Which do you prefer, copy or transfer on furniture and household items?

I'm opening a furniture store (I just rented some shop space for it last night), but before I actually put items up for sale, I'm curious what people's opinions are on permissions. When it comes to furniture and accessories, would you rather buy copy/mod or transfer/mod? Or does it depend?

I want this to be as customer-friendly as possible. That is why I plan to do mod permissions (unless there is a really good reason not to). I've purchased plenty of furniture and browsed at even more, so I know what I, as a customer like, and what I prefer, however, I'm also aware that I may not be typical.

In most other stores, I've noticed that it tends to be either transfer only or occasionally transfer/mod. Copy is fairly rare. Is this the customer's preference, or the store owner's? I prefer copy, myself (even though I've rarely had a situation where I would have used multiple copies at once).

My basic plan is to have the items on display with each being individually purchasable. Next to the display will be a box containing the entire suite which will be cheaper (and/or have bonus items) than buying all the pieces individually. This is how most other places do it, and as a customer, I like it (and more than once I ended up buying the boxed suite when all I really wanted was the chair, because, hey, discount!)

If I do transfer/mod, the boxed version would come with extra copies of the accessories (such as lamps).

I might do the individual pieces with one permission, and have two boxed versions available, one transfer/mod and the other copy/mod. Regardless of how I sell it, I'll either make a multipack transfer version available, or at least make it clear that I am willing to sell multipacks. My only concern is that if I have too many choices available on the display it will be cluttered or confusing. I've seen multiple permissions thing done well before (Botanica at Straylight, for example), but I've also seen it done poorly.

As for pricing, my instinct is that the more formal sets would go for more than the more casual (or whimsical) sets regardless of the amount of work I put in to them. Also, accessories would be less than tables, which would be less than chairs and couches...again regardless of the amount of work and time.

Just as a ballpark, I'm thinking something like L$50-100 per piece (a lamp at the low end, a couch at the high), with suites going for L$350-500 or so. I know that without seeing the furniture in question, there is no way to tell if that is fair or not, but it seems like a good starting range.

Transfer, I don't usually want to copy my furniture, I like to have different objects around. I would like the option of passing it or buying it for a friend or Alt

for me it has to be copy/mod. I've lost a few no copy items because of inventory loss so now choose not to buy anything thats no copy, But if I wanted to buy a gift then I'd need transfer, So maybe offer both..( or the option to buy copy/mod as a gift.

Grain-of-salt Disclosure: I hardly ever buy furniture. But it seems to me that for most buyers, transfer would be appropriate, and for landlords, copy might be attractive. Maybe the "floor sample" for-sale instances would be transfer, and an appropriately labeled vendor could hold copy perm versions.

One might price the copy perm versions slightly higher--but mostly just to discourage folks from buying them by accident; I think in most cases it's probably good business to *encourage* landlords to buy your stuff inexpensively and spread copies around to tenant units, as a form of advertising.

I prefer Copy.

But why not offer both versions?

Definately Transfer. No Copy/Transfer is the way to go. This way your furniture is protected and the buyer is still able to gift it. My inventory is so humongous these days that unless I'm looking for something specifically for myself with no doubt that it's something that I'll eventually pass on, it has to be transfer or I'll wait until I can find something comparable that is.

I prefer transfer for furniture. Odds are I will want to redecorate soon enough and would like to sell/give away stuff I don't use.

Unfortunately, it really depends on the situation; if it's for me, I almost always want copy/mod so I can back it up in a storage prim or whatever. If it's something I want to give as a gift, of course it needs to be transfer, and sure as heck I see something I want to give as a gift... it's copy/no trans!

Ideally, offer both versions for sale.

A couple of places have become my favorite places to shop exactly because they do this. They'll have a wall picture (or an actual copy) of the item sitting out, and below it two labels:

COPY and TRANS

Pay the "copy" sign to get the copy version, pay the "trans" sign to get the transferrable version. Best of both worlds!

I prefer copy/mod. I don't think there's a "right" answer.

I hesitate a LOT to buy no-mod furniture. Too many times, I've had furniture that was great except for (fill-in-the-blank) and could easily have fixed it except that it's no-mod. Simplest example is poseballs -- it's very important to be able to adjust poseballs to fit the avs of the people sitting, or change the animations. I had a sofa I really liked but it had a stupid sit in it -- the person would keep nodding off. No mod. I had to recreate the sofa from scratch to fix that.

