Are freebies hurting SL content creators?

Have you factored in that many people will take a look on Xstreet and maybe even pick up the freebie then look you up in world? I just didn't know if you had cross referenced those lists.

Not yet. One of these days I'll get to it, put it in Excel and then find the duplicates.

Freebies don't pay the tier and LL doesn't accept I.O.U.'s.

That's interesting observations Mickey...thanks for that.

I have a partnership in a niche Furniture store myself. I instilled a policy that we only send out a Group Invite (manually...not the most efficient way of doing things) after a sale has been made.....that way i know 100% of all our Group members are those that have spent money in the shop at some point. It's these types of consumers we reward with an occasional Gift and we don't mind doing so.
Likewise with my main group Companies....i only send out a Group invite manually after a purchase has been made,...that way i don't have hundreds or 1000's of freebie hunters within the group. Instead of having a group of maybe 5000 by using those damn auto group inviters, i have a group of 1700 paying customers....i'm satisfied with that outcome!

Where i have a difference of opinion with my Furniture business partner, is her desire to host "Hunts" on the Sim.....i'm not keen on it, as i don't want feed any further into the freebie culture...I'd prefer to use alternative marketing techniques such as cross-marketing from my other businesses. I know what will happen...we'll get several hundred visitors picking up the freebie items and less than a handful of additional sales. The real marketing challenge is to target potential consumers who are interested in our sort of furniture (Renaissance, Tibetan. Medieval, Gorean, Old empires,Byzantine etc).....and not casual freebie hunters....which is a waste of time imo.

One of the things that a couple of my favorite stores have started doing is only putting out a new freebie maybe once a month, charging a small fee to join the group and then weekly or bi-weekly or whatever, giving a special group gift that is often something you cannot buy anyway (maybe a special color in a dress, or with some extra layers or a second skirt in a different length). By only putting out a freebie once a month, they limit the amount of their time/resources that are possibly being given away with no benefit. Usually the only ones that will pay a group join fee of L$200-300 are those that actually want to know about the new products because they really do spend money in the store. Most true freebie hunters are not going to pay that and take up a group slot just for the another freebie every week or three.

I wholeheartedly approve of this method.

I think the problem that's arising now is not with actual freebies existing, but with the way they're distributed.

For a long while, freebies were put in single locations, like Yadni's, together with landmarks to their creators. Now, it's been more common not to do this, but to make the freebies no-transfer and put them in the shops themselves, as a way of driving in traffic.

The problem with this, is that it's made it possible to have a "shopping" experience without having any money. People can now spend hours exploring around to find the best freebies. They can find a new dress that none of their friends have found and show it off, and when they're asked where they got it, they can say it was free. And it's so much easier to set trends, if your friends don't have to pay to follow them!

Back when all the freebies were in one of a few places there was no way this could happen. If you had a freebie, then hey, everyone knew where they were from and probably everyone goes there and gets everything that interests them. Now, on the other hand, exploring for freebies is practically equivalent to personal shopping - but without the money.

How much of that was land related?....say the 15000 Open space sims that were purchased during Apr-Sept 2008. I guess a lot of residents bought from the Lindex to pay tiers and rents. If the figures could be split between Land related payments and non-Land.....we'd get a clearer picture.

I don't mind sharing....except that I'm at risk of losing some group members if they read forum...lol....but I figure I'm going to lose them anyway, by changing up the gift giving practices, which I was in the process of.

About to switch over to only inviting the people on the transaction list to group. Have been inviting everyone that sets foot in the store....I do that manually, and it takes forever....time better spent on other things.

I'm going to continue with the experiment....cut down on the gifts to group...send out new product announcements that do not involve a gift.....double up on Xstreet and classifieds because those people pay regular price...no complaints there....and see what effect that has on sales overall.

There's kind of a mental thing that goes on with all this....for the creator. Correct me if I'm wrong. But Skell....doesn't that kind of mess with your head a bit...that they would take your item for Free....but not pay One Linden? Your prices ARE too low, by the way....but I've told you that before.

It messes with my head that some will only come in if a gift is tossed out....that some will only buy at half price. Hopefully that is a result of conditioning and not quality offered. But when people buy that way over and over again....it's only natural to question your own products you are creating and their value.

Not in any way shape or form like today.

When you came into SL in February you could not outfit yourself with freebies like you can today. Not even remotely close. And the freebies back then were mostly broken perm hold overs from 03.

