Can't work this out :

Hi, I've got a question about BIAB (Business In A Box) and Vendors.

I understand that I need a Vendor to give out my product and pay me for it. What I don't understand though, is how do I make Vendor with my product in it, that can dispense another copy of the vendor, then in turn, each copy of that vendor gives a commision to each owner - but even then, all copies of the Vendor (no matter who owns it) pays me my part?

At first, I thought I just needed a Vendor, but never purchased one because it would be impossible to do this when their scripts are non-trans. It's making me wonder if "Vendor" is the correct product to look for. Is there a different term used for the type of thing I'm looking for?

I suppose one could say I'm looking for a sort of Vendor maker, as opposed to an actual Vendor. I'm wanting to make my own BIAB that consists of a transferable Vendor - again - I haven't a clue about this.


Thank's in advance.

Um please don't waste your time doing Business in Boxes.

Thank's 'Spark - why do you say that?

because a "business in a box" usually is a huge mass of things that you can also get for free at one of the huge freebie lagfests.

They are a large waste of time. I agree. You won't get many people wanting BIABs and you will probably just get a lot of people messaging you about how you are ripping people off because you are selling freebies or how others are ripping you off because they are selling your items blah blah.
I don't think its worth the risk of the hate mail.

The thing is often those business in boxes are people selling freebies, sometimes even items that weren't meant to be sold.
Often the only people who make any money selling business in boxes are those who first sold them.
I don't sell stuff but I work really hard on developing my skills so some day I can provide good content and I will tell you when I have tried to do business I always tried to make unique content and found it difficult to make hardly any money from selling my own unique work. I know its personal thing but it makes those who work really hard on making good or original content and spend hours doing so, almost seem less significant, invisible when anyone can just sell some thing pre-made without much effort. Sorry it just bothers me.
Do what you want but truthfully I wish personally more people would spend the time to learn how to do things like how to use content folder, make your own vendors, objects first to see how hard it is first then resell items from those business in box sets.
If you don't want to make things there always is need for those who can promote and run business well too but that takes work and know how too.
It is plain hard running business here, and buying business in box isn't going to bring you anything new except few people who feel scammed or angry at you when they realize they could have gotten items for free,etc.

In a nutshell: BIAB are a waste of money for the aforementioned reasons. Just think about it for a minute: Why should anybody buy the contents from you if they could get them for free (which is the usual case for most of the contents) or from one of the other folks who already bought the same BIAB? Most people are either looking for freebies (and, by definition, will not pay for them) or for original content. If I would want to sell something, I would make it (and acquire the skills first to do so).

what you describe is known as a catalog to me. I use JEVN catalog vendors and these do exactly that. People take copies of the catalog and either get a discount when they purchase the items that are held in my server or get a commission if someone else purchases from their catalog.

As for BIAB, listen to what the previous posters have said.

~B

What you might try instead is to look at some of the established creators and see if they have affiliate or reseller programs. People doing this will typically provide you with preconfigured vendors that pay you some portion of sales (25% is common). This is also going to be a really competitive area since vendors of that type are spreading all over, but at least you won't be competing with free.

The only way to do this is to use an extremely carefully secured network vending system. I do not know if anyone is manufacturing one of these yet. I did consider trying one myself, but didn't go ahead with it, because of the bad reputation of BIABs.

Hi everyone, and thank's for the advice

Right, first and foremost I really think I need to clarify something here: that my intention was absolutely NOT to distribute other peoples freebies and charge for them. I can tell you now, that sort of thing sickens me as there is no need for 'non-creators' to make money of other peoples products, especially as there are specific affiliate/commision packages available to do this in a legal and respected manner.

Please, re-read my original post, as it's intention is to legally allow 'other' people to sell 'my' products - not the other way around. I apologise to those who may be mislead by my post. I'm wanting to build a good reputation for myself here in SL, so I'd hate people to think I'm a freeloader or thief.

Actually, I totally agree with FD Spark's feelings on content creation and it's right of distribution. In fact, I've been spending a lot of time learning and creating in SL, not just to make a bit of cash, but because I happen to love doing it. This is partly the reason for my post.