For relatively simple items, where you don't need to protect the scripts, it might be feasible to sell both kinds (copy vs. xfer). However, I suspect it's not done because *most* people in SL buy whatever they like without worrying too much about copy vs. xfer. Therefore, most vendors stock items one way, and offer to sell items the other way on request.

For that reason, smart merchants (not me) sell things xfer/no-copy. That way, they can offer to exchange any purchased item for a copy/no-xfer version. The customer just gives the merchant their xfer-only copy so the merchant knows it was purchased and can simply give back a copy-only version.

I don't do that because there are reasons for my selling copy/no-xfer that don't apply to furniture. For example, for apparel, copy allows the customer to put the items in multiple outfit folders.

It depends on the piece, but if it is something like a table or a lamp or something like that, I prefer copy because I often do like to copy and place more than one. If it is a larger piece like a bed or a sofa or a piano or something like that, transfer is better because I am much less likely to want to copy those items.

That all assumes, of course, no rezz bug. In light of the rezz bug, I'd have to say copy is far preferable.

Well...considering I redecorate a lot......just like IRL....I usually sell off the furniture I wont be using....

I don't see any reason to copy....but then again I have not had any of the inventory loss issues that I keep reading about.....I'm sure now that I've said that I will log in and find half my stuff gone lol......but..... definitely for something like furniture......transfer is the way to go.

The only disclaimer I would put to that....is I can't tell you how many times I've bought a no/mod piece of furniture....only to find the sit poses totally wrong for my avatar and of course I cannot raise or lower them because it's no mod. That about sends me thru the roof. LOL

I like the idea of offering 2 options.... maybe a mod/transfer and a copy/mod no transfer.
And again...the ONLY reason I think furniture should be modify is because of poses and animations....you cannot possibly set it so every avatar will fit properly. The only other way would be to put all animations in a menu HUD that has repositioning capability.....but that seems tedius for couches and chairs.....

Well I understand why you may not want to sale it as modifiable but what gets me about
furniture that is way to big for myself, or bigger guest.
Also when item is no copy and something happens like SL decides to delete stuff or something gets returned item is gone for good.
I can get no transfer, you don't want someone to resell the product.
I can get why you may not want it modifiable, you don't want to share how all the hidden parts were made,etc.
But at least make it copyable just in case something goes awry, so you don't have to deal customers who lose your product because some glitch.
And if no copy at least make it transferable just in case it gets returned so one can find it lost and found.

Depends on price? I sold mine at very low prices, most pieces under L$50 and most of them between free and L$10, so I sold copy/mod. They're cheap enough to throw away if they are cluttering your inventory. However the few pieces I had over L$50 are transfer, because I guess I consider them good enough to be bought for gifts.

Strangely people did bulk buy the cheaper items, which was nice for me, but I assumed that most buyers don't actually look twice at what permissions an item is. It's also probable that is just an exception of the type of people who come to the forums, as they seem better informed?

I prefer copy, especially if it's moddable. I'd rather have a backup copy if SL goes crazy or I mess something up than be able to give it away to someone.

Also as a content creator, I'm more likely to give copy than transfer, as to me it seems safer.

However, I also do like full-perm versions to be available. I'm one of those people that likes to give gifts, and doesn't always have the time to make something. So I might personalize something instead, so that it's still more personal (To me at least) than just giving something random.

maybe I'm being too anal for a virtual world, but my main problem with modifiable is that in the real world, you don't splash out on a £2000 leather sofa to just take it home, cut it in half and add it to another piece of furniture, if the furniture isn't good enough, don't buy it. Maybe this attitude gets stuck in peoples minds because of the availability of crap freebie furniture everyone wants to mod into a better looking version?

If your goal is to be fully customer-friendly, I think the only option is to sell both - have copy versions and transfer versions available. Price them accordingly of course. I think one of the best examples of packaging options I've seen was at a garden centre actually - one mod/transferable object cost A, a box of 12 mod/transferable objects cost B, and a single mod/copyable object cost C. I think that would be enough to please everyone.

Personally, I only buy furniture that is mod/copy. I like being able to texture and tint things to match my style, and I like being able to keep a backup. And if I'm furnishing a large room or area, I like being able to rez the thing as often as I like.

