XSTREET Price Dumping and You!

I have been noticing that there is a trend of people dumping prices on the majority of items on Xstreet. It appears that Junk that is cheap is outselling high quality product that is more moderately priced.

My question is both for buyers and for merchants.

Shoppers: Do lower prices entice you to buy something even if it does not seem of the best quality but since its cheap you feel you have less to lose by buying it?


or if you are a merchant : Do the " better selling" Cheap Junk" items that are selling in record numbers cause you to also lower your prices in an attempt to compete with the cheapo's?

This is a dup thread from the merchants blog but this forum is easier and faster for most.

my prices are pretty reasonable, comparitavely (although I have noticed a downward trend in pricing on apparel lately). It isn't because I feel my stuff is 'junk' or because I think I can corner the market with lower prices though. I price the way I do because when I first came to SL I was floored at how much things cost (yes, I know a lot of Linden equals only a few dollars etc but I was camping and dancing for my lindens) and before I even figured out how to make clothes, I promised myself that whatever it was that I built/created would be priced more affordably.

Also, I like people to wear my things.

I honestly shop where I know the designs are what I like, generally the prices are more than others charge.

I refuse to use XStreet, but generally,price is not the main factor in my purchasing decisions. Crap is crap, no matter what the price. If an item suits my needs and it's quality is acceptable, or I just plain want it, I buy with little regard to price.

I won't buy the stuff that's obviously crap. Some things, you can't tell, and for those I'll visit the merchant in world, if there's a link provided.

I tend to patronize the more expensive stores anyway. It's not *always* the case, but in general I've found that you get what you pay for.

Is there not enough drama in this subject?

should I add some? lol

Careful what you wish for.....or I'll add it.

I just wanted to see who the biggest drama queen was..

I flushed you out good , didn't I? haha

do you have anything to contribute to the actual subject of this thread?

Yes, I did. But you won't like it. And I'm not taking the red pill today.

That's normal in RL too, Poundland does a roaring a trade in terms of numbers of sales.

People should stick to their guns and not get caught in the lower price trap, the bigger issue with Xstreet is that it's crap in terms of presentation.

too bad that xstreet seems to be the preferred way for people to shop now and LL is pushing everyone to go there rather than in world.


I do substantially more biz on there than in world even though in world has a better selection of product. It used to be the opposite not too long ago.

Doooo it.. Dooo it now...

One wonderful thing about XLS is the feedback, I can't tell you how many times I've bought something in-world and SO wished I could leave feedback that others could see.

Have you tried shopping inworld lately? Just visiting two stores will take forever, things rez so slowly and the lag is horrendous. I have a $L1000 giftcard for a store I really like burning a hole in my pocket, and the last two times I tried to shop there, the lag was so bad I gave up!

First of all....how do you know it is outselling? All they have to do is give some friends some lindens to purchase the product over and over again, to increase the counts and give stars.

How do you know all this dumping is going on? Do you spend hours watching? The time you spent watching....you could have posted 12 new products. (not that I take this advice, myself)

Do you really have competitors? That's a problem. Make stuff and offer value/services, so you no longer have a competitor. Even a texture maker can do this. There are a zillion textures I cannot find, and I search every other night. And 90% of texture packets make no sense. Why would someone offer a pack of 10 different colored paneled doors, without offering the plain panel? What can you make with that?

Do you want One Shot Buyers? or do you want Repeat/Loyal Buyers? I buy from people who were nice when I purchased, and sent a Thank You.

I have also ruled out buying from people that were nasty in forum. (can't say that I haven't lost a few customers myself, this way - work in progress) But there are some merchants in the other forum, who are consistently downright nasty with attitudes that suck. I will not ever buy from them.

There was a time period when you were repeatedly dogging a competitor of yours.....so I made special attempts to buy textures from that person, even recently. Hopefully you have calmed your ass down since then. If it had not been for that, and hinting that I might be psycho..... I probably would have gone to your product page immediately, simply by seeing your name/business in forum.

Price is not everything. Convenience is. I would rather pay 500L for a box of 10 wood textures labeled "dark walnut heavy grain wood"....than to spend 100L on a box of wood textures labeled wood1, wood2, wood3....every time I see those in my inventory, I want to wring someone's neck.