The thing is, when I have a good selection of products to my name (and soon will), I want to offer a Vendor that contains them. That is the problem though, because I don't know how to sell a Vendor of my products that pays a comission to those that own my Vendor. Again, I'm not really sure if it's even called a Vendor or BIAB, it could be something else entirely for all I know.

I don't understand how buying a Vendor will work because the script is Non-Trans, so how would I give or sell a vendor of 'my' products to someone else?

I'm at a total loss here, but will check out the suggestions.


Thank's again.

Harman Homewood - one of the hard-working good guys

Hi Harman,

Just a quick word of advice:

If you want OTHERS to sell YOUR creations as BIAB, be prepared for YOUR creations to become absolutely worthless in about a week. People will abuse the transfer/copy permissions, and set their own prices to whatever they want. Very soon, all of YOUR creations will become freebies, whether you want them to or not. I would very very highly recommend against creating a BIAB for your own creations.

25% really?
most of the ones I saw were 15%

you can find a lot of affiliate vendors on slexchange (I still need to add my catalogue/affiliate vendor there)

Harman I am sorry I misunderstood about the BIAB thing.
Vendors um unless you know how to script or have someone to help you that any vendor I have tried to use other then content box I have had problems with personally.
The thing is there are vendors you can pay a lot for and also get for free but unless you understand how they work and how to script them from personal experience its difficult to use.
It is nightmare to spend 1500 to 3000L on scripted device only to not be able to get it to work.
Your best bet would be to either try to sell on SLexchange or Onrezz or find some business that will help you sell your product.
Personally I haven't tried that I thought about selling my textures at TRU but I am not sure if my stuff is high enough quality yet.
It sucks if you can't always take money out of RL.
I know the situation well I gave all my land to my friend that I share a sim with to save money for computer and I am barely able to do that. I don't know how I came up with all the money I did this year for uploads, textures, land and tier this year.

It seems to be common enough, that's what the ones filling out my alt's little shop pay. One set has some placement and promo strings attached and another came from a "hey, want to sell my stuff?" convo, but I'm pretty sure those are not special deals. Ok, let's revise that to "common among the ones I was lucky enough to stumble on"

Simple vendors are easy to make. All you need is a prim that contains your product, and to have the settings on the General tab in the edit window set to sell the contents.

It's only if you want one of those fancy vendors that procjects the product hovering above it that you need bother buying one.

There is a box of free gadgets at YadNi's Junkyard which contains three Hiro Vendors, including a Holographic one, and two simpler ones.

Full instructions included

imogen

I have Hiro's I could never figure out how to use it...
But he want something that will collect and pays percentages, that more complex item...there are they out there the thing is most scripted items you need certain amount of knowledge to get them to work and if you're not skilled or some way to understand the technical aspect of the instructions in that area no matter how much money you spend on them you're not going to be able to figure them out....or at least that is my experience.
My favorite device has been Meta mart hud with uuid's once I figured out how to use it.

Hi - What you'd want to do is put your items in a vendor, then put that vendor in a another vendor.

I make & sell simple (1 prim, not networked) vendors, and I even sell my vendors in a vendor - but that is simple enough for me permissions-wise because I made them in the first place.

But as you know, the problem for a commercial vendor maker is that the end vendor would have to be both copyable and transferable for you, and as a result they, original creator, would lose control of the supply.

There is probably free commission-paying vendor available out there somewhere, and that would be ideal. Or alternatively, the networked catalogue solution sounds good too. But if you can't find one, I've an idea for adapting one of my vendors that might be worth exploring.

What you would have to do is to sell a networked vendor. When someone buys an item, the networked vendor contacts your server and gives it to them. The person who buys the vendor never actually receives the item with copy+transfer permission. However, it's still very risky to put a secure script of that kind into public hands, and you would have to bear in mind that you may need to protect your brand as well (eg, someone may start rezzing your vendors in the middle of busy clubs and sandboxes, potentially making people associate your brand with being a pain in the ass )