw it up, I will not give them to right to pass it on (and that is my right as a creator)

it is already a difficult market (especially female clothing) why would anyone want to give someone the opportunity to pass on modded (and possibly badly modded) items?

Rha, I've seen other places on the forums where folks have given you advice, and while I wish I could improve upon what they've said, I just can't! What I can do is tell you that either the hubby or myself is available on SL a LOT. We spend a great deal of time creating, building, and networking. We have a smallish (maybe under 200) member group, but we know each of them by name, and both of us can tell you a little about most of them (either RL or SL "tidbits". We have taken the time to listen to what customers have said about our products, about what they want and about what they NEED. We've kept our prices reasonable, and we haven't been afraid to branch out. If one branch doesn't "survive", we plant another tree. We've had spectacular failures in the midst of moderate success, but we've never hesitated to take a risk! Example: hubby had this brilliant idea about sunglasses that would disappear on touch. He callled them "Shides", and we spent an entire week taking photos of different styles he created and setting up a storefront. He was convinced he had found the "next big thing." To make a long story short (I know, too late, right??), they didn't exactly make us a million. We're lucky to sell a pair or two a week. Lesson?? Not a one. I would do it all again, because you just never KNOW!! One thing I've discovered is that the SL population is completely unpredicatable. So while I probably haven't helped, I would encourage you to close your eyes, dream the impossible, bring it to life in SL and hang on for the ride! We never got into this to make money--it was, and is, however, a nice by-product!

hi arielyn

yep many people have made many great suggestions and I have done the ones that I could (or was able to understand how to do)

I spend a lot of time at my PC and am available at almost the drop of a pin

hubby no longer uses SL

I have a store group with over 600 members, and while I do not know them all by name (just as I am sure they do not know me) I do appreciate each person who makes the point to click that board and subscribe.

as of late I know one reason why sales have slowed and that is due to me not getting new stuff out, to be expected slow down in sales

however I have NEVER had huge sales not even semi large, nothing like described in this thread... I would be shocked to have the ability to pull out 500 or even 600 a month USD

but I don't, and doubt I ever will.

some folks are meant to make it and others are not.

I got into clothing making for the fun of it then got caught up with the "oh I can make money (lindens) at this" and that was all it became and the stress became too much and I burned out

maybe eventually I will feel like making something again, but until then, the store will stay, and I will just enjoy SL again.

(please do not mistake my comments about lack of sales as whining, it is merely stating a reality, and many many many stores do not make huge sales, I know I am not alone)

I just want people to realize, that sometimes even hard work doesn't automatically mean sales

Wow...you know what. There was a time i would have been like gtfo, but a couple months ago i went into someones home, and it was freebie central. Our N&B Freebie Jessica set, our plants, other peoples freebies modified and fixed up even better. They hadn't paid for any thing...

I sent them the full non-freebie Jessica set and logged out wondering if Freebies had become to prolific.

So yea...I think freebies are killing sales.

I've heard this argument before, and I have to ask... how often in the history of Second Life has this had any effect whatsoever on the reputation of any creator?

I submit that you won't find any examples.

This argument is pure paranoia.
Because sane customers don't buy no-mod clothing?

Phil, that's a very generous offer, thank you. I sort of gave up and will have to get working and make some new textures for plants.

Can I come and see you then, please?

Many thanks,

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