Are Prices of Content falling too?

I have a hunch the land prices are not the only prices that are falling in SL. I own a business here--and I have seen prices of the type of goods I sell fall so low that I simply cannot believe people can buy land and stay in business selling these things--if they expect to at least break even against tier payments. (Just so you know, my business has been around for 9 months, I sell quality stuff and recieve countless positive comments about my store from my customers--I am there a lot and treat my customers well--so I get a lot of returning customers now. In other words, this was an honest effort to provide really high quality things--with really good cutomer service.)

What is happening to your sales and prices?

Quite frankly--(backed up with a Masters in Econ) When I see falling land prices, slower and slower sales along with falling prices of goods in general--that speaks of serious economic problems.

Also, I swear that the overall quality of things for sale is dropping out there. I see freebie (stolen) junk everywhere now with rediculous traffic figures generated by campers and alts. Is this pointing to the fact that good and talented content providers are in fact leaving?

I would like to hear from other business people about this. What do you think?

I'd say it's due to more and more new residents coming in trying to make a quick few L$.

Until they fix the stability of the asset server, I will not buy another no copy item at any price. I know a lot of folks who feel the same. That might provide another clue for you.

And yes, I agree things are rough all over. The seasonal spike that was supposed to happen when the kids went back to school has not happened, or has been cancelled out by VAT, population and performance issues.

Thanks for you thoughts.

Seems like I read about another economy that went through something like this.

Rome.

Time to take up violin lessons?

Land prices haven't moved in over a month.

I do not consume often, but I plan to never again buy anything. Why? Because I have been missing many items (Few thousand worth). Probably others who have cut down on their purchasing as well due to missing inventory.

I have not personally noticed a decline in price of quality product.

Also, yes there are a lot of freebie reselling going on, but also im noticinng a "new generation"lol) of consumers who are looking for quality, top quality..nothing else.

I get enraged by the wave of freebie reselling. I see people posting ancient freebies at shop-onrez for prices up to L$300 ...

Correct. Unfortunately this tends to favour the big players. While there are some extremely talented small creators of high-quality products out there, it's just so d**n hard to find them. You have to zip through dozens of places which turn out to re-sell crap before you find a real gem.

Much easier to go to one of the big players where you can rest assured to find good,solid quality stuff.

My sales went completely flat. Things that sold OK just stopped selling, even though they were cheap and good value compared to a lot of other stuff. So I sold off all my stall plots and had a rethink. I have now drastically reduced prices and sell buildings in sets in boxes. So far one sale! If sales pick up in the 4 outlets I have now, then I'll start a new chain of stalls on 64m roadside square plots.

I was out hiking along green future Linden highways the other day and I came across bags of freebies for sale L$10 - but the best thing was the sign said something like: 'bag of freebie hair L$10'!!!!!! Duuu-uuurrrH!!!

I couldn't agree more....I browse the On-Rez website a lot and sometimes I have to laugh at the prices being charged for things I've gotten for free in-world. It also makes me feel sorry for the new resident who perhaps thinks that he or she is getting a fantastic bargain by buying a 'BIB' for something like 10,000LS.

I have a small store that sells absolutely NOTHING BUT MY OWN work, I don't have an awful lot of sales because I don't have that big a budget to spend on advertising, but the people who have bought from me, have come back to buy again, and have brought their friends. So I suppose that it is hard to find those original creators who make quality items, and much easier to go to the big names where you're assured of quality.

From time to time I actually post hostile comments at onrez against these pirated products, warning people off buying them. The other day one of these resellers actually IMed me to complain, on the grounds that he never claimed it was his own work, and after all, Yadni does much the same thing.

We had a rather pointless argument.

I have seen sales drop every month since last January. Sales last month were less than 25% of what they were in January. I have lowered my prices in response to the reduced sales.

I've always sold my things extremely cheap. I don't have a shop to make a profit - I do it for fun. I like building things. My thing is - if I want to make money, I'm not going to do it in a place I want to have fun in! I already have a job where I make money - SL has never been, nor will it ever be a place of business for me. However, there are those who need it for an income, and if they're good and make good hair and clothes that are not "foo-foo" but realistic, I'll consume them. =) At a reasonable price, that is. I won't pay $1,000L for a gown =P ... ridiculous.

