Slexchange or Slboutique?

Excellent question.

I've always felt the overhead on virtual retailers (especially GOM) has been a bit high. What are the current rates and has competition affected this percentage at all? If the percentages have been constant, is there a company out there that would drop the percentage as an incentive to bring in more business?

~Ulrika~

I personally prefer SLboutique. Nothing bad to say about the others.

I think competition is the most important. SLBoutique is definitely providing an excellent alternative to SLExchange.

The actual fees are not that important, they will all settle down to an appropiate market value over time.

Some might find the fees a bit high, but I've come to realise what a support challenge SL must be, so maybe the fees aren't really that high.

The percentages may seem high, but they'll come down as volume decreases. At my current rate of growth, and monthly server costs for a dedicated server, I don't even stand to break ever from QUITE some time!

We currently have a tiered percentage system. It starts at 8%, but you can earn reductions for things like total number of items listed, free items offered, and more. The current average percentage taken is between 4% and 5%, which includes people who signed up during our beta period who received an extra 2% off. Feel free to IM Jennyfur or me in world, and we'll provide you with the notecard showing a full breakdown of the tiers; its also available in the help section of our web site.

Once volume increases to a point where we can turn a reasonable profit margin due to volume, they will most likely decrease, starting with our earliest adopters. As of right now, I'm in for quite a bit of money (over US$1500.00), not including all the hours of work and support (and dealing with asshats like the ones yesterday, heh). These ventures aren't as cheap to get up and running as many might think.

Regards,

-Flip

Considering the RL cost of running a web business in terms of time, writing code, and hardware... I'm glad the charges are as reasonable as they are. I particularly appreciate that it is a percentage of goods SOLD, not a flat rate. Sell nothing, pay nothing... A great help to the new business.

Thanks for the info Flip, is there a fee to BUY there as well? or just sell?

Although not a web retailer, I will point out one thing from Snapzilla that I learned all too quickly. These types of sites are bandwidth vampires. While certainly Snapzilla is more graphic heavy (since graphics are its raison d'etre), all of the retail sites still serve up a lot of images. Just to give you an idea, Snapzilla just entered the 90 gb of monthly traffic range on bandwidth and continues to grow. The server costs are quite high. You can find cheap providers that offer a lot of bandwidth, but you often give up reliability in exchange for price, and that is not a great trade to make.

I can't speak for the bandwidth and hosting costs of any of the other sites and can't imagine the traffic is that dramatically high, but still there is a definite cost factor that is offset by these fees. I doubt these sites are making a windfall of money even at the percentages they charge. If you look at percentage of sales versus rent inworld, I think it works out pretty fairly.

As far as other sites stepping up to the mat to provide competition, I think there is probably room for one more broad web retailer at most. Beyond that it will start to become too fractured. Unless someone comes out with some completely new paradigm, the differences between the shopping sites are so minimal that it comes down to preference, and in my case, choosing to support or not support the owners behind the sites.

I like SL Boutique best cause of the format and the SL Boutique wallet, I don't have to track down an ATM in world in order to shop. If I am shopping from the web it usually means I don't want to go anywhere in world.

The fee to buy is the price that the seller charges, which is typically the same price they charge in world. There is no fee for creating an account, or anything like that; the only time anyone it charged a fee by SLBoutique is when they sell an item.

We also have a section for free or L$1 items at www.SLBoutique.com/free/

Each seller also gets their own URL for easy self promotion. For example, I'm http://www.SLBoutique.com/FlipperPA_Peregrine/

Its seemed to work out pretty well so far. Growth is very good, and people seem to like the ease of use. By all means, keep the suggestions coming; we're listening!

Regards,

-Flip

I understand your logic, however that is just speculation. I have always felt that SL-based businesses are unusually opaque relative to their RL counterparts and, because financial information is not published, the general public can't determine if the price is fair or if there's price fixing going on.

As a matter of fact, I believe the Neualtenburg Cooperative is the only SL business that actually publishes a regularly updated financial statement with expenses, income, investments, and debt.

This is something I'd like to see from all SL retailers, especially ones that have private investors (Ginko). I also think it would go a long way to improving the reputation of land barons and casino owners, although I suspect they'd be the least likely to do so.

~Ulrika~

Here, I will start:

Snapzilla:
Income: $0
Expenses

Speaking of income for Snapzilla, I would like to buy add space from Snapzilla for some of my projects. I already have banners ready to go. Name a price and I'll send them your way.

~Ulrika~

Jonquille inspired me to get my butt in gear and finish our new features with her post earlier in the thread. As promised, they have been added. Here's our official new features announcement, featuring a new, easy, "deposit from anywhere" option, most popular items, and most recently purchased items:

/invalid_link.html

Enjoy!

-Flip

Yay me!

Good going, Flip. Thanks very much.

Oooh Very cool.... Thanks for telling me BTW!

Uh oh, I'm in trouble. I love you, honey!

Only public companies disclose earning and other financial figures in RL. They do so to appease the investors not the customers. One could argue Neualtenburg was the first public company in SL, and the finances are being published to appease the investors not the gawking community.

I only sell on SLExchange I think alot more people are signed up for that so that gives me more exposure, more exposure, more L$

Since people seem to like SLBoutique I went to sign up. In the registration form there's something that says "Share Data with Second Server" with no explanation as to what that means. I looked in the FAQs and didn't see anything.

I didn't see any forums where I might be able to ask someone, so I figured I'd just email them. Oops, no email address. I have to log into SL and send an IM.

As of now, I remain unregistered.

Yeah, this is something me & flipper have been working on, I didnt realise he had gone ahead and added it to the config yet. But basically the idea is that when it's done, items listed on one site, will appear on the other.

-Adam

I see, so you'll be sharing listings? So when a user clicks on an SLB listing on SecondServer.net it will take them over to SLB? Will the the user then have to sign up for an SLB account if they do want to purchase the item?

Awesome. Real-time upgrades.

This is why SLBoutique is the best!

~Ulrika~

No, the items will be listed on both sites, and you will be able to purchase from one site using the billing method of the other. (For instance, people will be able to buy items using the Gigas payboxes for SLBoutique items, likewise purchases on Gigas/SecondServer can be made using only your SLBoutique account)

-Adam

Genius! I've been waiting for your announcement for weeks.

Oooh. I'm getting dizzy from being so nice. I need to go feast on a forum newbie.

~Ulrika~