-Atashi

In the real world, the average buyer is also not CAPABLE of doing so without it looking like total crap. (I know if I tried to do the above modification I'd end up crying about the money wasted)

(ETA:: OK, so some people who try in SL also fail..but it's not quite as bad as RL in my opinion)

Anyhow, when I do buy furniture, and then mod it, it's for convenience. 'I like your idea, but I think I personally prefer it THIS colour' I can build plenty of things, and do..but I'm also lazy, so I don't always start from scratch. I change poses on furniture sometimes, colour, get rid of sections, add things, all sorts of stuff. Just like in real life I might re-finish a table, I change them in SL (Random example)

My kitchen units are all individual parts for the kitchen, so I felt that the copy version would be the best option to go for. I couldn't see why anyone would want to pay more than once for each unit, so if somebody buys the corner unit, but wants a kitchen to go round two corners then they have the option to rezz two corner units.
I have had people buy the items to put in rental places and likewise they would be better off with the copy version rather than having to buy for each seperate rental place.
The units are also modify, so they can be resized or re-textured if need be.

Having lost no copy items when the asset server was down and stuff was returned to me, I would think twice now about buying no copy items.

99% of the time I will not purchase furniture if it is no-mod. Different creators have different ranges of size...I've had decor nightmares with trying to place a couch from one creator who's perception on size is way too big, and a dining table from another creator who's perception is small. With both being no-mod, and trying to place them in the same area, it looks ridiculous. Or buying a no-mod coffee table that ends up being bigger than the no-mod couch. So...definitely mod for me.

Copy permissions with mod items are good so you can make a backup before you start to modify it. However, I have a friend who sells furniture who does not put copy permission on most of her stuff because she doesn't want landlords to be able to buy just one and furnish all their homes. I can understand that but at the same time that might be a sale lost because a landlord would only purchase copy.

How does that saying go? I think it's......You can please some of the people most of the time and you can please most of the people some of the time; but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

As I said in another topic, my latest series are all modify/transfer. Not copy. And thats a well thought choice I made. Main reason is keeping the prices low. Modify is important, due to reasons already mentioned. For my items even more since people must have access to the notecards if they want to customize.

To name some prices: one of my scripted dinnerchairs goes for 99 linden. The set of 4 chairs and a table for 399. Very low priced for chairs with 2 sitting animations, and colour change scripts I guess. If they want more chairs for example, they pay more. Quite reasonable in my opinion.

In the rare case somebody would loose it due to inventory trouble, I would gladly replace it, so that would not be a reason for people not to buy. But I would never sell copyable items for such low prices. Don't forget the value of the 2 animations is already 300 linden per chair if people want to buy them directly.

In the rare cases people wanted copy, I made them a quote. We are not talking about people needing 6 chairs, but 20 or so. The price to pay then, didn't scare anyone off

My policy might keep a few people from buying, but the main crowd will buy because they like the product and the price as well. Since you cannot please everybody, its a choice. Making vendors for both copy and no-copy took me too much prims and effort, compared to the sales I made from both options. But then again, if you have the time and the prims, it is an option too

Hope to have helped, as a collegue furniture maker!

so to recap, it's a matter of personal preference, best option is to sell variations of permission, or just to go with your gut feeling.

end of thread

While I personally do prefer to buy the copy version, if it's priced higher than a transfer version, I don't mind at all. I do expect that, since I'm getting more pieces really.

Would not call you anal
Do not forget you cannot compare to real world. The sofa you buy in RL, doesnt have sitting animations, you can sit in them as you please. And you would not be the first who puts new fabric on a RL couch, like people might want to put a new texture in SL.
In my specific case the items must be modify because of the configuration notecards (see THAT happen in real life chairs), but I understand the needs for adjustments as well.

Greetings Marcel

Kinda like losing things in the couch cushions o.o

In a perfect world, furniture designers wouldn't be so lazy to waste prims on poseballs but most of them do since it's just easier or they don't know any other way.

I probably reclaimed about 40-60 prims across all the furniture in my house that were being wasted on poseballs when the script and anim could just as well go in the cushions or pillows (and it just looks a whole lot better).

I also don't necessarily want a decorative object to turn half my house purple because the creator thought it necessary to make it a light source (not always so easy to spot when you're in the store and surrounded by lights).

Or wanted my kitchen countertop to be set to full-bright which just looks eerie (again, it's easy to forget to switch to midnight in the store to check on the off chance it might be set), other than that I love the way it looks.

No mod means the furniture has to be absolutely perfect, which often isn't the case for a variety of reasons so the seller looses out on a sale, or ends up with an unsatisfied customer. Mod means that it doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to like it and you can take care of whatever you feel isn't perfect about it yourself.