LOL - you cannot compare SL to any other MMORPG!

You have no way of knowing if any of the commercial products you mentioned were hurt by freeware versions of the product. You are just saying they weren't hurt but have nothing to support that assumption


Once again..... What "few" collars have had "Several Years" to evolve and expand on "Freebie Code" that is "out there" Please be specific, strawmen do not count.



No. It says more about the market than anything else if all other things regarding the products are equal.

Personally I like some hunts. I then take the stuff back home try them on and if I like them yes I do go back and buy a few more items. To me it is a chance to see the creators work.

Bec

Absolutely it messes with your head, even when (as I said) I don't create things solely for the money. It *is* hard not to look askance at your own items and ask yourself if they're actually so crap that people are happy to grab them for nothing, but not willing to pay even one Linden buck for them.

I have my regular customers, and I'm very grateful for them. Their word of mouth is invaluable to me. But on the low days, yes it's hard to look at Xstreet or my inworld transactions and see nothing but 'free', 'free', 'free'.

Thank you; I appreciate it. I hope you find something you like

Well, your items aren't crap at all, quite the contrary....so get over that....and blame it on the market conditioning them....and my apologies for contributing to that....lol.

I think you should try a "50% Half price sale" over a day or two....just like in RL..everyone loves a Sale!
I think if you market it well...i.e Group Notice, XStreet notices, SL Classifieds notice + small classified advert, you might see some fruition. I prefer the idea of holding occasional Sales (maybe seasonal) as opposed to having freebies sit outside the shop.

The problem with SL by and large is the lack of effective marketing tools. Its very hard to reach out to a large audience. As far as i can see....the only way is by purchasing a top-8 classified advert that sits on the front page of the Search engine. Maybe having your location in "Showcase" pays off too, according to a friend it quadrupled her daily traffic (we apply once a month-lol)

I have worked in RL for over 20 yrs in the Advertising & Marketing sector and have to say its a real challenge to market effectively within SL. I have to believe and try alternative ways....if i my only marketing strategy is to solely to pump out "Freebies" in order to bring people to my shop, then it really is a sad state of affairs and i might as well pack up already.!
My SL partner who scripts very well has devised a innovative system to place in some of our stores....hopefully it will generate more sales and traffic in the short to medium term.......not that i'm complaining now, but one can always do better!

That's actually a smart idea...maybe too late for me to try, but smart all the same!

I thought the point of freebies was to advertise the store. If only people who are already active enough customers to pay to join a group can get them, what kind of advertising is that?

Silent Sparrow puts out freebies for short periods, and doesn't let people into the group while the freebies are up, which should have the same effect of keeping out the people who are just running all over the grid grabbing freebies... but it encourages people who aren't yet customers to join the group and visit the store.

Well whatever is right or wrong....according to this Poll, there's a significant percentage that do think Freebies hurt the economy. When i first joined, like Yumi mentioned earlier....there were a few "Freebie" depots where you could collect useful starter items, but the quality was nowhere near that of the products you could purchase.

Nowadays the quality of "Freebies" are very high.....it has to be if you're using it as a marketing tool. You're not going to create cr@p in the hope of gaining customers long term. A noob can now get by living in SL without spending a Linden, that's what i would do to be honest.

Oh definitely. It's now reached the stage where if you want your freebie to be spread across the grid then it's gotta be pretty awesome, otherwise it's destined for the trash.

Add to that the fact that some people are rather protective of their freebie sources.

At this rate we're gonna be paying people to take our stuff. hehe

Why not?



I have a good way of knowing. Internet explorer still has over 70% of the web browser market. Firefox (and spinoffs of it) have about 12-18% depending upon what data you look at. Opera, Safari and a few others make up the rest.

I'm not saying that none of the markets are "affected" by competitors that are free - what I am saying is that the examples that I gave above were not hurt to the point that it has "hurt" them. Adobe has always shown growth in all its areas. And in every product they make, there is something out there that does the same job for under $50 U.S. GIMP is free. Paint Shop Pro is 1/4 the price of Photoshop. Yet it is still the #1 Photo Editing software. Why? Because it's the best.



Both Amethyst collars and whatever Xcite had before their Tokon line were based off that freebie code. Tokon moved way forward since then. Amethyst has come a long way from that old original code, but it hasn't added many new features other than some hooks for plugins and some RLV support. So I imagine that they are being far more affected by the OpenCollar thing than Xcite is.

