Insurance agency in SL

Someone I know (not very well) was raving about their plans to start an insurance agency in SL. Take into account this person is only 4 months old and very enthusiastic.

So she plans to offer insurance policies against peoples inventory? Yep craziness

She plans to get customers to catalogue any expensive items in their inventory, specifically non-transferable items and then also to list the place where the item was purchased. Her plan is to try and forge relationships with the larger vendors so she can verify proof of receipt of her customers. So customers then pay a monthly insurance payment to her and she replaces any lost item either with another copy or with L$ to the value of.

So anyway I told her it was doomed to failure, will be gamed by people pretending to own or loose inventory they never even purchased. I also said that as a vendor I am not willing to share details with her about customer purchases. If one of my customers looses inventory then they can contact me directly.

I am sure there are loads of other ways for this to fail and I think it will be impossible to manage.

So I am not looking for your opinion on how stupid this idea as that is obvious. However I am interested if anyone can think of anyway inventory insurance could work in SL?

Thanks Porky.

Personally, I'm against insurance in real life, let alone virtual worlds. I'm pretty sure I've paid more than the cost of replacing all my belongings in insurance over the years. There just seems to be something perverse about the idea of betting someone that something bad will happen to you - which is essentially what insurance is.

I'm against it.

I think it's a great idea. Get loads of people in it, take loads of money, pay a few for their losses and keep taking in more money until you have enough, and then create and use a new avatar

as there is inventory list or inworld placement list to see if a user as an item as assets, sure, i`ll get a couple more no copy items

Would I be able to insure a plywood cube for L$100,000 and then accidentally delete it?

FYI

elcome to The Rock Insurance Co.
The first Second Life insurance company!

http://www.therockinsurance.com/

I don't know if it's a good idea or not... but if it is then you kinda porked your pal by posting the idea here, didn't ya Porky?

There is no recourse for fraud. I don't see how it could possibly work. That doesn't mean it can't work.... it just means I don't see how.

Haha!

They asked me to. They have never posted on the forum, they only lurk so they didn't want to get hounded or overly ciritised by other forum members on their first outing.

Where as I dont care

LOL - from their website:

"We understand why you may be concerned about depositing or investing your money with Second Life financial institutions. Unfortunately, fraud and bankruptcy do occur." .... "If your insured investments are lost due to bankruptcy or fraud, we will cover the insured amount."

So....... Who covers the fraud or bankruptcy of the Insurance company?


All those Ginko clients should have had insurance, huh?

Oh, they paid on obligations involving several failed banks, throughout the collapse, including GINKO

Nobody Fugazi covers this.

The Rock Insurance Co: Insuring Bank Deposits in Second Life
http://www.your2ndplace.com/node/316

The Rock Insurance Co. Honors Certificates Regardless Of GPB
http://your2ndplace.com/node/386


The Rock Halts Midas Bank Certificates.
http://www.your2ndplace.com/node/404

The Rock Insurance Co. Declares Tizzy's 'The Bank' Defaulted
http://your2ndplace.com/node/591

The Rock Insurance Co. To Honor 'The Bank' Certificates
http://your2ndplace.com/node/621

The Rock Insurance Co. Delists 8 Dragons Banks
http://www.your2ndplace.com/node/678

...

In April, my house burned to the ground. The insurance company gave us MORE for the house than the loan was for, AND gave us a signficant amount for the contents, AND paid for my car to be repaired, which was parked next to the house. They didn't pay me my parrot and cat, but I'll forgive them for that.

I'm more than happy to keep paying those premiums.

Well, I'd recommend a clearly stated set of guidelines for getting insured, like how do they verify that the original purchase was ever made? Then have a guideline for filing loss claims. Also, they should probably have a secondary business, one that's in world, actually makes money and has been established for a while. Get a reputation going.

But people with my inventory level.. heck, I forget I have things sometimes. And then there is the "three months later, HEY IT'S BACK!!"

I dunno. An inventory insurance company sounds like a lot more work than I'd find worth it.

Yeah, It will be hard to make a profit considering the amount of time that would need to be invested to manage the service.

How much would you consider paying? Assume you insured L$20k worth of non transferable items. If lost they would be replaced. How much would you be willing to pay per month to insure against L$20K

Obama?

Zero. I'd rather just buy them all over. Nothing in my inventory is that important to warrant a monthly bill. Besides I think it's LL's responsibility to guard against catastrophic inventory loss. And all you who pay Premium fees should already be "insured" if you ask me.

Nothing honestly. I'd just replace it and risk the premiums. Besides when you replace you can upgrade.

You been snacking on the local mushrooms again Brenda?

Yep I agree, no one in their right mind is going to go for this idea.

I think we should just forget this discusion, I told my associate that the idea sucked and plenty of other poeple have agreed now so hopefully she will take the hint.

There is good money to be made in this market research lark, you should all give it a try


Thanks.

i think she sounds like a smart person but i just can't see a way insurance would work in sl..
i am sure she will come up with something to make money at..but it won't be through a middle man process unless there is a real service there worth buying into ..like a dj would with a stream...
have to give her credit..i haven't heard of anyone come up with insurance yet..

A girl can dream. That *WOULD* be one enticement to get people to go Premium I think. I would consider it.

Is too true, I spent 3 weeks custom building this person a sim and whilst working I have never heard so many creative ideas come out of one person. Insurance was one of her worst and bascially she doesnt appreciate the logistics to managing this sort of service in a world like SL, hence getting a second opinion from you fine chaps on the forum.

I remember when I had an over enthusiastic determination to become the next Anshe...but it kind of gets ground out of you over the years and I have lost my drive for world domination. It's refreshing to see poeple still grabing SL by the nads and giving it all they have got to be a success.

I think you covered the major problems that wouldcause this venture to be an 'epic fail' combined with a few others suggested (like managing the database of items, claims handling, etc) it seems downright scary...

conceptually it's an untapped niche, that, given proper resources and positioning (neither of which exist for third parties) could be a gold mine.

logistically it's a nightmare, fraught with possiblefraud from all angles, cost ineffective due to resource requirments, and technically unfeasible due to limitations of what data can be verified by a non-LL positioned 3rd party