Part of the burden on a business in SL is that (economics models aside) they don't have to behave like businesses. My avatar won't declare bankruptcy, ruin her credit, and be out on the street starving if her businesses fail. She has that Great Patron with the Visa card-- me. I'm thrilled when I make a dollar a day. Meanwhile, my monthly land expenses are ninety dollars. I'm already upside down.

Do I want to do better? Of course. That's why I keep designing products. But it is a game. My business model is to create a higher-quality product for the same price or less than what my competitors charge. Do I think my products are worth more? You bet. I come up with what I'd pay for the same item, and then I charge half that amount.

1000 L for a highly detailed, hand painted gown ... That's what, less than five bucks for hours worth of artwork? It all depends on perspective.

There are a lot of factors in play here.

The loss of gambling has left fewer people with disposable income. I never hit the casinos, but I made some sweet cash off of club sploders when I was starting out. Plus, casinos were the biggest source of camping income as well.

The increase in the number of freebies and cheapies means that you can outfit yourself for next to nothing and are therefore much more reluctant to spend Lindens on things unless they are significantly better than what you can get for free.

I seriously think that the fact that you now start with absolutely nothing (as opposed to the L$250 I started out with just for signing up back in August 2006) has not motivated people to give their payment information to get the L$250 bonus--it's merely discouraged them from spending anything at all.

There are the rumblings of a recession in the RL economy, which means people overall are less likely to spend money on something like Second Life.

There are more Residents than ever, but the amount of real money flowing into the game has not increased, so you have more people competing for it. Competition drives down prices--that's basic economics.

The people who are most upset are the people who bought into the hype of making huge wads of cash with a minimum of effort. It doesn't work that way. It probably never did.

Ahh...but it's not a gown. It's infinite gowns. Once the artwork is done, there are no further production costs. The initial time investment doesn't have to be recovered in a single sale, but can be recouped over time.

It's the damned search. Very difficult to find stuff. Plus there's a lot of biab junk stores out there too.

Yes, I know that - but I'm not averse to giving someone less than five bucks for a lovely work of art, no matter how many copies they make.

since the value of lindens is dropping through the floor, ive noticed that everything else is ether following suit, or going out of buesness..

last year you couldent get a good avatar for less then 2k, nowadays, asking for 2k will ensure your store stays empty for awhile. what took new players a week or two with stipends, moneytrees, and campers, now takes them 6 or 8 months of begging and camping alone. with 80% of the people who play being unable to earn any lindens themselves, it makes it pretty hard for those of us trying to sell these products to move anything.

I have the same issues with my store. All my items are unique and made by myself. However it takes time to build up traffic by word of mouth (assuming people like your work of course).

As someone else mentioned, there are so many BIB stores and stores reselling the same freebies, people have to be very persistant if they want to find original content amongst all that. Often times they don't and give up.

As to the OP's question, I have not yet lowered prices. I tend to put mine slightly below the market average (I use Nyte N Day as one of my benchmarks). If the market average reduces I may follow, but at the moment I have not seen much change in prices from the big names.

If anything, creators and designers in SL undervalue themselves.

I have seen products for sale where it is clear, a lot of work and man hours have gone into the design and creation of them only to be sold for a small charge.

Recently I made some purchases which were 3 items totalling about L$3000, I would of definitely paid more for them because I value the good workmanship.

So why, who sets the prices, what dictates what one should charge, how do the residents value their lindens?

I too own a small shop here with my own content. In the last few months I have actually raised my prices and the number of sales per week has increased. I still pay tier and shop rents out of pocket and use the money I generate on sales for advertising, tipping and shopping. Being a builder I usually build what I need for my own use unless it has detailed scripting or textures I like but don't have. Not having rl business experience I never thought it would be easy. It has been a fun challenge and a learning experience. I roll with the puches and learn from my mistakes. The important thing is have fun!

BIAB is killing the SL shopping experience. I strongly urge residents to please use full permission items responsibly.