But - Amethyst has another niche in that the collars are compatible with the rest of the Sensations stuff - everything all interacts with a single hud and so the people who are into the talking genitals will choose Amethyst/Sensations because of that. Plus their cuff and leashing system has become pretty much standard fare around SL. Any good piece of bondage equipment is most likely going to be compatible with Amethyst cuffs.



That's the point though - if you sit on your laurels and don't keep up with the competition in any business - yep. You're going to be hurt.

One thing I've noticed in this game is that there are lots and lots of businesses that make something and sell it and that's that. No updates. No improvements. Not even any new items except once or twice a year. Those people will be hurt. But they would also be hurt by someone coming into their market sector and making things for a fee that had regular updates, new features being added all the time and extensions to the line.

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Unfortunately - none of this was really the point of my message. Sure people are affected. But it's not like this is really anything new. All that high quality freebies do is force creators to make higher quality paid items. Whenever I see someone make something that we make and it starts to affect sales, I sit down and thing - what can I do to top that? And then I set about making it so. That's just how business works.

Most of the groups that charge to join are giving high quality special gifts to members as a reward for being group members. And most of those stores also put out a general freebie, but do not change the freebie out very often. If the freebie is advertised now and then, it does draw in new customers, but you don't have the freebie loafer TPing in each week to just grab and go. The ones that like the stuff and want to be kept informed will pay and join the group.

I haven't joined in with this thread because I have absolutely no idea if freebies affect sales or not. But I saw this and thought I'd respond:-

I really don't like sales in SL. As a buyer in the sale, they are great of course, but I'd hate customers who bought the same thing yesterday at, say, twice the sale price, to feel negative about the purchase. Sales are fine if they are goods with a slight flaw, as is often the case in RL, but I don't like the idea of them in SL - from a full price paying customer's point of view. I'd hate to think that I'd taken their money today, knowing that I'm going to halve the price tomorrow.

The game has limitations no matter how creative people are. If LL did not introduce any new building products e.g Sculpty prims, there eventually will be a ceiling for innovation...and as time rolls on by without new toys, more & more Creators will live in that "highest standards" product pool....meaning the scope to improve ever more will be in smaller steps!

One could argue that LL seem to be going in the opposite direction possibly stifling creativity......we now have ARC (Avatar rendering costs), we also see that Avatars appearing in "Top Scripts" listings of Estate Tools.....soon LL propose scripting limits by parcel. It might mean that Scriptors need to re-visit some of their older scripts inorder to reduce lag numbers....with such restrictions can one produce the same sort of product with all the bells and whistles like before? Will be interesting to see as more and more private Estate Owners start monitoring lag (They do already!).......then you'll be able to identify which parcel is causing the lag and what products.

Not sure that is a good example.
I don't think Internet Explorer ever had 100% of the market...in the earlier days Netscape Navigator and Netscape Communicator had a significant slice of the market.
Beside these are all free downloads. Say IE did have 100% at the beginning of the Internet...what is better?....100% of 10 million Internet users or 70% of 1 Billion users. Same with all the other online businesses....you'd expect growth if your User audience keeps on expanding. It would be down to bad marketing or an inferior product if you had shrinking sales in a expanding market.

Good point....you're correct! I was thinking RL too much, although that is different.
Sales are advertised well in advance e.g Harrods or Selfridges Sale....and people will hold off purchasing large items and just wait for the sale to come along inorder to buy a quality product at half price or less.

1. Most freebies are directed at newbies and taken by them.

2. Most freebies are poorly made products to begin with so what's the big deal?

A) Actually, many products that are sold are also poorly made but that's a different story altogether.

3, Why do content sellers continue to lose sleep over freebies being given out? Time after time you see these threads whining about how freebies are keeping content sellers in the poor house. Between this and the constant paranoia others are out there just waiting to copy their stuff, many of these content sellers are on the verge of nervous breakdowns.

There's enough money to go around for everyone, freebies or not. Even for those who sell items in worse shape then most freebies. If you sell well made items at a decent price and you back-up your products with good customer service you shouldn't have anything to worry about. There are some who are aware of this, these are the ones who don't worry about freebies or anything else and do very well financially in sl.

Unfortunately, this isn't always the case.