Photos. If someone has 12 pics of the item, and it is priced at 500L.....I will purchase it over a 100L item with one pic....even if it is the exact same quality. How would you know from one pic?

Most people come to the store to buy my stuff....but recently Xstreet sales are better than ever, and I haven't even added anything new for a while....so no complaints. I try not to spend my days worrying about what other people are doing......I better worry about what I should be doing.

Wow - I probably buy 95-98% of my clothes inworld.

I buy what I like, but I do watch prices. The vast majority of my dresses cost L$300 or less and the majority of the gowns were probably L$500 or less. I do sometimes pay more if I really like it and I *know* the quality is there for the money. I seldom will pay more than my average price if I am not sure of the quality - which I usually gather from others wearing an item or via a gift/freebie of an item.

I'm curious about this. Would you really want a personal thank you for every single purchase? I do everything I can to help anyone who has a question or needs assistance, but I don't want to make my customers feel spammed or stalked if they didn't ask for communication from me.

The reverse is also true, if someone makes a good impression on me in world or in forums, I will make a special effort to check out their products.

Just like RL, some people will shop at Saks and some will shop at the Dollar Store, and never the twain will meet. Complaining about the Dollar Store won't make it go away. One must choose a target buyer group and then market one's products effectively to that group.

I buy 100% of them inworld. Part of my SL fun is shopping. I love going around finding new stores and buying stuff. Out of world shopping totally defeats the purpose for me.
I don't need to leave Feedback on an external site. I can drop a note or better yet, depending on the situation buy more from the seller or never patronize them again.

Some people are too busy in SL to shop in world, I understand that, so XStreet serves a purpose for them. I don't need it.

I don't "demand" a personal thank you - but if they took the time to send one, then they go to the top of the list.

I send Thank You's, and not one person has been unpleasant about it. Quite the opposite. Yesterday, one came into the store, and shopped because of it.

the downside with that feedback, is when its left by (not saying this is you !!) someone who is very new and hasnt understood what they buy? Ive had a couple of comments that were totally wrong just because they 1) didnt read the write up about the item 2) dont yet understand the permissions system (yes, it was very clearly stated)

Anote about feedback to buyers who bought something from me on xstreet also. I contacted both people who left negative remarks that were incorrect, one was totally ok with it and understood their error and admitted that they hadnt read the writeup and had *assumed* what it was , the other was very aggressive despite me being ever so polite and offering a refund (even though it was their mistake)
I have also contacted people who wrote lovely comments and said thank you, and i myself have had sellers contact me to say thankyou for a favourable comment ive left(i dont make many but when somethings really good i will) I think thats a nice thing to do

As for selling it cheap because its *crap* no..I price my items based upon how long it takes me to make them...they might be inexpensive but not *crap*

What i have noticed on xstreet of late is an enormous increase in BBIAB, theyve bought a truckload..take awful photos of each single piece and list it..I really wish there was a way to seperate BBIAB items and original designs, just to save time wading through it all to the good stuff.

Or, like everything else in SL , it can be gamed by friends and alts to prop you up, or to bad mouth your competitor.

yup, exactly

At the moment i'm tending to buy more on Xstreet rather than inworld because of lag. Plus most often than not i can see the images on Xstreet better than inworld.

I'll tend to stick to the popular page tab aswell and buy things that end up on there usually because 9/10 they are wonderful stuff. I use Xstreet aswell for ease of convienance.

No.

I feel the same way. Of course I respond promptly to any communication from a customer. But as for sending IMs or notes to all who've bought: I hate to think that some customers might feel there's a lack of service if I don't IM them or send them a note. But weighing those feelings against the feelings of those who'd feel spammed by such contact, I come down on the side of not sending IMs/notes to each person who buys.

I guess I see it this way because I, personally, don't care to get unsolicited notes/IMs from sellers (unless it's to inform about some issue with the product, of course).

I do regret offending anyone by NOT writing, but I think I'd regret MORE the reactions of those who wouldn't care to receive an IM or note, if I did send them.

Food for thought, certainly.