Selling my creations

Hi i'm interested in selling creations inworld and not exactly sure where to start, i have skills in Photoshop and am slowly learning about prims now i'm just curious how i could sell things on a low budget and they would actually sell.

Where can i start and where would be good spots too sell things and i'm not really sure if you can do this but is there some kind of service where a Designer offers there store as a starting point, sort of like a apprentice etc?

Any help or guidance would be greatly appriciated.

The first thing I'd think you need to do is figure out exactly *what* it is you want to sell. It's hard to get a grasp of the market if you have no idea what business you'll be in.

sorry i forgot to say, i'll be creating clothing. Fantasy style clothing.

So, here is what I did. I'm just starting out also. I went to www.slexchange.com (sometimes called SLX).

This is an online website that is linked to SL. I did this because I didn't want to pay for a store front, in which I only had a few articles to sell at first. It is a commission based website so if you don't sell, you don't have to pay.

The trick, of course, is that you must have a "magic box" (read the instructions at SLX) that is located somewhere in SL. SLX will give you a magic box for free and will give you a place to store it for a short while but after that, they start charging rent. Eventually, I bought a premium account just so I could buy a 512m3 piece of land. 512 means I don't have to pay tier. I put a very basic little house on it but most important, is that my magic box is stored there.

Good Luck. JulieAnne

The other thing I would do once you do want in-world stores is to rent some vendor spaces in THEMED sims. Since you're making fantasy outfits, it would make sense to try the various roleplaying sims in the Elven, Medieval, Gorean, etc genres - of which there are *plenty*. Spend some time travelling around the various ones. Typically such sims have markets in the telehub area and then you tp down to the RP bit (this ensures that even RPers have to pass shops and be susceptible to the "oooh that's a nice...." factor).

Note which ones have busy market areas (do people actually spend time there or do they simply rush through on their way to wherever), is the sim busy? Make sure you check at peak American times (evenings) and perhaps in European times too if you can manage it. Then check the rental prices....don't go for really expensive ones unless there is a real benefit to doing so, since you will be paying more than you earn to start with. Make some nice signs and maybe demos for people to be attracted by.

As for established designers apprenticing people, I've never heard of it. However a fair number of the larger stores have "friends of..." areas which are basically rental vendor slots and you may be able to benefit from the traffic of these stores.

Take time to make sure what you are making is of good quality, even if you are just starting and even if you are making inexpensive things. You are most certainly not the first person to try their hand at this and you won't be the last; the market is saturated.

That said, don't despair. Be patient, and don't be disheartened if you don't make a profit instantly. Usually it takes time and perseverance to make a go of it. SLX is a good start as it's not committing you to a fee. But bear the above in mind also.

Most of all, have fun and good luck!

To my shame (being a Jedi roleplayer) I forgot to add the Star Wars genre to that list of sims. There are at least 20 sims in this genre and a lot of people wear fantasy type clothing and then "tech it up". So think outside the box it's not always medieval places you need to think about.

And I love SLX. I rent a skybox, I wonder if I could do the same thing. Does it have to be on *my* land?

You can also sell products for SL via

http://shop.onrez.com/ (no commission)

and

http://www.apez.biz/index.php

When you are starting out, you really don't need to have a store in SL to sell clothing. Very few clothing items can actually be displayed other then with a photograph, unless you are willing to pay for full time computer access to put up an avatar or bot that wears the clothing. This is unlike selling many objects that really need to be displayed in order to sell, like houses or other prim or sculpted creations.

Given all of this, the quality of the photos you display to sell your clothing items is very important.

Tip, there are lots more clothing items available for women then for men, so you might want to consider making some items for men.

I think u just need to keep it rezzed the Magic box- not necessarily YOUR land- a kind friend could lend a space.

Nah I'll just park it in the box. Thanks

Thank you for all your help and advice, i think i'll leave renting in a shop for the moment and just post on SLX and Onrez and i'll definently try male clothing aswell.

I just set up some stores around my own store, and the rent is going to be pretty cheap (2L per prim) with prims being set at 15 in some and 25 in others

I just need to configure the rental boxes and put some finishing touches on it

feel free to visit and see if it would meet your needs

That would be great Rhaorth, i'll come have a look for sure

there are quite a few places that have free vendor space of 10 prims or so... they should come up in search.

Morton Mains (sim) comes to mind immediately, but i can't remember the name of the industrial style place. if you go to check it out, please go down into the sewer. not spectacular, but certainly a fun build from a creative mind.

i'd offer you a temp spot in my place, cuz i really love helping out new designers, but i'm jam-packed full right now.

3ring once my time expires you will have another space, sadly I only ever had one sale there (and it did not even cover the cost of renting)

sales are down all over

Rhianna, if you contact me in world or PM me here, I will give you a free space to park your slx box

You beat me to it!!!

Rhianna, feel free to IM me. I can give you some pointers.

Wow thank you very much everyone, i really appriciate all the help and advice you are giving and i hope you will all tell me what you think of my creations when i get them done

Hi Rhianna, if you decide you would like a presence in world, you can have a store at the Monkey Mall. The places are free, no rent, no commission. We set up the mall purely to help people get started, and there is no time limit either. You can stay for ever if you want to. There is a 30 prim limit, and the stores are roughly 10 m sq.
Contact me in world if you would like to talk about it further.
The mall is in Dindrane Elfor, next to Baby Monkey & Gardens by Gonkers.